Ensia

The future of water in the U.S. West is uncertain, so planning and preparedness are critical

Water authorities in the Western U.S. don’t know what the future will bring, but they are working collaboratively and with scientific rigor to make sure they’re prepared for anything. In a thirsty ...
Ensia

OPINION: CRISPR is coming to agriculture — with big implications for food, farmers, consumers and nature

January 28, 2016 — Very few technologies truly merit the epithet “game changer” — but a new genetic engineering tool known as CRISPR-Cas9 is one of them. Since we first developed the ability to alter ...
Ensia

These Montana ranchers are helping grizzlies, wolves and cattle coexist

November 28, 2017 — Editor’s note: This story was produced in collaboration with the Food & Environment Reporting Network, a non-profit investigative news organization. In the predawn chill a range ...
Ensia

In the depths of the oceans, human activities are beginning to take their toll

June 7, 2017 — Imagine sinking into the deepest parts of the Central Pacific Ocean, somewhere between Mexico and Hawaii. Watch as the water turns from clear to blue to dark blue to black. And then ...
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Does this tiny island off the coast of Maine hold the answer to the future of electricity?

March 10, 2020 — Living on an island forces one to be an innovator in ways large and small. For the 50 or so year-round residents of Isle au Haut, an island off the coast of Maine, innovation can look ...
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What to do about the antidepressants, antibiotics and other drugs in our water

August 11, 2015 — There’s no way around it, the headlines are disturbing. And they come, not from tabloids or click-bait blogs, but from papers published in scientific journals. They describe fish and ...
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Opinion: In the face of a looming climate crisis, the late Elinor Ostrom gives me hope

November 14, 2019 — In December 2019, representatives of countries around the world will gather for COP 25, the 25th annual Conference of Parties to the U.N. Framework Convention on Climate Change, ...
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How the U.S. power grid is evolving to handle solar and wind

October 3, 2019 — Editor’s note: This story was the result of a reader question. If you have a question or a topic that you think needs more coverage, please email us at contact@ensia.com. Renewable ...
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On the thawing tundra, researchers race to understand black carbon’s climate impact

May 17, 2017 — Editor’s note: Reporting for this story was supported by a grant from the Fund for Investigative Journalism. On a morning in September 2015, sterile, gray Arctic light filtered through ...
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Around the world, Indigenous seed banks are helping to preserve culture, boost nutrition and protect the environment

June 2, 2020 — In the central highlands of Guatemala, Rosalia Asig Cho ushers a small group of visitors into a one-room building, filled floor to ceiling with shelves of earthenware cylinders ...
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Green space in cities can bring considerable health benefits for communities, but access is unequal

March 19, 2021 — With the arrival of spring, Platte Farm Open Space, located in the diverse, working-class neighborhood of Globeville in north Denver, comes alive with native grasses, pollinator ...
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Of hemp’s many uses, one of the most promising could be in construction

Magic? Not exactly. But Carter came away from his attempted debunking a hemp believer. And one of the most promising of its many uses, he found, is its application as a building material known as ...