Environment

Lifeless Earth: What if everything died out tomorrow?

(New Scientist, 25 September 2013)

I love these what-if scenarios. In this case, tracing the effect of all life dying out gives a backhanded look at how important life is for planetary processes. It turns out that without life, everything changes, on time scales from a few days (temperature and rainfall) to hundreds of millions of years (plate tectonics). Wow!

Climate sceptics may find fertile ground in US schools

(New Scientist, 22 February 2012)

Leaked documents suggest that a libertarian think-tank has been funding efforts to keep schools from teaching the scientific consensus about climate change–and teachers may be listening.

Post-human Earth: How the planet will recover from us

(New Scientist, 30 September 2009)

A speculative look at what would happen to the Earth after a climate catastrophe  wiped out humans in a mass extinction.

Veggieworld: Why eating greens won’t save the planet

(New Scientist, 20 July 2010)

Everyone knows the Earth would be better off if we all ate less meat. But even though less is good, none isn’t necessarily better.

How Canada’s green credentials fell apart

(New Scientist, 2 April 2012)

Canada used to be a leader in environmental policy. What happened?