In the first installment of the global perspectives series, scientist Boris Tefsen shares how the Netherlands, when faced with an expensive increase in energy bills, was able to lower the country’s energy consumption by nearly 25%. With the right strategies in place, large-scale conservation is possible. …
We hear about climate a lot now. Have you ever wondered about the difference between climate and weather? Weather is a word used to describe the state of the atmosphere with respect to heat, cold, wetness, dryness, calm, storm, etc., and climate describes long-term weather, for example, tropical climate….
Robert E. Mace shares his experience visiting Hellisheidi, the third-largest geothermal power plant in the world. What can we learn from this innovative system?…
If you want to understand how our climate will change in the coming years, you’ve got to understand tipping points. When a small change causes a larger long-term effect, we call this a tipping point….
Have you ever wondered how scientists can predict climate trends over hundreds of years but can’t predict the weather weeks from today? The reason lies in the fact that weather and climate are two different things….
In this post, we dive into the tricky business of probabilities as it relates to 100-year floods and explore the widely different interpretations people attach to probabilistic words….
The land cracked open. Crops and cattle withered. Lake beds blistered. Without shame or mercy, the 2010-2011 Texas Drought haunted my year of 6th grade. Watching this disaster unfold every night on the news left me with nightmares and questions. What can we do to stop this from happening again? What will we do if…
Change does not come easily when the old way of doing things worked so well for so long that it has simply become “the way it’s done.” This rings especially true with a service as basic as water. Our water management practices are buried under decades of local policies and state and federal regulations, millions…
Solutions to human-caused climate change necessitate better climate literacy. We believe a key aspect of being knowledgeable includes direct personal experience, observation, and a felt connection with the natural world. Mindful engagement is a conduit for preparing and cultivating the next generation of environmental stewards. Without felt, personally relevant, and meaningful experiences in nature, the…