How the great phosphorus shortage could leave us all without food

Feb 11, 2016 13:24 pm UTC| Insights & Views Nature

Marissa de Boer, Researcher VU Amsterdam, Project Manager SusPhos , VU University Amsterdam You know that greenhouse gases are changing the climate. You probably know drinking water is becoming increasingly scarce, and...

Utilities, solar energy and the fight for your roof

Feb 11, 2016 08:32 am UTC| Technology Nature

By many accounts, the spread of solar power is unstoppable. Costs continue to fall at a blistering pace, solutions to give consumers a solar-powered home without needing to connect to the grid for back-up power are...

Bushfires are pushing species towards extinction

Feb 11, 2016 08:10 am UTC| Insights & Views Nature

Massive bushfires in recent months have tragically claimed peoples lives and destroyed their homes. These events are becoming more common as our warming and drying climate increases the frequency, intensity and extent of...

How Africa can up its game to meet environmental challenges

Feb 11, 2016 07:36 am UTC| Insights & Views Nature

Africa has enormous natural resource wealth. At the same time it is extremely vulnerable to the impact of environmental degradation, including climate change. These are two good reasons, one might assume, for prioritising...

Dry is the new normal: Southwest U.S. has gotten drier and more prone to droughts

Feb 11, 2016 07:01 am UTC| Insights & Views Nature

A few large weather systems make all the difference between a wet and a dry year in the Southwest. Coming during the winter and spring, they account for the bulk of the rain and snow the regions receives. My colleagues...

Climate Change Series

Will extreme weather events get Americans to act on climate change?

Feb 07, 2016 15:49 pm UTC| Insights & Views Nature

Scientists are drawing a link between climate change and extreme weather events with increasing confidence. An American Meteorological Society report, for example, studied 28 individual weather events occurring in...

Seven ways we can fight back against flooding

Feb 04, 2016 15:14 pm UTC| Nature

There is no panacea for flood events, but there a range of things we can either do better or start doing to mitigate or adapt to them. The recent UK floods caused by Storm Desmond in the first week of December 2015 were...