Prehistoric Trash Heaps Created Florida Everglades’ Tree Islands

For many years, scientists thought the fixed tree islands, larger, teardrop-shaped kinds of tree islands often found in the main channel of the Everglades, rose from protrusions from the rocky layer of the mineral carbonate that lies beneath the marsh. Now, researchers suggest these islands might actually have developed from ancient (organic) garbage mounds left behind from human settlements about 5,000 years ago.

Why We Build Nuclear Power Stations in Earthquake Zones

State and federal officials are pushing for comprehensive checkups of the San Onofre and Diablo Canyon nuclear facilities, both located on California coast, and which have been both cited repeatedly in recent years for safety lapses. If more Fukushimas are to be avoided, we have to start by understanding the real risk of risk.

Belo Monte hydroelectric dam construction work begins

With most Brazilian eyes firmly fixed on the country’s annual carnival, construction work officially started this week on the controversial Belo Monte hydroelectric dam in the Amazon, after reversal of a February suspension ruling.

Goats Put Their Graze Anatomy to Good Work

A couple hundred of the inveterate munchers are eating their way through invasive weeds in a burned portion of the Palos Verdes Peninsula Nature Preserve, California, clearing the way for native plants and insects to move back in this coastal habitat. Grazing, low-cost and environmentally friendly, is becoming a more common practice in restoration and conservation efforts.

California Islands Give Up Evidence of Early Seafaring

The sea-going people may have followed a “kelp highway” stretching from Japan to Kamchatka, along the south coast of Beringia and Alaska, then southward down the Northwest Coast to California. Rising seas have since flooded the shorelines and coastal lowlands where early populations would have spent most of their time.

Protecting Nature Through “Radical Collaboration”

For too long, the conservation movement has viewed development as something that must be stopped in order to protect nature. Conversely, businesses and governments have traditionally given too little thought to the value of nature.

The Problems With Dams

Project to build world’s third-largest hydroelectric plant is suspended after failing to meet environmental requirements. Dams block sediments going to the ocean, which implies accelerated erosion.

Testing the Limits of Where Humans Can Live

Understanding what made residents stay and how they survived could inform how we adapt to modern vulnerabilities, including climate change.The findings also have implications for how we rebound from contemporary catastrophes, such as the Indonesian tsunami in 2004, hurricanes Katrina and Rita and last year’s earthquake in Haiti.