In 1970, the United States produced an estimated 65 billion eggs annually, increasing to an estimated 110 billion eggs a year in 2023. Until about the 1960s, our eggs mainly came from hens that roamed around farms or backyards.
To one unfamiliar with the work of Wildlife Service, the name may lead one to believe the division aims to serve and benefit the interests of wildlife; that notion could not be further from the truth. Wildlife Services is a division of the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) responsible for the death of 1.85 million animals in 2022.
A recent study found one in five land-based species are affected by trade, with indications that an additional 3,196 species could be at risk. Certain phylogenetic groups like pangolins and hornbills are…
Situated along the Georgia-Florida border lies 438,000 acres of the largest blackwater swamp in North America and the largest National Wildlife Refuge in the eastern United States. This is the Okefenokee Swamp. This amazing ecosystem is home to a stunning array of biodiversity, including bald eagles, bobcats, black bears, about 13,000 alligators, and endangered species, including wood storks, indigo snakes, gopher tortoises, and red-cockaded woodpeckers. In addition, more than 850 species of plants, including cypress trees, are over 400 years old. Besides supporting a stunning array of wildlife, this ecosystem attracts 725,000 visitors a year, supports 750 jobs, and generates almost $65 million for the four counties surrounding the swamp. However, an Alabama-based mining company, Twin Pines, LLC, is seeking permits to mine 8,000 acres along the swamp's eastern edge.
The usual biodiversity hotspots in the United States are thought to be Hawai’i, the Rocky Mountains, and maybe even Alaska; however, conservation biologists are looking closer at the Southeastern United States, describing it as one of the world’s biodiversity hotspots. E.O. Wilson reported that the central Gulf Coast states “harbor the most diversity of any part of Eastern North America and probably any part of North America.”
The UN Intergovernmental Conference on Marine Biodiversity of Areas Beyond National Jurisdiction, also known as the BBNJ, was convened in late 2017 to develop a new legally binding instrument under the UN Convention for the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS).
The public trust doctrine’s foundation lies in English common law and was initially established to protect public commerce along navigable waterways. It has since been recognized in the United States in the landmark case, Illinois Central Railroad Company v. Illinois. In this case, the Court determined that all navigable waters in the United States and land under them are held in public trust by the government for the public interest. “Water is a ‘commons’ good that no single person government should keep for their own.”
From record heat waves to hurricanes to unprecedented wildfires, the devastating consequences of climate change continue to ravage our cities. One of the most recent examples of these impacts is the Lahaina wildfire.
The transition to renewable energy is vital in the global fight against climate change. Significant gains were made in the renewable energy sector in 2022, but more still needs to be done to avoid irreversible climate catastrophe.
Renewable energy sources have existed for centuries but in recent decades, have become key to combatting climate change. Prioritizing energy sources with low carbon footprints is critical to managing and reversing temperature increases, water shortages, and other negative impacts that have resulted from generations of fossil fuel use. While wind has been instrumental to this energy transition, offshore wind has greater potential than traditional onshore wind due to the size difference of the turbines. Not only does offshore wind have higher energy capacity but can do so in a much smaller physical footprint than onshore wind. Though the European Union (EU) has been the front runner in offshore wind development, the United States (U.S.) has made tremendous progress over the past two decades with more growth on the horizon.
Both surging interest and investment in nuclear energy as a way to meet net zero goals and to diminish the worst effects of climate change, as well as the US commitment at COP28 to triple nuclear energy capacity by 2050, are reasons to pause and examine how “green” nuclear power really is. It is important to consider the carbon life cycle of a typical, light-water reactor nuclear power plant (NPP). If nuclear energy is not truly lower in greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions over that life cycle than other power sources, then nations choosing it as a way to meet legally-binding Paris Agreement NDCs regarding GHG reduction requirements may open themselves up to climate litigation.
Indigenous peoples’ lands and territories constitute at least 28% of the global land surface. Indigenous people represent 5,000 unique cultures worldwide, and they protect 80% of the world’s remaining biodiversity. At the same time, despite having contributed the least to climate change, many indigenous people will experience the most drastic impacts from it if humans don’t ramp up renewable energy production rapidly and worldwide. Yet is it possible to do so without repeating the atrocities of the past or worsening indigenous peoples’ circumstances in the present?
Renewable energy sources have existed for centuries but in recent decades, have become key to combatting climate change. Prioritizing energy sources with low carbon footprints is critical to managing and reversing temperature increases, water shortages, and other negative impacts that have resulted from generations of fossil fuel use. While wind has been instrumental to this energy transition, offshore wind has greater potential than traditional onshore wind due to the size difference of the turbines. Not only does offshore wind have higher energy capacity but can do so in a much smaller physical footprint than onshore wind. Though the European Union (EU) has been the front runner in offshore wind development, the United States (U.S.) has made tremendous progress over the past two decades with more growth on the horizon.
Known for its commitment to sustainability, Sweden has consistently ranked among the top 10 countries globally for exceptional environmental performance for over a decade. Being the first country in the world to pass an environmental protection act in 1967 and host the first ever UN Conference on the Human Environment in 1972, Sweden was a pioneer in sparking conversation related to the treatment and conservation of the environment.
Artificial intelligence (AI) has grown exponentially in both its development and use, and in many ways has become inescapable. AI is technology that collects, processes, and uses data to simulate human intelligence processes via technological machines, most commonly computers.
The Environmental Justice Movement gained momentum in the late 1980s and early 1990s in response to a community in North Carolina being designated as the future site of a hazardous waste landfill riddled with PCB-laced waste. PCBs are a group of manmade chemicals that were used in industrial and commercial settings and were banned in 1979; yet, they do not break down easily in the environment. As a result, PCBs remain in the air, water, and soil, and likely are transported far from their point of origin.
How are we to survive the palimpsestic crises of the Anthropocene? By applying the Indigenous traditions of gift economies and reciprocity and the ethic of care tenet of ecofeminism to environmental justice movements, we can find hope for survival. The #NoDAPL protests at Standing Rock demonstrated a living vision of this approach.
Greenwash is a verb defined by the Marriam-Webster Dictionary; “to make (something, such as a product, policy, or practice) appear to be more environmentally friendly or less environmentally damaging than it really is”. The environmentalist Jay Westervelt, coined the term in a law review article in 1986 describing marketing that intentionally deceived consumers into thinking a product or company was sustainable.
The prospect of deepsea mining provides a predicament for environmental activists and policymakers globally. It has largely been accepted that a transition from gas to electric vehicles would help decrease the release of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere. Despite this fewer than one percent of vehicles on the road today are electric vehicles.
Hydrogen is the most abundant element in the universe. It is a colorless, odorless gas that has been brought center stage in the debate around renewable energy.
Carbon capture and sequestration (CCS) is a technology that has the potential to reduce carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions from power plants and other industrial facilities. Colorado has been identified as one of three places in the southwestern United States with possible geographical sequestration formations that would allow it to serve as a regional sequestration sink. There are numerous risks that carbon sequestration carries.
Adaptive reuse is the process of modifying an existing building to serve new uses. This form of redevelopment presents an exciting opportunity to adapt existing properties to meet the current needs of the community. Adaptive reuse could promote sustainability in Denver by redeveloping empty office space as housing.
While Colorado is known for its unique landscapes and environmentally conscious approach to climate-related issues, Denver ranks #6 in the nation for being one of the most polluted cities by ozone, following California and Arizona. Even more concerning, the US EPA has classified the Denver metropolitan area and North Front Range area as being in severe nonattainment for ozone and ground level ozone.
When imagining vast, biodiverse, tracts of land in the United States it is easy to imagine the expansive rainforests of the Pacific Northwest, the hard-to-reach peaks of the Rocky Mountains, or maybe even the sprawling deserts in Arizona and New Mexico. However, the southeastern United States from Texas to Georgia and Florida up to Virginia can claim a spot on that list . . . or least they used to.
The growth and dependency on the mining industry during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries was critical to the United States economy. As a result, mines spread across the country without much thought to mining practices or the corresponding consequences. Today, there are an estimated 140,000 abandoned hard rock mines, with 23,000 located in Colorado, and around 23,000 that may pose environmental concerns.
While driving west on I-70, there are views of beautiful trees, snow-capped mountains, and also piles of orange/yellow rock dispersed through the trees. These orange scars on Colorado’s hillsides are abandoned hard rock mines and the piles of tailings left behind. Tailings are the byproduct of mines that turn an orange hue over time as they are exposed to the elements. Colorado has nearly 23,000 inactive and abandoned mines out of an estimated 150,000 abandoned mines in the United States. These mines not only pose risks for the curious off-trail hiker who could fall into a collapsed mine, but they also pose the greatest threat to Colorado water quality through the perpetual pollution of acid mine drainage
Some pollution is easy to see; plastic waste floating in the ocean or the grey smog that covers city skylines. However, there is a lot of pollution that the everyday American is exposed to that can’t be seen with the naked eye. There is contamination in our food, water, and air. There seems to be more conversation around water contamination with PFAs or the pesticides used on our vegetables, but what about what we breathe each day inside our homes? Indoor air quality can be a threat to our health, and environmentalists and lawyers continue to look for ways to limit a person's exposure to this everyday pollution.
In response to the Supreme Court case Sackett v. EPA, 598 U.S. 651, 678 (2023), Colorado’s Governor Polis convened a task force to explore options to ensure Colorado’s waterways stayed protected from dredging and filling activities. The legislation’s intent is to ensure Colorado waters are protected from the repercussions of the Supreme Court’s ruling from Sackett.
Far removed from the traditional livestock practices of the old west, industrial-like Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations (CAFOs) now dominate U.S. livestock production. These CAFOs, commonly referred to as factory farms, are operations in which: (1) animals are kept and raised in confined situations; (2) animals, feed, manure and urine, dead animals, and production operations are maintained on a small land area; and (3) no grazing is allowed; feed is brought to the animals.
The loss of wetlands within the continental United States is not a new phenomenon; still, little has been done to slow the progressive loss of wetland habitats successfully. Since the 1780s, the continental United States has lost nearly 50% of its wetlands, and since 2009, the rate of wetland loss has increased by another 50%. Much of this historical loss was due, in part, to a misunderstanding of the significant roles wetlands play in filtering pollution, providing habitat for numerous plant and animal species, and providing natural flood control.
