Environmental Science

Catastrophic accidents at power plants like Three Mile Island and Fukushima Daiichi have heightened fears about the safety of nuclear energy, but environmentalists and others are giving it renewed attention as a way to fight global warming. 

Scientists warn that to slow climate change, we need to change how we farm and what we eat. 

Is geo-engineering the climate an answer to global warming? Cold War science has some lessons. 

Guatemalan homesteaders and a Michigan contractor are riding a wave that could change how our lives are wired. 

News media coverage in the 1980s and early 1990s fueled fears of a national cancer epidemic caused by power lines and generated a debate that still lingers today. 

This interactive map explores notable natural disasters that have occurred around the world. Students can use this map to learn more about the causes, effects and long-term impact of each disaster. Four Retro Report short documentaries are linked on the map. It can be used in Science classes in conjunction with the lesson plan, Exploring Natural […]

A rapidly growing California wildfire is threatening a grove of giant Sequoia trees in Yosemite National Park, some nearly 3,000 years old. For context, we examine the 1988 fires in Yellowstone National Park that ignited a debate over firefighting tactics and sustainable forestry. 

The 1989 earthquake that shook San Francisco sent out a wake up call that continues to echo across the country. 

Hurricane Katrina devastated the Gulf Coast in 2005, and Louisiana’s troubled housing recovery has shaped the response to every major disaster since, including Hurricane Sandy. 

A disastrous oil spill off the coast of Alaska and a massive explosion of a rig in the Gulf of Mexico revealed a pattern of unsettled standards and inconsistent oversight that cast doubt on the oil industry’s preparedness for future accidents. 

Scientists who venture into rainforests and bat caves explain how viruses, like Covid-19, spill over from animals to people, and what we must do to stop the next pandemic. 

In the 1960s, fears of overpopulation sparked talk of population control. So what happened? 

Burmese pythons released into the wild by well-meaning pet owners have created a reptilian nightmare in the Everglades. 

Today, there are approximately 100 tribes in the Amazon rainforest that have not interacted with the modern world. A hundred years ago, there were many more. Co-produced with PBS, American Experience, we look at the delicate situation these tribes find themselves in. 

The story of the veterans who witnessed secret atomic testing and how their decades-long struggle for recognition affects soldiers today. This story is a coproduction with Reveal, from The Center for Investigative Reporting. 

The use of the defoliant Agent Orange during the Vietnam War continues to cast a dark shadow over both American veterans and Vietnamese citizens. 

NASA isn’t the first organization to experiment with living on Mars – in 1991 eight people sealed themselves inside a giant glass biosphere to practice space living. By the time they emerged two years later, they had “suffocated, starved and went mad.” 

Our moon has winked from the heavens as a symbol and anchor, reminding us not only the cycle of life, but also of danger and death. Scientists have brought the moon into sharper focus, and astronauts have left the first footprints there. But will we ever be able to explain its lasting, mesmerizing power of attraction? 

An international treaty laid out the basics of space law in 1967. But without a lot of case history to go on, lawyers today have looked to maritime law and Arctic exploration as they lay the groundwork for how space will be governed. 

When oil shortages disrupted daily life in the 1970s, Americans were forced to rethink consumption, and the crisis set in motion decisions that continue to shape energy policy today. 

Earth Day, born in 1970 from public outrage over pollution, marked a turning point in U.S. environmental policy. 

Honeybees, heroes in the national food supply, are under threat from parasites, exhaustion and a mysterious ailment. Here’s how beekeepers and scientists are fighting back to save the hives. 

Debates over development in the world’s largest rainforest have led to deadly conflicts, threats to its indigenous people and harm to the global atmosphere. 

Plant-based meats may be high tech, but the ideas behind them have been around for decades. 

In the 1980s, rising public awareness about waste was fueled by a bizarre news story about a meandering New York City garbage barge. 

A small South Dakota farm holds lessons for feeding a crowded and less predictable world. 

In the 1990s, the federal government reintroduced the gray wolf to Yellowstone National Park. It was considered a big success. And that’s when the real fight began. 

In the 1990s, a bunch of gene jockeys brought the first genetically engineered food to market. The business crashed, but biotech science has flourished far beyond the produce aisle. 

In the wake of the 1993 hit movie Free Willy, activists and fans campaigned to release the movie’s star – a captive killer whale named Keiko – and launched a story Hollywood couldn’t invent. 

In 1978, toxic chemicals leaking from a buried landfill in Love Canal, N.Y., forced evacuations, drew national attention and became a defining environmental disaster. The crisis transformed a neighborhood near Niagara Falls, and raised questions about corporate responsibility, government oversight and public health that still resonate today. 

There are over 80,000 chemicals in use today. The story of Tris, a fire retardant that was once used to treat children’s pajamas, but was banned as a carcinogen in the 1970s, illustrates the challenge of regulating chemicals. 

Author Rachel Carson’s strike against the pesticide DDT turned her into both an environmental hero and a foil for those who believe regulation has gone too far. That fight is more relevant than ever. 

In the late 1990s, Princess Diana brought public attention to land mine victims. But since her death, how much progress has been made in the worldwide fight against leftover munitions? 

In the summer of 1981, the Mediterranean fruit fly spread through California’s Santa Clara Valley, infesting backyard fruit trees and threatening the state’s $14 billion agricultural industry. 

Ancient methods of collecting and storing rainwater are being used to address severe drought today. 

The increasing scarcity of drinking water is beginning to capture the world’s attention – but surprisingly, an innovative solution might just be found in one of the Earth’s driest places. 

A worldwide effort to heal damage to the ozone layer is showing early progress.