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It is difficult to estimate the stock of groundwater; it’s easier to measure its depletion in areas where it is being removed faster than it is replenished. Recent estimates suggest that only about 6% of groundwater is less than 50 years old—an estimate of groundwater that has been derived in modern times and potentially renewable.

Focusing on precursor variation of complex systems—from the stock market to human health to earthquakes—offers a valuable tool for forecasting disasters.

We are rapidly becoming a species of dim light, with children and young people rarely exposed to the wonders of nature—birds, fallen debris in a forest, rocks and streams, lizards in a desert shrub land. And without this first-hand appreciation of the value of nature, we are in danger of failing to preserve that we do not know.

Americans spend a lot more time outdoors because of DEET, which has undoubtedly prevented cases of Lyme disease and West Nile virus in the U.S., as well as countless cases of malaria and dengue fever in tropical regions. In its 60-year existence, DEET has not been found to be carcinogenic; however, it is a component of wastewater and ends up as a low-level contaminant in freshwaters.

Under a strengthened Toxic Substances Control Act, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) plans to focus on about 100 chemicals that are suspicious for their impacts on human and wildlife health; it is possible that some will be restricted or potentially banned.

Depending on the estimates you like, you can believe that copper will be one of the most scarce commodities in this century, or something we don’t need to worry about. A shortage of copper would have both direct and indirect impacts on the environment. A scarcity may reduce our ability to expand renewable energy sources, such as wind power and electric automobiles, that have high copper requirements in their infrastructure. It would also shift demand to polypropylene for plumbing and aluminum for wiring.

President of the Cary Institute Bill Schlesinger discusses society's most pressing environmental problems, and what needs to be done to ensure a habitable planet, now and for future generations.

Tropical forests store a third of the world’s carbon in their wood and soils. However, their future as a carbon sink has been uncertain. Scientists have long wondered whether nutrient-poor tropical soils would limit the ability of mature and recovering forests to thrive. A study published June 6 in New Phytologist offers a hopeful response, suggesting that forests have flexible strategies that help them overcome the challenge of scarce nutrients.  
 

The Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation has awarded $3.7 million to kickstart the Western Fire & Forest Resilience Collaborative, led by Winslow Hansen, a forest ecologist at Cary Institute of Ecosystem Studies. Funds are enabling the formation of an interdisciplinary collaborative that will advance science-based management solutions to the growing wildfire crisis.

Raccoons in the recreational fields, and giant fungi in the front lawn — these are just a few of the discoveries made by middle school students in last fall’s Webutuck Quest Schoolyard Program. Led by Cary Institute educators Ashley Alred and Becky Van Tassell, the program brings schoolyard ecology lessons to fourth through seventh graders in the Webutuck Central School District.

Over the past twenty-five years, Dr. Sparks has given many seminars presenting biogeochemical and isotope-based ecosystem ecology research. However, in one-on-one conversations later in the day, the talk always turns to some interesting, unique, and sometimes just plain weird applications of isotopes in which he has become involved over the years.

The New York Forest Carbon Assessment project developed a leading-edge system for mapping and monitoring carbon stocks over time, estimating stock-changes at variable spatial and temporal scales, and translating stock-change maps into IPCC-compliant carbon accounting (GHG inventory).

Manifold studies exist to determine species richness drivers in terrestrial systems, but corresponding work is comparatively rare in the marine realm. However, marine biodiversity studies may be key to understanding broad-scale biodiversity patterns.

Forests play a crucial role in mitigating the impact of climate change by absorbing and storing CO2 from the atmosphere. Anticipating impacts of climate change requires understanding the processes that maintain forest dynamics.

We return today to the rivers of China for an update on Helicostoa, the Lost Snail of the Yangtze. Helicostoa is a bizarre little snail known only from two chunks of limestone taken from the rapids of the Yangtze River about 1900.

Pullitzer prize winner and environmental journalist Dan Fagin discusses industrial pollution, water contamination, and cancer epidemiology in a New Jersey beach town.

Two main classes of air pollution result from fireworks: excessive levels of ozone and fine particulate matter (PM_2.5). These particles are important because when we breathe them, they can travel deep into our lungs and cause health effects. However, as a source of ozone and PM_2.5, fireworks pale in comparison to coal-fired power plants, automobile exhaust, and agricultural activities.

Knowing how frequently we are faced with shortages of petroleum and increasing costs of gasoline, it is worth examining the availability of lithium as a commodity. Its price has doubled on the commodity market within the last year. Are lithium resources in short supply? Who has them and who doesn’t? Would mass production and distribution of lithium cause any environmental or human health effects?

As the world looks to a low-carbon future, there is renewed interest in nuclear power. It is considered clean, as we don’t see the equivalent of black-lung disease, mercury accumulations in fishes downwind, nor CO₂ emissions that change the climate globally. But the problems and potential dangers associated with nuclear waste disposal, the weaponization of nuclear power, and power plant accidents mean that consideration of the nuclear option must be careful indeed.