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Many scientists are predicting a global mass extinction that could rival the collapse of the dinosaurs roughly 65 million years ago.

Discover invasive species in Dutchess County in this primer video by Cary Institute's Mike Fargione and Dutchess Land Conservancy's Julie Hart. 

No one should want the United States to return to the days of free-flowing industrial pollution, of dead waterways and poisoned birds, when science and society didn't fully understand how large-scale environmental destruction happens and how to stop it.

When the outbreak of a virulent new disease such as the coronavirus is identified, the starting gun is fired on a vast, multimillion-dollar international effort to try to contain it.

Last week, the Trump administration reduced protections of surface waters across the United States, as afforded by the Clean Water Rule. This comes at a time when adequate supplies of high quality fresh water for human use are in peril.

Zbigniew Grabowski is a postdoctoral researcher at Cary Institute. He is part of a 2-year study investigating the equity of green infrastructure plans in 20 cities throughout the US. Among the questions being explored by the team: how is green infrastructure defined and implemented, and who does it benefit?

Every year, Gene E. Likens and his assistants record the date of ‘ice-in’, when a complete layer of ice forms on on Mirror Lake and remains frozen continuously for two days, and ‘ice-out’, when the lake thaws and remains open continuously for two days.

If you are like me, you can’t imagine starting your day without a couple of cups of strong coffee. It jump-starts the mind. Coffee consumption is growing faster than the human population, with annual consumption now topping 10 million tons per year.

Agricultural and sewage pollution can cause low-oxygen conditions and fish kills in rivers. A study published in Nature Communications reports that hippo waste can have a similar effect in Africa’s Mara River.

Just what is the comparative environment impact of dairy versus almond or soy milk? The question must be approached from multiple perspectives: impact on climate, impact on water supply, impact per unit of product, or impact per unit of protein in the product.

It might seem that it would be easy to calculate the energy used to produce your nightly cocktail, by dividing the energy use in the production facility by the output (in liters) of product. Unfortunately, that calculation is too simple.

Gene. E. Likens was a panelist in a 1988 forum sponsored by the Smithsonian Institute. Panel topic: Pollution, waste, and toxics.

Arielle Duhaime-Ross of Vox podcast Reset, interviews Cary's Barbara Han on disease spillovers from animals to humans and the role of AI in predicting zoonotic disease outbreaks

Given the enduring and expensive harm from aquatic invaders, the cost of maintaining the Erie Canal's connected waters must be weighed as seriously as its benefits.

Sanjay Natesan is a volunteer working with Cary scientist Barbara Han. He is a student at John Jay High School and grew up in Dutchess County, NY. Sanjay is helping with data logging and interpretation for Han’s disease ecology research

Pastoral scenes are fine for artwork, but by no means is modern agriculture a “green” endeavor. Food production is responsible for about 1/3 of our greenhouse gas emissions, about 80 percent of the emissions of reactive nitrogen, and huge amounts of pesticides in the environment.

Ecology looks at the relationships between organisms and the environment they live in. That can mean forests, oceans, prairies and other wilder areas, but it also includes cities.

Tropical forests are allies in the fight against climate change. Growing trees absorb carbon emissions and store them as woody biomass. As a result, reforestation of land once cleared for logging, mining, and agriculture is seen as a powerful tool for locking up large amounts of carbon emissions throughout the South American tropics.

What form of mining causes the greatest disruption of the Earth’s surface?  In the Eastern U.S., many people will respond: coal mining.  In the Western U.S., the responses may vary, but mines for copper and other metals are likely to top the list.