Rooftops on new buildings built in commercial zones in France must either be partially covered in plants or solar panels, under a law approved this week. Green roofs have an isolating effect, helping reduce the amount of energy needed to heat a building in winter and cool it in summer. They also retain rainwater, thus helping reduce problems with runoff, while favouring...
Learn MoreA few years ago in a lab in Panama, Klaus Winter tried to conjure the future. A plant physiologist at the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, he planted seedlings of 10 tropical tree species in small, geodesic greenhouses. Some he allowed to grow in the kind of environment they were used to out in the forest, around 79 degrees Fahrenheit. Others, he subjected to...
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Climate change — as it is for pretty much all life forms — is a huge bummer for bees. If neonics and other pesticides weren’t enough to deal with, a recent study demonstrated that global warming has fueled drastic bee habitat loss, leading to a 200-mile reduction in their natural environments. Something out in the great abyss has it out for the buzzers (hint: it’s CO2)....
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As part of President Obama’s commitment to protect our nation’s unique outdoor spaces and ensure that every American has the opportunity to visit and enjoy them, the Obama Administration today formally launched the new Every Kid in a Park program. Starting today, fourth graders nationwide can visit the new Every Kid in a Park website to obtain a pass that provides free...
Learn MoreHundreds more died off the coast of Libya this week, on the heels of 71 deaths of migrants trapped in the back of a truck near Vienna, Austria. At the same time, NASA officials just warned that rising global sea levels from climate change could affect coastal regions, including 150 million residents in Asia who lived “within a meter from the sea.” While news...
Learn MoreWhen musician and naturalist Bernie Krause drops his microphones into the pristine coral reef waters of Fiji, he picks up a raucous mix of sighs, beats, glissandos, cries, groans, tones, grunts, beats and clicks. The water pulsates with the sound of creatures vying for acoustic bandwidth. He hears crustaceans, parrot fish, anemones, wrasses, sharks, shrimps, puffers and...
Learn MoreDoes the Ted Cruz in you ever wonder whether global warming really is just a hoax? Whether skeptics really are the Galileos of our time? Whether climate scientists really do just want to make money? Well, wonder no more. A group of researchers just tried to replicate 38 peer-reviewed studies that support skeptic talking points, and surprise! They ran into some trouble....
Learn MoreAt the Asia Pacific Resilience Innovation Summit held in Honolulu, Hawaii, Governor David Ige dropped a bombshell. His administration will not use natural gas to replace the state’s petroleum-fueled electricity plants, but will make a full-court press toward 100 percent renewables by 2045. Ige’s decisive and ambitious energy vision is making Hawaii into the world’s most...
Learn MoreGreat Smoky Mountains National Park rangers remind visitors that graffiti not only detracts from the natural beauty of the park, but can also permanently damage irreplaceable resources. Park resources including one of the best collections of log buildings in the eastern United States, backcountry hiking shelters, live trees, stone walls, bridges, and tunnels have all...
Learn MoreAs motorists take the curve on N.C. 151, heading up the mountain from Asheville toward the Blue Ridge Parkway, they should notice a large stone lovingly placed there 95 years ago to commemorate the area’s history. But they probably won’t. Eagle Scout hopeful Levi Smith is looking to change this by giving both the monument and the adjacent Stony Fork picnic area a...
Learn MoreThink you have the grit to produce grist? Then consider helping out Great Smoky Mountain National Park by volunteering to help provide visitors with historic information at Mingus Mill. The mill, located a half-mile north of the Oconaluftee Visitor Center near Cherokee, North Carolina, was built in 1886. It offers visitors a unique look into the inner workings of the...
Learn MoreWildfires are exploding across the western United States, overstretching resources and, in some states, resulting in tragic consequences. Some 30,000 firefighters and additional support staff are now fighting fires across the United States — the biggest number mobilized in 15 years, according to the U.S. Forest Service. And it’s still not enough. Two hundred members of...
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More than a decade ago, Kieran Roe sealed and stamped an envelope and dropped it in the mail. What he got back proved to be far beyond his expectations. “I couldn’t have fathomed everything that would come from it,” said Roe, executive director of Carolina Mountain Land Conservancy (CMLC). Roe’s envelope contained a grant application to the Corporation for National...
Learn MoreThe U.S. Forest Service closed a large chunk of the North Fork Coeur d’Alene River drainage in Northern Idaho due to a forecast of hazardous fire weather and because of close to 20 fires already burning on the Coeur d’Alene River Ranger District. “It’s probably among the most popular forest access in all of the Idaho Panhandle,” said Jason Kirchner, spokesman for the...
Learn MoreToday, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency proposed the first-ever federal regulations to curb methane emissions from oil and gas producers. The proposed rule aims to cut methane emissions from the energy industry, the single largest emitter of methane in the United States, by 40 to 45 percent from 2012 levels within the next decade. Methane is a greenhouse gas 80...
Learn MoreAmerica’s cultural divide over guns has gone into the woods. As growing numbers of hikers and backpackers flood national forests and backcountry trails searching for solitude, they are increasingly clashing with recreational target shooters, out for the weekend to plug rounds into trees, targets and mountainsides. Hiking groups and conservationists say that policies that...
Learn MoreThere is an effort afoot to use the US Pacific Northwest as conveyor belt for fossil fuels, carrying them from mines and wells in the interior to the coast, to be shipped overseas. Atop a region known for natural beauty, sustainability, quality of life, tourism, and advanced-technology jobs, fossil fuel industries propose to lay a skein of heavy new rail lines,...
Learn MoreOn a scorcher of an August afternoon, a crowd gathered on a bridge over the deep-green waters of the Animas River on the north end of Durango, Colorado. A passerby might have thought they were watching a sporting event, perhaps a kayak race or a flotilla of inebriated, scantily clad inner tubers. Yet the river that afternoon was eerily empty of rowers, paddlers or...
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The National Park Service is almost a century old and that means a gift is in store for citizens. The National Park Service is celebrating its 99th birthday on August 25, 2015 with free admission, not including amenity or activity fees, to its 408 sites nationwide. In preparation for the centennial celebration next year, the National Park Service also partnered with the...
Learn MoreA new research study by U.S. Forest Service scientists finds that changes in rainfall patterns in the southern Appalachians due to climate change could reduce growth in six hardwood tree species common to the region. The findings have implications for forest managers in the Southeast, where climate variability (more extreme events or changes in precipitation...
Learn MoreKivalina is a tiny, remote Alaskan village that sits on a barrier island some 83 miles above the Arctic circle, and the most recent estimates show the village—home to 400 people—will be entirely underwater by 2025. This is far from news for the island’s Iñupiat inhabitants; the village voted in favor of relocating way back in 1992. But as climate change thins the ice...
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One hundred years ago, only about a dozen national parks existed, all of them in the Far West. The departments of Agriculture, Interior and War each claimed some responsibility over them, but in truth, no one was in charge, and the parks suffered as a result. Stephen Mather set out to change all that. An energetic businessman with what reporters called “an...
Learn MoreTwo weeks after passing a law that completely re-envisions the country’s energy system, France is already making moves to bolster its wind potential by inviting companies to submit proposals for floating wind farms off both its northern and southern coasts. France’s environmental agency ADEME posted a tender document calling for proposals for wind farms comprised of...
Learn MoreThe sign at the trailhead stated: “Beware of mountain lions.” Next to it another sign was posted that warned about the dangers of and correct behavior in a bear encounter. You are entering the Continental Divide Trail, one of America’s longest and most challenging trails.Here on the Continental Divide Trail, mountain lions, bears, wolves-and even the...
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Unbearably hot. Dry. Lifeless. Those are a few terms that the word “desert” all too often conjures up. While deserts are loved by many wilderness enthusiasts, it’s far too easy for the general public to overlook these areas when thinking about wilderness. No doubt, deserts can be hot and dry, but look a little closer and the life within them is...
Learn MoreHistorians may look to 2015 as the year when it really started hitting the fan. Some snapshots: In just the past few months, record-setting heat waves in Pakistan and India each killed more than 1,000 people. In Washington state’s Olympic National Park, the rainforest caught fire for the first time in living memory. London reached 98 degrees Fahrenheit during the...
Learn MoreGinseng, the popular health supplement, grows naturally in Great Smoky Mountains National Park. There’s only one problem- poachers. Poaching has become a major problem for the park. Savvy thieves are uprooting the valuable plant and selling the ginseng roots for a profit. “They know what they’re looking for. They’re experienced in this type of...
Learn MoreFor the first time in its 110-year history, the Forest Service, part of the U.S. Department of Agriculture, is spending more than 50 percent of its budget to suppress the nation’s wildfires. A new report released today by the Forest Service estimates that within a decade, the agency will spend more than two-thirds of its budget to battle ever-increasing fires,...
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I am Jeff Clark, founder of Internet Brothers, producer of this blog, and passionate about hiking. I live in Western NC near the Blue Ridge and Great Smoky Mountains. Pisgah and Nantahala National Forests are just out my door, so the content will focus on these areas, but let me know what you would like to see on the site. 
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