This week, we learned …
… the concentration of atmospheric carbon has risen to its highest level in 800,000 years.

Image courtesy NASA/NOAA/GSFC/Suomi NPP/VIIRS/Norman Kuring
How does atmospheric carbon inform climate change? Use our activity to find out.
… the Chesapeake Bay, once the poster child for environmental degradation, is now the poster child for successful, large-scale restoration.

Map by EPA
Chart progress with downloadable resources from our Chesapeake Bay map gallery.
… how to trace the legacy of ALS through the deep roots of the Cumberland Gap. Read of the week!

Photograph by Harold Jerrell, National Park Service
… spicy peppers may help save imperiled prairies.

Photograph by Dykinga Photography LLC, courtesy National Geographic
… insects speak in different dialects.

Photograph by Paulomelo.adv, courtesy Wikimedia. CC-BY-SA-4.0
What other species can learn each others’ dialects?
… a court decision has strengthened Native American rights to aquifers in the wild west.

… Vikings cornered the market on Greenlandic ivory in the early Middle Ages.

Map by Fernando G. Baptista, National Geographic
How did the Vikings get to Greenland?
… a tiny Caribbean island is planning on banning single-use plastic.

Photograph by Hans Hillewaert, courtesy Wikimedia. CC-BY-SA-4.0
Take the plastic pledge, and print your own map of Dominica here—leave a lot of areas to color green.
… rich nations benefit from global fishing much more than poor ones.

Map courtesy Global Fishing Watch
Use our activity to help students better understand global fisheries.
… the strange story and fraught future of the most famous toxic body of water in the U.S.

Photograph by NASA
Take a look at the environmental impact of mines around the world with our satellite image gallery.