Cities & society

An international research team reports that the increase in global carbon dioxide emissions from fossil fuels has resumed after a 3-year respite and may increase again next year. Despite the findings, improved energ

Researchers who have studied marine national monuments and adjacent areas discuss their value and the potential impacts of a change in protected status.

Stanford chemist Robert Waymouth discusses changes in incentives and technologies to create a more sustainable future for plastics.

With a new web-scraping and search algorithm and real water utility data, Stanford researchers have shown a relationship between media coverage of the recent historic California drought and household water savings.

With abundant data on plants, large animals and their activity, and carbon soil levels in the Amazon, Stanford research suggests that large animal diversity influences carbon stocks and contributes to climate change mitigation.

A new study demonstrates a cost-effective strategy to combat climate change by paying farmers in Uganda to conserve and plant trees.

A group led by geophysicist Rosemary Knight is one of six teams to be selected from an initial pool of 44 teams from 10 countries to compete in the final round.

A pioneering California program to sell carbon offsets has surprising environmental benefits – including providing habitat for endangered species – and provides lessons for initiatives under development in other states and countries.

A Stanford team is now combining satellite data and political persuasion to track kilns and incentivize kiln owners to use cleaner technologies.

Sustainability efforts today are critical to meet the needs of people now and over the long term, and Stanford has a leadership role.

Multinational companies are increasingly looking to Africa to expand production of in-demand commodity crops such as soy and oil palm. A first-of-its-kind study highlights the real and potential impacts on the continent’s valuable tropical forests.

Rather than talk about the negative things, point to the co-benefits of finding climate solutions – from economics and jobs to water and the air we breathe.

A new study finds transmission of West Nile virus is higher in drought years, but after large outbreaks acquired immunity limits the size of subsequent epidemics.

China has introduced an unprecedented policy platform for stewarding its fisheries and other marine resources.

Gaps in social science knowledge of climate change constrain the policy impact of natural science research, a Stanford team argues.

The best way to learn science is to actually do it. Students in Stanford Earth's Wrigley Field Program in Hawaii spend the quarter measuring vegetation, coral reefs and volcanoes to understand the dynamics of one of the planet's most interesting ecosystems.