Environment & sustainability
Climate, energy, conservation and practical environmental choices.
Should Climate Change Be Taught Across School Subjects?
An argument for teaching climate change across subjects while keeping scientific findings distinct from policy debates and recognizing limits on what a single curriculum can accomplish.
Renewable Energy in the United States: Progress and Practical Limits
An evidence-based explanation of renewable electricity’s growing role in the United States, alongside the practical challenges of variable output, delivery, and dependable supply.
Reducing Waste in the United States: Why Recycling Is Only One Step
An explanatory essay showing how prevention, reuse, and recycling address different stages of waste, with U.S. examples and a discussion of recycling’s limits.
Individual Choices or Government Action: Who Should Address Global Warming?
A qualified argument that household choices matter, but government action on infrastructure and shared systems is necessary to make emissions reductions broad, durable, and fair.
Energy Efficiency and Clean Generation Should Be Evaluated Together
An explanatory essay argues that reducing electricity demand and expanding low-emission generation are complementary strategies: efficiency changes the amount of electricity the system must supply, while the generation mix determines the impacts of the electricity still needed.
Repair, Reuse, or Recycle: How Should Communities Set Priorities?
Communities should prioritize preventing waste, then repairing and reusing products, and finally recycling materials that cannot be kept in use. EPA’s waste hierarchy and examples involving food, recycling infrastructure, and household water show why this order matters—and why recycling still needs investment.
Urban Heat Islands and Global Warming: Two Problems That Interact
An explanatory essay showing how urban surfaces and vegetation shape local heat, how global warming raises the background risk, and why tree planting is valuable but insufficient on its own.
Why a Cleaner Electric Grid Still Needs Reliable Supply
A cleaner grid must reduce the environmental costs of generating electricity while also ensuring that power can be supplied and delivered when customers need it. U.S. generation data illuminate the mix of sources, but annual shares alone cannot establish whether a system can meet demand at every moment.
Why Environmental Claims Need a Clear Measure
An evidence-based explanatory essay distinguishes preventing waste, recovering materials, and reducing resource consumption, using U.S. EPA examples in food, recycling, and household water use.
Why Rising Sea Levels Matter to American Coastal Communities
An evidence-based explanation of why rising seas threaten U.S. coastal communities, how global sea-level rise differs from local shoreline change, and why local assessment and climate action both matter.
Why Local Conditions Matter When Choosing Renewable Energy
An evidence-based essay explaining how geography, resource variability, and electricity-system needs shape the suitability of hydropower and solar power in the United States.
Water Conservation at Home: Why Small Choices Depend on Larger Systems
An explanatory essay showing why household water-saving habits matter, while arguing that durable conservation also depends on efficient fixtures, infrastructure, and local conditions.