Category
A method for measuring the environmental impacts of a product across its entire life — extraction, manufacture, distribution, use and disposal — rather than at one stage, which is where intuitions
A classification of an organisation's greenhouse gas emissions by where they occur relative to the organisation, established by the Greenhouse Gas Protocol and now the standard framework for
Because they arrive without the predators, parasites and competitors that constrained them where they evolved, and native species have no evolutionary history of dealing with them. What makes a
Agriculture, overwhelmingly — and the specific drivers differ by region in ways that matter for what would actually stop it. The proportions. Analyses of tropical deforestation consistently find
A carbon border adjustment mechanism (CBAM) charges imports according to the emissions produced making them, so that goods from countries with weaker climate policy do not undercut domestic producers
Because electricity grids must balance supply and demand continuously and instantaneously, and the main renewable sources produce power when conditions allow rather than when it is needed. The
For some uses yes, for others almost certainly not — and the debate is confused by treating hydrogen as a single proposition when its viability differs enormously by application. Why it is
Soil is a living system, not inert material, and it forms extremely slowly — which makes losing it effectively permanent on human timescales. What soil is. A mixture of mineral particles, organic
Virtual water is the water used to produce a good, embedded in it invisibly. The concept, developed by Tony Allan, reframes trade in food as trade in water — and it explains how water-scarce
Because ecosystems are functional systems, and their ability to keep providing things people depend on rests on the diversity within them — not on any individual species being appealing. What
Increasingly yes, in a specific and quantified way — through a field called attribution science that did not meaningfully exist twenty years ago. Why the old answer was no. The standard line was that
A tipping point is a threshold beyond which a component of the climate system shifts to a qualitatively different state, and continues doing so under its own momentum even if the original forcing
Because it is the clearest case of the world identifying a global environmental problem, agreeing binding action, and measurably fixing it — which makes it the standard reference point in arguments
PFAS — per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances — are a family of thousands of synthetic chemicals defined by carbon-fluorine bonds, among the strongest in organic chemistry. That bond strength is exactly
Light pollution is excessive or misdirected artificial light. It is unusual among environmental problems in being immediately reversible — switching a light off ends it instantly — yet it continues
They are the main pollutants monitored in air quality reporting, and they cause harm through different mechanisms and come from different sources. PM2.5 — fine particulate matter. Particles smaller
A carbon sink is any reservoir absorbing more carbon than it releases. The two dominant natural sinks are the ocean and land vegetation and soils, and together they absorb roughly half of human CO₂
Rewilding is an approach to conservation that aims to restore natural processes and allow ecosystems to organise themselves, rather than managing habitats toward a fixed target state. How it differs
Drought is a temporary meteorological event. Water scarcity is a persistent imbalance between supply and demand. A region can have water scarcity without drought, and drought without scarcity — and
Eutrophication is the over-enrichment of water with nutrients — principally nitrogen and phosphorus — which triggers explosive algal growth and can ultimately strip the water of oxygen. The sequence:
An urban heat island is the measurable tendency for cities to be warmer than surrounding rural areas — commonly several degrees, and occasionally by considerably more at night. What causes it:
Through a difference in how the atmosphere treats incoming sunlight and outgoing heat — and that asymmetry is the entire mechanism. The sequence: Sunlight arrives as mostly visible and near-infrared
Mitigation reduces the cause. Adaptation reduces the harm. Both are necessary, and treating them as alternatives is a mistake that has cost real time. Mitigation means limiting climate change itself
Microplastics are plastic fragments smaller than 5mm. Nanoplastics are smaller than 1 micrometre and are of increasing concern because they can cross biological barriers. Two origins: Primary