Global Environment

By Suri Zheng In the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands, a species of seal called the Hawaiian monk seal exists. This is the only species of seal native to and is only found in Hawaii. Apart from only living in Hawaii, they are also …

 By Ying Zhu Climate change, driven by human activities, is an ever-present challenge facing our planet today. Beyond the well-known effects such as rising temperatures, melting ice caps, and extreme weather events, climate change also manifests in subtle yet significant ways. One …

By Suri Zheng Take a look at the ice, do you notice anything different? Besides the family of penguins stuck on a floating iceberg, did you notice the size of the ice sheet? It’s a little small for all of these penguins. …

By Ying Zhu Deep in the bellies of cows are tiny microbes that ferment grass and hay, breaking it down into fatty acids that serve as bovine energy—and into planet-warming methane gas. The gas eventually makes its way to the atmosphere via …

By Suri Zheng Have you ever felt the ocean and noticed it felt warmer than, let’s say… a few years ago? Well, the leading cause of that might be ocean acidification.  The Industrial Revolution of the 1800s triggered an escalation of carbon …

By Ying Zhu Microplastics are small plastic particles that measure less than 5 millimeters in size. They are widely found in the environment, and their pollution has become a major global concern. Microplastics come from a variety of sources, including plastic waste, …

By Suri Zheng What is desertification? It is “the process by which fertile land becomes desert, typically due to drought, deforestation, or inappropriate agriculture.” Or to put it in similar words, the process by which vegetation in grasslands eventually disappears. This term …