Sustainability

Our best advice for how to live in a climate-changing world.

Latest in Sustainability

Anti-icing chemicals in winter season. Street treated with technical salt or de-icing chemicals, closeup view. Effective tool to fight ice on surfaces. Rock salt on road.

Stop using so much sidewalk salt

By Alisha McDarris

a global density map of the world's buildings

Browse a 3D map of the world’s 2.75 billion buildings

A person in a blue jacket holds a labeled glass jar filled with grain seeds while standing in a narrow aisle of a genebank. The room is filled from floor to ceiling with shelves holding hundreds of similar jars for long-term storage.

The seed vaults that could save humanity

Water flowing through the Hamlin Lake Dam in Ludington Michigan.

2,500 ‘high-risk’ U.S. dams are sinking into the ground

A thin sheet of plastic covered in transparent MOCHI film

Bubble wrap-like material could help insulate glass windows

Electric plane flying over green mountains

Air New Zealand tests a new generation of electric planes

This is a type of animal that is related to land spiders but does not belong to that group. They can grow to the size of a palm in the deep sea around Antarctica, but this particular species is only a few millimeters in size Photo: Natural History Museum, London & Göteborgs universitet

Deep sea mining test uncovered multiple new species

Inside the mouth of this anchovy, plankton particles are captured by the gill arch system.

Sardine-inspired washing machine filter removes 99% of microplastics

A shallow depth-of-field close-up of a stainless steel frying pan sitting on a black, glossy induction cooktop, with steam rising from food cooking inside the pan. The kitchen background is blurred, showing a window and a refrigerator.

Are induction stoves better? These chefs think so.

Muddy tire in pothole puddle anchored by bricks

New asphalt could make potholes extinct

A colorful vintage poster illustration featuring a large Uncle Sam figure in a stars and stripes outfit, leaning down to adjust the hands of a massive clock with Roman numerals, which has a red center. Below him, a smaller man is running frantically with a small clock showing the time is one hour earlier. The text at the top reads "VICTORY! CONGRESS PASSES DAYLIGHT SAVING BILL." The style is reminiscent of early 20th-century American political or war-time posters.

The U.S. tried permanent daylight saving time—and hated it

Butter is slowly melting in a frying pan

New recycling method turns Teflon into toothpaste fluoride

Big bison in the National Park on the shore of a lake or river

This national park uses helicopters for bison round-up duty

Selection of overripe avocados against yellow background

AI may help you pick the perfect avocado

a pitcher-like device

This portable, 3D-printed device can pull drinking water out of thin air

By Mack DeGeurin

An overhead shot of a human composting vessel, which resembles a long, rectangular planter box with a light wooden frame. The interior contains a layer of straw, wood chips, and organic material, with colorful pink and purple flowers scattered throughout. A white cloth-wrapped form rests in the center.

How human composting turns bodies into soil

By Jennifer Byrne

a set of billiard balls on a pool table

How billiard balls led to plastic everywhere

By Avery Schluyer Nunn

a heat pump system outside of a yellow house. it is a gray box with a fan inside and white piping

Swap your boiler for a money-saving heat pump

By Sara Kiley Watson

Pile of fall leaves with fan rake on lawn

The pros and cons of not raking leaves

By Debbie Wolfe

Researcher using thermometer to measure meatball temperatures in kitchen

Ground beef infused with apple scraps clears taste test