In 1983, the erstwhile surface mine Gateway Hill, part of Canada's Athabasca Oil Sands Deposit, resembled a pockmarked, barren moonscape. Today, after years of reclamation effort, Gateway Hill is thickly forested and filled with wildlife — and as the first oil sands mine site to be certified by the government to be at pre-mine condition, it is a model for new and ongoing reclamation projects.

As the climate changes, warmer conditions are creeping northward — and termites, among other creatures, are likely to expand their territories into higher latitudes. Those areas, however, are currently ill-equipped to handle termites, which could cause billions of dollars in property damages.

Inexpensive, abundant and relatively clean: EARTH commenter and Stanford geophysicist Mark Zoback makes the case for natural gas to become a key part of U.S. energy policy.

Buried beneath Alaska’s North Slope are an estimated 17 trillion cubic meters of frozen methane, or natural gas. Getting the gas out of the reservoirs poses technical problems and serious risks — but a new approach that proposes to pump carbon dioxide in to replace the methane could help to solve two looming problems.

The people of Xuan Wei, China, suffer the world's highest incidence of lung cancer among non-smokers. Burning coal from the Permian-Triassic boundary may be to blame.

Whether storing water for the future or conserving it in the present, cities across the United States are beginning to reconsider their water management practices.

Elemental mercury enters the atmosphere via multiple sources, from volcanoes to forest fires to power plants. From there, rain washes it into waterways and wetlands — where it can enter the food chain. But a new study shows that sunlight can help remove significant amounts of mercury from wetlands.

Climatologist Michael Mann met the press today at the American Geophysical Union's fall meeting to answer questions about "Climategate" and what those hacked emails really said about climate science.

The biggest change in tomorrow's agriculture will be one of mindset: It must become an industry closely connected to energy, environment, health, global security and economic prosperity, says EARTH regular contributor George A. Seielstad in this comment.

Subsidence, sedimentation, sea-level change and human manipulation constantly alter the Mississippi Delta. And now, the beloved delta may be irrevocably shrinking.

Since hurricanes Katrina and Rita devastated the Mississippi Deltain 2005, there has been a lot of talk about coastal restoration and protection. But to find a sustainable solution to the delta's challenges — and all of our environmental challenges — we must consider how decisions about energy, climate change and economics will continue to affect the natural system.

When winter weather strikes, most states spread sodium chloride, or road salt, to clear roadways of ice and snow. But road salt can have lasting environmental repercussions — so if not salt, then what? 

Chesapeake Bay has a rich geological, environmental and cultural history, spanning impact events, glaciation, early colonial settlements and modern struggles with pollution and rising sea level.

In the aftermath of disasters, geoscientists have an important task: helping emergency responders, public health specialists and others to understand the potential health and environmental implications of the disaster.

In the middle of the northern Pacific Ocean, a giant floating mess of plastic debris called the Great Pacific Garbage Patch is drifting and bobbing among the waves. In August, about 30 marine scientists set sail to get a closer look at the debris and determine what kind of impact it is having on ocean life.