Get Stanford Earth Matters stories delivered to your inbox each month.
Summer reading: Sparking curiosity and conversations about our planet
Faculty at Stanford's School of Earth, Energy & Environmental Sciences recommend these 22 books for your summer reading.
New process rinses heavy metals from toxic soils
An experimental chemical bath and electrochemical filter could now extract heavy metals from the soil and leave fields safe.
Can California better use winter storms to refill its aquifers?
With new rules for groundwater management coming into effect, engineers are looking to harness an unconventional and unwieldy source of water: the torrential storms that sometimes soak California.
When food waste becomes a pollutant
Forty percent of food produced for consumption never gets eaten. Instead, it fills landfills and releases greenhouse gases. California now aims to drastically reduce the amount of food that ends up in the ground.
Domino droughts: How droughts travel across continents
New research finds one drought can amplify or trigger another. Decreased moisture recycling and transport impacts how droughts form and move across continents.
A better way to predict Australian wheat yields
New research harnesses machine learning to accurately predict Australian wheat yields using climate and satellite data. The method could be translated to other crops and nations.
Where will flooded fields best replenish groundwater?
Overpumping in California has depleted groundwater storage capacity and caused the land to sink. A new model could help water managers zero in on where to replenish aquifers by flooding fields.
Big livestock operations can be big polluters. But where are they?
An algorithm that reads satellite images can help environmental regulators identify potentially hazardous agricultural facilities more efficiently than traditional approaches.
Farming for natural profits in China
Expanding monoculture threatens valuable services from land, such as flood control and climate stabilization. A new approach promises to protect these benefits, while improving biodiversity and human livelihoods in rural areas.
What does climate change mean for world hunger?
As more of the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide enters the atmosphere, leading to climate change, crops might carry fewer nutrients, like zinc and iron. Stanford researchers explored this trend and regions most likely
Know Your Planet: How do plants affect weather?
A major component of climate change unknowns stems from interactions between changes in climate and changes in ecosystems. Stanford hydrologist Alexandra Konings explains how plants shape weather patterns and influence climate.
Q&A: Meat, health and the environment
A Stanford nutrition expert discusses the connections between meat consumption, carbon emissions, water needs and health.
The double-edged sword of palm oil
Widespread cultivation of oil palm trees has been both an economic boon and an environmental disaster for tropical developing-world countries. New research points to a more sustainable path forward through engagement with small-scale producers.
Regions increasingly suffer hot, dry conditions at the same time
Odds are rising that warm, dry conditions – the kind that can hurt crop yields, destabilize food prices and exacerbate wildfires – will strike multiple regions at once. A new Stanford study shows just how much the risk is increasing.
As California's groundwater free-for-all ends, gauging what's left
New rules and new technology are giving farmers and managers a better look at groundwater supplies.
Home on the range: Integrating wildlife and livestock
A study of more than 800,000 acres of privately owned land in Kenya suggests that humans and their livestock can, in the right circumstances, share territory with zebras, giraffes, elephants and other wild mammals – to the benefit of all.
How machine learning can aid environmental monitoring
Cash-strapped environmental regulators have a powerful and cheap new weapon. New research suggests machine learning methods more than double the number of violations detected.
Q&A: How does climate change affect human health?
Stanford experts discuss the linkages between climate change and health, an area that will be a focus of Stanford-led events at the Global Climate Action Summit in San Francisco.
Climate change projected to boost insect activity and crop loss
A new study co-authored by Earth System Science professor Rosamond Naylor projects insect pest damage to crops will rise sharply as temperatures continue to climb.