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Due to lack of infrastructure and capital to manage waste properly, developing regions face significant challenges from plastic waste accumulation. The Trash-to-Tank program enables communities to locally convert post-consumer use plastic to plastic-derived fuel oil, providing environmental and economic benefits.
There are thousands of potential students desperate to learn behind bars, but few resources for scientific education. The Think Like A Scientist programme offers prisoners a chance to learn geoscience.
Geology is gradually being withdrawn from the school curriculum in the UK, and risks losing its identify as a distinct subject. GeoBus provides workshops and support for Earth science education, inspiring teachers and pupils to engage with fundamental questions in geology.
River damming can harness hydropower, control flooding and store water, but can also alter biogeochemistry in reservoirs and downstream environments. In this Review, the impacts of dams on nutrient cycling and greenhouse production are discussed, emphasizing the need to consider biogeochemical cycling at all stages of dam lifespan.
Ethical dilemmas are regularly encountered by Earth and environmental scientists. Explicit training is required to allow the community to recognize such dilemmas, and to prevent and mitigate ethical issues as they arise.
Understanding the complex geologic history of West Antarctica provides insight into the formation of continental margins across Earth. In this Review, we detail the magmatism, continental growth and fragmentation of West Antarctica over the past 500 million years.
It can be difficult to balance parental responsibilities with academic life, due to frequent travel, long working hours and fixed term contracts. Prolonged or regular fieldwork can be a particular challenge for geoscientists. Increased financial and institutional support is needed to alleviate the burden often felt by academic parents.
Fieldwork is an integral part of geoscience subjects, but changing career pathways and student demographics have major implications for the future of compulsory fieldwork. The ways in which fieldwork is taught and the learning outcomes it fulfils urgently need updating.
Carbon capture and storage has a fundamental role in limiting anthropogenic warming to 1.5–2 °C. This Review discusses the basis, potential and limitations of in situ mineral carbonation as a carbon capture and storage strategy.
Businesses must understand and act to reduce their environmental footprint. Springer Nature has been working to address the impacts of its publishing operations since 2017, lowering office-based carbon emissions and improving sustainable practices.
Travel is a key part of academic life, and the carbon emissions associated with it are high. Personal decisions to reduce flying can contribute to climate action, and need not compromise research.
Earth System Science (ESS) has emerged as a powerful tool to investigate and understand global change. This Perspective outlines the history of ESS and advocates for the full integration of human and biogeophysical dynamics necessary to build a truly unified ESS effort.
