27 Items Tagged

Environmental Disasters

Clues in Caves Suggest Drought May Have Brought Down India's Mughal Empire

Patterns in 1,000-year-old stalagmite formation connect the fall of empires, kingdoms, and industries to long and deadly dry periods.

Gayatri Kathayat September 26, 2022

Is There a Future for the Sinkhole-Studded Dead Sea?

Receding waters are leaving behind an environmental disaster, and a new kind of tourism.

Gitit Ginat June 1, 2022

What It Takes to Clean Up a Massive Nurdle Spill

Following a maritime disaster, Sri Lankans are cleaning their beaches, nurdle by nurdle.

Zinara Rathnayake May 27, 2022

How Cows Destroyed an Entire Marine Ecosystem in California

A researcher's quest to understand a mysterious mass extinction leads to cud-chewing culprits.

Jack Tamisiea June 21, 2021

Invasive Catfish Are Rewriting Chesapeake Bay Cuisine

An unloved invader has found its way onto menus across the region.

Luke Fater January 9, 2020

Rotterdam, Netherlands

Floating Farm

The world's first floating farm is staffed by one human, three robots, and 35 cows.

The Swap-a-Fish Program That Traded Tilapia for Seafood Contaminated by Agent Orange

New Jersey's Passaic River has been unsafe to fish for decades.

Reina Gattuso March 15, 2019

Brooks, Kentucky

Valley of the Drums

This calm grassy field was once a Superfund site full of thousands of nasty chemicals.

In Massachusetts, an Artist Explores an Old Dye Factory's Toxic Influence

The Ashland-Nyanza Project uses color to promote history and healing.

Cara Giaimo February 15, 2018

Hartford, Connecticut

Flood 1936 Marker

A tiny memorial for the year the Connecticut River almost destroyed New England.

environmental disasters

The Historically Hazy Story of Donora's Deadly Smog

A 1948 environmental disaster in the Pennsylvania town resulted in half truths, conspiracy theories, and the introduction of clean air laws.

Liam Baranauskas November 29, 2017

The Once Glamorous Salton Sea is Now Rife With Toxic Dust and Dying Fish

The Salton Sea is a polluted accident turned natural resource, and the government is finally giving it funding.

Natalie Zarrelli September 29, 2016

Asbestos Town — Libby, Montana

Mining caused an asbestos emergency in this small town.

environmental disasters

The Hole in the Ozone Layer Above Antarctica Might Be Healing Itself

Erik Shilling July 1, 2016

Nevada City, California

Malakoff Diggins

The beauty and the beast of hydraulic mining is on full display at this California Historic State Park.

Dronten, Netherlands

IJsseloog

This artificial ring island was built to hold cubic tons of polluted dirt.

Red Tides Are The Auroras of the Sea

Eric Grundhauser January 27, 2016

Naalehu, Hawaii

Kamilo Beach

Formerly a lovely white sand beach this Hawaiian stretch is now a trap for countless tons of trash.