Scientists and historians estimate that more than 14,000 varieties of apple have been cultivated in the United States, but over the past 100 years, much of that diversity has been lost as agriculture shifted its focus to large-scale production of just a few types.
Tar sands production in Alberta, Canada, has shot up considerably in recent years, from 482,000 barrels a day in 1995 to 1.3 million barrels a day in 2008, destroying bird habitat and leaving barren landscapes along the way.
Americans are hungry for work and the nation’s global competitiveness is at risk. For the White House, an energy and climate bill is all about the economy.
As federal funding for wildlife research shrinks, a retired schoolteacher and citizen scientist helps pick up the slack: a tale of devotion from Yellowstone National Park
“We as humans go to great lengths to satisfy our desire for a connection with the natural world, especially in our interactions with wild and exotic animals,” says Daniel Kukla, who took this photograph of an empty neotropical rainforest exhibit at the Prospect Park Zoo in Brooklyn, New York.