A verdant, nearly roadless place, the Western Amazon in South America may be the most biologically diverse place in the world. There, many people live in near isolation, with goods coming in either by river or air. Turning to crops for profit or sustenance, farmers operate small family plots to make a living.

"Princeton researchers have provided the first estimation of the potential damage from back-to-back, or compound, heat waves, which the authors found will increase as global warming continues. But government warning systems and health care outreach do not currently calculate the risks of sequential heat waves. Instead, risk and response are determined by the severity of individual episodes of extreme temperatures."

C-PREE Research Scholar, Tim Searchinger, and his colleague, Richard Waite, discuss the promise of plant-based burgers to decrease the impact that cattle and other grazing animals have on the environment. Searchinger's research on land use and greenhouse gas emissions has developed calculations to demonstrate that, "Beef uses roughly 20 times more land and releases 20 times more greenhouse gases for the same amount of protein as common plant proteins such as beans."

Professor Michael Oppenheimer provided a brief, thorough history of climate science at an April 9 hearing held by the House Committee on Oversight and Reform’s Subcommittee on the Environment.

Prof. Michael Oppenheimer speaks with CNN about extreme weather events in a changing climate, the impact of these events on communities, and the role of government in taking actions to cut emissions and prepare for the effects of climate change.

The New York Times reports on recent research by Dr. David Wilcove and Dr. Eyal Frank. Their study, using the example of the Indonesia black-winged mynas, looks at the disconnect between Cites (the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora) and scientific data regarding threatened species.

Tim Searchinger, C-PREE Research Scholar, is featured in the third segment of NPR's Morning Edition series on imaging the world in 2050 and the changes that would be made to stop climate change. Searchinger speaks about his research on land use and greenhouse gas emissions related to food production.

C-PREE Faculty Director, Michael Oppenheimer's new book on the practices of scientific assessment is now available from the University of Chicago Press.

Two-thirds of species endangered by wildlife trade wait close to or more than two decades to be protected.

Nitrogen pollution is produced by a number of interlinked compounds, from ammonia to nitrous oxide. While they have both natural and human sources, the latter increased dramatically over the past century as farmers scaled up food production in response to population growth. Once these chemicals are released into the air and water, they contribute to problems that include climate change and “dead zones” in rivers, lakes and coastal areas.