A Sustainable Planet

All human advances have been connected to advances in producing and using energy from Earth’s natural resources. Those resources are finite, and we are now at a crossroads. The paths we take will be key to our future.

A Sustainable Planet

Our Finite Planet

Earth has endured and survived extreme climate change more than once, with varying impacts on natural life. This time is different. We know the history. We know what’s happening and the impact of our own actions. We understand the limits to crucial resources and what will happen if we do nothing. Most importantly, we have the ability to correct our course in pursuit of a viable future. Are we up to the challenge?

A landscape photo showing several wind turbines at a wind famr in China.

Our Climate Crisis—and What We Can Do About It

Understanding the full economic picture is the first step to making the right choices. What is the true cost and impact of our options? Is there a viable strategy for converting to 100% renewables, increasing efficiency, and reaching zero emissions? How would this impact the world economy?

rocky path

The Rocky Road to a Sustainable Future

“To the extent we live today under clouds of uncertainty about climate change, those clouds are projections not of collective ignorance about the natural world but blindness about the human one, and can be dispersed by human action. This is what it means to live beyond the ‘end of nature’—that it is human action that will determine the climate of the future, not systems beyond our control.”
—David Wallace-Wells, The Uninhabitable Earth: Life After Warming

An image of an Indian man's feet standing on drought stricken cracked earth.

Not a Drop to Drink: Our Looming Global Water Crisis

Not a few years from now, but today, we are facing an unprecedented catastrophe in the planet’s water supply. For drinking, for agriculture, and for preservation of wildlife and the global environment, we are confronted with critical water shortages on an unprecedented scale. Our response to this crisis will literally determine the future, not just of populations in the most severely threatened areas, but of our species and of the earth as we know it. Solutions are at hand if we can only come together to cooperate in implementing them.

An illustration showing plastic bags and bottles floating on the surface of the ocean.

Our Plastic Earth

Soon, if not already, the weight of all the plastic in the world’s oceans will weigh more than all of the oceans’ fish, but plastic pollution is everywhere, not just in the oceans.

Our Finite Planet

Earth has endured and survived extreme climate change more than once, with varying impacts on natural life. This time is different. We know the history. We know what’s happening and the impact of our own actions. We understand the limits to crucial resources and what will happen if we do nothing. Most importantly, we have the ability to correct our course in pursuit of a viable future. Are we up to the challenge?

A landscape photo showing several wind turbines at a wind famr in China.

Our Climate Crisis—and What We Can Do About It

Understanding the full economic picture is the first step to making the right choices. What is the true cost and impact of our options? Is there a viable strategy for converting to 100% renewables, increasing efficiency, and reaching zero emissions? How would this impact the world economy?

rocky path

The Rocky Road to a Sustainable Future

“To the extent we live today under clouds of uncertainty about climate change, those clouds are projections not of collective ignorance about the natural world but blindness about the human one, and can be dispersed by human action. This is what it means to live beyond the ‘end of nature’—that it is human action that will determine the climate of the future, not systems beyond our control.”
—David Wallace-Wells, The Uninhabitable Earth: Life After Warming

An image of an Indian man's feet standing on drought stricken cracked earth.

Not a Drop to Drink: Our Looming Global Water Crisis

Not a few years from now, but today, we are facing an unprecedented catastrophe in the planet’s water supply. For drinking, for agriculture, and for preservation of wildlife and the global environment, we are confronted with critical water shortages on an unprecedented scale. Our response to this crisis will literally determine the future, not just of populations in the most severely threatened areas, but of our species and of the earth as we know it. Solutions are at hand if we can only come together to cooperate in implementing them.

An illustration showing plastic bags and bottles floating on the surface of the ocean.

Our Plastic Earth

Soon, if not already, the weight of all the plastic in the world’s oceans will weigh more than all of the oceans’ fish, but plastic pollution is everywhere, not just in the oceans.

External Stories and Videos

Is THIS the Real Reason Weather is Getting Wilder?

▶ Video

Is THIS the Real Reason Weather is Getting Wilder?

PBS

Learn the way that climate change is causing extreme storms, drought and floods.

Can Sea Water Desalination Save the World?

▶ Video

Can Sea Water Desalination Save the World?

CNBC

Globally, one out of three people don’t have ready access to safe drinking water. Why can’t we just take seawater, filter out the salt, and have an unlimited supply of clean, fresh water? Find out why this is a last resort.

Mr. Trash Wheel Is Keeping Baltimore Rivers Clean

▶ Video

Mr. Trash Wheel Is Keeping Baltimore Rivers Clean

Alliance to End Plastic Waste

What has googly eyes and is cleaning up the harbor of Baltimore, USA? Meet the Trash Wheel Family–Mr. Trash Wheel, Professor Trash Wheel, Captain Trash Wheel, and Gwynnda the Good Wheel of the West.

The Threat from Climate Tipping Points

▶ Video

The Threat from Climate Tipping Points

PBS Terra

Is one degree of warming really that big a deal? Yes, it is, and find out why it could lead to even greater climate threats.

Global Energy Outlook 2023

Global Energy Outlook 2023

Resources for the Future

The world may be on the cusp of its first true energy transition, but more ambitious public policies and technological innovations are needed.

Half-Earth

Edward O. Wilson

Pulitzer Prize–winning author and world-renowned biologist Edward O. Wilson states that in order to stave off the mass extinction of species, including our own, we must move swiftly to preserve the biodiversity of our planet.

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Book Reviews

Cover of book Rescuing the Planet by Tony Hiss

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