Alec Luhn wrote the feature “Out of Thin Air” about carbon capture in our September 2024 issue and “Rusting Rivers” in our January 2024 issue. He is an award-winning climate journalist who has reported from a town invaded by polar bears, the only floating nuclear power plant and the coldest inhabited place on Earth.
Scientists Clash over whether Polar Geoengineering Is a Dangerous Gamble
Scientists are beginning to take clear sides on whether or not to use human-made interventions to preserve polar ice, such as pumping up seawater or launching aerosols into the atmosphere to cool the planet’s surface
Inside the Bold Geoengineering Work to Refreeze the Arctic’s Disappearing Ice
Researchers are trying to rebuild sea ice above the Arctic Circle so it can reflect the sun’s warming rays, slowing climate change
Polar Geoengineering Experiments Bet Big on Freezing Arctic Ice
Refreezing the melting sea ice in the Arctic is more complicated than you would think. The U.K. is funding geoengineering experiments like this one to curb the effects of climate change.
Trump’s Anti-Climate Agenda Could Boost China’s Global Power
Trumps retreat from climate agreements and tech funding will help China dominate global clean energy markets
Exotic Powder Pulls Carbon Dioxide from the Air at a Record Rate
A unique crystalline compound soaks up CO2 with great efficiency
An Off Day in Brooklyn—And on Uranus
A serious bird flu infection in Canada, a troubling projection of future plastic waste and dispatches from a global climate convention.
Melting Glaciers Are Causing Billions of Dollars of Damage
Thawing ice, from the high peaks to the poles, is producing extraordinarily expensive floods, infrastructure damage and losses to tourism and fishing
Scientists Will Engineer the Ocean to Absorb More Carbon Dioxide
A research consortium plans to revive geoengineering trials of the controversial iron fertilization technique to pull carbon dioxide from the air, despite public backlash
Can Pulling Carbon from Thin Air Slow Climate Change?
Tech firms, oil companies and the U.S. government are investing billions of dollars in carbon capture technology to suck greenhouse gases out of the atmosphere. Can it save the warming world?
Why Are Alaska’s Rivers Turning Orange?
Streams in Alaska are turning orange with iron and sulfuric acid. Scientists are trying to figure out why