A primer on the environmental impact of fishing and overfishing

National Geographic presents how to protect the oceans

What can we do to protect and preserve the world's oceans? Be inspired by spectacular wildlife footage from National Geographic while learning key strategies.

How the methods of catching fish for food affects their taste

Commercially caught fish are often killed through suffocation, allowing the causing the fish extreme stress and flooding their bodies with stress hormones and lactic acid. These chemicals cause the fish's flesh to become bitter where it was once rich and quickens the rotting process.

Watch the destructive force of bottom trawling on marine ecosystems

Bottom trawling is a fishing method where a net is dragged along the seafloor to catch a species of interest. The process produces as much carbon dioxide yearly as global aviation and leaves trails of destruction large enough to be seen in space.

How goldfish cause significant environmental damage when released

Researchers have found that goldfish cause "regime shifts" in habitats as they search for food in places like lake beds, kicking up sediment that muddies the water and disrupts small invertebrates. They can also outcompete native species to further destabilize existing food webs.

A visual exploration of the environmental impacts and uncertain demand for deep-sea mining

While models suggest demand for crucial metals is expected to exceed supply through 2050, new battery technologies, such as those that require no nickel or cobalt, introduce uncertainty that opponents of deep-sea mining see as not worth the risk of certain environmental damage, which includes noise and light pollution and the release of toxic plumes from mining equipment.

Founder of The Ocean Cleanup explains the case for cleaning oceans

Removing trash from the oceans not only saves wildlife, it may save human lives, too. The CEO and founder of The Ocean Cleanup explains how existing plastic pollution harms us and get harder to clean up over time.

What happens when the population grows faster than the food supply?

Human history is shaped by our ability to feed ourselves. See how population growth is tied to farmland, and how food production’s profound environmental effect shows us the need for change.

The food industry's hard-to-solve pollution

One-quarter of the world's greenhouse gas emissions result from food and agriculture. That whopping number includes production and post-farm processes like distribution. See a visualization of the data along with a breakdown explaining how each process contributes to emissions, and why it’s so difficult to improve the agriculture industry.

Amazon fires: Causes, impact, and prevention strategies

This article explores the issue of rampant fires in the Amazon rainforest, detailing their root causes, devastating impacts, and potential prevention methods. The Amazon rainforest's unique biodiversity and climate conditions make it unsuitable for...

According to the International Union for Conservation of Nature, as of 2025, there are over 18,000 endangered animal species worldwide, with the share of fish, insects, mollusks, and reptiles increasing since 2007.

What’s the best way to reduce climate impact of food?

Food is a big part of everyone’s carbon footprint, and it’s important to understand the impact of our personal food consumption. Individual food choices can emit as many greenhouse gases as personal electricity use. Plant-based diets generally...

Explaining deep-sea mining, including its economic benefits and potential biomedical risks

Extraction via machines sweeping the ocean floor would reduce child labor and human rights violations currently occurring in land-based operations that collect the minerals needed for modern-day electronics. However, these sweeps may kill undiscovered organisms that possess biologies from which antibiotics could be derived and destabilize deep-sea ecosystems.

Balancing natural resource use: A look at sustainable governance

In an age of escalating environmental crises and increasing inequality, the governance of natural resources is critical to both human well-being and the health of our planet. This article published by the International Institute for Sustainable...

Imagining the farms of the future

About 10,000 years ago, humans began to farm. This agricultural revolution was a turning point in our history and enabled the existence of civilization. Today, nearly 40 percent of our planet is farmland. Spread all over the world, these lands are the pieces to a global puzzle we're all facing: in the future, how can we feed every member of a growing population a healthy diet? Brent Loken investigates in this seven-minute video.

The prevalence of microplastics came from plastic’s affordability and versatility

Microplastics' durability and overuse have led to massive pollution that overwhelms the planet's ecosystems. Avian, terrestrial, and marine life have been observed to contain microplastics in their bodies, but reverting to paper, cotton, and other materials in manufacturing also brings environmental challenges.

How existing technology could prevent nearly 80% of plastic pollution

More than 28 million tons of plastic enters the environment each year, where it harms animals and damages habitats. A study co-authored by researchers at The Pew Charitable Trusts found that this flow can be reduced by nearly 80% in the next 20 years using existing waste management and recycling technology.

How plastic manufacturing could be sustainable again

From polymers to nurdles, learn how plastic is created and what we can do to slow the lasting repercussions this material will have on both our planet and our lives.

What should you eat to help the climate?

Climate change is impacted by what we eat and what we don't eat. Did you know, for instance, that livestock accounts for 14.5 percent of the world’s greenhouse gases each year? Eating less meat and dairy and more protein-rich plants like beans,...

Explore a series of articles on the costs of critical mineral extraction

The acquisition of critical minerals—essential materials for clean energy technologies—has often been accompanied by harm to water supplies, natural ecosystems, and Indigenous lands, raising questions about the overall benefit of these technologies.

Explore the water footprint of producing various proteins, fruits, and vegetables

This interactive gallery highlights the various types of water behind the production of biofuels, foods, and materials such as cotton. Diets high in bovine meat, whose production requires 15,415 liters of water per kilogram (1,847 gallons per pound), are among the most water-intensive, whereas every kilogram of vegetables uses 322 liters of water (39 gal/lb) to produce.

When diving and snorkeling in environments containing reefs, avoid touching reefs, anchoring on them, or using sunscreen with active ingredients harmful to marine life.

Cryptocurrency is reshaping finance, but its environmental impact often sparks debate

Behind the scenes, mining operations consume vast amounts of energy, comparable to the emissions of small nations. What drives this surprising environmental footprint, and can the industry evolve?

An overview of bioremediation, which can help clean up oil spills, mining waste, and some plastics

The umbrella term refers to a variety of techniques that use organisms to remove harmful substances from an environment or break them down into nontoxic compounds. Because the availability of certain resources can limit the growth of these organisms and impair bioremediation efforts, nutrients such as fertilizers can be deployed to accelerate cleanup.

Finance sector has power to help the Amazon rainforest

Read this article to uncover the potential role of the financial industry in addressing deforestation, climate change, and biodiversity loss in the Amazon rainforest. The finance sector can significantly contribute to conservation efforts by...

Amazon rainforest facts, species, and threats

The World Wildlife Federation presents a brief overview of the Amazon rainforest, covering key facts like location, size, and importance. An overview of threats includes unsustainable resource extraction, climate change, and poorly planned construction projects.

View the estimated decomposition times for various everyday plastic products, which often fragment into smaller microplastics as molecular bonds are weakened by sunlight.

How a single company hooked the world on herbicides

How harmful are today’s herbicides for us humans, and for the environments they’re seeping into? And do we really need weedkillers to feed the world?

See this interactive global map that highlights which forever chemicals have been detected in specific wildlife species, providing data on hundreds of species exposed to these hard-to-breakdown substances.

The harsh realities of the Great Pacific Garbage Patch

Misleading images and narratives have caused the public to believe that the Great Pacific Garbage Patch is simply a large clump of floating trash in the ocean. Instead, a more apt description would paint it as a dispersed "soup of microplastics" that severely impacts marine life and the fishing industry. Read for a greater understanding of how the GPGP came to be, and the measures that need to be taken for a cleanup.

Explore an interactive map of global water gaps, caused by human consumption surpassing the rate at which water reserves are replenished by the hydrologic cycle.

While major oil spills result from accidental pipeline ruptures or damage to transportation vessels or rigs, as much as half the oil that reaches coastlines has naturally leaked from the seafloor.

Fish populations in the Great Barrier Reef have increased after installing waterproof speakers on the ocean floor that played recordings of sounds from healthy coral reefs.

The risks of bioremediation, from intermediate products to ecological disruption

A step in the series of complex biochemical reactions involved in the implemented bioremediation process may produce dangerous molecules—sometimes more toxic than the initial pollutants—that require ongoing monitoring to ensure optimal conditions for processing these intermediates toward the eventual, safe outputs. Introducing non-native nutrients or species, including GMOs, may alter existing food webs and gene pools.

From soil to beer, microplastic pollution is all around us

Marine plastic pollution has been studied for decades, but the extent and effects of plastic pollution elsewhere is only just beginning to be explored.

Microplastics 101: What we know about the contaminants invading our bodies

Fifty-one trillion particles of microplastics float in our oceans. Yet there is very little science of how this affects our health. This quick 2-minute video explains the dangers of microplastics.

Alaska's Bristol Bay hosts the world's largest self-sustaining wild salmon runs

Nearly 50 million of the fish return to the area each year to spawn, sometimes in the same spot they were born. A journalist tracked the supply chain journey of one sockeye salmon from the sea to the customer's plate.

Over 1 million fish, marine mammals, and invertebrate species depend on coral reefs for habitats, camouflage, and food.

Agricultural intensification has accelerated declines in pollinator populations

The practice of using farmland more frequently to increase its yield increases the number of residual pesticides and decreases botanical biodiversity. These processes tend to decrease carrying capacity for pollinators by eliminating food sources and nesting habitats.

Forever chemicals accumulate up the food web, with recent research indicating that apex predators have higher concentrations because they're eating prey that also have accumulated the substances.

Interviews with loggers, tribespeople, environmentalists, ranchers, and scientists about Amazon rainforest deforestation.

Around for 10 million years, the Amazon Rainforest might completely disappear before the end of the century. This 10-minute read shares personal accounts from loggers to Indigenous people, with satellite images of the deforestation of a 134,000...

How the world produces food, in drone photos

Drone photographer George Steinmetz spent a decade documenting the vast scope of humanity's agriculture using drone photography. Roughly 40% of the Earth's surface is dedicated to growing food, and experts suggest we must produce 60% more food than we do now to feed the projected population in 2050. Browse the absolutely stunning photos here.

Climate science 101: climate change, its impacts, and potential solutions

How do we know that this warming is happening and that it’s caused by humans? How strong is the evidence? What risks can we expect and what can we do about them?

Fireworks contribute to air, water, and soil contamination and disrupt wildlife

Fireworks displays have far-reaching environmental consequences, including acid rain from displays during storms and microplastic pollution in water supplies. Wildlife has also been seen abandoning sites during fireworks and never returning.

Rachel Carson's 'Silent Spring' exposed the harmful effects of pesticides on food

The 1962 book warned against the use of DDT, a pesticide often sprayed over fields of crops, cautioning that it could be harmful if ingested in excessive amounts by humans. Some credit Carson’s book with inspiring the modern environmental movement and with encouraging the US to establish the Environmental Protection Agency in 1970 and ban the domestic sale of DDT in 1972. (Some readers may experience a paywall.)

View some of the most invasive species in US waters

Introduced in the late 1600s from Eastern Asia, the goldfish is considered the first invasive fish in North America. The venomous lionfish is safe to consume, but catching it is complicated by its reluctance to respond to hook-and-line-style fishing attempts.

By targeting a diverse range of sick and injured marine life, sharks—a type of predatory keystone species—help keep ocean gene pools healthy and promote biodiversity by keeping prey species in check.

Understanding how the commodification of water has contributed to global water scarcity

In 2010, the UN General Assembly recognized access to water and sanitation as a basic human right, noting that an estimated 884 million people worldwide lack access to safe drinking water. The treatment of water as a commodity and reserves as property has contributed to unequal access and competition over its use, which is expected to intensify due to climate change.

Some invasive species' populations have been controlled by turning them into cash crops that can be harvested and sold to produce useful materials.

See a breakdown of how some of the most common food items are traded across the globe, including the key trade relationships for each item.

An overview of the anthropocene: the scale of human influence on Earth

Human activity has fundamentally changed our planet. We live on every continent and have directly affected at least 83% of the planet’s viable land surface.