Glenn Scherer

Email address

About

Glenn is a journalist and editor whose writing about the environment has appeared on ScientificAmerican.com, Salon.com, Grist.org, DailyClimate.org, and in more than 150 U.S. newspapers. He has worked as a researcher and speechwriter for TV journalist Bill Moyers, and co-founded Blue Ridge Press in 2007, a nationally syndicated environmental commentary service published in 550 of the nation’s newspapers which has reached more than 90 million readers.

RSS

1231 stories

The Kutuk River in Gates of the Arctic National Park, Alaska.

Permafrost, wetland, wildfire and freshwater emissions could amplify climate change by up to 30%, study finds

Liz Kimbrough 2 Oct 2026

2015’s very strong El Niño triggered a prolonged drought and humanitarian crisis in Ethiopia.

Evidence builds showing climate change could be intensifying El Niño events

Sean Mowbray 30 Sep 2026

Hurricane Melissa as seen from the International Space Station.

Earth life support systems are flashing red, warns 2026 Planetary Health Check

Sean Mowbray 24 Sep 2026

A herd of vicuña in Salar de Chalviri, Bolivia

Copper boom fueling energy transition puts Earth’s wildlands at risk

Gerry McGovern, Sue Branford 22 Sep 2026

Residents of Bielsko-Biała, Poland, walk through sprinklers to stay cool during a heat wave.

Rooftop rainwater sprinkler systems could help cool warming cities, study says

Nick Ruggia 18 Sep 2026

‘Don’t shoot. Listen’: The AI-aided quest to understand Yellowstone’s wolves

Justin Catanoso 16 Sep 2026

An Indigenous man walks on a dried-up tributary of the Angat river in the Philippines. Rising temperatures and El Niño conditions have impacted the level of the Angat dam, which supplies water to the capital city of Manila. Image by Gigie Cruz/GHHIN-EJN Extreme Heat Photo Contest 2025 via Flickr (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0).

World must look to the past to prepare for likely unprecedented El Niño

Sean Mowbray 23 Aug 2026

Street trees shading an asphalt road in Málaga, Spain. While trees are the obvious go-to cooling solution, their upkeep can be expensive.

Urban heat islands have solutions; many tropical cities can’t afford them

Adam Litchkofski 13 Aug 2026

48758842257_1f2ee7e507_k.jpg Drug-resistant infections remain a top global public health threat, leading to around 5 million deaths worldwide each year. Recent research suggests that microplastic pollution is accelerating the development of resistant bacteria. Image by DFID – UK Department for International Development via Flickr (CC BY 2.0).

Microplastic pollution can fuel rise in antibiotic resistance, studies find

Claire Asher 8 Jul 2026

Left to right, the Netherlands' Minister for Climate Policy and Green Growth, Stientje van Veldhoven; along with Colombia's Minister of Environment and Sustainable Development, Irene Vélez Torres; and Ana Toni, COP30 CEO, during the launch of the outcome report from the First Conference on Transitioning Away from Fossil Fuels at the London Climate Action Week. Image courtesy of Wilder García/ Ministry of Environment and Sustainable Development of Colombia.

Santa Marta report by 57 nations defines rapid fossil fuel transition path

Julian Reingold 2 Jul 2026

A howler monkey in the Amazon. As the world warms, plants and animals must quickly migrate to cooler places to stay resilient and survive.

Study offers first map of Amazon’s climate-resilient upslope corridors

Justin Catanoso 22 Jun 2026

INC Vice Chair Johanna Lissinger-Peitz, Sweden, passes the gavel to new INC Chair Julio Cordano, Chile, in February 2026.

With plastic treaty in limbo, Mongabay speaks to top negotiator Julio Cordano

Charles Pekow 18 Jun 2026

A desert pampas cat (Leopardus garleppi). A genetic study caused researchers to raise an alarm over a small, unique, dry mangrove-adapted population being genetically unhealthy, putting it at risk for local extinction. Image courtesy of the Peruvian Desert Cat Project.

Genetic study reveals extinction risk for unique mangrove-adapted pampas cat

Sean Mowbray 5 Jun 2026

Dove Lake beneath Cradle Mountain in Tasmania’s highlands, where cool, ocean-influenced conditions have helped slow the pace of climate change across the landscape. Image by Stefan Lovgren.

Long dubbed a ‘climate refuge,’ warming Tasmanian forests need our help

Stefan Lovgren 12 May 2026

Awareness of leopard cats is generally low across their range, as they are small, difficult to spot, and are sometimes mistaken for domesticated cats or leopard cubs.

Asia’s mainland leopard cat is abundant but still cloaked in mystery

Annelise Giseburt 11 May 2026

Burned-over forest in the Brazilian state of Acre, one of the epicenters of deforestation in the Amazon.

Deforestation and warming could push Amazon to tipping point by 2040s: Study

Sean Mowbray 7 May 2026

During prolonged floods, many residents of Vietnam’s Mekong Delta are unable to grow and harvest crops. NGOs have stepped in to help with basic food supplies and cash during times of crisis. Image courtesy of Anh Duong Community Development and Support Center.

The world’s great deltas are sinking — and with them, a global food system

Petro Kotzé 6 May 2026

The Golden dorado (Salminus brasiliensis), a powerful migratory freshwater fish native to the Pantanal and Paraná River Basin, shown here being held by researcher Zeb Hogan. Highly prized by recreational anglers and important to commercial fisheries, the species has declined in parts of its range due to dam construction.

Migratory freshwater fish are in trouble: Will we act in time to save them?

Stefan Lovgren 1 May 2026

Wind farm off Pingtan Island in Pingtan county, Fuzhou, China. Image by Kilian Murphy via Unsplash.

Offshore wind’s clean energy potential remains largely untapped, say experts

Sean Mowbray 27 Apr 2026

An Atlantic Forest frog, Dendrophryniscus haddadi. Amphibians are susceptible to habitat split due to its negative impact on their life cycles, but the researchers note that such impacts (including microbiome changes) likely apply to numerous other species in wide-ranging ecosystems.

Linking habitats strengthens wildlife microbiomes, helps fight disease: Study

Sean Mowbray 23 Apr 2026

The King River enters Macquarie Harbour, where decades of mining have contributed to contaminated sediment buildup at the river’s delta. Image by Stefan Lovgren.

In Tasmania, the mines have closed but the rivers remember

Stefan Lovgren 16 Apr 2026

The cerulean warbler, a near-threatened species, breeds in North America and migrates thousands of miles to winter in the Andes Mountains of South America. It also makes stopovers all along the way. Image courtesy of Luke Seitz via Cornell Lab of Ornithology.

Americas flyways atlas maps the routes of 89 at-risk migratory bird species

Adam Litchkofski 16 Apr 2026

Sunset over the tropical Pacific Ocean off Hawai‘i. The new study points to the climactic interconnectivity of the world’s warming oceans, where humid heat waves often originate, and faraway terrestrial landscapes, where humid heat waves can threaten public health.

Tropics take the brunt as hotter oceans drive large-scale humid heat waves: Study

Adam Litchkofski 10 Apr 2026

Palm trees, which make up 20% of the trees in the Amazon, grow mixed among various tree and grass species in the southern Peruvian Amazon lowlands of Manu National Park.

Novel research finds unexpected climate resilience in up to 36% of Amazon forest

Justin Catanoso 10 Apr 2026

A chicken (Gallus gallus domesticus) is weighed at a live poultry market in West Harlem as a customer stands nearby. The stacking of live animal cages allows bodily waste to drop into the cages below, facilitating disease spread. Image by Cate Twining-Ward.

Avian bird flu surges in New York urban wildlife, increasing disease concerns

Cate Twining-Ward 7 Apr 2026

Muskoxen on Ellesmere Island. As a species, muskoxen have been around for a million years and are often called “ice-age survivors.” Though they have one of the lowest levels of genetic diversity of any mammal, the full suite of immune-related genes are intact in the species, says muskox expert Anne Gunn.

Canadian muskoxen hit by double punch of novel diseases and climate change

Ruth Kamnitzer 3 Apr 2026

Research finds that there are already places on Earth where it gets so hot and humid at times during the year that it’s unsafe for either younger or older adults to do more than lie down or sit outdoors. Photo by NOAA.

Global warming already impacts daily lives around the globe, study finds

Mike Gaworecki 30 Mar 2026

Research shows that a koala’s gut microbiome directly influences its diet limitations, determining the species of eucalyptus it can eat. Translocations and reintroductions should take this relationship into account, says Michaela Blyton. Image by Mathias Appel via Flickr (CC0 1.0).

Poop pills and gut microbes: Wildlife microbiome studies aid conservation

Sean Mowbray 26 Mar 2026

Researcher Lisiane Hahn and colleagues have tagged and released piraíba fitted with tracking devices, generating new data that reveal previously undocumented migrations of this South American species. Image courtesy of Lisiane Hahn.

325 Long-neglected migratory freshwater fish species need protection now: Report

Stefan Lovgren 25 Mar 2026

Should potentially harmful chemicals be appraised by class, not one at a time?

Liz Kimbrough 19 Mar 2026

Wood pellets for biomass energy. Image courtesy of Dogwood Alliance.

Forest advocates accuse EU energy firm of Dutch biomass certification fraud

Justin Catanoso 13 Mar 2026

A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket carrying the company's Dragon spacecraft is launched on NASA’s SpaceX Crew-12 mission to the International Space Station.

Rush to put AI data centers in space poses poorly understood dangers

Sean Mowbray 11 Mar 2026

1 2 3 … 39 Next »

News and Inspiration from Nature's Frontline.

A customary longhouse in Sungai Utik.

you're currently offline