Stephanie Hanes

2 weeks ago | csmonitor.com | Stephanie Hanes

Soon after he took office, President Donald Trump issued an executive order declaring a “national energy emergency.” Expanding U.S. energy infrastructure and increasing power production was crucial for both the economy and national security, he argued, and he promised to unleash fossil fuels, reduce bureaucratic barriers to new projects, and invest in next-generation nuclear and geothermal power.

2 weeks ago | csmonitor.com | Stephanie Hanes |Riley Robinson

Kayleigh Boyle and Doug Wolcik knew all the reasons not to farm in Vermont: the short growing season, the hilly terrain, the dirt roads that make it hard to get products to market. Even the size of most farms here is a problem. For decades, farms across the United States have gotten larger as agricultural policies pushed growers to consolidate and scale up their operations. Vermont’s farms, however, have stayed relatively small. According to conventional wisdom, that means unprofitable.

1 month ago | csmonitor.com | Stephanie Hanes |Caitlin Babcock

Only a week after the Trump administration’s Environmental Protection Agency announced plans to weaken limits on some of the “forever chemicals” known as PFAS in drinking water, Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s Make America Healthy Again Commission released a much-anticipated report Thursday outlining what it sees as a health crisis among American children.

1 month ago | csmonitor.com | Troy Sambajon |Stephanie Hanes

Beside a restored creek in San Geronimo, California, birds soar where birdies once were scored. Formerly home to an 18-hole golf course, the 157-acre property has been rewilded into a thriving nature preserve. The fairway, once groomed to unnatural perfection, is now overgrown with tall grass and wildflowers. Putting greens have become pastures. A sand trap serves as a children’s play area.

1 month ago | csmonitor.com | Stephanie Hanes

As a postdoctoral researcher at Cornell University a few years ago, Alexa Schmitz was trying to solve a paradox: To reduce the greenhouse gas emissions warming the Earth, the world needed new energy sources, like solar and wind power. But these “green” technologies depend on the mining of critical minerals, which comes with environmental costs. Biology, she and her colleagues believed, could be a solution.