This April 22, the world will come together to celebrate Earth Day – treasuring our planet and raising awareness about climate change and environmental issues.

Earth Day was first proposed by Senator Gaylord Nelson in 1969. He wanted a day where everyone could come together and take action to prevent the further destruction of our planet.

The first Earth Day took place on April 22, 1970, and involved about 20 million Americans. Since then, it has been globalized and celebrated by more than one billion people around the world every year.

Earlier this month, the National Weather Service (NWS) announced that it would be making fewer launches of weather balloons.

This was blamed on shortages of the gases hydrogen and helium that are used to propel the balloons into the air.

The NWS has stated that the quality of weather forecasts would not be affected by fewer weather balloons. However, many meteorologists disagree. They argue that the shortage would affect the precision of computer models that weather forecasts depend upon.

Did you know that birds are now laying their eggs up to a month earlier than they did a century ago?

In a new study, Chicago scientists traveled back in time and examined the Field Museum’s extensive eggshell collection. They compared these preserved eggs, collected from 1880 to 1920, to more recent observations of bird nests.

Scientists believe that warming temperatures are responsible for this trend. Let’s take a closer look at how the birds’ behavior is being affected by changing climate.

Climate change has contributed to many unusual environmental occurrences in our world. Last March, another unprecedented climate-related event took place in Antarctica. 

For the first time since satellite imagery was deployed at the South Pole, an ice shelf in East Antarctica collapsed. Scientists believe that the collapse of the Conger ice shelf was caused by a period of atypical weather along with extremely low sea ice. 

Let’s dive further into the concerns and causes behind ice sheet collapse.

Torrential rainstorms sweeping across Durban have South Africa’s government declaring a state of disaster.

With rain causing devastating floods and landslides, the third most populated city of South Africa is facing a death toll of over 440. Homes, buildings, and roads have been destroyed by floods. 

Have you ever been to Antarctica? Just a couple of decades ago, less than ten thousand people visited the southernmost continent each year, but now visitors have increased to nearly 75,000.

However, the large number of tourists comes at a price- we are leaving large black carbon footprints behind from the exhaust of cruise ships and other machinery.

Recently, a man was sentenced to two years of prison after being caught robbing hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of "dudleyas."

The dudleya is a unique, cactus-like succulent that has grown in value and popularity as a house and garden plant over the past few years. This pointy little succulent has been illegally harvested from its natural environment in California and sold for mass profits around the globe.

El martes 15 de marzo, el mundo perdió a un pionero en astrofísica. El Dr. Eugene Parker falleció a principios de la semana pasada a la edad de 94 años.

El Dr. Parker era conocido por su investigación revolucionaria de heliofísica, la ciencia del sol y sus interacciones con el sistema solar.

En los últimos años, la contaminación del agua ha sido noticia para las comunidades humanas: Flint, Houston y Las Vegas son solo algunos ejemplos de ciudades con agua de mala calidad.

Pero, ¿sabías que la contaminación del agua también afecta a muchas otras especies de nuestro planeta? Los vertidos de residuos industriales, los vertidos marinos y las fugas de petróleo afectan a muchos ecosistemas acuáticos.

¿Sabías que la costumbre de adelantar una hora nuestros relojes durante el año se originó por primera vez en la Primera Guerra Mundial?