Climate Solutions

What it takes to live near an elephant herd

As their numbers grow and their habitats shrink, Indian elephants are having more run-ins with people.

By Bhagi Siva and Samanth Subramanian

Letter from the Editor

Executive editor Sally Buzbee on The Post's Climate Solutions coverage.

By Sally Buzbee

3 tips for warming your home that can save energy and help the planet

Heating uses more energy and costs more money than any other system in the average home.

By Allyson Chiu

Frigid weather saps EV batteries. Here’s how to keep yours running.

There are a few reasons cold temperatures impact EVs. Here’s what to know and a few tips that may help.

By Amudalat Ajasa

For truckers driving EVs, there’s no going back

Electric trucks still make up only a tiny fraction of trucks on the road in the United States.

By Shannon Osaka

Uncharted TerritoryA look at the new frontier of ocean exploration, and ways to harness the sea's power for regeneration.

The high-tech hunt for one of the world’s most elusive sharks

Armed with new DNA tools, scientists are tracking animals’ genetic trail, helping us understand the breadth of life on Earth like never before.

By Dino Grandoni and Photos and videos by Greg Lecoeur

Alaska’s newest gold rush: Seaweed

In Alaska, ocean farming could chart a different path from the sort of extraction that’s defined it for more than two centuries.

By Juliet Eilperin

The race to map the world’s seagrass — before it disappears

Seagrasses are one of the world’s most productive underwater ecosystems, but they've long been overlooked.

By Allyson Chiu

Green SpacesBlueprints for a more resilient planet

This old-school building material could take over city skylines

Architects are experimenting with a greener way to build.

By William Booth

An architect has found a way to build flood-proof homes

A star architect is building swaths of flood-resistant homes out of bamboo. What makes the material so “marvelous”?

By Nick Aspinwall

Editors’ picks

Why you should almost always wash your clothes on cold

Laundry can be the most significant thing that you do when it comes to reducing your clothes' environmental impact, experts say.

By Allyson Chiu

You’re probably recycling wrong. This quiz will help you sort it out.

What can go in my blue bin? The answer can be different from one neighborhood to the next, but fortunately, following some key guidelines should help improve your recycling no matter where you live.

By Bonnie Berkowitz, Artur Galocha and Adrian Blanco

This glacier was a tourist destination. Now it offers a warning.

Peru’s “Route of Climate Change” takes visitors to a melting glacier — and aims to teach them along the way.

By Sarah Kaplan

In Scotland, making whisky with energy from wind, wood chips and tides

Scotland's whisky industry is trying to go net-zero. It's not easy.

By William Booth

You could be doing laundry wrong. How to save energy and your clothes.

Doing laundry guzzles water, gobbles energy, releases polluting tiny plastic particles and can shorten the life of your clothes.

By Allyson Chiu

Winter storm tests Texas green grid upgrades

By Nicolás Rivero

Which kind of reusable water bottle is best? We asked the experts.

By Nicolás Rivero

Which proteins contain the most microplastics?

By Allyson Chiu

Why many coffee shops won’t let you bring your own mug

By Allyson Chiu

Why people don’t have to pay anything for electricity in this Florida community

In Hunters Point, Florida, the first LEED Zero Energy-certified residential development in the world, every house produces more electricity than it consumes.

By Nicolás Rivero

Indoor houseplants come with a cost to the planet. Here’s how to minimize it.

There’s a hidden environmental cost to raising houseplants, but you can garden more sustainably by following these suggestions.

By Nicolás Rivero

A flood-prone historic site decides to live with rising water rather than fight it

The site of the Battleship North Carolina faces peril from a rising sea. Now those who run it want to surrender some of its land back to nature.

By Brady Dennis

Is climate-friendly flying possible? Biden administration places a big wager.

Billions of dollars in new tax credits aim to cut jet emissions — but experts worry they could make the problem worse.

By Evan Halper

(Sima Diab/FTWP)

Why these homes in the hottest places don’t need AC

I traveled in the hottest months to the hottest places, looking for ways to stay cool.

By Philip Kennicott

How age-old food science could make fake meat taste better

Protein-rich products made from fermentation could play a significant role in supporting a shift away from resource-intensive ways of producing food.

By Allyson Chiu

Why science says kids should have fewer toys

‘Tis the season to buy toys. But research shows that less is more, for sustainability, and for kids’ play.

By Maggie Penman

Drinking toilet water may be the future of drought-stricken California

California voted to allow water companies to turn treated waste into potable water as climate change and water scarcity become increasingly urgent issues for the state.

By Victoria Bisset

With few easy solutions to their climate problem, airlines rethink contrails

Contrails, the wispy clouds that trail behind planes, can trap heat and warm the planet. Airlines are testing ways to avoid creating them.

By Nicolás Rivero

How to make holiday gift wrapping less wasteful

Festive wrapping paper, bows and ribbons can be costly for the environment. Here’s what to know about recycling gift wrap and how you can reduce waste.

By Allyson Chiu

Klamath River dam removal hopes to undo decades of ecological destruction

The largest-ever dam removal is underway, a milestone in the nation’s reckoning over its past attempts to bend nature to human will.

By Reis Thebault, Alice Li and Melina Mara

These yard signs offer an inconvenient truth about sea level rise

Miami artist Xavier Cortada enlists residents to display their homes’ elevations on yard signs to underscore the city’s vulnerability to sea level rise.

By Nicolás Rivero

The secret to getting people to eat more plant-based food

New research suggests many people are less likely to choose food products without meat and dairy if they’re labeled as “vegan” or “plant-based.”

By Allyson Chiu

Sewers are overflowing everywhere. One solution is right in your backyard.

Rain gardens can intercept pollutants before they wash into rivers.

By Rachel McCrea

Don’t use a space heater this winter. Do this instead.

Space heaters generally use 750 to 1,500 watts, which translates to six to 12 kilowatt hours of electricity for eight hours of use.

By Allyson Chiu

Farmers race to innovate as climate change threatens African food supply

Scientists, government officials and farmers are reviving neglected crops and boosting agricultural productivity to feed people in Africa.

By Katharine Houreld

(Santypan/Shutterstock / santypan)

Why you should think twice about cranking up your thermostat as it gets cold

By Allyson Chiu

(Washington Post illustration; iStock)

The government is giving out money for energy upgrades. What to buy now.

By Shannon Osaka

A plane fueled by fat and sugar has crossed the Atlantic Ocean

The Virgin Atlantic flight used only sustainable aviation fuel to cross the Atlantic Ocean from London to New York on Tuesday. It’s a step toward zero-carbon flight.

By Nicolás Rivero

An architect has found a way to build flood-proof homes

By Nick Aspinwall

The easy way to save up to 20 percent on your heating bill this winter

By Allyson Chiu

How to shop for kids without adding to the mountain of plastic

By Maggie Penman

The unexpected benefit of choosing a smaller portion at Thanksgiving

By Nicolás Rivero

These baby turtle eggs were going to be ‘bar snacks.’ Watch the hatchlings return to the sea.

By Michael J. Coren

This fridge hack can slash your food waste

By Nicolás Rivero

One solution to the plastic crisis may lie in bugs’ bellies

By Allyson Chiu

Wind and solar energy are booming in surprising places

By Shannon Osaka

Why companies are racing to build the world’s biggest bug farm

By Nicolás Rivero

The Lego-like way to get CO2 out of the atmosphere

By Shannon Osaka

Electric vehicles are hitting a road block: Car dealers

By Shannon Osaka

An effort to create the strictest workplace heat rules in the U.S. failed

By Nicolás Rivero

The people and organizations tackling our biggest environmental challenges