"At the annual SXSW Eco, a conference in Austin, Texas, you'll find a lot of serious discussion of the rapid decline of the Earth's ecosystems."

"Here’s to the continual intellectual tussles that produce technological leaps like the super-efficient and durable LED light bulbs that are increasingly displacing incandescent and fluorescent bulbs (and sooty kerosene lamps) and garnered a Nobel Prize for three physicists on Tuesday."

"Every day at remote oil fields across the globe, unwanted gas burns skyward. What goes up in flames could meet a quarter of the United States' natural gas demand. A small nonprofit using satellite imagery puts it on the map."

"Belize has made a great effort to protect its coral reef system — the largest in the Western Hemisphere — by establishing more than a dozen protected areas. But patrolling large stretches of ocean and coastline and enforcing fishing regulations takes time, people and boats. Or drones."

"An independent journalist says he's found a way around the so-called 'ag-gag' laws by flying drones over large livestock operations to document animal welfare problems and pollution."

"The scientists want to be very clear: They are not saying we should build a storm-surge barrier across the mouth of the Chesapeake Bay."