Helen Palmer

What do all those Hs and Ns in the names of flu strains even mean?

A "carbon farming" expert explains how smart perennial planting can help your garden sequester more carbon, and produce more food.

Eric Toensmeier is helping farmers and gardeners plant crops that sequester more CO2.

You may call them weeds, but a new book suggests thinking of them as spontaneous urban plants — an overlooked urban ecology that may provide more benefits than we think.

Africa’s ambitious Great Green Wall project is getting global support for its twin goals of slowing desertification and helping to provide employment to keep young people on the land.

Fighting fungal diseases that have killed millions of frogs and other amphibians has become an urgent priority for scientists worldwide. Now, some new research suggests that natural soil bacteria might provide protection from these devastating diseases.

The Green Revolution of the 1960s was deemed a huge success in India, increasing crop yields up to ten times. But fifty years on, it has left an environmental toll that is driving some Indian farmers to go back to ancient agricultural practices.

John Muir, one of the fathers of American conservation, helped establish many of the west’s national parks. Now a chamber music group called Chance is celebrating Muir’s history and conservation legacy with a narrative concert that incorporates vocals, strings and readings from his works.

ELF stands for Electric, Light and Fun. And as Living on Earth's Helen Palmer reported in 2013, the ELF is a novel invention: a solar and human-powered, covered tricycle designed to help cultivate a commuting revolution, and combat climate change. It's now two years since it's kickstarter campaign was funded, and the ELF has been gaining traction.

Countries in the developing world often have limited access to modern conveniences, such as clean water and affordable electricity, and extreme weather events linked to climate change are worsening the issue. Now, the Liter of Light project has fashioned a clever and affordable solution: recycling discarded plastic water bottles into solar light bulbs and illuminating the larger problem of energy poverty throughout the world.