Superfoods and the environment - Avocados and blueberries from South America

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Superfood fruits - good for us, but bad for the environment? Growing avocados and blueberries requires a lot of water; and because they’re usually transported to Germany from other continents, that also leaves a large carbon footprint.

Farming of the future - From "green genetic engineering" to vertical farms

 

Currently, enough food is produced worldwide to feed everyone alive. But what if, by the end of this century, more than 10 billion people inhabit the earth? Agriculture as we know it today is highly efficient. It feeds more people than at any time in history. But there is a catch: Food may fill our supermarkets, but it is pushing our planet to its limits.

World's biggest dam: China's engineering masterpiece or environment disaster? | 60 Minutes Australia

 This is China's most spectacular extravaganza. A hundred years in the making, costing $25 billion, one of the biggest engineering feats the world has ever seen. And, according to its critics, an environmental disaster on a monumental scale.

How to be a cloud detective

 

What's the difference between weather and climate?

 

With extreme weather events on the rise, Reality Check's Chris Morris unpacks the difference and relationship between weather and climate.

Why beef is the worst food for the climate

Our consumption habits emit billions of tons of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere. Our diets account for one-fourth of those emissions. The food we eat emits so many greenhouse emissions because of the land it takes to grow it, but it also has something to do with biology. This video explains why the production of some foods emit more than others, and which foods to avoid to be a more climate-conscious consumer.

Why the US has so many tornadoes

The United States experiences more tornadoes than any other country, averaging over 1,200 per year. Most of those twisters are touching down in the central part of the country in an area called “Tornado Alley.” While the boundaries of this tornado hotbed are disputed, there’s no denying that something is going on here — and it all has to do with geography.

How humans disrupted a cycle essential to all life

Carbon cycles through earth at a steady pace. Plants and microorganisms absorb carbon, which helps them grow. Animals and bacteria eat the plants, breathe out carbon into the atmosphere, and take some carbon underground when they die. And a similar process happens in the ocean. It's nearly a closed loop, although some plants and animals don't decay fast enough so they turn into fossil fuel, which traps the carbon underground. But one animal started to dig up that carbon — and burn it.