
The chameleon’s guide to making buildings green
In a bid to one-up white paint, researchers devised a new coating that keeps buildings cool in summer and warm in winter by changing color based on ambient temperature. No energy required.

For some birds, a “taxi” helps recalibrate out-of-sync migrations
Pied flycatchers in the Netherlands were arriving late as climate change pushed spring earlier. Scientists drove them north to Sweden, and then they thrived.

Researchers sketch out a manifesto for tackling farm plastic
12 million tonnes of plastic go into agriculture each year, some straight into the soil. Can we loosen plastic’s grip on farming?

In the race to pull carbon from the air, did rocks just overtake trees?
Plants and animals are fast, ephemeral carbon sinks. Rocks are permanent and slow. But with some human help, geology is starting to speed up.
It's time to upgrade not just our technology, but also our collective imagination.
Discover Anthropocene’s newest and most forward-looking project: Climate reporting from the future. Live story-telling events and online stories.

Current Issue
The Upcycled Car by Mark Harris
…………………………….
Enhanced Rock Weathering by Dan Ferber
…………………………….
How to Shrink the Carbon Footprint of Health Care by Sarah DeWeerdt
…………………………….
Carbon Negative Construction by Lucy Wang
…………………………….
Glacial Elevation Operations by Kim Stanley Robinson
Could weathered rock be the magic dust that vaults us towards our climate goals?
Building on previous research, a new study estimates how much carbon farmers could lock away by spreading crushed rock on croplands. Their numbers are enormous.
To get people to switch to green energy. . . make the switch for them
An opt-out rather than opt-in model for renewable power programs yields high participation with few downsides
What would happen if plant-based alternatives replaced half of meat and milk consumption?
Short answer: a lot. A new study found that meat substitution would cut global agricultural GHG emission by 31%, water use by 10%, and spare a quarter of the land needed to reach 2030 biodiversity targets.

Now it’s time to invest in climate solutions journalism
Let’s face it, crisis reporting can only take us so far. It narrows our choices to freaking out—or tuning out.
Anthropocene Magazine takes a different tact. We don’t barrage people with evermore crises; instead, we shine a light on feasible, science-based solutions.
This work is essential to charting a path forward, and you won’t find it anywhere else. But it doesn’t come free. As a nonprofit, we depend on the support of readers like you to keep this critical work going.
The Anthropocene Nightstand
Bookmarks for a Human Age
Cloudy with a chance of warblers
Strides in computer power and artificial intelligence have enabled scientists to gauge the almost unimaginable scale of nighttime migrations—more than 700 million birds on some nights in the US.
The Resurgence of Solar Agriculture
Can farmers get the same food production under solar panels that they currently do growing lettuce for your dinner table the old-fashioned way—directly under the sun? There’s an increasing body of research suggesting that they can.
As deciduous trees take over boreal forests, they could reverse carbon losses from massive fires
Researchers found that stands that had shifted to deciduous dominance had a net increase in carbon storage by a factor of five over the disturbance cycle
David Quammen
What if evolution isn’t linear, as Charles Darwin proposed when he first sketched the tree of life?
Emily Anthes
Amphibious architecture responds to floods like ships to a rising tide, floating on the water’s surface.
Oliver Morton
The godlike powers of geoengineering irrevocably change the human’s relationship with Planet Earth.
Frances Cairncross
What is the optimal rollout of carbon taxes and research subsidies to speed up the transition to a low-carbon economy?
David Biello
Welcome to the brave new world of artificial intelligence for conservation.
Veronique Greenwood
The rise of fast fashion and the technology that needs to change to keep your clothes out of the garbage.
Fred Pearce
Some economies may be quietly, and surprisingly approaching a phenomenon economists call “peak stuff.
Akshat Rathi
What if we could transform cement from a climate wrecker into a carbon sponge?
Ted Nordhaus
The climate change apocalypse problem
Andrew Revkin
The word “anthropocene” has become the closest thing there is to common shorthand for this turbulent, momentous, unpredictable, hopeless, hopeful time—duration and scope still unknown
Vandana Singh
How might science fiction constructively contribute to the Human Age?
I have an article idea. How can I contribute? What’s the status of my membership? How can I get print copies of the magazine?
Find answers to these questions and more >>
What happened to Conservation Magazine—the precursor to Anthropocene?