All FERN Articles

One man is trying to save the world from climate change by mobilizing an unlikely team: Iowa’s farmers

By Photography by Dennis Chamberlin

In early March, just a week before the Midwest was inundated by catastrophic flooding, a dozen farmers gathered at the First Presbyterian Church in Grinnell, Iowa, for an event billed as a conversation about “Faith, Farmers, and Climate Action.” “How is God calling you to use your farm to improve the world?” asked the evening’s… » Read More

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    Mother Jones

As oceans heat up, the types of seafood we eat will change

By Illustrations by Charlotte Knox

There is no better place to ogle California seafood, in all its bizarre bounty, than the Santa Barbara harbor on a Saturday morning. Vendors line City Pier alongside bobbing boats with names like New Hazard and Fishin’ Mission, their booths thronged by customers speaking a half-dozen languages. The wares at this fishermen’s market are as… » Read More

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    EatingWell

Down on the smart farm

By Photography by Nayan Sthankiya

Trevor Scherman is getting more rest these days, thanks to his iPad. Scherman is a farmer who grows wheat, peas, canola and lentils near Battleford, Saskatchewan. Like legions of farmers in both Canada and the United States, he uses precision agriculture technology—cutting-edge tools like drones and satellite imagery—to keep a careful watch on his crops.… » Read More

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The Loophole: How American forests fuel the EU’s appetite for ‘green’ energy

By Photography by George Steinmetz

The smoke billows like cream in coffee off Lebanon Church road, above the pine stands and winter fallow, a sharp palette of blue and green and white. Heavy with trees and scraps from the surrounding forests of Northampton County, the trucks come and go all day long, downshifting here just before the Methodist  church and… » Read More

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As coastal flooding surges, ‘living shorelines’ seen as the answer

By Photography by John Althouse

On August 27, 2011, Hurricane Irene crashed into North Carolina, eviscerating the Outer Banks. The storm dumped rain shin-high and hurled three-meter storm surges against the barrier island shores that faced the mainland, destroying roads and 1,100 homes. After the storm, a young ecologist then at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill named… » Read More

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    Scientific American

Today’s special: Grilled salmon laced with plastic

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Nearly 50 years ago, scientists studying the North Atlantic Ocean started noticing that tiny fragments of plastic were turning up in their plankton and seaweed samples. The microparticles, they found, absorbed toxic chemicals and were then eaten by flounder, perch, and other fish. Until recently, though, researchers thought these ingested plastics stayed in a creature’s guts and… » Read More

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  • 8 million readers
    Mother Jones

For years, complaints about North Carolina’s hog pollution vanished in state bureaucracy

By Photography by Alex Boerner and Rick Dove

In September 2016, with Tropical Storm Hermine bearing down on North Carolina, Kemp Burdette rented a single-engine plane and flew over Duplin County. Burdette, a riverkeeper with the environmental group Cape Fear River Watch, was worried that some of the local pig farmers might try to drain their manure lagoons before the rains hit, to… » Read More

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Is the U.S. chicken industry cheating its farmers?

By and

The U.S. poultry industry is able to share highly detailed information on farmer pay, leaked documents show, giving companies the potential to collude and suppress prices paid to farmers already struggling to keep themselves afloat on razor thin margins. A report for poultry companies produced by a secretive data-sharing company, reviewed in a joint investigation… » Read More

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Are We Handling the Bee Crisis All Wrong?

By Photography by Jeb Wallace-Brodeur

On a crisp June morning at Knoll Farm, high above Vermont’s Mad River Valley, Charlie Nicholson stalked a bumblebee. He tiptoed behind the bee as it buzzed along a row of blueberry bushes, carrying a net that resembled a lacrosse stick. “The trick is to catch the bee without smashing the bush,” he said. “When… » Read More

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