Released from factories, powerplants, and vehicles, toxic particles and chemicals can have detrimental effects on both human health and the environment—yet it wasn’t until 1970 that the United States started regulating how much of…
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AMC’s 25 Reasons to Feel Hopeful About Conservation in 2026
As we step into our 150th year, the Appalachian Mountain Club is rooting into something that has guided us from the beginning: optimism. The outdoors faced real challenges in 2025, yet our community showed up with courage...
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Fifty years ago, Congress passed arguably the most important environmental and public health legislation to date: the Clean Air Act (CAA). By setting emissions standards for vehicles and industrial factories, the act has removed…
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The greenhouse effect has caused the Earth’s average temperature to rise 1.62 degrees Fahrenheit since such records were first kept in the late 19th century. This may not seem like a significant increase, but even…
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Most birds start singing just before sunrise, and in June, that means 4 a.m. Dave Cowan had already cleaned up his campsite and was close to the summit of Maine’s Baker Mountain when he heard…
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Each winter, when snow blankets a normally mild region of the country or a polar vortex sinks large swaths of America into a deep freeze, the questions begin. They mostly boil down to a…
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Nearly all scientists agree: the global climate is getting warmer. According to NASA records, Earth’s average surface temperature has risen 1.62 degrees Fahrenheit since the late 19th century. All but one of the 16…
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Measuring a person’s carbon footprint includes a number of factors. Choices we make, from the food we eat, to the products we use and industries we support, to the distances we travel, play into…
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Every day, the average American family uses 300 gallons of drinking water, for consumption, bathing, cooking, laundry, and other household chores, according to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). Where that water originates and how…
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For more than four decades, Ken Powley has made his living on the Lehigh River. The founder of Whitewater Challengers, a whitewater rafting company in Weatherly, Pa., Powley has guided thousands of visitors over rapids,…
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