History

When a toxic waste disaster unfolded in the 1970s, a White housewife became the face of the movement. Down the street, Black mothers worked twice as hard to be heard.

Earth Day coordinator Denis Hayes grew up in Camas, Washington, surrounded by natural beauty and unchecked pollution.

Evidence from the pandemic found that bighorn sheep populations soared when people weren’t around to disturb them.

China’s Great Sparrow Campaign aimed to “conquer nature” but resulted in as many as 75 million human deaths.

More than 50 years after the fall of Portugal’s dictatorship, the authoritarian regime still casts a long shadow over this wildfire-prone country.

Started by one of Yukon’s most colorful characters in the 1960s, the Yukon Wildlife Preserve still helps rehabilitate injured animals and sends a message about living with wildlife.

One species she discovered, a critically endangered plant, eluded modern researchers for decades but has recently been rediscovered — as has Barber herself.

Winged wonders get the spotlight in these new environmental books covering our relationship with nature.

A modern movement to restore the lake symbolizes the broader contest between unsustainable industrialization and challenges such as climate change.

March’s best books examine how cities (and families) can fight climate change; look at the history of Earth Day; and reveal growing threats to the world’s wild spaces.