Sustainability at the Smithsonian

Head and shoulders photo of Denise Breitburg, a woman with glasses and shoulder-length gray hair, with forested mountains in the background.

Smithsonian Environmental Research Center

Wait, the Ocean Is Losing Oxygen? Q&A With Denise Breitburg

A7S09160.jpg

Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute

Centering Relationships Between People and Place: A Critical Step Towards Improving Science's Contributions to Society

IMG_6380.jpg

National Museum of the American Indian

Connecting Community and Collections

A7S09048.jpg

Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute

Harnessing the Wisdom of Indigenous Communities for Marine Conservation

A swarm of yellow fish and silver fish with yellow tailfins swim around a coral reef

Smithsonian Environmental Research Center

Adult Fish Aren't Truly 'Protected' in Many Marine Protected Areas

American bison

Earth Optimism

Six Animals the Smithsonian Has Helped Save From Extinction

Black monkey perches in a tree staring directly at camera

Smithsonian Environmental Research Center

Eight Weird and Wondrous Discoveries From 2023

Sustainability News From Smithsonian Magazine

Travelers can get rewarded for participating in sustainable activities.

SMART NEWS

Copenhagen Is Rewarding Tourists for Good Behavior

In order to build ships strong and technically savvy enough to traverse through some of the most remote and challenging landscapes on Earth, several cruise companies borrowed designs from other parts of the shipping industry.

INNOVATION

How a New Line of Expedition Ships Is Turning the Tides on Polar Seas

None

More Than 98 Percent of Costa Rica’s Energy Is Renewable—Here’s How

The Nesjavellir Geothermal Power Station. Geothermal power has long been popular in volcanic countries like Iceland, where hot water bubbles from the ground.

INNOVATION

Is Geothermal Power Heating Up as an Energy Source?

Workers install solar panels on the roof of King's College Chapel in Cambridge, England.

SMART NEWS

How King's College Added 438 Solar Panels to a 500-Year-Old Chapel

Climate Change News

Firefighters work to contain the Lake Fire burning in Los Padres National Forest in California. More than 3,900 fires have spread across California this year.

SMART NEWS

California Faces a Brutal Wildfire Season, With More Land Burned to Date Than in Recent Years

Flaring, the burning of natural gas at an oil well, takes place on the Fort Berthold Indian Reservation. A large portion of Marathon Oil's emissions comes from flaring.

SMART NEWS

EPA Reaches $241 Million Settlement With Marathon Oil

On July 5, Peruvian authorities recovered the mummified remains of American climber Bill Stampfl from the slopes of Huascarán.

SMART NEWS

Melting Ice Reveals Body of American Mountaineer Missing for 22 Years in the Peruvian Andes

Crickets, beetles and moths are just some of the insects recently approved for human consumption by the Singapore government.

SMART NEWS

Singapore Approves 16 Insect Species for Human Consumption

The Mount Rainier white-tailed ptarmigan is one of the few animals that spends its entire life at high elevations.

SMART NEWS

Meet the Rare, 'Beautiful' Birds That Thrive in Snow and Are at Risk Because of Climate Change

Gilkey Trench in the Juneau Icefield

SMART NEWS

Alaska's Juneau Icefield Is Melting at an 'Incredibly Worrying' 50,000 Gallons per Second, Researchers Find

Delos is a small, rocky island just west of Mykonos in Greece.

SMART NEWS

The Island Known as the Birthplace of Apollo Is Sinking