Environmental Matters
Everything has a history, including the air we breathe, the water we drink, and the environments we inhabit—as well as the ways we think about, understand, and confront waste, pollution, and climate change.
![](https://www.sciencehistory.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/lets_look_at_the_shape_of_things_final2-415x257.jpg)
DISTILLATIONS MAGAZINE
How Two Outsider Scientists Saw Inside Climate Change
Eunice Foote and Guy Callendar showed the warming effects of CO2 in the atmosphere.
![plastic bag with a colorful background](https://www.sciencehistory.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/plastic_bag_exhibition_hero-600x371.jpeg)
EXHIBITIONS
Is the Plastic Bag History?
This outdoor and digital exhibition explores the history of a familiar object from a surprising number of angles.
![Color illustration of a rare earths mine, with people looking distressed.](https://www.sciencehistory.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/rareearths_part_2.2_0-415x257.jpg)
DISTILLATIONS PODCAST
Rare Earths: The Hidden Cost to Their Magic
There are plenty of these essential elements, but getting them out of the ground leaves behind massive environmental damage.
![colorful board game](https://www.sciencehistory.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/litterbug_game_board-e1680705531766-415x257.jpg)
EXHIBITIONS
Playing Dirty
This outdoor and digital exhibition explores the intersections of environmentalism, education, and fun through board games from the 1970s.
![Youth in stream wearing waders holding net](https://www.sciencehistory.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/student_pair_checking_their_net-415x257.jpeg)
DISTILLATIONS MAGAZINE
Ruth Patrick’s Lovely Creatures
The groundbreaking ecologist showed that the biological diversity within a stream can be used to diagnose its health.
![](https://www.sciencehistory.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/bio-solomon-globe-415x257.jpg)
SCIENTIFIC BIOGRAPHIES
Susan Solomon
In 1986 the atmospheric chemist provided the most conclusive evidence that CFCs were destroying the Earth’s ozone layer.
![](https://www.sciencehistory.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/thefairieshome_final-415x257.jpeg)
DISTILLATIONS MAGAZINE
River Gods, Lake Monsters, and the Abiding Power of Myth
How ancient (and not so ancient) cultures thought about water purity and contamination.
![A group of about 14 Adelie penguins on an iceberg in Antarctica](https://www.sciencehistory.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/adelie_penguins_on_iceberg-415x257.jpg)
DISTILLATIONS PODCAST
Whatever Happened to the Ozone Hole?
An environmental success story.
![Gowanus Canal](https://www.sciencehistory.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/gowanus_canal_video_screenshot-415x257.png)
DISTILLATIONS VIDEO
CSI: Gowanus—Cleaning up the Canal
Take a trip down Brooklyn’s Gowanus Canal with cartographer and citizen scientist Eymund Diegel.
![](https://www.sciencehistory.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/bio-molina_rowland_uci-415x257.jpg)
DIGITAL COLLECTIONS
Oral History: Mario Molina
Interview with the Nobel Prize-winning chemist who first discovered the dangers of CFCs to the Earth’s ozone layer.
![environmental board game](https://www.sciencehistory.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/enviromania_board_game-415x257.jpeg)
DIGITAL COLLECTIONS
Environmental Board Game Collection
Educational board games focused on water, pollution, and climate.
![Two women standing on street dabbing their eyes](https://www.sciencehistory.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/two_women_on_smoggy_day_in_downtown_los_angeles_calif._1964-415x257.jpg)
DISTILLATIONS MAGAZINE
Smith Griswold Sells the War against Smog
To fight air pollution, officials first had to convince Californians that carmakers were the enemy, not cars.
![Rachel Carson’s book Silent Spring transformed the nation’s consciousness.](https://www.sciencehistory.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/silent_spring_book_cover-415x257.jpeg)
SCIENTIFIC BIOGRAPHIES
Rachel Carson
The marine biologist’s book Silent Spring marked a turning point in society’s understanding of the environment.
![Lithograph of a view of the Fairmount Water Works with the Schuylkill River in the distance, 1838.](https://www.sciencehistory.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/fairmount_water-works_with_schuylkill_in_the_distance._taken_from_the_mount-415x257.jpg)
DISTILLATIONS PODCAST
How Philadelphia’s Water Pollution Problems Shaped the City
Hear how Philly became an unexpected water pollution pioneer.
![Ad for L’Insectoline](https://www.sciencehistory.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/insectoline-600x371.jpeg)
DIGITAL EXHIBITIONS
Biting Words
In the mid-20th century, tensions between humans and mosquitoes reached fever pitch.