Coming to our Senses
It’s easy to miss the intimacy of climate change — with so much focus on big system changes, we don’t always recognize the small ways it can affect our daily lives. But climate change is already reshaping the way we experience our immediate surroundings. In this series, we explore the multisensory consequences of climate change — from vision and hearing to smell, taste, and touch.
In This Series
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![Collage: an eye surrounded by silhouettes of falling birds, street lamps, rectangular cutouts of night sky, and a window with a curtain silhouette made of night sky; drawn star graphics on top]()
![Collage: an eye surrounded by silhouettes of falling birds, street lamps, rectangular cutouts of night sky, and a window with a curtain silhouette made of night sky; drawn star graphics on top]()
In defense of darkness
Artificial light is polluting the night sky. What do we stand to lose?
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![Collage: a hand surrounded by water droplets, wet leaves, cutouts of ponds, mosquitoes, and a can of bug spray]()
![Collage: a hand surrounded by water droplets, wet leaves, cutouts of ponds, mosquitoes, and a can of bug spray]()
Humidity, the mosquito, and me
Mosquitoes and I cherish the same thing when it comes to our ideal summer weather: mugginess.
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![Collage: an ear surrounded by vintage illustrations of a chickadee, a whippoorwill, a loon, a toad, and a humpback whale, music notes, sound waves, and cutout bars of marbled texture]()
![Collage: an ear surrounded by vintage illustrations of a chickadee, a whippoorwill, a loon, a toad, and a humpback whale, music notes, sound waves, and cutout bars of marbled texture]()
How climate change is muting nature’s symphony
From warbling loons to chirping toads, rising temperatures threaten some of the Earth’s most iconic sounds.
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![Collage: an open mouth surrounded by leaves, chopsticks, plates with leafy greens on them, plants growing up from cracks in sidewalks, and a wok with a pile of leaves inside it]()
![Collage: an open mouth surrounded by leaves, chopsticks, plates with leafy greens on them, plants growing up from cracks in sidewalks, and a wok with a pile of leaves inside it]()
How foraging for edible plants helped me connect with my roots
What started as foraging for mugwort in New York City became a new way to think about migration and belonging.
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![Collage: circles of oil slicks, a gas station sign, a vintage car cut in half, a nose, a gas canister, and a perfume bottle]()
![Collage: circles of oil slicks, a gas station sign, a vintage car cut in half, a nose, a gas canister, and a perfume bottle]()
Saying goodbye to the dangerous, alluring scent of gasoline
Electric vehicle makers are grappling with our olfactory attachment to the fuel.
