Your next field trip starts here.

It's called light pollution, and unlike the trash we can see in a ditch or the smog hanging over a city, we don't always recognize it as pollution. We just see lights. But all those unnecessary beams, glowing buildings, and bright security fixtures add up. Artificial light scatters through the atmosphere, creating skyglow that washes out the stars, sometimes far beyond the places producing it.

Yes, you can reduce unwanted email and snail mail. Much of it can be done for free. But there’s no universal off switch, and a legitimate service isn’t a guarantee that every sender will cooperate. Here’s how to make the cleanup worth your time, without surrendering your Social Security number or paying for something you don’t need.

For this round of Let’s Clean Up, we’re taking on Halloween. Not by canceling the candy or telling you that your 12-foot skeleton is questionable. Frankly, if you already own that glorious beast, I hope he gets a name and his own room. We’re just cleaning things up a little.

Halloween has somehow become another holiday where we are encouraged to buy an entire collection of things specifically designed to become irrelevant the next day. I say boo to that.

Imagine someone knows protected bats are roosting in a tree and cuts it down anyway because they want the land cleared. They did not cut the tree because they wanted dead bats. Dead bats were simply a foreseeable consequence of getting the tree out of the way. From the bat’s side of things, this distinction is admittedly not very useful.

Give me a fresh notebook, a pretty pen, and an excuse to wander past a wall of colorful folders and I am suddenly eight years old again.

Awkward questions. Answered without the guilt trip.

There’s just something about the ocean. The sound. The scale. The salty air. The way you can stare at the waves, doing the same thing over and over, and somehow not get bored. The ocean has this sneaky ability to make me feel both very small and very okay with being small.

Dear Field Trip, I always thought the reason deforestation was bad for the climate was that we need trees to absorb carbon dioxide. But I recently heard that cutting down forests can actually release greenhouse gases too. Is that true? —Stumped

Sexual wellness is still wellness. And if we care about what touches our food, skin, soil, and water, it makes sense to care about what touches our very absorbent, very personal bits.

May is Wildfire Awareness Month, which means it’s time to talk about one of America’s most beloved outdoor icons: a bear in jeans, a ranger hat, and an absolutely zero-nonsense stance on unattended campfires.

Digital clutter is still clutter. And digital waste? Way more harmful than clutter. No, deleting old emails is not going to single-handedly save the planet. But cleaning up your digital life can reduce waste, cut distractions, help your devices last longer, and keep old electronics out of the trash. Honestly, that’s plenty.

The U.S. Forest Service is in the middle of a sweeping reorganization ordered by the Trump administration and announced by USDA on March 31, 2026. The headline version: the agency is moving its headquarters from Washington, D.C., to Salt Lake City; closing all nine regional offices; shifting to a new state-based leadership model with 15 state directors; and consolidating its research program while closing 57 research facilities.

The first Earth Day, on April 22, 1970, brought millions of Americans into the streets, parks, and campuses to demand cleaner air, cleaner water, and stronger environmental protections. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency says about 20 million Americans participated, and by the end of that same year, Congress had authorized the creation of the EPA. Earth Day’s own history calls it the dawn of the modern environmental movement.

Despite all our talk of exploration, expansion, innovation, and whatever other very shiny words we like to use when rockets are involved, Earth is still the point.

Trail Mail: Are Headlights Actually Brighter Now — and Is That Supposed to Be Better for the Planet? Real questions. Field-tested answers. Got something on your mind? Ask away — your friendly Camp Counselor is in. Dear Field Trip, Lately, I feel like every time I drive home after dark, I’m getting hit with headlights so bright I can barely see the road. I keep hearing that newer headlights are more efficient and use better technology, but are they also much brighter than they

Some wildlife experiences are marketed as conservation, but they’re really just entertainment with a feel-good filter. And once you see it, you can’t unsee it.

You know that moment: you pull a yogurt from the back of the fridge, spot the “Sell By” date from last Tuesday, and immediately wonder… is this a snack or a science experiment? Let’s clear the air (and your fridge) on what those little dates actually mean — and why they’re not always a reason to toss perfectly good food.

Lately, every time I log onto social media, my feed’s full of cartoon “self-portraits.” You know the ones: a person asks AI to create an image of themselves, given everything AI knows about them. They’re clever, colorful, and can be wildly addictive. And yeah, I get the appeal—who isn’t curious to see themselves as AI sees them? But while we’re having fun, there’s something missing from the conversation: the actual cost.

The Trump administration’s new 2025–2030 Dietary Guidelines came with a shiny new catchphrase: “We are ending the war on protein.” The official messaging site (yes, it’s a real government-style website) pushes a daily protein target of 1.2–1.6 grams per kilogram of body weight and spotlights meats and full-fat dairy as central players.