Mental Floss

ENVIRONMENT

Courtesy Orbital Marine Power

A quaint archipelago off the northern coast of Scotland is home to the cutting edge of renewable energy.

New Jersey Homes sit at the end of a bridge flooded by Hurricane Sandy.

If pollution goes unchecked, $1.33 trillion in real estate will be at risk by 2100.

iStock.com/schnuddel

Matilde Boelhouwer borrowed elements from nature to make them attractive to pollinators.

Arthur Rothstein, Library of Congress, Public Domain, Wikimedia Commons

It was a disaster of mankind’s own making—and as it raged on, people piped up with some wild ideas about how to put an end to it.

iStock/KarenHBlack

It won't just get hotter.

Starbucks

The seasonal drinks (and cups) are back!

iStock.com/enterphoto

The perfect gift for sports fans who also love to eat.

iStock.com/NaluPhoto

According to WWF, "We are the first generation to know we are destroying our planet and the last one that can do anything about it."

iStock.com/NicolasMcComber

His job was to protect the birds. But nobody was there to protect him.

iStock.com, dinadesign

It can be powered by cast-offs like coconut shells and wood chips.

iStock/jmmf

And that means declines in lizards, frogs, birds, and all the other creatures that feed on those insects.

Barry Williams/Getty Images

Even a Category 4 storm is no match for the beloved restaurant chain.

iStock.com/ac_bnphotos

"Flexitarian" diets are in.

iStock

Sixty million cigarette butts have been collected from oceans since the 1980s.

iStock

Because you're probably overdue for a new toothbrush anyway.

Paula Bronstein, Getty Images

A quarter of the world's 100 busiest airports are less than 32 feet above sea level.