Guest Post by Betsy Crowfoot
Reclined in the cockpit of a boat, far out at sea, I was immersed in the splendor of the heavens: a star-studded feature show spanning from horizon to horizon. The ancient legends of astronomy came to life … like Orion, the great hunter of Greek mythology, with his club poised high [...]
Women are more likely than men to be killed by natural disasters such as cyclones, hurricanes, floods and heat waves,according to research by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN). Such disasters are on the rise as a result of climate change. A sample of 141 countries from 1981 to 2002 found such disasters [...]
An Unusually Quiet Sun Baffles Astronomers
Our sun is the quietest it’s been in a long time, producing few solar flares and no sunspots. Instead of becoming more active as it’s 11-year cycle would have predicted, last year’s solar wind pressure and radio emissions were at a 50-year low, and sunspots at a 100-year low, leaving [...]
Among the major players in Earth’s carbon cycle are its oceans. Acting as a natural carbon sink, our oceans absorb nearly one-third of atmospheric carbon dioxide, creating the chemical equilibrium that fosters marine life as we’ve known it.
What happens when atmospheric carbon increases? The oceans try to absorb it. upsetting the equilibrium and increasing ocean [...]
Guest Post by Adam Downing
Virginia Cooperative Extension Agent, Forestry & Natural Resources
With the approach of Arbor Day, we should all have plans to plant a tree. To encourage you in this direction, I would like to recap some of the wonderful services trees offer.
(Note: If you do not have a yard or space to plant [...]
The melting of the polar ice caps has been capturing the attention of scientists and climatologists – in fact, people from all walks of life around the world – the past few years due to the dramatic changes taking place within them. The phenomenon affecting both ends of the Earth is considered an unquestionable harbinger [...]
The world’s farmers must quickly switch to more sustainable and productive farming systems to grow the food needed by a swelling world population and respond to climate change,says the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO).
“The world has no alternative to pursuing Sustainable Crop Production Intensification to meet the growing food and feed [...]
Converting Ocean Waves, Tides and Currents to Electricity
“Today in San Francisco, we’re not just talking about ocean power, we are advancing its actual implementation. We have submitted an application to the federal government to develop an underwater wave project off San Francisco’s Ocean Beach that could generate between 30MW and 100MW of power. And we [...]
Many years ago, I had the privilege of visiting the 800 year-old cliff dwellings at Mesa Verde National Park, in Southwest Colorado. Like so many of the world’s great archeological treasures, the site has a way of speaking to its visitors, informing us not only about what life was like when it was inhabited, but [...]
“There are no passengers on spaceship earth. We’re all crew.”
– Marshall McLuhan
The Earth Day movement that was forged by 20 million Americans 39 years ago will engage more than a billion people worldwide this April 22nd. The seeds that were planted in 1970 yielded the Environmental Protection Agency, the Clean Air and Clean Water acts [...]
We may very well not be alone in our galaxy.  While most people concieve that there is life elsewhere in the universe, it is almost surreal to know that not only is it true but that life may not be that far from Earth, astronmically speaking.
A little more than 20.5 light years away exists a planet that [...]
Efforts to harness the energy potential of Earth’s ocean winds could soon gain an important new tool: global satellite maps from NASA. Scientists have been creating maps using nearly a decade of data from NASA’s QuikSCAT satellite that reveal ocean areas where winds could produce wind energy.
