Honey, Someone Shrunk the Sheep!
Sheep on Soay Island off the west coast of Scotland are getting smaller, defying the evolutionary advantage that typically accrues to larger animals when food becomes scarce during cold weather. Increasingly warmer winters have shortened the season of scarcity, enabling smaller sheep to survive — and give birth to more small [...]
On June 10, the San Francisco Board of Supervisors approved what may be the toughest recycling law in the nation, adding mandatory composting of food scraps and biodegradables to its already acclaimed recycling program.
Beginning this fall, residences and businesses will be required to sort their refuse into three, color-coded containers: blue for recycled items, green [...]
A comprehensive, 190-page report released this month by The U.S. Global Change Research Program concludes that evidence of global warming is unequivocal and confirms previous evidence that global temperature increases in recent decades have been primarily human-induced.
The report, “Global Climate Change Impacts in the United States,” compiles years of scientific research and takes into account [...]
Last week, the US Supreme Court reversed the decision of a federal appeals court and gave Alaska’s Kensington gold mine the go ahead to dump up to 4.5 million tons of mining waste into nearby Lower Slate Lake. The waste, known as tailings, is a slurry of crushed rock and water laced with copper, aluminum, [...]
Sarychev Peak Volcanic Eruption as Seen from the ISS
This stunning photograph was taken by astronauts aboard the International Space Station on June 12 as the Sarychev Volcano in the Kuril Islands northeast of Japan began spewing steam and ash into the atmosphere. Within three days, ash from the volcano was detected 2,407 kilometers ESE and [...]
On September 26, 1991, Jane Poynter and seven others embarked on a 2-year experiment in Biosphere 2, a three-acre, sealed environment in the Arizona desert designed to model the complex interactions involved in a self-sustaining ecosystem.
Like Earth — the original biosphere — Biosphere 2 was a materially closed system, dependent upon external systems only for [...]
Updated 3/23: See below.
These days, there’s green, and then there’s green. In a time of both economic and environmental challenges, one would hope that the two might go hand-in-hand, but as we’ve seen in the past when push comes to shove, pocketbook green often carries the day.
So it seems with the Cash-for-Clunkers bill now circulating [...]
Harnessing the Power of the Jet Stream
Researchers have compiled the first global survey of wind energy at high altitudes, where currents blow more steadily and 10 times faster than near-surface winds. If the energy of the jet stream energy could be harnessed using tethered, generator-kites, it could provide a major source of electricity for cities [...]
Between 1750 and 2000, the world’s human population increased more than sevenfold, from about 790 million to 6 billion. By 2040, that number is expected to reach 9 billion.
The impact of such growth on the face of the planet and the species with whom we share it has been profound. As we are now beginning [...]
Entirely too many items in our inbox to wait for the weekend…
How Did 100,000,000 Women Disappear?
In India, China and sub-Saharan Africa, millions upon millions of women are missing. They are not lost, but dead: victims of violence, discrimination and neglect.
Microbes Eat Hydrocarbons, Leave Behind Non-toxic Residue
ScienceDaily reports that researchers in China have found a new [...]
U.S. Wind, Solar and Geothermal Potential by Region
Source: U.S. Dept. of Energy, 2004
The Political Reality of U.S. Carbon Geography
A map of per-capita carbon by state shows how emissions are more concentrated in poorer, more conservative regions, suggesting the political difficulties of limiting greenhouse gas emissions.
Earth Policy Institute: Needed — A Copernican Shift
Just as Copernicus transformed our understanding by re-examining the relationship of Sun and Earth, Lester Brown [...]
