From the monthly archives: October 2009
When I first read the news that NASA was going to start experimenting on monkeys with radiation to study the effects of deep space travel, my heart sunk. As an anthropologist who has studied non-human primates I have seen up close the emotions, the feelings, and the physical qualities we share with our [...]
Pollution from industrial facilities like this one at East Harbor in Indiana up to the 1970s left a legacy of contamination still in need of cleanup from new Great Lakes restoration funding.
Giving President Obama a major victory, Congress on Thursday sent him a spending bill containing $475 million in new [...]
New research out of Philadelphia suggests a link between women’s exposure to household insecticides (including roach and mosquito killers) and the autoimmune disorders rheumatoid arthritis and lupus. Previous research has shown a link of agricultural pesticides to higher risk of rheumatoid arthritis and lupus. Autoimmune diseases are diseases where the immune system goes [...]
Ocean trash is one of the problems photographed by Christopher Swain on his 1,000-mile ocean advocacy and education journey.
As the Obama Administration’s Interagency Ocean Policy Task Force moves into its sixth public meeting on an interim report in Cleveland this week, one determined ocean advocate is continuing to [...]
This week The Bogman heads to Phoenix to offer 1 Block off the Grid solar discounts for neighbors who go solar together. And what better city to go to! Phoenix was super hard-hit by the housing crisis. It has had 54% drops in property values, some of the worst in the [...]
Google Inc. is joining forces with space agencies around the world and the conservation organization Group on Earth Observations (GEO) to monitor deforestation rates using satellite imagery. Among the space agencies working on the program are NASA, the ESA, and the national space agencies of Japan, Germany, Italy, India, and Brazil.
The GEO [...]
This week The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) National Climatic Data Center (NCDC) revealed that last month was the second hottest land and ocean temperature on record for the month of September. NOAA’s records date back to 1880. In the 100 plus year history, only September 2005 showed warmer temperatures.
This is [...]
Have you seen the comic art for the 2010 Union of Concerned Scientists Scientific Integrity Cartoons? Shown above is a cartoon about science and the Endangered Species Act.
The entire calendar shows how “the absurdity of political interference in science is ripe for lampooning-and serves as a constant reminder of [...]
Although images of giant coal-fired smokestacks and automobile tailpipes characterize greenhouse gas scenarios, a new report proposes a different way of thinking about it – product policy. Products and packaging contribute 44% of U.S. greenhouse gas emissions and reduction plans are more likely to succeed if extended producer responsibility (EPR) is [...]
Legal skirmishes in Ohio and Michigan are reviving debates over whether those who own Great Lakes shoreline properties exclusively control their waterfront land or whether the public can access and travel along the coast. The same legal doctrine at issue in these battles is a central focus in current debates about n a [...]
Lyngbya wollei, south shore Maumee Bay in Ohio, September 23, 2009.
Lake Erie, declared dead by the news media in the 1960s because of widespread, repulsive algae blooms, is once again marred, this time by both old and new causes. Some scientists and lake advocates worry that the unsightly algae is a warning [...]
