Several weeks ago, almost every major press outlet picked up the story of the photographs taken of an uncontacted tribe in the Amazon rainforest near the border between Brazil and Peru. Unfortunately, it seems that fewer members of the media have chosen to keep following the story. Read the rest of this entry »
Before I write anything else, I want to unequivocally explain that I think natural disasters are terrible. They cause countless deaths and incredible human suffering. With that being understood, I often find myself believing that things happen in nature for a reason, and so I started to ponder what some of the good aspects to natural disasters might be. I’ve come up with three ideas about what might be some positive consequences of natural disasters. Read the rest of this entry »
Many of us have been there at one time or another: working in an office or room with empty, white walls. It can make you want to a) either hang something on the walls or b) blow your brains out. Of course, this is assuming that the environment you are in has an effect on you. Scientists recently put the question to the test. Would hanging nature posters on the walls of an office reduce the stress and anger levels of people working in the office? Read the rest of this entry »
A long time ago, 50 years or so, I was invited to a party that promised some unusual and tasty snacks, along with the usual supply of beer and other alcoholic libations.
Never one to pass up free food and booze, I showed up at my friends apartment , said hello to everyone, grabbed a cocktail and headed for the snacks. The table was filled with the usual cheese and crackers, veggies, liverwurst and other delights.
The center piece caught my eye, chocolate, lots of it, but not in any form I could immediately recognize. Upon questioning my host, I learned they were chocolate covered ants and grasshoppers.
“Here, try some,” said my host, “they’re delicious!”
I doubt he saw the green leaching into my face as I politely declined, saying I was on a diet. Read the rest of this entry »
Editor’s note: For the last few months, we have run a number of guest posts from students in Professor Simran Sethi’s “Media and the Environment” course at the University of Kansas. We’ve all been pretty impressed with the work these students have done, so we were delighted to agree to publish a small-group final project from students J.J. DeSimone, Lindsay Crupper, Denzyl Janneker, Bobby Grace, and Adam Bowman. They focused on biodiversity in their project, and we’ll publish all five parts over the course of this week. Today’s post was originally published on May 9, 2008.
As humans, we collectively tend to be self-absorbed and not think outside our sphere of influence. More specifically, if something in the world doesn’t directly affect us we give little or no attention to it (I’m one of the worst culprits, myself). As such, it’s very easy for us not to think about what human wastefulness and global warming are doing to our plant and animal life. However, losing our earth’s bio and eco-diversity has frightening ramifications for humanity.
Photo credit: Adam Bowman
Taken in the Uintah Mountains, this photo illustrates what humans could lose unless they act to preserve open spaces.
According to Baker University Biology Professor and Natural Areas Director Roger Boyd, biodiversity is the amount of species in a given area. More broadly, eco-diversity refers to the number of ecosystems there are on the planet. If eco and biodiversity continues to decrease on the planet, then less food is available to sustain life. In essence, all of the earth’s biological life is interconnected; if our furry and scale-covered brethren run out of food, so do we.
April 26 marks the 22nd anniversary of the 1986 nuclear accident at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant in Slavutych, Ukraine. That one incident resulted in hundreds and possibly thousands of deaths, lingering health issues, radioactive contamination of a wide swath of land, property losses and on-going clean-up costs totaling billions of dollars.The Ukranian-American Environmental Association sent out a release reminding everyon of the risks of nuclear power.
I spoke with Kenneth Bossong, co-director of UAEA, about the anniversary, and asked him to tell us more about his organization.
Does aerial biochemical spraying really work to control foreign species? Many communities extensively sprayed pesticides in an effort to control the spread of West Nile Virus, yet mosquitoes quickly spread this disease across the continental United States in just a few short years. Will aerial pesticide spraying combat the spread of the Light Brown Apple Moth (LBAM), or is this moth even a threat?
The LBAM is a moth originating in Australia that has been recently found in the San Francisco Bay Area and Los Angeles. LBAM is also found in New Zealand, New Caledonia, Hawaii, and the British Isles. The moth does not have a dormancy period and development is continual. It is artificially spread through nursery plants, fresh produce, and green waste.
California officials fear LBAM poses a potential threat to the state’s agriculture, but their own projections state the greatest environmental impact as:
Establishment of this moth could cause direct environmental damage via increased pesticide use statewide by commercial and residential growers and via adverse feeding impacts on native plants.
What to do when you have spent five years trying to stop a massive federal road project to no avail? Take a walk and say good bye to the gentle one lane curves, old growth forest, and northern spotted owl (NSO) habitat. That’s what members of my community did in semblance of a Maori custom to remember and honor the passing of an important place. As Hyampom, CA resident Marilyn Renaker described the event:
We are taking this opportunity to honor the beauty of the road, and also to honor the people who first built it. These days, the past is often bulldozed away without a second thought. We go on with what is newer, bigger, supposedly better. This road was the work of many people over many winters. With mules and horses laden with equipment, they made a path into a road.
They had to blast and clean debris and when they finished in 1923, an era ended. Cars entered Hyampom for the first time and the Land of Trails disappeared. Many of us will miss this old road, just as we miss the hardiness of the people who built it. We will miss it’s beauty, it’s familiar twists and turns. We will miss how it made Hyampom seem special–a hard place to get to, but worth it for the wise.
Arizona Congressman Raul Grijalva has introduced legislation to withdraw approximately one million acres near the Grand Canyon from mineral exploration under the 1872 Mining Act.
In a news release, the Congressman was quoted as saying:
“I was pleased to introduce this legislation which will forever protect the magnificence of the Grand Canyon and the people who live near and in the Canyon from damaging uranium mining,” said Rep. Grijalva. “The federal government and mining companies still have not adequately dealt with the clean up of old uranium mine sites on the Navajo Nation and other areas that are causing ongoing health problems. Until these issues are resolved, we should not move forward with new mines, especially next to the crown jewel of our National Park System.”
The legislation came on the heels of a news story regarding exploratory drilling for uranium within a few miles of the Grand Canyon’s South Rim, a popular tourist destination.
Arizona Governor Janet Napolitano has requested the Bush administration to use it’s executive powers to withdraw areas in the vicinity of the Grand Canyon from mining.
The bill calls for protection of 628,000 acres in the Kanab Creek area, 112,655 in House Rock Valley and 327,886 acres in the Tusayan Ranger District of the Kaibab National forest south of the canyon.
A Congressional field hearing will be held on March 28th in the Flagstaff, AZ City Hall. Local elected officials, Tribal representatives, Grand Canyon area business and environmental representatives and uranium experts are expected to attend the hearing.
The legislation, The Grand Canyon Watersheds Protection Act of 2008 (H.R. 5583) has been referred to the Committee on Natural Resources. Congressman Grijalva serves on that committee.
The headlines are out, 1966 was the last time North America and much of Siberia have seen so much snow.
An article in Canada’s National Post summarized weather around the northern hemisphere and concluded that arctic ice is back, heavier than ever in some areas, and China is reeling from its worst winter in a century.
Of course, it doesn’t mean global warming is a non-entity, nor does it mean we’re headed for a mini ice-age. The author, Lorne Gunter, took a swipe at environmentalists this way:
“Ok, so one winter does not a climate make. It would be premature to claim an Ice Age is looming just because we have had one of our most brutal winters in decades.
But if environmentalists and environment reporters can run around shrieking about the manmade destruction of the natural order every time a robin shows up on Geeorgian Bay two weeks early, then it is at least fair game to use this winter’s weather stories to wonder whether the alarmist are being a tad premature.”
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