Invasive plants are an ever-looming problem around the world, affecting native food webs, availability of water, and overall plant biodiversity. Easily navigating their way on plane, car, boat, and boot, the problem becomes all the more daunting when you look out the window and realize nearly every plant you see is not, in fact, in its original environment. Although some invasives have a much larger impact on their host environment than others, it’s the immensity of the invasive populations that make any eradication solution less than than appetizing. Unless, of course, you have a fork. Read more…
Photo Credit: The Sierra Club
The U.S. Park Service said that over 100 protestors against mountain-top coal mining were arrested at the White House on Monday (September 27). All 114 protesters arrested, mainly from the Appalachian coal-mining states, had a permit to gather in the nation’s capital (but failed to follow rules laid out by the permit) and were later released pending a court date. The protest ended a three day event dubbed “Appalachia Rising” in Washington, D.C. that began with a weekend conference called “Voices from the Mountains.” Read more…
Photo Credit: Shutterstock
Did you know that indoor air pollution is the 4th largest health risk in the developing world? Or that exposure to cookstove smoke kills nearly 2 million people every year? That is a life lost every 16 seconds.
Every year, according to the United Nations, 1.9 million people are killed from the toxic smoke produced from makeshift indoor stoves used in developing countries. Those most affected are women and children, who are likely to spend the majority of their time indoors with a close proximity to the smoke, and suffer from lung and heart diseases as well as low birth weight. People living in poverty in the Third World commonly fuel their stoves with crop waste, wood, coal and dung, which are simply the only materials available to them. Wood is difficult to come by due to deforestation from development, population pressure, as well as expansion of agriculture and land degradation. The toxicity from these primitive stoves is a leading cause of death and disease, but is also the second biggest contributor to global warming, after the industrial use of fossil fuels. Read more…
Photo: Cameron Russell
According to Jiao Nianzhi of Xiamen University of China, there is a substantial amount of carbon in our oceans that has previously eluded scientists. It comes in the form of what is called refractory dissolved organic matter, and is produced by a group of creatures called AAPB (words that make up the acronym have been excluded, I’m doing you a favor). Carbon dioxide arrives in the ocean mainly through the process of photosynthesis. Algae, the foundation of most oceanic food chains, is consumed, and then it’s consumers are consumed; their remains sink to the bottom floor and become the afore mentioned organic matter. Read more…
Farmers all along the gulf coast are creating man made wetlands in order to help out migratory birds arriving for the fall and winter. Since the oil spill has
tainted these birds usual wintering grounds, extreme measures are being taken to ensure the birds have clean habitats to live in. Farmers are willingly allowing their land to be flooded for the birds sake. Read more…
Here are a few fun tidbits about plastic bags for you to remember on your next trip to the grocery store:
Plastic bags are derived from crude oil. Yes the same stuff that just recently obliterated the Gulf! This means that plastic bags add to our dependency on fossil fuels. The process of extracting crude oil and turning it into those little light weight plastic bags found at your local grocery store emits more greenhouse gases than you could have dreamed up in your worst nightmare! Read more…
Photo Credit: Chris Annable
Cars and the environment have had a rocky relationship for years. Cars eat up fossil fuels, cause air pollution, and make urban freeways and roads necessary for the modern human’s everyday lifestyle. You may have heard about these certain points before, but I only have recently heard of yet another way cars can effect our natural environment. Ever heard of copper brake pads affecting our aquatic environment? Read more…
Photo Credit: Todd Huffman
It’s easy to focus on the “what” of an environmental issue, but it is equally as important to understand the “why”, which often illuminates underlying matters- like economic deprivation for example. Haiti presents us with an eye-opening case of a social-environmental issue that has been overlooked amidst the recent earthquake devastation. The Massif de la Hotte region, unbeknownst to many, has more critically endangered species than anywhere else on Earth, and is declining at a rate of 10% every 5 years. In fact, only 3% of Haiti’s original forests remain. Why? Read more…
Photo Credit: Dawn Ellner
This November Californians will be voting on a ballot initiative that is intended to remove a law that places limits on greenhouse gas emissions. As of now, the established law has set up restrictions on such emissions to work toward the goal of reducing them to levels that are on par with those from 1990. The new initiative, however, would remove the limitations that are in place, until a later and possibly indefinite time. Furthermore, the bill is being supported by some external actors. Read more…
Fracking, a funny word well worth remembering. If you’ve been listening to NPR recently, you will know that fracking, or hydraulic fracturing, is a drilling technique that involves blasting millions of tons of chemical-laced water into the ground to release natural gas trapped thousands of feet underground. The goal: mining natural gas deposits. The consequences: your drinking water now lights on fire. Read more…
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