Photo Credit: Julie A. Brown

Over the years, vegetarian groups and environmentalists have advocated the policy that “less meat= less heat.”  However, that is not necessarily always the case.  In the past, cows, other livestock, and their consumers have been cited as environmentally detrimental because of the amount of greenhouse gases emitted from housing the livestock, and the livestock themselves.  In 2006, the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization reported that 18% of the world’s man-made greenhouse gas emissions comes from livestock.  Cows especially take the fall because they are fed more energy-intensive feed than other livestock and emit more methane than other livestock. Read more…

Photo credit: Rashida S. Mar B.

With all the recent rain California has been experiencing, L.A.’s approval of the Low Impact Development ordinance last week seems all the more relevant at this point in time.  For those like myself who are not familiar with this idea of “LID”, it is a new approach to managing storm water and urban runoff by controlling it at the source with small, cost-effective systems vs. traditional “end-of-line” treatment facilities.  Basically, it is one way to mitigate the negative effects of both development and urbanization, while improving water quality and recharging groundwater. Read more…

Photo Credit: Keith Skelton

With the public’s health in mind, the Environmental Protection Agency (E.P.A.) proposed a stricter standard for smog-causing pollutants last Thursday. The proposition is designed to set a “primary standard of ground-level ozone of no more than .060 to .070 parts per million,” and would target regions in our nation that have the worst smog pollution such as the Northeast, Southern and Central California, and the Chicago and Houston areas. The proposal is intended to be executed over the next 20 years. Read more…

Photo Credit: Mike Baird

The Arctic Tern, a petit seabird weighing no more than 3.5 oz (.22 lbs), spends the summer months in the Arctic enjoying what little sun it can get  before embarking on its incredible 43,000 mile journey across the world and back. A team of scientists from Greenland, Denmark, the US, the UK and Iceland outfitted the birds with “geolocaters” or tracking devices no bigger than the tip of a matchstick and followed the birds on their epic migratory voyage from  the Arctic to Antarctica and back again. These minute tracking devices allowed scientists to clearly plot the Arctic Tern’s yearly flight route on a global map, which gave incredible insight into the birds understanding of global wind patterns. Read more…

Photo Credit: James Rickwood

Roger Nelson grew up on a farm and went out on his own to begin renting farmland in 1961. He and his family have continued their farming and had a reputation in their community of meticulous and ethical farming practices throughout the years. Their reputation, however, is now being tarnished as Monsanto (the world’s leading producer of the herbicide Roundup Ready and owner to most of the food seed companies around the world) is accusing the Nelsons of being thieves of their genetically modified soybeans. The Nelsons are among the hundreds of farmers Monsanto is suing, usually on the grounds of patent infringement. However, growers have begun to fight back in the courts, as they say Monsanto has no evidence of this claim. Read more…

photo credit: Christopher Isherwood

A remote part of the Mariana Islands called Maug, is the top of an underwater volcano. This uninhabited island is at peace from human disturbances, but then why are the coral reefs dying?

As you descend underwater about 100 feet you no longer see an abundance of colorful tropical fish. Instead you see the rocky ground covered in a brown slime, which is a collection of cyanobacteria, and coming from these rocks are bubbles that produce acidic emissions. These acidic emissions are the result of carbon dioxide that was absorbed by the ocean from the atmosphere. Since humans have emitted so much carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, the ocean keeps absorbing more and more, which in turn creates an increase in oceanic acidity. These acidic conditions make it difficult for coral reefs and shellfish to survive, since acid breaks down their calcium carbonate shells. Read more…

Cavin B

While scientists, policy makers, and engineers are working towards legal enforcement of global carbon emission reductions, the political complexity of this issue has prevented immediate and wide scale action from being taken. Consequently, innovative solutions for curbing atmospheric carbon content are being sought after. In order to combat the resulting climate change stemming from the influx of atmospheric carbon due to fossil fuel combustion, some new research results have suggested a novel idea: “sink the carbon!” Read more…

Photo Credit: Michael Hodge

With so much media coverage and concern over global warming it’s easy to forget about other pressing environmental issues that are of equal severity such as deforestation, water quality, and biodiversity loss. These issues, which usually go hand in hand, are occurring at such accelerated rates all over the world that the UN says they are heavily impacting human well-being (not to mention the well being of the forests, waters, and all the biodiversity that exists within them). Read more…

Photo Credit: Yoshimasa Niwa

The holidays always turn out to be a mad dash for the latest, greatest in presents for family and friends.  Among the clothes, video games, and gift cards is the recently and widely coveted e-reader.  E-Readers are not only a convenient way to carry hundreds of books with you, they are also extremely environmentally friendly. Read more…

While environmentally friendly building has become a worldwide trend, rarely is Asia a popular topic when it comes to green construction.  The majority of the building in the region consumes more energy then those of developed countries- and therefore has a substantial environment impact.  If buildings use more energy than any other sector as well as contribute to climate change, and China alone is said to currently be contributing over half of the worlds new floor space, eco-friendly features should be a major point of interest.  Serving as a leader in the region, Tapei 101 of Taiwan (the world’s tallest completed building) will hopefully set a positive example of green construction in the Eastern part of the globe. Equipped with a solar powered roof and other green features, the skyscraper stands alone not only in height, but in its environmental characteristics. Read more…