Environment
Category archives for Environment
Do Neonicotinoid Pesticides Contributed to the Complex Thing We Call Bee Colony Collapse?
Posted by Greg Laden on March 30, 2012 A commonly used insecticide, and possibly an increasingly widely used form of that pesticide, could be a causal factor in bee colony collapse. It is not 100% certain that this pesticide’s effects can be counted as one of the causes this problem, but there is a very good chance that neonicotinoids can cause a drop…
What is nature (worth)?
Posted by Greg Laden on December 7, 2010 A multimedia video from the U of M.
What Happens to Habitats with Global Warming?
Posted by Greg Laden on November 9, 2010 As global warming progresses, habitats change in their suitability for various life forms. It may be that moose will not be able to live in Minnesota in the future; Of the two resident moose populations, the one that lives in the area more affected by global warming has pretty much died out probably due indirectly…
Public perceptions of energy consumption and savings
Posted by Greg Laden on September 15, 2010 There are two quick and fairly easy approaches to reducing US emissions of CO2 by several percent. These reduction would be at the household level, possibly decreasing the household cost of energy by between 20 and 30 percent (or more, depending on the household) and decreasing national total CO2 emissions by around 10% or so.…
Richard Sears: Planning for the end of oil
Posted by Greg Laden on May 26, 2010 As the world’s attention focuses on the perils of oil exploration, we present Richard Sears’ talk from early February 2010. Sears, an expert in developing new energy resources, talks about our inevitable and necessary move away from oil. Toward … what?
The Plank’s Constant
Posted by Greg Laden on April 22, 2010 … continued … In the US, political parties have what is called a “platform” which is a list of assertions … “we want this” and “we want that” sort of assertions. The “platform” is made up, quaintly, of “planks” with each plank being about one issue. Like for my local Democratic Farm Labor party unit,…
Pete Seeger joins the Nature Conservation Club (NCC)
Posted by Greg Laden on April 22, 2010 … continued The flames were so hot that we could feel it on our faces over 300 feet away as we stood near the corner of Delaware and Whitehall avenues. At first we gawked at the burning factory from about 100 feet away, but a large explosion caused us all to turn and run. But…
Earth Day has special significance this year
Posted by Greg Laden on April 22, 2010 The first Earth Day was a red letter day in the long, hard struggle to make being good to the environment … to the Earth … normal instead of a fringe idea held only by quirky college professors and stoned-out hippies. This year, the first significant health care insurance reform bill was passed and it…
Framing the Pacific Garbage Patch
Posted by Greg Laden on April 1, 2010 Various environmental organizations have been using imagery of dead baby birds with toothbrushes in their guts and solid floating masses of garbage to describe and raise alarm about what has become known as the North Pacific Central Garbage Patch. Yet, the small but important amount of research that has been done there shows that the…
Protect Ocean Wildlife in the Gulf of Mexico
Posted by Greg Laden on March 26, 2010 This is a petition for you to sign.
The Great Pacific Garbage Patch
Posted by Greg Laden on March 15, 2010 I am annoyed with the Great Pacific Garbage Patch.
The ‘Plastiki’ Expedition
Posted by Greg Laden on March 13, 2010 Plastic in the oceans is probably a problem, but it is probably not the problem you think it is.
Help! My Water is Glowing!
Posted by Greg Laden on January 29, 2010 I’ve never seen the ocean glow, but Katie Spotz did this week. She has been rowing in the Atlantic Ocean for 3 weeks now, getting closer to South America each day. A recent tweet from her: Read the rest at DR
Important Ocean Blogging News
Posted by Greg Laden on January 18, 2010 Miriam Goldstein of The Oyster’s Garter will now be blogging at Deep Sea News. Miriam is the Great Pacific Ocean Garbage Patch researcher featured here. Bookmark DSN. Interesting things will be happening.
Our Choice: A Plan to Solve the Climate Crisis
Posted by Greg Laden on November 14, 2009 Al Gore talking about his new book, Our Choice: A Plan to Solve the Climate Crisis.
Go Green Expo: Minneapolis
Posted by Greg Laden on November 2, 2009 The Go Green Expo is, according to its organizers, the nation’s leading eco-focused, interactive and educational showcase. It will debut at the Minneapolis Convention Center this coming weekend, including talks, presentations, and exhibits from a variety of sources including “green businesses”. The idea is to promote energy-efficient and environmentally-friendly products and services. The Expo will…
Global Warming, The Decline of the Moose, and “Minnesota Nice”
Posted by Greg Laden on September 28, 2009 We have had a cool summer here in Minnesota, and this has brought out the miscreants who for their own reasons do not want to get on board with the simple, well demonstrated scientific fact that global temperatures have risen, that we humans are the primary cause, and that this climate change has negative consequences.
Russia to build floating Arctic nuclear stations
Posted by Greg Laden on May 4, 2009 Russia is planning a fleet of floating and submersible nuclear power stations to exploit Arctic oil and gas reserves, causing widespread alarm among environmentalists. A prototype floating nuclear power station being constructed at the SevMash shipyard in Severodvinsk is due to be completed next year. Agreement to build a further four was reached between the…
Don’t Take O2 for Granted
Posted by Greg Laden on March 22, 2009 There has always been Oxygen on the earth, but it was not floating around free in the atmosphere as it is today (most of it still isn’t). Indeed, it is kind of strange that the earth is blanketed in a mixture of toxic, corrosive liquid (water) and equally corrosive gas (the oxygen in the atmosphere).…
Global Warming, the Blog Epic ~ 07 ~ Sea Level Change
Posted by Greg Laden on January 17, 2009 This is the seventh in a series of reposts from gregladen.com on global warming. This installment is about sea level rise and fall, in the past. Sea level change that results from the formation and melting of glaciers not only has an enormous impact on the physical nature of the landscape, but it also would…
Global Warming, the Blog Epic ~ 05 ~ Causes of Large Scale Change
Posted by Greg Laden on January 16, 2009 This is the fifth in a series of reposts from gregladen.com on global warming. During the 1970s and 80s, creationists had a long list of reasons to doubt evolution, and every one of those reasons was wrong. But they had so many reasons, and it was so hard to keep track of them all, each…
Global Warming, the Blog Epic ~ 04 ~ Forcing
Posted by Greg Laden on January 15, 2009 This is the fourth in a series of reposts from gregladen.com on global warming. “Climate Studies” is a “causal” science. Most sciences are “causal” in nature, which is why the sciences and scientists are often loathed and distrusted by people in the humanities and some of the soft sciences. There is not the time or…
Global Warming, the Blog Epic ~ 03 ~ Carbon Dioxide
Posted by Greg Laden on January 15, 2009 This is the third in a series of reposts from gregladen.com on global warming. Why It Matters What you Burn and When you Burn It Carbon Dioxide is a deadly poison. It is about 50% heavier than air, so where it occurs in density, in mines or certain natural vents associated with volcanics, it can…
Global Warming, the Blog Epic ~ 02 ~ Greenhouse Effect, Greenhouse Gas
Posted by Greg Laden on January 14, 2009 This is the second in a series of reposts from gregladen.com on global warming. Why Greenhouses have nothing to do with the Greenhouse Effect, and more importantly, why CAN’T I microwave toast? A greenhouse is a glass house that is sealed to keep air in and insulated to keep heat in but at the same…
Global Warming, the Blog Epic ~ 01 ~ Introduction
Posted by Greg Laden on January 14, 2009 The IPCC report is out, “An Inconvenient Truth” has been honored by the academy, a sea change is happening in the way that climate change news is being reported, and you can bet the Right Wing and the Ree-pubs are as we speak working up new Talking Points and Spins to deflate the urgency of…
The Fantastic Mystery of the Younger Dryas
Posted by Greg Laden on January 11, 2009 One of the most interesting and exciting stories in science is that of the Younger Dryas. The Younger Dryas was a climate event that had important effects on human history, and that has been reasonably linked to some of our most important cultural changes, and ultimately some evolutionary changes as well. That is one reason…
Mice Doing Albatross In
Posted by Greg Laden on December 17, 2008 Predatory rodents are eating the chicks of the Critically Endangered Tristan Albatross Diomedea dabbenena to the extent that they have had the worst breeding season recorded so far. The mice are also affecting Gough Island’s other Critically Endangered endemic species, Gough Bunting Rowettia goughensis. A recent survey of the bunting’s population revealed that the population…
Flu Season On a Very Large Scale
Posted by Greg Laden on December 16, 2008 Hat tip: Coyote Crossing
Maddow on the Myth of “Clean Coal”
Posted by Greg Laden on December 14, 2008 Minnesota Science Standards: Comment now or forever hold your peace!
Posted by Greg Laden on September 22, 2008 Members of the Public: Now is your only chance to comment on Minnesota’s new Science Standards. My suggestions: Take out the woo, dampen down the special interests, and please, consider NOT removing biology from the High School standrds!!!!!
, which is now available for the 
