EPA Official Fired Over Dow Chemical Dispute
Office of EPA administrator Stephen Johnson tells regional administrator to quit or be fired by June 1 after conflict with Dow Chemical.Posted on May 5, 2008 10:30 AM • 0 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
The World's Fair
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David Ng is Director of the Advanced Molecular Biology Laboratory at the University of British Columbia - this is a just a fancier way of calling himself a science teacher.
Benjamin Cohen is an Asst. Professor of Science, Tech., and Society at the University of Virginia. He studies the place of S & T in environmental history, policy, and ethics. He also writes other stuff.
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Recent Posts
- The Future of Objectivity
- John Cage Guest Posts at The World's Fair
- "Leicester School of Design Considers Name Change"
- World Death Rate Holding Steady at 100%
- Michael Pollan: Chewed Up and Spit Out
- Science podcasts heard 12 million times daily
- Borges was a Webelo (and Other Book Jokes)
- Baby 2.0
- EPA Official Fired Over Dow Chemical Dispute
- If you could host your own version of a TEDtalks at your institution, what exactly would you do? Looking for feedback...
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NatureLand: What They Used to Call the Environment:
What does Cuba have to do with the new $100 Barrel of Oil?
19 February 2008 was historic: here is what it suggests about the future of alternative energy and our fossil fuel lifestylePosted on February 21, 2008 9:00 AM • 9 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
World Energy Stats and Predictions, Tabulated
Within our lifetimes, energy consumption will increase at least two-fold, from our current burn rate of 12.8 TW to 28 - 35 TW by 2050Posted on February 15, 2008 2:30 PM • 4 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Eco-footprints and Academia (part 2)
How do we add moral and qualitative dimensions to the prevailing quantitative mindset about environmentalism?Posted on February 12, 2008 5:10 PM • 5 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Consumption and Recycling
Editorial commentary, in cartoon form: Buy More Stuff?Posted on February 4, 2008 8:58 AM • 0 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Synthetica: A New Continent of Plastics
Where Rayon is a plastic island off the Cellulose coast, with a glittering night life.Posted on January 18, 2008 8:12 AM • 3 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Nation's ecological scientists weigh in on biofuels
Current grain-based ethanol production systems damage soil & water resources; only profitable with tax breaks and tariffsPosted on January 11, 2008 9:45 AM • 3 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Engineers as Authors: Technology, Nature, and Sustainable Communities
You take technology and nature, avoid assuming they're opposed, and get a bunch of engineering undergrads to write a book about it.Posted on December 19, 2007 9:20 AM • 2 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Again with the Lazy Environmentalists
"Never has so little been asked of so many at such a critical moment." Michael Maniates, a professor of environmental science and political science at Alleghany College, contributed a compelling op-ed to the Washington Post recently, "Going Green? Easy Doesn't...Posted on December 10, 2007 9:00 AM • 9 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Unconventional Crude
A few weeks ago, the New Yorker ran an excellent piece called "Unconventional Crude" which focused on Canada's tar sands. It was written by Elizabeth Kolbert, who got a lot of attention a year or so ago with a...Posted on November 19, 2007 9:24 AM • 1 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Our government' stance on climate change - Canadians should take a look at this.
O.K. so our Canadian government (Conservatives, they be) gave their Throne speech yesterday, and basically didn't have an awful lot new to say about things of a climate change nature. This equates to, I guess, the continued stance of...Posted on October 17, 2007 3:44 PM • 1 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Sixteen Reasons Why Commuting Is Cool
I thought this blog post was pretty refreshing and kind of a nice way to look at things. It starts: When people hear that I spend two hours each way commuting to UBC from Surrey every day, the most common...Posted on September 22, 2007 5:09 PM • 0 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
EPA Releases Endocrine Disrupter Screening List: But Where's Bisphenol-A?
Data on human body burden of chemicals -- too many to test & an EPA too slow to try.Posted on July 9, 2007 10:30 AM • 0 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
George Eliot's Environmental Sensibility
That roar on the other side of silence.Posted on July 6, 2007 1:57 PM • 1 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
The Toxic Behavior of Our Sponsor: Dow's Social and Environmental Catastrophes In Sight
Can PR barrage outpace environmental problems? The race is on.Posted on July 5, 2007 10:37 AM • 0 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
The Sam's Club Model of Environmentalism (Buy More!)
On the the burgeoning commoditization of the environmental movement.Posted on July 3, 2007 11:00 AM • 2 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Cheney's "Humpty-Dumpty World": Not Just After Human Foes, He's Undermining the Environment All the While
When your grandchildren ask the inevitable question -- "Was Dick Cheney real?" -- you would do well to pull out this week's four-part series in The Washington Post to verify that he truly existed. Today's feature, the fourth part, addresses...Posted on June 27, 2007 1:07 PM • 1 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
The Biodiversity + Pokemon-ish Project: It's a go.
Don't you think it's twisted that so many kids know what this creature is, but so few can go about naming the birds in their backyard? - - - Well, I had briefly talked about this before, more as...Posted on June 25, 2007 3:53 PM • 11 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Kids on a leash. The evolution of boundaries and its effect on environmental literacy.
(This image, by the way (or the color version of it), is the winner of Seed's Threadless contest) Yesterday, I heard on the CBC, an interesting story about Dr. William Bird, who is Natural England's health expert. Natural England...Posted on June 20, 2007 2:01 PM • 0 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
What We Waste: A View of E-Trash
Of >20 million tons of e-waste generated globally; most goes to developing world.Posted on June 12, 2007 2:19 PM • 0 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
This should work. A reasonable way to increase gas prices.
Recently in my neck of the woods, the Green Party of Canada has been suggesting the addition of a straight-off 12 cents per litre tax on the price of gasoline. This is mainly positioned as a carbon tax to try...Posted on June 11, 2007 8:17 PM • 1 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
What We Waste: A View of Consumption
A series of images to help visualize consumption (every 5 seconds, every 5 minutes, every day)Posted on June 6, 2007 1:14 PM • 4 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Eat Local
Making the right choice for health, taste, bio-security, and ecological harmony.Posted on June 5, 2007 4:43 PM • 1 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Save the Earth: Ban NASCAR
NEXTEL Cup cars get 2 to 5 miles per gallon, and with leaded gas.Posted on May 31, 2007 1:52 PM • 19 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
From Ants and Heptachlor to Mercury and Global Warming, the Same Racket
Lots of Rachel Carson links of late, and understandably so, as it would've been her 100th birthday this Sunday. Elizabeth Kolbert makes her the Talk of the Town this week....Posted on May 24, 2007 6:50 PM • 2 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Pollution and Human Life in West Virginia
Old quote: "A reality of soul starvation, of living death, that meets you every day..."Posted on May 23, 2007 10:18 PM • 0 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
E.B. White on Rachel Carson
On "man's carelessness, shortsightedness, and arrogance." A small topic, of course.Posted on May 22, 2007 1:04 PM • 0 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Individualism and Energy Over-Consumption
Bringing Jefferson, Satellite Images, and Culture to bear on Energy UsePosted on May 21, 2007 1:43 PM • 9 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Go Carbon Neutral, Yeehaw!
Want to fight global warming without changing anything about lifestyle?...Posted on May 4, 2007 5:09 PM • 1 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
The Consequences of Corn
More attention to the dangers of gung ho ethanolism.Posted on April 5, 2007 3:16 PM • 7 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Bees are dying: who cares?
"By relying on a single species for pollination, US agriculture has put itself in a precarious position"Posted on April 5, 2007 10:24 AM • 1 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
'Environmentalism As Bad As Communism'
So says Czech President Vaclav Klaus, fan of Thatcher, admirer of Reagan, despiser of global warming rhetoric. Speaking to U.S. Congresspeople last week, he offered a few nuggets to chew on (but didn't mix metaphors like that). The Inter Press...Posted on April 3, 2007 3:00 PM • 0 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Organic Food Is Better For Us -- So Why Don't We All Eat It?
Peter Melchett writes in The Guardian (on-line) that the scientific evidence for organic food's healthier claims is clear and persuasive. (Melchett is "policy director of the Soil Association, a UK organic food and farming organisation.") But will that sway governments...Posted on March 30, 2007 11:59 PM • 8 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Flowercasting
How do horticulturists know when the cherry blossoms will bloom? An educated guess.Posted on March 28, 2007 10:22 AM • 2 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Ethanol Hype: "Corn Can't Solve Our Problem"
More destruction of ecosystems for new farmland and increases in CO2...?Posted on March 26, 2007 1:36 PM • 4 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Enough
The Logic of Sufficiency, as opposed to efficiency...when do we have enough?Posted on March 23, 2007 10:29 AM • 0 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Misguided Science of the Day
ecologically wise? "genetically-modified mosquitoes resistant to a malaria parasite"...Posted on March 22, 2007 10:43 AM • 8 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Environmentally-Conscious Scientific Field Research
About the ecological footprint of scientific field research, keeping the "field" ecologically visible.Posted on March 18, 2007 8:00 AM • 1 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
More about those 50 fewer coal plants...a German Renewables Redux
Second thoughts about unpopular nuclear power? Not Germany.Posted on February 27, 2007 4:39 PM • 0 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
"China Needs an Ecologized Social Democratic System"
Politics/policy/ecology/industry/the trust of one Chinese native in new party possibilities....Posted on February 26, 2007 9:56 PM • 1 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
50 Coal-Fired Plants Replaced by Wind
Increase in wind power in Europe over the past ten years has been phenomenal.Posted on February 26, 2007 3:55 PM • 12 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Green Campuses
Are campuses crucial leaders in making large-scale, resource-demanding institutions more environmentally friendly? Here are the grades.Posted on February 17, 2007 2:14 PM • 2 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
What's the Best Way to Know A Flower?
An entry about the basic concept of epistemology -- "how do we know?"Posted on February 6, 2007 10:34 AM • 8 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Nutritionism and Food Science: Not Really About Food, Not Really A Science?
"...nutrient-by-nutrient nutrition science...takes the nutrient out of the context of food, the food out of the context of diet and the diet out of the context of lifestyle."Posted on January 30, 2007 3:32 PM • 5 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Wind Blows; Mountains Lose; Mountains Win; It's a Mess
When it isn't a matter of science or not. It's whose science that's the issue...Posted on January 30, 2007 12:05 PM • 1 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
State of Virginia Reports on Global Warming; Patrick Michaels was on sabbatical
Finally something that doesn't make Virginia look Kansas-like (sorry Kansasians)Posted on January 22, 2007 3:36 PM • 0 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Ocean Acidification and the bleaching of Spongebob Squarepants
So basically things aren't looking too good for Spongebob Squarepants and his buddies. The reason being that, all of this carbon dioxide we're pumping into the air is doing some serious shit to the oceans. However in this case,...Posted on December 20, 2006 3:01 PM • 0 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Solar Bikinis: The Classic Male Designing Mind?
Cool your beer, charge your iPod, and wear your bikiniPosted on December 20, 2006 1:51 PM • 2 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Ecological Design/The ecoMOD Project
Another way to seek solutions to carbon emissions and over-consumption without going nuclear. Prior posts on the same subject: tidal power, DG, campus sustainability, solar investments, ecological footprints, and consumption more generally. Around Grounds here (they call it "Grounds," not...Posted on December 19, 2006 9:59 AM • 0 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Un-American, anti-capitalist, eco-freak poseurs
Opposing the cultural premise that individual happiness derives from consumer options.Posted on December 18, 2006 7:57 AM • 4 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Finally, Something We Can't Accuse Mel Gibson Of (a post about Mesoamerican astronomy)
Props to Mel Gibson, a note on Mayan and Aztec culture, and the city as observatory...Posted on December 18, 2006 6:00 AM • 4 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Waste and Abundance
"Faint light on stage littered with miscellaneous rubbish": Samuel Beckett on the human condition, 1969Posted on December 16, 2006 10:11 PM • 0 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Mirrors Will Save the World
"Scientists say the global energy crisis can be solved by using the desert sun"Posted on November 29, 2006 5:08 PM • 1 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Do We All Have To Live Like Hippies in the Woods to Save this Damn Earth?
"The Key to Modern Life is Strategic Ignorance." That's a quote from Joel Achenbach's story, "Another Way," in the Washington Post this weekend about an off-the-grid eco-settlement in North Carolina. (Some good pictures here.) He writes about Earthaven, an eco-village,...Posted on November 20, 2006 9:27 AM • 9 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Tree paints masterpiece (seriously)
Image resulting from tree "painting" by Douglas-fir for two minutes Nalini Nadkarni, a tree canopy researcher and a National Geographic regular, was kind enough to let me publish this interest piece that looks at the intersection of science and...Posted on November 15, 2006 12:33 PM • 3 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Climate Science Theater (Art! Science! Carbon Emissions!)
The Silencer (being performed in Blacksburg, VA, on November 1, 2, and 3, ahead of its London opening in 2007) is a play about Global Warming and Climate Science. How about that, a play about global warming and climate science....Posted on October 31, 2006 10:39 AM • 0 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Food Politics: Ethics and Dirt and the Dinner Plate
Amy Bentley, a Profesor of Public Health at NYU, has this well-done* review of Food, Politics, Food Politics, Morality of Food Production, the Ethics of Foopd Systems, and what not, at the Chronicle. The books reviewed in her essay are:...Posted on October 12, 2006 8:57 AM • 1 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Yummy Ethanol: To Drink or to Drive
Archer-Daniels-Midland CEO Patricia Woertz blasted ethanol for use in fuesl when she was with Chevron (7 years ago). Now she's acquired a taste for it, as the new CEO of ADM (supermarket to the world). The New York Times reports...Posted on October 9, 2006 12:48 PM • 3 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Superhero Needed: DG, an energy option in search of P.R.
Distributed Generation (DG), another way to reduce energy without the nuclear optionPosted on October 5, 2006 10:40 PM • 4 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Campus Sustainability -- reducing energy use without the nuclear option
Do campus sustainability initiatives help? One way to work on energy issues without resorting to problematic nuclear promotion.Posted on October 2, 2006 1:16 PM • 3 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Auden, Science, and Nature (on the Infinite Variability of Socio-cultural Dynamics)
First, a quote, then (below the fold) the book I found it in (and, incidentally, the post title about infinite variability, is taken from the book, below): W.H. Auden: "The historical world is a horrid place where, instead of nice...Posted on September 27, 2006 9:33 AM • 0 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
And what are we consuming, by the way?
This article by David Ewing Duncan, "The Pollution Within," is in the new issue of National Geographic. (He was also on NPR this morning.) So, while we're on the subject of consumption her at The World's Fair, I think we...Posted on September 19, 2006 11:56 AM • 0 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
RoundUp Ready Round-up is Ready: (a) Atrazine and (b) Big Organic
Environmental Science/Studies in Review, Volume 1 Here is a rundown of some recent pieces of note w/r/t environment, science, and technology -- specifically, a few on atrazine and hermaphroditic friogs, and then a few on Big Organic (farming and planting...Posted on July 26, 2006 10:01 AM • 3 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Out out, damn mole! (The critter not the unit of measurement)
It's ironic but having just answered a scienceblogger question about preservation, I'm aware of a personal predicament that addresses some of the same ideals. Namely, I've got a critter in my backyard. This is what I saw on my lawn...Posted on July 23, 2006 11:32 AM • 5 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
If Smallpox could talk - not really.
A little late on this one, but the scienceblog question of the week (of last week), reads: "Is every species of living thing on the planet equally deserving of protection?..."...Posted on July 18, 2006 6:59 PM • 0 Comments • 0 TrackBacks