environment
grrlscientist | January 3, 2010tags: Birdbooker Report, bird books, animal books, natural history books, ecology books
"How does one distinguish a truly civilized nation from an aggregation of
barbarians? That is easy. A civilized country produces much good bird
literature."
--Edgar Kincaid
The Birdbooker Report is a special weekly report of a wide variety of science, nature and behavior books that currently are, or soon will be available for purchase. This report is written by one of my Seattle birding pals and book collector, Ian "Birdbooker" Paulsen, and is edited by me and published here for your information and…
grrlscientist | December 31, 2009tags: Forest of Ecstasy: Vanguard, illegal drugs, safrole oil, ecstacy, XTC, X, methylenedioxymethamphetamine, MDMA, rainforest, Cardamom Mountains, Cambodia, conservation, endangered species, documentary, streaming video
Do you think that making and using illegal drugs are victimless crimes? Think again! Deep in a remote Cambodian rainforest, criminals are setting up illegal factories to produce safrole oil, the raw ingredient for the illegal Schedule I drug, ecstasy (methylenedioxymethamphetamine or MDMA). Adam Yamaguchi joins armed forest rangers on a search and destroy mission.
grrlscientist | December 30, 2009tags: education, public outreach, SciCafe, science cafe, AMNH, American Museum of Natural History, NYC, streaming video
Who: Ichthyologist Melanie Stiassny
What: free public presentation, "Mysteries of the Congo: Exploring the World's Deepest River"
When: 700pm, Wednesday, 6 January 2010
Where: Gottesman Hall of Planet Earth, American Museum of Natural History, Enter at the 81st Street (Rose Center) [directions and maps]
Cost: free, and there is a cash bar (must be 21+ with ID)
What strange new species lurk beneath? Join Museum Curator Melanie Stiassny, an ichthyologist who has been…
pharyngula | December 30, 2009Several people expressed surprise at Alaska's high position on the list of non-religious states. We can't have people's expectations shattered, so here's something to reassure you all that the world has not turned inside out: an Alaskan scientist castigates the state's attitude on science.
Alaska's escalating war on science should be a grave concern to us all. On climate change, endangered species, predator control, environmental impacts of industrial development, and other important policy issues, Alaska now has arguably the most anti-science government anywhere in the nation.
It just goes…
grrlscientist | December 27, 2009tags: Birdbooker Report, bird books, animal books, natural history books, ecology books
"How does one distinguish a truly civilized nation from an aggregation of
barbarians? That is easy. A civilized country produces much good bird
literature."
--Edgar Kincaid
The Birdbooker Report is a special weekly report of a wide variety of science, nature and behavior books that currently are, or soon will be available for purchase. This report is written by one of my Seattle birding pals and book collector, Ian "Birdbooker" Paulsen, and is edited by me and published here for your information and…
pharyngula | December 23, 2009Jim Lippard has put up an excellent post identifying the major institutions behind climate change denial. They are almost uniformly conservative and populated with old and unqualified cranks, although Jim is too genteel to put it that way. It's useful information if you need a scorecard to keep track of the players.
It's also amusing. Lippard makes this passing mention of a certain notorious crank in a discussion of the denialists with the best academic credentials:
The top-cited scientist, Lubos Motl, has 150 citations for his fourth-most-cited paper, but he's a theoretical physicist with no…
grrlscientist | December 23, 2009tags: education, public outreach, SciCafe, science cafe, AMNH, American Museum of Natural History, NYC, streaming video
Who: Ichthyologist Melanie Stiassny
What: free public presentation, "Mysteries of the Congo: Exploring the World's Deepest River"
When: 700pm, Wednesday, 6 January 2010
Where: Gottesman Hall of Planet Earth, American Museum of Natural History, Enter at the 81st Street (Rose Center) [directions and maps]
Cost: free, and there is a cash bar (must be 21+ with ID)
What strange new species lurk beneath? Join Museum Curator Melanie Stiassny, an ichthyologist who has been…
milhayser | December 23, 2009If you've got a great idea, and you like money, here's your chance to win:
Carbon14, (www.c14time.com), a new outdoor and active lifestyle brand, is celebrating the launch of its three new lines of watches--AIR, WATER, and EARTH--by hosting a competition that will award $50,000 to one deserving contestant selected by the public! Whether you're developing solar technology, working to promote animal rights, or developing a product designed to positively impact the environment, you are eligible to win this competition!
Nominations and submissions will be accepted until February 28th, 2010.…
esiegel | December 21, 2009Thanks to NASA's Terra satellite for providing this image:
That tiny little white bar on the lower left, by the way? That's the scale of this image: 50 km (31 miles).
You know, as opposed to how it normally looks, when it isn't covered in snow:
Happy Holidays again! And a special thanks to Universe Today for showing this off, too!
esiegel | December 21, 2009Kenneth: These are my all inclusive holiday decorations. Here's a little Christmas tree.
Tracy: Ok.
Kenneth: A menorah.
Tracy: Dig.
Kenneth: A picture of President Obama for the Muslims.
Tracy: I'm gonna let that one slide.
Kenneth: And a bowl of meat cubes with a picture of Jimmy Connors sticking out in the tradition of Verdukianism. -30 Rock
It's the Winter Solstice today. This is one of my favorite holidays, and arguably, is the first holiday in all of human history. (Pardon the Northern-Hemisphere bias of this post.) How so, you ask?
Typically, the Sun rises in the East, travels higher…
esiegel | December 20, 2009One of the very nicest things about life is the way we must regularly stop whatever it is we are doing and devote our attention to eating. -Luciano Pavarotti
I'm not going to lie to you; I think Pavarotti's totally got it right. It's not only a necessity for living, it's one of the greatest pleasures that we get to indulge in, and we get to do it every single day.
But I'm not 18 anymore, and I not only care about the taste of the food I eat, but also its nutritional value and where it comes from. I'm not an expert on this by any means (although Sharon is), but I've started to become more…
grrlscientist | December 20, 2009tags: Birdbooker Report, bird books, animal books, natural history books, ecology books
"How does one distinguish a truly civilized nation from an aggregation of
barbarians? That is easy. A civilized country produces much good bird
literature."
--Edgar Kincaid
The Birdbooker Report is a special weekly report of a wide variety of science, nature and behavior books that currently are, or soon will be available for purchase. This report is written by one of my Seattle birding pals and book collector, Ian "Birdbooker" Paulsen, and is edited by me and published here for your information and…
grrlscientist | December 17, 2009tags: education, public outreach, SciCafe, science cafe, AMNH, American Museum of Natural History, NYC, streaming video
Since the holidays are a busy time, I am notifying you of NYC's upcoming SciCafe a little early so you can be sure to add it to your calenders!
Who: Ichthyologist Melanie Stiassny
What: free public presentation, "Mysteries of the Congo: Exploring the World's Deepest River"
When: 700pm, Wednesday, 6 January 2010
Where: Gottesman Hall of Planet Earth, American Museum of Natural History, Enter at the 81st Street (Rose Center) [directions and maps]
Cost: free, and there is a…
pharyngula | December 17, 2009Since we're arguing over global warming this week, I thought I'd post a commentary piece that was published in the Morris newspaper this week, by my colleague Pete Wyckoff. Pete is our local tree and climate expert, who works in both the biology and environmental studies discipline, and is very well qualified to describe what was going on with some of the adjustments in the climate data that have some of the nuts screaming shrilly on Fox News.
Local Commentary: Thoughts on 'Climate-gate': Mitigate our impact
By Pete Wyckoff
Is the planet cooling? "I've just completed Mike's Nature trick…to…
pharyngula | December 17, 2009Unfortunately, he still doesn't understand the gist of our complaint, but he does clarify a few issues.
I do not, and did not, deny the established fact -- arrived at by extensive scientific research -- that average global temperatures have increased by a bit less than one Celsius degree. My commentary was concerned with my amateur confusion about the myriad of natural phenomena that obviously bring about worldwide climate changes and whether we can properly assign the cause to anthropogenic influences. Yes, I'm aware of the massive release of energy -- mostly heat -- that we've produced by…
pharyngula | December 16, 2009This is so disappointing: James Randi joins the ranks of the climate change denialists, and he does so on the basis of an extremely poor argument. I know, he's a professional skeptic about everything, but skeptics must have some standard for evidence … a standard which the climatologists have reached, while the denialists have not. Here's the core of Randi's dissent from the scientific consensus.
I strongly suspect that The Petition Project may be valid. I base this on my admittedly rudimentary knowledge of the facts about planet Earth. This ball of hot rock and salt water spins on its axis…
emjohnson | December 15, 2009Sex workers in Denmark have offered free sex in response to Copenhagen Mayor Ritt Bjerregaard's attempt to discourage prostitution during the COP15 Climate Change Conference. The City Council had postcards delivered to 160 hotels where conference delegates and associates of COP15 would be staying and paid for advertisements in local newspapers that read:
'Be sustainable: Don't buy sex!'
However, prostitution is legal throughout Scandinavia and sex workers have formed unions to protect themselves from exploitation and harassment. In response SIO (Sexarbejdernes Interesse Organisation; or…
emjohnson | December 15, 2009The Guardian environment editor John Vidal, who first reported on the "Danish Text" that would seek to eliminate the Kyoto Protocol and allow wealthy nations to maintain double the carbon pollution as poor nations, has filed this report from Copenhagen. The outrage by developing nations was felt again last night as wealthy delegates met secretly and held "informal consultations with selected countries."