environment
gregladen | April 18, 2008Good question ... what IS in the air?
The simple answer is that the air ... the Earth's atmosphere ... is about 78% nitrogen, 21% oxygen, with a tiny amount of some other gases including water vapor. Then, there's dirt. I want to talk a little about the oxygen, one of the other gases (carbon dioxide to be exact), the water vapor, and the dirt.
Oxygen
The oxygen is one of the most important parts to us because we (and all the other animals) need it to breath. To me, what is most interesting about the oxygen is that in the old days ... before any animals or plants evolved but life…
j7uy5 | April 15, 2008Here at ScienceBlogs, we've regularly posted about the thorny issue of
antibiotic overuse, and the subsequent antibiotic resistance.
This is a good example of evolution in action; it's also a
good reason why we need to study and understand evolution.
But antibiotic resistance is not the only such example. The
same principle applies to herbicides and weeds.
Naturally, a good example comes to us courtesy of
href="http://www.monsanto.com/" rel="tag">Monsanto,
the company that
href="http://www.vanityfair.com/politics/features/2008/05/monsanto200805?printable=true¤tPage=all…
j7uy5 | April 13, 2008Forget to water your tomato plants? Try using ollas
(pronounced oy-ya).
href="http://urbanhomestead.org/journal/2008/03/24/using-ollas/"
rel="tag">Olla is Spanish for pot,
as in clay pot.
What you do is to get
unglazed clay pots, bury them near the plants, and put water in them.
The water leaks out very slowly, because the unglazed clay is
permeable. This creates a water plume underground.
What you see here are ollas, each made from two unglazed clay pots.
These pots cost $1.03 at K-Mart,on sale. Two are
bonded together using caulk. I used caulk that is intended
for…
mikethemadbiologist | April 13, 2008I've never understood why so many liberals and progressives think the Democratic field is strong. Yes, the candidates aren't insane, but neither of them are particularly good on economic issues. There is nothing in either Clinton's or Obama's records or speeches that suggests that they will do anything significant to reduce income inequality, other than perhaps letting the Bush tax cuts expire (and Obama has even been waffling on that).
And keep in mind, that income inequality isn't just a matter of economically integrating more people into society. That's not some gushy, "it's not fair"…
gregladen | April 11, 2008In Al Gore's brand-new slideshow (premiering exclusively on TED.com), he presents evidence that the pace of climate change may be even worse than scientists were recently predicting, and challenges us to act with a sense of "generational mission" -- the kind of feeling that brought forth the civil rights movement -- to set it right. Gore's stirring presentation is followed by a brief Q&A in which he is asked for his verdict on the current political candidates' climate policies and on what role he himself might play in future.
revere | April 10, 2008The news article is a month old but that doesn't make it any less infuriating. Potable water is becoming a major environmental issue, something that folks in the southeast of the US already know since they are experiencing a drought. What better time to sell the multinational food and beverage giant, the Nestle Company, the rights to draw hundreds of millions of gallons of water a year from wells drilled in a state park in Florida? To add insult to injury of the taxpayers of Florida, they Nestle will rebrand it as water associated with western Maryland.
I guess Florida needs the cash, and…
gregladen | April 8, 2008
This is a photo of a Tympanuchus cupido male drumming away on the lek to find a mate. The lek is the traditional breeding ground of the prairie chicken (and many other animals uses lek's) on which the males display, and to which the females travel to pick a male with whom to mate.
This bird, the greater prairie chicken, is threatened, and there is now a move to employ ecotourism to save it.
Once prevalent in every Wisconsin county, prairie chickens have been on the state's threatened species list since 1979, as fragmentation and degradation of the birds' native habitat has reduced their…
voltagegate | April 8, 2008It has been claimed in the past that birdfeeders were bad for the environment, and now a couple of researchers are looking into published literature on whether or not birdfeeders significantly disrupt the ecology and future evolution of birds.
The PR from SD is basically highlights of the researchers' survey, including indications that birds may get "trapped" in inhospitable areas by the surplus of food or that birdfeeders can disrupt a bird's natural breeding/feeding cycle throughout the year.
This review seems to be a jumping off point for more research:
"Changing the natural dynamics of…
voltagegate | April 8, 2008
This is a beautiful snapshot of Providence Canyon, right here in Georgia, believe it or not. The state parks down here seem to be a bit different from the fare up north. Can't wait to poke around a bit.
Here's another interesting park I found, Panola Mountain, which contains a 100-acre granite monadnock.
Photo by airnos.
skookumchick | April 5, 2008I'm sitting in panels and sessions at this great conference on Engineering, Social Justice and Peace which is the 7th annual conference of this kind. Here are only some of the snippets of what I've been seeing and hearing:
I heard yesterday of exciting and courageous curricular attempts to integrate social justice into engineering education. I heard of a course called "Engineering and Social Justice" offered through engineering and sociology at Queen's University, a first-year course where projects were focused on social justice, year-long experiences for students in Engineers Without…
voltagegate | March 31, 2008So Saturday was Earth Hour, and as if anyone reading this blog didn't know, lights were supposed to be cut off from 8 p.m. to 9 p.m. to send a message to mysterious world power that the world was ready to cut down on energy use. Sort of.
I didn't honor the Earth Hour. We rarely have more than one light on in our home at a time on a daily basis because it's wasteful and increasingly expensive. I don't have a million electronic devices running 24/7, we walk to the store when we can (Heather can walk to work) and luckily, my commute is only about 15 minutes a day. In every daily activity, even…
gregladen | March 31, 2008Fall, a very sunny, very breezy day on the lake, Amanda and I sitting in the cabin minding our own business.
Suddenly, ...thwack...
... well, it was a sort of tiny miniature thwack, but a thwack nonetheless. Peering outside through the window, we could see the the last death throws of a tiny greenish bird that had run into the window. The lighting conditions must have been just right for this bird to think that it could fly through the cabin, because this was an odd and unusual event. (We later made further adjustments to the window to see to it that this did not happen again, of…
gregladen | March 30, 2008Power lines kill raptors. Tens of thousands of raptors a year die on power lines. But there are ways to avoid this.
On 26 February, the Hungarian Ornithological and Nature Conservation Society (MME; BirdLife in Hungary) signed an agreement with the Ministry of Environment and Water (MEW), and all relevant electric companies in Hungary, to provide a long-term solution for bird-electrocutions. The signing parties promised to transform power lines in Hungary, and to make them more 'bird-friendly' by 2020.
Since the 1980s, electrocutions and collisions with electric power lines have caused…
skookumchick | March 29, 2008For Earth Hour, I had hoped we'd get a chance for a walk in the gloaming, but the day got away from us. My husband was just getting back from his run (alone) and I was just getting dinner started at 8 pm our time. We lit candles as it got too dark to see, and he did the crossword while I made curry.
We kept the lights off for another hour after dinner, and only reluctantly turned one back on in order to not trip over any furniture and catch the house on fire. We didn't notice any of our neighbors' lights off.
What did you do for Earth Hour?
skookumchick | March 29, 2008Remember tonight is Earth Hour to highlight our increasing global warming crisis. Join millions of other people in turning off your lights for an hour starting at 8 pm in your time zone.
Here on the western edge of the Eastern Time zone, it's still light at 8. So my husband and I might go for a walk, or just sit out on our front porch and watch the world go by for a little bit. Other ideas are here.
Remember also that Scientiae posts are due in the next day or so - on fools and foolishness, or anything else you care to contribute. See here for submission instructions. And if you haven't…
gregladen | March 28, 2008The Earth Hour, that is!
March 29th is Earth Hour Day. From 8pm to 8pm in your local time zone, you are to switch off the lights and stuff.
A number of astronomers out for an early evening look at the stars will thank you, and the Earth will thank you.
More details here.
clock | March 28, 2008Tomorrow, March 29th, 2008 at 8pm local time, switch off all the lights for an hour! Join the millions participating in Earth Hour (of course there is a Facebook group, full of information).
Apart from the obvious idea of saving energy, it is important to also remember that light pollution has strong negative effects on a variety of organisms, from insects, to migrating birds, to hatchling turtles.The energy saving of one hour may not be much, but the political effect of the effort is worth it.
gregladen | March 28, 2008Branta ruficollis is endangered. The Red Breasted Goose International Working Group (RbGIWG, which is unpronounceable) has a new species action plan to save this critter.
Here's some info from Redbrested Goose Central:
Red-breasted Goose (Branta ruficollis) is a charismatic globally threatened species highly dependent on wetlands and farmed areas. In the last 50 years, the distribution of the breeding and wintering grounds of Red-breasted Goose has changed dramatically for unknown reasons.
This species has a small wintering range with 80-90% of the population concentrated in just five…
voltagegate | March 28, 2008"The love of wilderness is more than a hunger for what is always beyond reach; it is also an expression of loyalty to the earth ... the only home we shall ever know, the only paradise we ever need -- if only we had the eyes to see."
-Edward Abbey