climate

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Overpopulation Is Not the Problem…If Climate and Biodiversity Do Not Count

In his recent New York Times article, “Overpopulation is not the problem,” geographer Erle Ellis comes to two optimistic conclusions: (1) we can feed our planet’s growing human population, and (2) we can do that without further destroying nature. Ellis’s optimism is to be commended. Ultimately, we are not going to fix the environmental problems we face without an endgame plan, and an effective endgame plan simply cannot be devised or implemented without optimism.
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Unlocking the IPCC Assessment Process

Today, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) released its fifth big report, bringing with it a flurry of news coverage and strong reactions from both industry and environmental advocates. Does the assessment overstate or understate the dangers of global warming? Can the skepticism about whether humans are driving climate change finally be put to rest? As journalists, scientists, and citizens parse the findings, it’s worth pausing to consider just what the IPCC is and how it reaches its conclusions.
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#Foreword Friday: Foreclosure Edition

The World Bank Group proudly proclaims "our dream is a world without poverty." Supported by the U.S. and other rich industrialized nations, it lends more than $50 billion annually to developing countries-purportedly for projects and programs that help the poor while protecting the environment.
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Nature's Economy and Climate Change

On June 25, 2013, President Obama gave what may be his most important speech thus far. In it, he acknowledged the impacts of climate change on our society. These impacts include heightened atmospheric carbon pollution due to fossil fuel consumption, melting Arctic and Antarctic ice, temperature and sea level rise, and increased severe climatic events. Our president expounded on the high economic costs of climate change and our need to work as a nation and global power to be part of the solution.
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Unnatural Selection

Salamanders, fish and perhaps even humans are evolving fast in response to toxic chemicals. Is that bad? In the hemlock and oak forests of northeastern Connecticut, Steve Brady stood thigh deep in black muck and scooped up a handful of spotted salamander eggs. A Yale PhD student, he had once fancied himself zipping across tropical waters in a Zodiac boat or scanning rainforest canopies in search of exotic birds. Instead, he had just planted his budding career as an evolutionary biologist in a muddy ditch.
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The Premium Rush of Field Ecology

I don’t often endorse late-summer-multiplex-popcorn-with-butter-like-topping fare, but Premium Rush is, for what it is, phenomenal.  It’s true, if you watch the trailer, you’ve basically got the whole thing in microcosm, but trust me, it is much better on the big screen.  It’s basically a 91 minute movie, of which about 85 minutes are mad chase scenes of our bike messenger hero Wilee (pronounced “wiley,” like the coyote, and

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