default blog post image

Why Our Forests Need Fire, Not Salvage Logging

For over two decades, I have studied forests from Oregon's amazing coastal rainforests to the fire-adapted forests of the West. In dry forests, there are three issues that reoccur every fire season: (1) forests will burn regardless of what we do; (2) politicians will propose unchecked post-fire "salvage" logging, even in national parks, as a quick fix; and (3) scientists will continue to document the incredible regeneration that takes place after fires and how post-fire logging disrupts forest renewal.
default blog post image

#ForewordFriday: Paths within Reach Edition

As a Sustainability Management graduate student, I was naturally captivated by the latest edition of the Worldwatch Institute's State of the World series Is Sustainability Still Possible?. This book provides the practices and policies that will steer us in the right direction to prosperity, without diminishing the well-being of future generations. As I prepare to graduate and start my career, State of the World 2013:
default blog post image

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.
default blog post image

Why Biodiversity is Important to Solving Climate Chaos: Top 10 Reasons

Having jump-started my career as a conservation biologist riding the 1980s explosion of scientific and public interest in biodiversity, I have progressively witnessed how biophilia has given way to climate change concerns with the public, decision makers, scientists, and philanthropists (who have increasingly moved funding out of biodiversity and into climate change). In the meantime, we have lost sight of why biodiversity is critical to solving climate chaos.
default blog post image

No One Can Stop Leaking Oil

Katie Valentine and Ryan Koronowski of ThinkProgress uncover what oil companies (and snow) have been keeping secret. A Canadian oil company still hasn’t been able to stop a series leaks from underground wells at a tar sands operation in Cold Lake, Alberta. The first leak was reported on May 20, with three others following in the weeks after — making it at least 10 weeks that oil has been flowing unabated.
default blog post image

#ForewordFriday: The Heat Is On

While you're soaking up some sun this weekend, relax with this selection from Anthony Barnosky's  important book, Heatstroke. No one knows exactly what nature will come to look like in this new age of global warming. But Heatstroke gives us a haunting portrait of what we stand to lose and the vitality of what can be saved.

Pages