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Nature-al Resources

By Anthony Barnosky / On April 20th, 2009
What comes to mind when you hear the words "natural resources?" Oil. Water. Nature. Nature? In fact, yes, nature is one of the big ones. Ecologists and economists have a name for the natural resources that nature provides: "ecosystem services." They've calculated that globally the dollar-value of those services could be $54 trillion annually in 1997 dollars--for comparison the Gross World Product for 2008 was around $62 trillion.
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Anthony D. Barnosky: Now for Some Good News

By Anthony Barnosky / On April 10th, 2009
My extended family tells me they're getting a little depressed about hearing all the bad things that might happen from global warming. So I guess it's time to point out that maybe it's not as bleak as it seems. Here's the good news.
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Hoping for the Best

By Anthony Barnosky / On April 3rd, 2009
I admit it. In my heart of hearts, I'm hoping for the best. Those scenarios of climate change we see splashed across the newspapers and magazines include a wide range of possibilities, and I keep my fingers crossed that we'll end up closer to the best case. But just three weeks ago the best case got a lot worse. A group of climate scientists meeting in Copenhagen announced that sea level very likely is going to rise almost twice as much as we thought.
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After the Storm

By Anthony Barnosky / On March 18th, 2009
When you’re in the middle of a forest fire, trees exploding all around you, smoke burning your lungs, and fireballs dropping from the sky, it’s hard to think about much except getting out of there alive.  That’s kind of where we are with thinking about global warming nowadays—the direct impacts on people.  How many lose their homes when sea level rises?  What new diseases are going to make their way out of the tropics?  How many dollars will it take to cut carbon emissions?
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Obama Needs Churchill 101

By Jonathan Isham / On February 25th, 2009
In times of great trial, the best politicians strive for Churchillian rhetoric – or better yet, simply quote Churchill.  And in tough times, no quote resounds more than Churchill’s memorable assessment, in late 1942, of the Battle of El Alamein, the first major British victory in WW II: “Now this is not the end. It is not even the beginning of the end. But it is, perhaps, the end of the beginning.”
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Fireflies, Chrysler, and Auto Bailout

By Paul Ehrlich / On December 22nd, 2008
Horrible-and we thought it couldn't get worse when we were in southern Africa six months ago......Paul Ehrlich
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Will Obama take on food?

By Ann Vileisis / On November 19th, 2008
In the months leading up to the election, food activists (see the video by The White House Organic Farm Project, a.k.a. TheWhoFarm.org below) have been salivating over the possibility that they could convince the next president to turn up some sunny expanse of White House lawn and put in a lush and leafy organic farm. The bounty of veggies could feed not only the first family but also Washington's needy and fresh-food-deprived school children.
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Last minute Bush Administration actions

By Elizabeth Grossman / On November 10th, 2008
On November 4, from the White House to state houses and the unsung offices of Soil & Water Conservation and Public Utility Districts, American voters elected what is likely an unprecedented number of pro-environment candidates.

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