On Interning at Island Press: Melting Icecaps
By Admin / On August 29th, 2013
In this week's installment Editorial Intern Amanda del Sontro elaborates on what drives her to strive for a better environment.
global warming
Rising Temperatures Hurt Current Energy Systems
By Admin / On July 9th, 2013
Sarah LeRoy of the Southwest Climate Change Network weighs in on the rising temperatures and their impact on current energy systems.
Temperate Rainforests Down Under Owe Existence to Ancient Ark
By Dominick A. DellaSala / On December 9th, 2011
Some 38-45 million years ago, Australia broke off from its parent super-continent, Gondwana, and began drifting northward. In its long and arduous journey, the ark rafted ancient species forced to cope with a cooling and drying climate. Some, like Antarctic beech (Nothofagus spp.), were forced into climatic refugia along the eastern edge of Australia where it remained moist enough to cradle the evolution of rainforest communities in changing times.
Occupy the Tongass Rainforest?
By Dominick A. DellaSala / On November 7th, 2011
Taking America by storm with actions reminiscent of the 60s, “Occupy Wall Street” has gone viral in an attempt to raise awareness about corporate interests being placed above public needs. But the movement has yet to sound alarm bells on the Tongass rainforest, where a native corporation is seeking to develop and log over 100-square miles of public lands through a legislative lands transfer proposed in Congress.
In the Case of Tar Sands Oil - Oils Well, Will Certainly Not End Well
By Dominick A. DellaSala / On August 30th, 2011
Canada’s growing interest in exporting some of the dirtiest crude oil in the world is a threat to not only North America’s wildlife but also a rational energy policy and a stable atmosphere. NASA and climate scientist James Hansen called this project a climate game-changer because burning Alberta “tar sands” oil could raise CO2 levels in the atmosphere by 200 parts per million (ppm), pushing us dangerously away from the 350 ppm safety net that he and other scientists have recommend (we are currently at 390 ppm of CO2 and rising at about 1-2 ppm per year).
Bird Survey Suggests If You Plant It, They Will Come
By Robert J. Cabin / On April 15th, 2011
The results of last month's annual Hakalau Forest National Wildlife Refuge Bird Survey indicate that birds may colonize reforested areas much faster than experts had predicted. This year's surveyors spotted all five of the common native forest birds and four endangered forest birds within sections of the refuge that two short decades ago had been treeless areas dominated by non-native plants and animals. "I never thought I'd live to see this," said Jack Jeffrey, who coordinated this bird survey and was the refuge biologist from 1990-2008.
World's Most Unique and Endangered Forest Needs Our Help
By Admin / On April 5th, 2011
No, it's not in Brazil or Borneo. It's actually in the good old USA, literally and figuratively clinging to a steep slope in a drainage called Mahanaloa Gulch on the Hawaiian Island of Kauai. We need to stop twiddling our thumbs and SAVE THIS FOREST NOW.
Obvious answers for obvious questions at Copenhagen.
By Wade Davis / On December 14th, 2009
The obvious questions provoke the obvious answers. From my reading of the literature over the last month, and from everything I have learned at Copenhagen, there can be no doubt that the scientific consensus on climate change is consistent and overwhelming. So it leaves us with a quandary. All of these researchers, across a half dozen academic disciplines, are either right or they are terribly wrong.
Is two degrees too much?
By Admin / On December 8th, 2009
Today on Post Carbon, Juliet Eilperin writes:
Back in the mid-1990s, the U.N. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change projected this would give the world a decent shot at avoiding dangerous climate impacts.
Are Your Kids Destroying the Earth?
By Chuck Savitt / On September 17th, 2009
Many families who dutifully recycle, take mass transit, and have a house full of compact fluorescent light bulbs, would say they're doing their part to save the earth. However, a new study from the London School of Economics suggests that in developed countries, making the decision to have children dramatically increases your negative impact on the environment.