Sometimes there are too many things to write about. This week's happenings are a case in point. [caption id="attachment_25447" align="alignleft" width="300"] Compost in a can[/caption] The COP18 Doha Climate Change Conference is happening in Qatar of all places, a corner of the globe that is completely dependent...
[caption id="attachment_25093" align="alignright" width="300"] Aqua Alta in Venice. Credit: Luigi Costantini/A[/caption] I usually leave climate change to my co-columnist, Billy Mason. His expertise in the subject way exceeds mine. But I make an exception for the specific subjects of flooding and sea level rise. Not only...
[caption id="attachment_24780" align="alignleft" width="300"] Sandy, NASA Earth Observatory[/caption] Any environmental blog this week has to talk about the devastation caused by Hurricane Sandy. I’m going to write about ecosystem restoration. The two issues are, in fact, closely related. What does restoration have to do with hurricanes? Quite...
I’m a bit obsessed about food issues – from where our food comes from, to how we regulate it, to how we prepare it, to how we eat it. Human and environmental health, justice and ethics, sustainability, economics are integrally related to food. Food is...
This week, I attended the Land Trust Alliance’s annual Rally to moderate a panel on ecosystem based management, ocean use planning, and conservation. While there, I got the chance to see several other presentations, including one about an impressive program in Puerto Rico, where a...
[caption id="attachment_23188" align="alignright" width="300"] Katie and Anna, by Clean Virginia Waterways[/caption] Saturday morning, I got up early and hopped on my bike to ride from the District down to Daingerfield Island, which is not really an island but is a National Park just south of Washington...
Editor’s Note: This is another installment of a weekly series by the team of scholars/dynamic enviro-activists Anna Zivian and Billy Mason. Both have deep ties to Telluride, but have flown the coop to make a difference in the larger world outside Shangri-La. They are. [caption id="attachment_22955"...
Let’s set the curve! How decisions we make about the coasts and oceans affect overall ocean health A paper published [today] in Nature outlines a way to assess and compare the health of ocean ecosystems across different countries. The study uses a series of indicators to measure...
Between tax returns and food ingredients, it seems hiding information is the order of the day. Massive “life science” corporations like Monsanto and DuPont, multinational food corporations like Pepsico and ConAgra, and biotechnology and grocery trade organizations like the Grocery Manufacturers Association are fighting against a...
In a decision this week, the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) “deregulated” Monsanto’s genetically engineered “Roundup Ready” sugar beets, meaning that they can be commercially planted in the United States without restrictions. The decision follows several years of litigation and review. It is the Animal...
