The 21st century adage, “Think Globally, Act Locally,” continues to ring a bell of truth as humanity sails into the future. Increasingly, local communities that have rightfully become inpatient with our country’s polarized political gridlock and corporate greed are seeking out solutions to address critical...
In 1896, Nobel Laureate chemist Svante Arrhenius theorized that carbon dioxide (CO2) derived from fossil fuel combustion induced atmospheric warming. 64 years later Dr. Charles David Keeling proved that the concentration of CO2, a greenhouse gas (GHG), was increasing in the atmosphere. As a consequence...
[caption id="attachment_31265" align="alignleft" width="277"] Qalito Island, Fiji[/caption] “Malama i ke kai, a malama ke kai ia oe.” The translation of that centuries-old olelo noeau (Hawaiian proverb) is this: “Care for the ocean and the ocean will care for you.” Hawaiians believe it is their cultural kuleana (responsibility) to...
[caption id="attachment_30855" align="alignright" width="300"] Hawaiian 'Amakihi[/caption] Riding a warm tropical Pacific breeze and guided by the billowing cumulus clouds towering above the lofty 13,796-foot summit of Mauna Kea, forest birds arrived on the island of Hawai’i to discover a natural paradise of habitat diversity. Subsequently, the...
Editor's note: Any article by scientist Billy Mason is worth reading, but this blog is particularly timely. Over Memorial weekend, starting Friday, May 24, Mountainfilm in Telluride will focus on Climate Solutions," starting with Friday's Moving Mountains Symposium: "We are assembling an all-star lineup of scientists,...
[caption id="attachment_30169" align="alignright" width="263"] Eco-city Tianjin in China[/caption] As self-serving politicians funded by the fossil fuel industry inhibit progress in America, Asian countries are quickly moving towards reducing risk, building resilience, and creating new economic opportunities by abandoning the business-as-usual approach in favor of going green. By...
[caption id="attachment_29839" align="alignright" width="204"] Global Climate Model[/caption] I routinely hear the public at large interchange the terms "weather" and "climate" when discussing topics related to Earth’s atmosphere. Alas, this fundamental misinterpretation leads to a plethora of false ideas about climate change modeling. In simple terms, weather is...
[caption id="attachment_29430" align="alignright" width="300"] Hawaiians protest Monsanto[/caption] In the 1960’s, the Green Revolution transformed the landscape of large-scale agriculture by increasing production around the world. Armed with technology transfer initiatives, the Green Revolution marked the roots of a "neo-colonial" system of commercial agriculture and a decline...
[caption id="attachment_28994" align="alignright" width="220"] HIggs-boson particle[/caption] Recently, teams of scientists at the Large Hadron Collider have confirmed the existence of the Higgs-Boson particle. The elusive Higgs particle, sensationalized by mainstream media as the “God particle,” briefly revealed itself in 2012 to the delight of physicists around...
[caption id="attachment_28634" align="alignright" width="259"] Mars probe[/caption] Time travel, a popular topic of science fiction, has taken one step closer to reality. I am not talking about humans traveling “Back to the Future” as depicted by Hollywood, but rather the use of cutting edge scientific research in...
