Health
Human Pollution And Fish
We recently spoke on this program about how up to 28 billion pounds of plastic debris enters the world’s oceans every year. Well now a new study has shed some light on how this and other human-caused pollution may be impacting deep-water marine fish.
The Tragedy Of The Atmosphere
More and more, arguments against the scientific consensus that humans are changing the Earth’s climate are not about science at all. Instead, they focus on loss of personal liberties and distrust of increased government regulation.
Time To Move Lyme Disease Awareness Month To April
The month of May brings many things, among them Mother’s Day, tulips, and Lyme Disease Awareness campaigns. But according to Rick Ostfeld, a disease ecologist at the Cary Institute of Ecosystem Studies, if we want to get a leg up on tick-borne illness we need to become vigilant earlier in the season.
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Time To Hug A Tree
Forest preservation is essential to combating climate change. Growing trees absorb carbon dioxide, storing it in their wood. Forest destruction is responsible for about 20% of human-caused carbon dioxide emissions into the Earth’s atmosphere.
Why Volcanoes Are Not Driving Climate Change
Once in a while, one will hear the argument that volcanoes are to blame for rising carbon dioxide in the Earth’s atmosphere. There are several reasons why this can’t be the case.
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Earth Day On A Crowded Planet
In 1970, when the first Earth Day was celebrated, there were 200 million people living in the United States. Sometime during 2015, our population will top 320 million, and the Earth seems destined to harbor at least 10 billion of us by the middle of this century.
McDonald’s And Antibiotics
McDonald’s – the world’s largest chain of hamburger fast food restaurants – recently announced plans to source chicken that is free of human antibiotics. The corporation, which is one of the country’s biggest buyers of chicken, is trying to shake its image of offering unhealthy and unnatural foods. The transition to this cleaner meat will take two years.
Perennial Rice
Rice is the most economically important crop in the world. It supplies humanity with about a quarter of its calories. Domesticated rice is a short-lived plant that generally dies off after it produces seeds. Rice paddies have to be cleared of vegetation and plowed each year and are highly vulnerable to soil and nutrient loss through erosion, soil compaction and decline in organic matter.
Are Weed Killers Killing Us?
The U.S.-based agrochemical giant Monsanto finds itself at the forefront of another controversy. Monsanto, which dominates the agriculture market with its genetically modified seeds and herbicides, has drawn unwanted scrutiny after a new report linked one of its most popular herbicides to potential health hazards.
Seeing Smog And Seeking Solutions
Technology is changing the way we ‘see’ air pollution. Advances in environmental sensors, computing power, and visualization software are allowing researchers to monitor and display air quality in many of America’s cities 24 hours a day, in real-time. This is giving clean air advocates unprecedented access to pollution hotspots.
Coyotes Calling
In New York State, if you hear howling at night, it’s not a wolf. And it’s not your imagination. When New York’s wolves were killed off in the 19th century, it left an ecological vacuum that coyotes were happy to fill.
Plastic Pollution
It’s no secret that plastic pollution in the ocean is a huge problem. The most visible sign of this is the Great Pacific Garbage Patch. This accumulation of debris is at least twice the size of Texas and can be seen from space. But now scientists have developed a new way to measure ocean trash – and it turns out there’s more than meets the eye.
GMO Apples
In February, the first genetically engineered apples were approved for planting and sale in the US by the Department of Agriculture. Two varieties, known as the Arctic Granny and Arctic Golden received the approval. They are genetically engineered to resist browning.
The Dirty Job Of E-Waste Recycling
“Reduce, reuse, recycle” was a popular mantra of the 80s and 90s, encouraging citizens to separate paper, plastic, and aluminum from their trash. But with the exponential rise of electronics like cell phones, laptops, and tablets – recycling has become more complex.
In A Warmer World, The Ticks That Spread Disease Are Arriving Earlier
In the northeastern US, warmer spring temperatures are leading to shifts in the emergence of the blacklegged ticks that carry Lyme disease and other tick-borne pathogens. So reports a new study published in the Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B.
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The Rising Hudson
The Hudson River flows through much of the listening area of our flagship station. It is an extension of the Atlantic Ocean that flows from the Narrows in New York Harbor up through the Capital Region and beyond and it is linked to any changes in water levels in the Atlantic and around the globe.
Has Phragmites Met Its Match?
Goats are gaining a reputation as allies in the fight against invasive plants. Urban parks, college campuses, and nature preserves are taking advantage of their appetites and agility – using them to control everything from autumn olive to multiflora rose.
Dog Days Of Winter
This winter filled with endless snows and bone-chilling temperatures makes it difficult to focus on a warming climate. But the truth of the matter is that the warming climate is playing a major role in our harsh winter weather.
Let’s End Factory Farming!
