Our Environment

Wikipedia: Especially Unreliable for Politically Controversial Science Topics

September 24, 2015 By EarthWise

Wikipedia is world’s most popular online encyclopedia, the sixth most visited website in America, and a source most students rely on. But, according to a recent study, Wikipedia entries on politically controversial science topics can be especially unreliable.

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Female Thermal Demand

September 23, 2015 By EarthWise

If you work in an office, you know the following scenes are not unusual: a coworker wearing a woolly sweater at her desk on a 90-degree day; a woman vigorously rubbing her hands together for warmth in the conference room; or two colleagues engaged in a passive aggressive battle over the thermostat.

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Mosquito Migration

September 22, 2015 By EarthWise

Globally, there are more than 3,000 mosquito species, with around 150 native to the U.S. To many listeners – a mosquito is a mosquito. But depending on the species that bites you, mosquitoes can be a nuisance or a public health threat.

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Earth Overshoot Day

September 21, 2015 By EarthWise

Earth Overshoot Day is the day when, according to estimates, the total combined resource consumption of all human activity on the planet reaches the total amount that the Earth can generate for the year. It is the natural resource equivalent of the date by which you have spent your entire salary for the year.

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Los Angeles’ Shade Balls

September 18, 2015 By EarthWise

The worst drought in California history is leading to some creative ideas for saving water. The city of Los Angeles turned its primary reservoir into a giant ball pit.

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The Environmental Movement Works

September 17, 2015 By EarthWise

When each day seems to bring more bad news about the health of our planet, it can be easy to wonder if the environmental movement is working. But a new study in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences has found that, at the state level, environmentalism is linked with lower carbon emissions.

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A New Labeling Initiative

September 16, 2015 By EarthWise

Hydraulic fracturing – or fracking – is a well-stimulation technique in which rock is fractured by a pressurized liquid to free otherwise trapped natural gas or oil.

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Nature: A Natural Stress-Buster

September 14, 2015 By EarthWise

If you’ve ever taken a walk outside to “clear your head,” it turns out you were onto something. Scientists, doctors, and the average person have long known that time spent in nature can have de-stressing, mood-boosting effects. They just haven’t been exactly sure why.

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Street Trees Are Good For Us

September 11, 2015 By EarthWise

Want to feel younger? Live on a street with more trees. That’s the finding of University of Chicago researchers who studied the impact of street trees on the real and perceived health of residents of Toronto, Canada.

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Meat Consumption & Biodiversity

September 10, 2015 By EarthWise

Several studies warn that the current loss and decline of species is contributing to what appears to be the beginning of earth’s sixth mass extinction. More than 400 species have gone extinct in the last 100 years. And scientists suggest up to 37 percent of the world’s species could go extinct within the next 35 years.

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Moving Toward 100% Renewables

September 9, 2015 By EarthWise

More and more cities, states and even entire countries are setting goals to use 100% renewable energy. For the most part, these goals relate to electrical power, which is the energy need most attainable via renewable sources. But ultimately, we would like to cover all of our energy needs – electrical power, heating and cooling, and transportation – using sustainable renewable resources.

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El Niño On The Way

September 8, 2015 By EarthWise

There are starting to be a lot of news reports about a strong El Niño being on the way later this year. El Niño is a weather phenomenon that occurs in the eastern tropical Pacific every two to seven years. East-to-west trade winds weaken and ocean surface temperatures go up. The result impacts the weather throughout the Pacific region.

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The Really Big One

September 7, 2015 By EarthWise

Most people have heard of the San Andreas fault line. It runs the length of California, and is perpetually rumored to be to be on the verge of unleashing a big earthquake. But there’s a much lesser known fault line located just north of the San Andreas that’s predicted to trigger an even larger quake.

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We Need More Free-Range Kids

September 4, 2015 By EarthWise

Once-upon-a-time, kids were expected to amuse themselves outdoors. Today, fears of shady neighbors and bodily harm have led to a nation of parents who appear content to keep their kids inside, playing computer games, surfing the web, texting, and watching TV.

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Bumblebees And The Climate Squeeze

September 3, 2015 By EarthWise

Bumblebees face their share of hazards – habitat loss, disease, and harmful pesticides among them. New research shows that climate change is also a significant threat to bumblebee populations in Europe and North America. In fact, University of Ottawa scientists suggest that, for these bumblebees, climate change may be the biggest threat of all.

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Climate Change And Lobster

September 2, 2015 By EarthWise

It’s no secret that ocean waters are warming, especially in New England. The waters in the Gulf of Maine are warming 99% faster than the rest of the world’s oceans. What’s the problem? Well, lobsters like cold water, and as a result, they’re heading north.

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Offshore Wind At Last

September 1, 2015 By EarthWise

At the end of July, construction began on the first offshore wind installation in the United States. The Block Island Wind Farm is being built off the coast of Rhode Island and is expected to come online next year, providing electricity for about 17,000 homes.

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A Giant Red Tide

August 31, 2015 By EarthWise

Red tide is the common name for algal blooms in the ocean. These are typically cyclical events that occur along our coasts and generally last a few weeks.

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The Heat From Global Warming

August 28, 2015 By EarthWise

The average surface temperature around the world has gone up over a degree over the past 40 years but some people argue that if the greenhouse effect was really at fault, the temperature rise would be much larger.

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The Complicated Case Of Cecil The Lion

August 27, 2015 By EarthWise

The recent killing of Zimbabwe’s Cecil the Lion sparked a world-wide reaction and has focused a great deal of attention on the ethics of trophy hunting. There is no question that trophy hunting is an extremely polarizing issue and there are demands around the world to curtail the practice.

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