Wildlife and Habitat
The Case For Messy Woodlands
Does your property contain a patch of forest? When managing your woodland, resist the urge to keep things tidy. Dead and dying trees are a healthy part of forest ecosystems.
Carbon In The Permafrost
Scientists have been watching the increases in carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere as we continue to contribute to them through the burning of fossil fuels. They have been also watching the melting of Arctic ice, which has been accelerating in recent years.
The World’s Rarest Dolphin Is In Danger
The Maui’s dolphin – a subspecies of Hector’s dolphin – is the smallest and rarest marine dolphin in the world. These dolphins, which can only be found in the shallow, coastal waters of New Zealand, are critically endangered.
The Problem With Coal Ash
Coal combustion in the U.S. generates around 130 million tons of coal ash each year, with power plants being the largest contributors. Bottom ash is collected from combustion chambers and fly ash is gathered from smokestacks and air pollution control devices.
Recycling Cigarette Butts
Cigarette butts are widely considered to be the world’s number one litter problem. Cleanup projects at beaches gather twice as many cigarette parts as either food wrappers or beverage containers. New York State produces about 1.5 million tons of cigarette butts each year. In Texas, butts account for 13% of all highway litter to the tune of 130 million butts per year.
The Downside Of Nitrogen Fertilizer
Yesterday, we introduced the topic of synthetic nitrogen fertilizer. Anyone with a lawn or a garden is familiar with the product. But prior to the 1950s, it use was not the norm.
Record CO2 Concentrations
Two years ago, we talked about a report out of the observatory on Mauna Loa in Hawaii of the first modern measurements of carbon dioxide levels greater than 400 parts per million. But it was only in that location and only for a brief period of time.
Toads: Warty, Toxic, And Resilient
This spring, amphibians displayed their singing skills in the flooded lowlands at the Cary Institute of Ecosystem Studies’ Millbrook, NY campus. Eastern American toads were major contributors to the evening chorus, which was at times deafening.
Protecting Working Forests
The U.S. has more than 420 million acres of “working” forests, which provide timber for construction, as well as pulp for paper and packaging. Apart from these economic benefits for communities, such forests provide clean air and water and wildlife habitat. Nearly 45 million acres of these forests are at risk of being lost to development.
Airguns In The Atlantic
Seventy-five scientists have issued a plea to President Obama to halt the use of seismic airguns in the Atlantic Ocean. The guns are used for oil and gas exploration mapping, and create a blast of air and sound underwater.
When Planting Trees Is Bad For Biodiversity
Over the past decade, more than five million acres of forests and farms worldwide have been cleared for agro-industrial rubber plantations. The driver is the growing demand for rubber products – especially tires – which use 70% of the annual rubber production.
[Read more…] about When Planting Trees Is Bad For Biodiversity
A New Oil Repellant
As long as we continue to transport oil around the world in ships, there is going to be the danger of oil spills, which have been some of our worst environmental disasters. While preventing such spills from happening at all is the first line of defense, we also need better approaches in cleaning up the spills that do occur.
The Smoke Gets In Your Eyes
Are you a smoker who is trying to stop? Or are you helping a loved one kick their tobacco habit? Whether you’ve quit or tried to get someone else to, it is almost certainly because you know that smoking is unhealthy.
Leaky Pipes And Polluted Waters
Most of us don’t spend a lot of time thinking about our wastewater. We want our toilets to flush and our dirty wash water to go down the drain. We assume this water is efficiently routed to a treatment facility, where it is cleaned up and returned to the environment. But reality doesn’t measure up to our expectations.
Saving Sheep By Helicopter
Sierra Nevada bighorn sheep were never a huge presence in California. They tended to concentrate in loosely connected pockets scattered through the Sierra Nevada Mountains. But over time, the connections were severed. Hunting and diseases spread by domestic sheep diminished the herds and predation by mountain lions took a toll. Eventually the subspecies was down to its last 100 individuals.
Spring Flooding Shapes Streams
In the Northeast, streams once covered in ice are flowing again. The floods that often accompany spring thaw bring big changes to these ecosystems.
When Eco-Fences Fail
Fences and eco-passages meant to protect animals from highway traffic can lead to more fatalities, particularly for reptiles like turtles and snakes. That’s what scientists in Canada found after monitoring an 8-mile stretch of highway crossing the Georgian Bay coastline of Lake Huron, a region rich in reptile biodiversity.
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
