Earth Wise

A look at our changing environment.

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A New Oil Repellant

By

Oiled Pelican

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.

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How Much Room Is There For Solar Power?

By

solar

California has mandated that it will get at least a third of its electricity from renewable sources by 2020 and that it will reduce its greenhouse gas emissions by at least 80% from 1990 levels by 2050. To meet these goals, the state has been installing solar power at a staggering rate.

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Leaky Pipes And Polluted Waters

By

Raw Sewage - Oakland

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.

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Saving Sheep By Helicopter

By

Bighorn Sheep

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.

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Desalination And California’s Drought

By

IDE

Four years of drought in California have created a serious water crisis. 2014 was the third driest year in 119 years and was also the warmest year in recorded history. California’s Sierra snowpack, which provides a third of the state’s water, is at its lowest level in 65 years.

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When Eco-Fences Fail

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turtle

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.

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Time To Move Lyme Disease Awareness Month To April

By

Black Legged Tick

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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Green Roofs In France

By

Green Roof

France is becoming increasingly serious about environmentalism. That country recently passed new legislation mandating that all new commercial construction projects must incorporate either green roofs or solar panels. Solar panels are increasingly familiar to us on rooftops but to date green roofs have primarily been a European phenomenon.

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WAMC Northeast Public Radio

WAMC/Northeast Public Radio is a regional public radio network serving parts of seven northeastern states (more...)