Here’s the fish, and here are the fish on drugs
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We are a nation of pill poppers. From statins to lower cholesterol to antidepressants to lift our mood, more than half of Americans are currently taking a prescription drug. Some twenty percent of us are take three different prescriptions daily. [Read more…] about Here’s the fish, and here are the fish on drugs
Hard or soft? When engineering shorelines, it makes a big difference
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Most of us have experienced a river shoreline— from a park, a train, or a boat. When we see where the water meets the land, how many of us have considered how modified shorelines influence river health? [Read more…] about Hard or soft? When engineering shorelines, it makes a big difference
More efficient boilers and new windows have a positive impact on the environment and wallets
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When it comes to making buildings more energy efficient, there are the elaborate steps, like solar panels and green roofs. And there are simpler measures, like updating water boilers and installing controllable thermostats. [Read more…] about More efficient boilers and new windows have a positive impact on the environment and wallets
Our addiction to gas, coal, and other fossil energy is acidifying the ocean
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Earth is called “the blue planet” because oceans cover more than 70% of its surface. Oceans affect weather and temperature and are home to a diversity of marine life.
[Read more…] about Our addiction to gas, coal, and other fossil energy is acidifying the ocean
Cheap, fast meat—is it worth it?
Beef costs consumers about 50% less than it did in the 1970s. While this sounds like good news for those of us that enjoy burgers, these savings come with serious costs to the environment and human health.
Good intentions went awry with this invasive species
Can an ornamental bush displace native plants, degrade wildlife habitat, and alter forest soil? In the case of Japanese Barberry, the answer is yes.
[Read more…] about Good intentions went awry with this invasive species
What do cheese production, sewage treatment, and antibiotics have in common?
Without microbes, none of these things would be possible.
Microbes are single-celled organisms that include bacteria and fungi. Microbes “breathe” and “eat” — except they aren’t restricted to oxygen like us — and their food includes sugars and starches, as well as rocks and chemicals.
Microbes are everywhere and they make up a large part of the environment. A single teaspoon of garden soil can hold more than a billion microbes. Even extreme places, such as Antarctic ice sheets, are home to flourishing microbial communities.
These tiny powerhouses are essential to healthy soils. Through a process called decomposition, microbes break complex organic substances into smaller units that other plants can more readily absorb.
Dr. Amy Burgin is a soil scientist at the University of Nebraska…
“Microbes do a lot of really good things for us – beer, wine, bread, cheese, all kinds of good stuff, in addition to cleaning out water and keeping us healthy,” says Burgin.
Many microbes produce chemicals that compete with and fight off other microbes. We know these mainly as antibiotics. Penicillin, for example, was first extracted from bread molds.
Transgenic crops, such as Bt corn, are another example of how humans have tapped into microbial chemical warfare.
By borrowing genes’ bacterium that produces a toxin poisonous to insects, plant scientists have create created a strain of genetically modified corn that can ward off insects.
While the merits of genetically modified crop remain hotly debated, one thing is certain —we owe a lot to microbes. Without them, plants wouldn’t grow, food would be scarce, and the world would be overflowing with garbage.
Photo, taken on November 12, 2006 using a Nikon D50, courtesy of Mark Thurman via Flickr.
This script was adapted from a column by Amy Burgin that originally ran in the Poughkeepsie Journal. You can access the original article here – http://www.caryinstitute.org/ecofocus_2008-09-14.html.
Old McDonald might soon have a farm inside a skyscraper in midtown Manhattan
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To feed the 8 million people living in New York City, it takes farmland equivalent to the size of Virginia to produce enough food. There is a growing push to build farms right inside major cities. Farms built inside of buildings were first conceptualized more than a decade ago.
[Read more…] about Old McDonald might soon have a farm inside a skyscraper in midtown Manhattan
Few ecosystems on our planet are as mysterious and misunderstood as groundwater
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Despite the fact many of us drink ground water every day, and all of us eat food irrigated by ground water, few people know where it comes from or how to protect it. And because we are misinformed, we don’t always manage this valuable resource wisely.
[Read more…] about Few ecosystems on our planet are as mysterious and misunderstood as groundwater
When it comes to protecting polar bears, a threatened species, our hands are tied
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Polar bears are the largest terrestrial predators on Earth, outweighing lions, tigers, and all other bears. They have to be big to catch their preferred prey — seals and small whales. To do this, the bears prowl the edges of holes in the sea ice, waiting for seals and whales to surface. They pull their meal from the water and eat it on the sea ice.
[Read more…] about When it comes to protecting polar bears, a threatened species, our hands are tied