Environment

The Road To El Dorado Cuts Through The Rainforests

A 21st century gold rush has led to a significant increase of deforestation in the tropical forests of South America. Researchers from the University of Puerto Rico have shown that between 2001 and 2013, around 1680 km2 of tropical forest was lost in South ...

Article - News Staff - Jan 14 2015 - 9:30am

Humanity Is Already 44 Percent Doomed- Paper

A new paper says that human civilization has crossed four of nine so-called planetary boundaries as the result of human activity that put humanity in a "safe operating space."  The four that are already beyond that point-of-no-return are climate ...

Article - News Staff - Jan 15 2015 - 7:26pm

Transgenic Crops: Are Two Bt Toxins Better Than One?

Crops genetically engineered to produce proteins from the bacterium Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) to control insect pests have been planted on a cumulative total of more than a billion acres worldwide since 1996 and they have been very successful. But pests ...

Article - News Staff - Jan 19 2015 - 3:00pm

Weight Of Evidence: How To Make Sense Of Reports On Toxicology And Pesticides

There are tens of thousands of human-made chemicals circulating today and some have been bad despite studies that didn't initially find harm, yet almost every chemical is under siege by environmental groups, and they all claim science is on their side ...

Article - News Staff - Jan 21 2015 - 4:56pm

Africa Will Feed Itself Within The Next 15 Years

Put innovative farming techniques in the right hands. CGIAR Climate, CC BY-NC-SA By Sayed Azam-Ali, University of Nottingham Africa will be able to feed itself in the next 15 years. That’s one of the big “bets on the future” that Bill and Melinda Gates ha ...

Article - The Conversation - Jan 22 2015 - 7:30pm

No, We Have Not Reached Peak Food

Peak Oil, which was supposed to have happened in 1992, set off the craze of declaring 'peak' everything, to such an extent it is a running joke now.(1) The good news for Peak Oil believers is that they are going to be right eventually. Oil is a & ...

Article - Hank Campbell - Jan 30 2015 - 1:12pm

Americans Want Environmental Protection And More Fossil Fuel Extraction: Is That Possible?

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Article - The Conversation - Feb 3 2015 - 8:30pm

Using Solar Energy For Desalination Solves Two Problems At Once

There are concerns about climate emissions because of resistance to clean technologies like nuclear power that have led to increased use of coal. Solar power will be the best solution in the future, if it does not fall victim to too much hype and subsidies ...

Article - News Staff - Feb 6 2015 - 9:30am

Diet Health Planet Trilemma

Trilemma- a quandary posed by three alternative courses of action. “Agriculture is having increasingly strong global impact on both the environment and human health, often driven by dietary changes.” ...

Blog Post - Akiva Gross - Feb 6 2015 - 7:38pm

On The Genetic Horizon: Cereal Crops That Survive Flooding

New research has identified the mechanism used by plants in stress conditions to sense low oxygen levels- and scientists then used that knowledge and advanced breeding techniques to reduce yield loss in barley under water-logged conditions. In 2011, Univer ...

Article - News Staff - Feb 7 2015 - 9:30am