News Briefs & Blogs
National Geographic News:
The Proliferation of Hope - To begin with, stop talking about losses and extinctions, stop trying to educate people about the science, stop talking about wildlife as resources, and stop appealing to people's self-interest....This piece describes evidence-based principles for environmental communication.
Discover Magazine:
Leafsnap - the intersection of art, science, and education - Wrote this piece for Discover Magazine, explaining the use of a smartphone app that helps kids learn the names and descriptions of trees.
The Mystery of the Seven-Gill Shark - A blog for Discover Magazine about the potential increases in seven-gill shark sightings off the coast of San Diego.
Stewards of the Streams: Citizen Science Meets Water Quality - Joshua Caditz, an environmental lawyer turned science teacher, leads the group and is proud of his band of water-monitoring geeks.
Scistarter:
Our Daily Moth - "There is a staggering amount of diversity within the moth family. “The excitement and wonder of the diversity of moths across our study sites is enormous,” says John Pickering. “At my house we’ve now photographed over 1,100 moth species and counting. This is more species than birds ever recorded in North America!”
First Leaf, First Bud, First Fruit - Gardeners worldwide have their favorite sayings about when to plant, when to reap, how much rain is going to fall, or how dry it will be. Typically tested by time, and cast over generations by people who till the land, they identify the prime time to sow or harvest. This is all changing. A post about Project Budburst.
Non-Profits
Cate School:
Small Fish, Big Science - Wrote a science news brief about a biology class project, and an alumni profile piece about a climate change resource manager for the Cate School Bulletin.
Woods Hole Research Center:
The Barefoot Ecologist - Izael da Cunha Pantoja sits watching and waiting alongside Dr. Leandro Castello on a rickety wooden bench on the shore of the Amazon River in the State of Pará, Brazil. Suddenly Izael points to undulating water and the rise of a pirarucu, one of the world’s largest freshwater fish. The fish must surface every 15 minutes or so to gulp oxygen through an organ called a cellular swimming bladder. Gulp.
Amazon Freshwater Systems Vulnerable to Degradation - Damage to Amazon freshwater ecosystems greatly impacts Amazonians, who historically have been so dependent on freshwater ecosystem goods and services that they have been called ‘water peoples.’
Earth from Space - “You’re weightless, things are floating around like in an aquarium. Then you look out and see the earth. You notice how small and completely finite it is. You see how thin the atmosphere is, like an onion skin. I’m a lot fonder of the earth now, I’m loyal to the earth, as opposed to country or town. Maybe we should send a lot of politicians up there,” says Piers Sellers.
REDD+ in the Congo - “How do we know your project isn’t going to ruin everything for us?” asked a Bokumu Mokola village elder. There began the challenge.
Cottage Health:
Always - Villa Riviera provides a comfortable home, with capacity for assisted living. Assisted living in a community with an average age just under 100 requires assistance with everything.
Magazines
Terra Magazine:
Seedbeds of Collaboration (Cover Story) - Oregon's "timber wars" were traumatic for many communities in the state. Sawmills were shuttered and towns went belly up as the breeding habitat of the spotted owl came under a congressional spotlight. At the H.J. Andrews Experimental Forest - ground zero for the old-growth research that precipitated it all - an unlikely partnership was formed between environmental scientists, loggers, foresters and the media. It enabled the standing of science to weather the period.
Down to Earth Magazine:
Hunter Hunted (Cover Story) - A black rhino in Namibia, a majestic elephant outside Gonarezhou National Park in Zimbabwe, and Cecil the lion: it seems like 2015 was the year of the trophy hunter. Is it time for the trophy hunter be driven to extinction?
American Forests Magazine:
Timberline (Photo-led feature) - A little pocket meadow at the apex of the Golden Staircase climb catches my attention as I labor through what is known among backpackers as timberline, on the John Muir Trail. Roughly a good fly cast wide, a number of small waterfalls tumble through it, each creating their own diminutive ecosystem, and all linked by the hurrying Palisade Creek. The article examines climate change along the John Muir Trail as found by researchers.
Country Life Magazine:
Aloe, South Africa (Photo-led feature) - traces the ethnobotanical threads among the tribes and inhabitants of South Africa. "The San artist crouched in a shallow cave deep in the Bankberg mountains. He mixed his paints in an unhurried fashion – eland fat blended with crushed sandstone – his manner conveying a sense of contentment. Looking up briefly to savor the setting sun, he began to hum… before leaning across to light a small fire of twigs and acacia branches prepared before the last rays.
Adventure Cycling Magazine:
El Camino Real (Photo-led feature) - The royal highway, a route that has threaded its way through the mists of time to linger in the contemporary consciousness. Its origins date back to the time of the American Revolution when a number of small, self-reliant religious missions were established a day's ride apart, leading north of San Diego.
Canopy Magazine:
Mexico's Vision for Sustainability - Mexico ranks fifth in the world for its biodiversity. Which is why a partnership amongst researchers and conservation practitioners was established to develop a strategy to include biodiversity as an element of REDD+.
Los Carbonautos - Indigenous people are deeply connected to the Amazon forests. It should therefore come as no surprise that their livelihoods, homes and cultures are threatened when the land is cleared for timber, cattle ranching or industrial agriculture. Two scientists teach local trainers how to equip their respective communities to monitor their forests.
Getaway Magazine:
A Little Bit of Awesome - Place-based photo-led travel feature that explores ecotourism and adventure travel along the United States' West Coast.