The Guardian: “The world’s oceans reached their hottest level in recorded history in 2020, supercharging the extreme weather impacts of the climate emergency, scientists have reported. More than 90% of the heat trapped by carbon emissions is absorbed by the oceans, making their warmth an undeniable signal of the accelerating crisis. The researchers found the… Continue Reading
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Category Archives: Environmental Law
Better Information Sharing Could Improve Responses to Washington, D.C. Area Helicopter Noise Concerns
Aircraft Noise: Better Information Sharing Could Improve Responses to Washington, D.C. Area Helicopter Noise Concerns. GAO-21-200: Published: Jan 7, 2021. Publicly Released: Jan 7, 2021. “We were asked to review helicopter noise in the Washington, D.C., area, where numerous flights support government, national security, and medical operations. There were about 88,000 helicopter flights within 30… Continue Reading
It Spied on Soviet Atomic Bombs. Now It’s Solving Ecological Mysteries
The New York Times – Imagery from the Cold War’s Corona satellites is helping scientists fill in how we have changed our planet in the past half century. “To map a landscape’s history, foresters like Dr. Nita long depended on maps and traditional tree inventories that could be riddled with inaccuracies. But now they have… Continue Reading
74 of Our Favorite Facts for 2020
The New York Times – “Each day, our editors collect the most interesting, striking or delightful facts to appear in articles throughout the paper. Here are 74 from the past year that were the most revealing.” Continue Reading
Understanding the origins of COVID-19
New York Magazine – The Intelligencer: “What happened was fairly simple, I’ve come to believe. It was an accident. A virus spent some time in a laboratory, and eventually it got out. SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, began its existence inside a bat, then it learned how to infect people in a claustrophobic mine… Continue Reading
Biological diversity evokes happiness
Science Daily – “A high biodiversity in our vicinity is as important for life satisfaction as our income, scientists found. All across Europe, the individual enjoyment of life correlates with the number of surrounding bird species. An additional 10% of bird species therefore increases the Europeans’ life satisfaction as much as a comparable increase in… Continue Reading
Recycling electronics: What to do with your old laptops, phones, cameras and batteries
CNET – “Gadgets can pile up over the years — new ones come out, old ones break. You probably have a drawer full of old batteries and cables, and some old phones, laptops and desktops lying around, which may only be growing larger if you’ve replaced any of your electronics over the holidays. Perhaps you… Continue Reading
New Google mapping tool shows cities where they need to plant more trees
FastCompany: “A new map of Los Angeles highlights one form of inequality: which of the city’s streets and homes get the benefit of shade from the the city’s 10-million-plus trees. The city is the first to pilot a new tool from Google, called Tree Canopy Lab, that was used to create the map. L.A. plans… Continue Reading
Virginia Big Tree Program
“The Virginia Big Tree Program began as a 4-H and FFA project in 1970. Today the program is coordinated by the Department of Forest Resources and Environmental Conservation at Virginia Tech. We are a passionate community of tree enthusiasts that includes Virginia Tech faculty and staff, Virginia Cooperative Extension staff, and numerous individual and organizational… Continue Reading
tree fm
Listen to a random forest – “People around the world recorded the sounds of their forests, so you can escape into nature, while in lockdown or unable to travel. Use this site to chill, meditate or do some digital shinrin-yoku. And while you are here, why not help to grow what keeps us alive? Wildfires,… Continue Reading
‘A conversation across time and space’: the power of birdsong
The Guardian – Musician Cosmo Sheldrake is on a mission to highlight the loss of UK birdlife with an album of avian chatter: “…Birds live on a different time axis,” says 30-year-old Sheldrake. “There’s a spectrum of relationships with time – we look at birds and think they’re very ‘other’, but when you slow their… Continue Reading
How to mine precious metals in your home
BBC Future: “Our modern world is dependent upon natural resources extracted from the ground, but there could be another source of rare and valuable metals by giving our houses a spring clean. With so many of us now stuck in our homes during the pandemic, long-postponed jobs such as clearing out the loft or attic… Continue Reading
