climate change

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5 Health Challenges The World Will Face In 2015

Julia Belluz and Steven Hoffman | Vox | December 23, 2014

What comes next for the future of the world's health?... But these are the issues reason would suggest will set the world's health agenda next year...

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Agriculture At A Crossroads: How Food Systems Affect Biodiversity

Kumi Naidoo | EcoWatch | May 23, 2014

On today’s United Nations biodiversity day, we are being asked to focus on small islands and their unique ecology and fragility in times of globally pervasive threats such as climate change. Read More »

Decline Of Monarch Butterflies Linked To Modern Agriculture

Kate Prengaman | Ars Technica | June 5, 2014

The massive migration of monarch butterflies is amazing—the insects go from grazing on milkweed plants as caterpillars in the midwest to spending winters in Mexico. But Monarch populations have been on the decline for some time, with a variety of factors being considered: lost habitat in Mexico, damage from pesticides, or climate change. Read More »

Florida’s Poop Nightmare Has Come True

Emily Atkin | New Republic | September 14, 2017

In the days and hours before Hurricane Irma slammed into Florida, its residents were treated to copious media speculation about nightmare scenarios. This monster storm, journalists said, could bring a 15-foot storm surge, blow roofs off of buildings, and cause tens of billions of dollars in damage. But perhaps no scenario seemed more dire than the one Quartz warned about the day before Irma made landfall: “Hurricane Irma will likely cover South Florida with a film of poop”...

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How "Open Source" Seed Producers from the U.S. to India Are Changing Global Food Production

Rachel Cernansky | Ensia | December 12, 2016

Frank Morton has been breeding lettuce since the 1980s. His company offers 114 varieties, among them Outredgeous, which last year became the first plant that NASA astronauts grew and ate in space. For nearly 20 years, Morton’s work was limited only by his imagination and by how many different kinds of lettuce he could get his hands on. But in the early 2000s, he started noticing more and more lettuces were patented, meaning he would not be able to use them for breeding...

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Infrastructure And Resilience --- The New Pride And Prejudice

I was going about my normal business the other day when an article from the Associated Press written by Matthew Daly And Hope Yen, and titled "Lawmakers: Ida damage shows need for infrastructure upgrades" landed in my inbox. I’m one of those weird people that sees “lawmakers” and “infrastructure” in a sentence, and am drawn to it with amused interest. Usually, I am interested academically…a lot of other times as a pure masochist…and still more often than not, like this time, with snarky anticipation. “Oh, what joyous, twisted misinformation do we have here?” The article summarizes quite aptly (kudos to Mr. Daly and Ms. Yen) the rationale applied for the monstrous, record-smashing infrastructure bills being batted about the House and Senate.

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Resilience Is An Opportunity For Early Bipartisan Success

In the past year Mr. Chuck Chaitovitz, Vice President of Environmental Affairs and Sustainability for the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, has written two very important and insightful articles advocating a national resiliency agenda...I am adding an expanded perspective of resilience and perhaps drive a broader dialogue. I commend the Chamber for realizing the import of resilience in our economic and business considerations (e.g., general continuity, infrastructure, insurance). I have been advocating resilience for several decades and we need more discourse to move resilience from words to action.

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The Brutal Bust In Next-Generation Biofuels In One Chart

Todd Woody | The Atlantic | April 23, 2014

The U.S. government finally faces the fact that we won't be powering our cars with corncobs any time soon.

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We Deserve More Than This Bad Farm Bill

Ben Lilliston | Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy (IATP) | February 5, 2014

Was it just exhaustion from two-plus years of negotiations that finally produced the Farm Bill that is expected to be signed by the President this week? [...] For whatever reason, there is a sense that a deeply flawed Farm Bill—the terms of which were dictated largely by austerity fanatics from the start—is the best we’ll get under the current political environment. Read More »

Why African Countries Need to ​​Invest in Research and Citizen Science​

Climate change, HIV/AIDS, recurring droughts, and food insecurity are some of the most pressing issues the African continent has had to deal with in 2016. These issues pose a significant threat to economic, social and environmental development in Africa and create health and economic challenges to the continent. Yet, all of these challenges can benefit from research results spinning off from African universities and research institutions. But to get these results, the institutions must have the funds...

Zombies VS. Animals? The Living Dead Wouldn't Stand A Chance

David Mizejewski | Boing Boing | October 14, 2013

National Wildlife Federation naturalist David Mizejewski explains how nature would deal with a zombie outbreak: brutally, and without quarter.