a blog about the changing world we live in
DEATH BY A THOUSAND CUTS is how Professor Rodolfo Dirzo sums up the situation of the plight of insects on the planet Earth in the 21st century. Dirzo is a Bing Professor in environmental science at Stanford and a senior fellow at the Stanford Woods Institute for the Environment. [Read more] “many global insect populations suffering death by a thousand cuts”
THIS ARTICLE IS TITLED “One Scientist’s Ambitious Plan to Achieve Global Cooling With Cattle” with the sub-title, “Cows could be a climate change solution—if we take the science seriously.” Written by Farmer Georgie, it appears on the One Zero publication on Medium (August 17, 2020). Here are the first few paragraphs:
“Farts are funny. [Read more] “holy cow! it ain’t the farts (which are funny), but the burps (which aren’t )”
THE LAST OF THE PINTA ISLAND TORTOISES died in 2012. Known as Lonesome George, his story is “the perfect extinction story. It features a charismatic character with a recognizable face, an obvious villain, and the tireless efforts of naturalists. The population of the Pinta Island tortoise species was decimated by whalers hunting and eating them during the 19th century Zoologist József Vágvölgyi discovered George in 1971 and brought him into captivity. [Read more] “lonesome george, the pinta island tortoise, has the “perfect” extinction story”
RIO SIXAOLA IS A BANANA FARM in Costa Rica one of the first two Rainforest Alliance Certified farms in the world. It contains the only intact mangrove swamp on the Atlantic coast, and La Amistad International Park, a World Heritage site that protects the largest area of undisturbed highland watersheds and forests in southern Central America. [Read more] “a banana farm whose main business is producing biodiversity”
WHEN MOSQUITO SEASON brought past dengue outbreaks to regions across the Asian tropics, Nepal hardly had to worry. The high-altitude Himalayan country was typically too chilly for the disease-carrying insects to live. But with climate change opening new paths for the viral disease, Nepal is now reeling from an unprecedented outbreak. [Read more] “cooler regions becoming more hospitable for mosquitoes”