Home/Posts Tagged ‘New York Times’
Posts Tagged ‘New York Times’
Climate Change, Politics, Oct 22nd, 2010,
The politicization of science class in the American public education system is nothing new, the main issue of contention being the teaching of evolution or natural selection in biology classes. Recently, however, teaching climate change in state schools has come under fire from skeptics in much the same way that evolution in the science curriculum has been challenged by creationism – most lately the proponents of intelligent design. A New York Times piece explores how in certain American states, advocates of climate change skepticism are campaigning to include their side of the climate argument in the curriculum. South Dakota has…
Tags: American, Climate change, creationism, New York Times, Politics, religion, school, science, skeptic, skepticism
Green living, Oct 1st, 2010,
Investment in wind turbines and solar panels has paid dividends for over 800 Italian communities, which produce enough renewable energy that they are able to sell electricity back to the grid. A survey by the Italian environmental organization Legambiente (League for the Environment) shows that small municipalities in Italy are benefiting from new renewable energy plants, which are being constructed due to the southern European country’s high electricity rates. Though Italy as a whole is behind the rest of the European Union in renewable energy production as well as on other environmental issues, some parts of the country are responding…
Tags: electricity, energy, Italy, New York Times, power, renewable, Solar, Tocco, wind
Science & Technology, Weird Stuff, Wildlife & Flora, Sep 17th, 2010,
I was recently at the national park in Białowieża, Poland where I saw a zubron, a hybrid between European Bison and domestic cattle. Like their North American counterparts, the ‘beefalo’, zubrons were first bred for hardiness and size. The hulking beasts proved to be more disease resistant, easier to care for, and due to their enormous size, provided more meat than either cattle or bison. But for whatever reason, they never really caught on. Man-made animal hybrids have a way of not flourishing. Mules – the offspring of a male donkey and a female horse – are sterile, aside from…
Tags: animals, bison, cattle, horse, hybrid, mules, New York Times, wild, zebra, zubron
Climate Change, Politics, Aug 11th, 2010,
During a trip last month from the Portuguese capital of Lisbon to its second largest city Porto, in the north of the country, I noticed a lot of wind turbines dotting the landscape. I’m not the only one either. The New York Times published a piece yesterday on Portugal’s green makeover. Wind, hydro, solar and wave power are fueling the small Iberian republic’s move from fossil fuels to renewable energy – and they’ve got the resources to do it. Few countries in Europe have these key ingredients: lots of wind and sun, suitable rivers and a coastline complete with powerful…
Tags: electricity, energy, Green, New York Times, power, renewable, resource, Solar, source, wind
Climate Change, Politics, Jun 13th, 2010,
A new survey of UK residents conducted by the University of Cardiff shows that public acceptance of climate change is alive and well in Britain. From an article in the Guardian: The survey showed that almost three-quarters (71%) of Britons are concerned about climate change. Some 78% think the climate is changing, which is down from 91% who said it was in a similar poll in 2005. In recent months, a considerable amount of fanfare has been given to a decline in public opinion regarding the veracity of climate change or global warming in both the US and UK. But…
Tags: American, belief, Britons, Cardiff, climate, Climate change, faith, global warming, Guardian, New York Times, poll, polls, science, survey, UK, University, US
Climate Change, Science & Technology, Apr 14th, 2010,
According to EPA and Eurostat figures, Denmark recycles 42% of its waste and burns 54% in heat and power stations. The US, by comparison, recycles 33% while only 13% is used in waste-to-energy incinerators. The majority of US trash – 54% – ends up in landfills, compared to only 4% in Denmark. Denmark’s state-owned garbage burning power plants are also newer and more state-of-the-art than America’s privately owned pay-to-burn incinerators. They burn cleaner and produce more heat and energy, making them attractive additions to even wealthy communities. Quite a contrast from the smelly, smoke-belching eyesores that come to mind when…
Tags: denmark, energy, heat, incinerators, New York Times, plant, power, waste
Science & Technology, Weird Stuff, Wildlife & Flora, Apr 8th, 2010,
Evolutionary biologist Olivia Judson is in full tree hugging mode this week in her opinion piece for the New York Times, in which she gives thanks and praises to the humble tree. Judson has bestowed the honor of April’s Lifeform of the Month upon the tree and provides us with some interesting facts that are guaranteed to elicit oohs and aahs of amazement from even the most cynical of readers. For example, did you know… A tree is a form rather than an order of plant. This means that the moniker ‘tree’ refers to the lifestyle of a plant rather…
Tags: Baobab, Judson, New York Times, Olivia, redwood, Sequoia, tree, trees
Nature, Politics, Wildlife & Flora, Mar 12th, 2010,
The 12 day CITES (the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora) meetings begin on Saturday in the city of Doha, capital of the Arab emirate of Qatar. The talks will attempt to hammer out transnational policies concerning the management and protection of animal and plant species that are threatened with endangerment or extinction due to international commerce. From the CITES website: Annually, international wildlife trade is estimated to be worth billions of dollars and to include hundreds of millions of plant and animal specimens. The trade is diverse, ranging from live animals and plants…
Tags: African, bluefin, CITES, elephant, endangered, ivory, japan, New York Times, polar bear, species, trade, tuna, United States, US
Climate Change, Nature, Wildlife & Flora, Mar 9th, 2010,
Species extinction is a hot issue. All the reasonably decent papers, TV nature shows and news programs are running stories on bluefin tuna, African elephants, tigers and fluffy polar bears more than ever before. Heck, the New York Times even ran a story about the greater sage grouse – a plains bird from the American West – being classified as ‘warranted but precluded’ instead of receiving the coveted endangered species status. That’s like when your movie is up for the Oscar for Best Picture, but you go home with Best Costume Design. New ideas in species conservation are becoming more…
Tags: African, elephant, extinction, Guardian, Nature, New York Times, sage grouse, species, tiger
Climate Change, Feb 20th, 2010,
Typhoons in October devastated agriculture and caused heavy damages to infrastructure in the Philippines. Now a drought is destroying crops and threatening electricity supplies in the Southeast Asian nation, the New York Times reports. Nearly 400,000 acres of farmland have already been affected, and agriculture officials expect the drought to continue, perhaps until July. –New York Times The government of the Philippines is responding with monetary aid to farmers and fishermen; water rationing, drilling wells and even cloud-seeding. An AFP article credits the weather phenomenon of El Niño as the cause of the drought in the Philippines: El Nino is…
Tags: agriculture, crops, drought, El Nino, New York Times, Philippines, rice
Climate Change, Nature, Politics, Feb 15th, 2010,
I guess that learning on the job is better than not learning at all. According to a piece in the New York Times, European countries may rethink their biofuel policies based on a newly completed study by the European Commission. The results of this study factor in the greenhouse gas emissions of land clearing – when land is deforested or converted from food agriculture to biofuel production. Hopefully the study also factors in slash and burn agriculture and other kinds of indirect ways which certain biofuels create greenhouse gas emissions in addition to what comes out of cars’ tailpipes. European…
Tags: biofuel, commission, destruction, emissions, Europe, European, factor, gas, greenhouse, New York Times, rainforest
Climate Change, Green living, Politics, Feb 1st, 2010,
While the United States and other countries offer incentives for development in the renewable energy industry, China passes laws that require it. A New York Times article highlights the ways in which China is beating the pants off other nations when it comes to making clean energy. For example, China now leads the world in the manufacturing of solar panels and wind turbines. The state funded Chinese Renewable Energy Industries Association claims that renewable energy jobs in China increase by around 100,000 a year. These efforts to dominate renewable energy technologies raise the prospect that the West may someday trade…
Tags: China, environment, New York Times, panels, power, renewable energy, Solar, turbine, wind
Climate Change, Science & Technology, Jan 30th, 2010,
Water vapor, a potent heat-trapping gas, absorbs sunlight and re-emits heat into Earth’s atmosphere. Its concentrations in the stratosphere, the second of three layers in the atmosphere, appear to have decreased in the last 10 years, according to the study. –New York Times I read two articles discussing the relationship between water vapor and global warming on Friday: one in the Guardian and another in the New York Times. The Guardian piece reports that a recent study suggests that a third of global warming during the 1990s was caused by water vapor in the upper atmosphere and not by man…
Tags: global warming, Guardian, New York Times, science, warming, water vapor, water vapour
Climate Change, Wildlife & Flora, Jan 19th, 2010,
Frogs can’t seem to get a break. Yet another enemy of the vulnerable amphibians – at least in cold countries – is sodium chloride, or NaCl, which is used in many parts of the world to grit icy roads in the winter in order to make them more drivable. The problem is that it’s toxic to aquatic animals and plant life – especially frogs. This becomes an issue as soon as the weather warms up and the snow and ice begin to melt. According to a New York Times piece, sodium chloride runoff is particularly taxing for Chicago’s frogs, fish…
Tags: aquatic, Canada, chloride, frogs, grit, Guardian, NaCl, New York Times, salt, sodium chloride, TOXIC, winter
Green living, Jan 13th, 2010,
Having already made great strides in renewable energy production in the form of massive wind and photovoltaic solar panel projects, China is now building solar power plants of another type: concentrating solar power. Concentrating solar plants use large numbers of mirrors which generate electricity by capturing heat and producing steam. Europe and the United States have experienced a sudden and marked increase in plans for these types of plants during the last two years and now, according to an article in the ‘Energy and Environment’ section of the New York Times, China is getting in on the game. Popular in…
Tags: China, concentrating solar power, New York Times, power plant, renewable energy, solar power, United States
Climate Change, Uncategorized, Jan 11th, 2010,
The unseasonably cold weather that has been plaguing parts of North America, Asia and Europe has no relationship to climate change and can be explained by Arctic oscillation, according to New York Times science reporter Kenneth Chang. Well that clears that up nicely, doesn’t it? No? Well, in an article from January 9th Chang explains the phenomenon of Arctic oscillation: ‘Opposing atmospheric pressure patterns at the top of the planet occasionally shift back and forth, affecting weather across much of the Northern Hemisphere.’ –New York Times The unusually cold temperatures being experienced by parts of the world in recent weeks…
Tags: cold, cold snap, New York Times, Northern Canada, pressure, temperatures, UK, weather
Climate Change, Politics, Jan 8th, 2010,
The C.I.A is now working in cooperation with the U.S.’s top scientists, which include mainly academics, but also some from industry. The National Academy of Sciences, an ‘elite body that advises the federal government’, will be guiding the project, according to an article in the New York Times. The project gives the scientists access to government intelligence assets, such as satellite imagery, to assess environmental information. ‘Insights from natural phenomena like clouds and glaciers, deserts and tropical forests’ should provide a clearer and more complete view about the phenomena related to climate change. In July, the National Research Council of…
Tags: C.I.A., Climate change, New York Times, satellite, scientists, Times
Climate Change, Jan 6th, 2010,
![]( "<!--:en-->Environmental refugees")
' src='http://gf3.statico.be/wp-content/themes/greenfudge/thumbnails/4383.jpg' alt='environmental-refugees-trapped-in-dhaka-bangladesh' class='art-teaser' width='95' height='95' /> Future migration patterns will most likely be affected ever increasingly by climate conditions such as drought, flooding and temperature. This is already the case in many parts of the world. But according to an article in the New York Times, what some experts expected to be large international migration due to climate change will probably instead be mass migrations to urban areas within countries most vulnerable to environmental hardships. Natural calamities have plagued humanity for generations. But with the prospect of worsening climate conditions over the next few decades, experts on migration say tens of millions more people in the…
Tags: Bangladesh, Climate change, Dhaka, environmental refugees, flooding, migration, New York Times
Climate Change, Nature, Politics, Dec 17th, 2009,
Hi folks! With one day left at the climate summit and over 100 world leaders arriving tomorrow, we’ve assembled a few quotes, links and headlines from the UNFCCC in Copenhagen for your easy digestion and navigation. Topics include a conditional pledge of aid from the U.S., some hope (maybe) for the Earth’s forests and the dogged survival of the Kyoto protocol. Also included are some links to videos of alternative, civil society-based activism taking place outside the walls of the Bella Centre and the official goings on of COP15. Read on, won’t you? “The U.S. is prepared to work with…
Tags: climate, Climate change, copenhagen, forest, Guardian, New York Times, REDD, summit, U.S.
Climate Change, Dec 10th, 2009,
On the electronic version of The New York Times, readers can participate in conversations and debate about a variety of subjects relating to the environment and climate change. To post you have to have an account and log in, but an account with the Times is not necessary if you’d just like to read. Climate Change Conversations is interactive and can be visited here on The New York Times website. All or some topics can also be embedded on your own website, as we’ve chosen to do here. By Graham Land
Tags: Climate change, Climate Change Conversations, New York Times
