Feature Channels: Environmental Science

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Years of emphasis on sustainable operations have resulted in an outstanding green “report card” for UC San Diego. Citing such factors as the organic food served in its dining halls and strong student involvement in sustainability initiatives to 56 hybrid and 33 biodiesel vehicles in its fleet, the non-profit Sustainable Endowments Institute listed UC San Diego as one of the nation’s 26 greenest campuses in its 2010 College Sustainability Report Card.

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Hikers and backpackers tend to become supporters of environmental and conservation groups while casual woodland tourists do not, a new study says -- and a recent fall-off in strenuous outdoor endeavors portends a coming decline in the ranks of conservation backers.

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Kids want to know about climate change and the environment - but how do you teach it to them? Maryland Education Professor Randy McGinnis has the answers - along with graduate Emily Hestness.

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The premise is simple: to receive a fair wage for hard work. The fair trade movement, which began shortly after the Cold War, has regained momentum recently. A 2008 Fair Trade Federation Interim Report stated there was a 102 percent growth in U.S. and Canadian sales for Fair Trade products between 2004 and 2006.

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Salisbury University has earned its first Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) certification from the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) for its Teacher Education and Technology Center (TETC), opened in 2008.

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Ithaca College will dedicate the new Peggy Ryan Williams Center on Thursday, Oct. 8. The building incorporates the highest principles of sustainable design.

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Want to be a better person? Commune with nature. Paying attention to the natural world not only makes you feel better, it makes you behave better, finds a new study to be published October 1 in the Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin.

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Convective oxygen supply into waste rock piles may result in extreme environmental pollution. Recent research has shown that oxidation of sulfides in mining wastes produces high concentrations of sulfate, iron, and other metals, and frequently also very low pH values.

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In a study published September 24th ahead of print in the peer-reviewed journal Environmental Health Perspectives (EHP), researchers measured oseltamivir carboxylate (OC), the active metabolite of the popular anti-influenza drug Tamiflu (oseltamivir phosphate), in samples of sewage discharge and river water collected near Kyoto City during Japan’s 2008–2009 flu season.

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Australian researchers have discovered a huge number of new species of invertebrate animals living in underground water, caves and "micro-caverns" amid the harsh conditions of the Australian outback.

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The American Society of Agronomy strongly supports the new Mississippi River Basin Healthy Watersheds Initiative recently announced by the USDA. The 12-state program will enable growers to put conservation practices into place on more acres, coupling clean water with profitable crop production. ASA’s Certified Crop Advisers are uniquely qualified to provide nutrient management recommendations to farmers.

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Congresswoman Lois Capps (D-CA) this week introduced H.R. 3644, a bill to bolster the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA) environmental and conservation education programs.

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Katharine Hayhoe can discuss climatic issues related to G-20, global warming and greenhouse gas emissions.

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For nearly four decades, a University of Maryland professor has traveled to Colorado each spring to study in fields of purple dwarf larkspurs and vibrant red columbines. He's watched through the summers as these pretty little wildflowers grew and blossomed. And what he's learned about their changing growing seasons is telling us something important about the Earth's climate.

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Prof. Zhanqing Li, a professor of atmospheric and oceanic science (CMPS) at Maryland is investigating the impact of aerosols in China on climate change.

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Stacy VanDeveer, associate professor of political science at the University of New Hampshire, is available to discuss the complexities and contradictions regarding climate policy in North America, and the politics of U.S.-EU energy and environmental policymaking.

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University of Chicago develops green buildings, takes emissions inventory, launches pilot bike share program.

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Nitrogen Fixation in Crop Production is a resource for the science, application, and politics of the use of nitrogen-fixing crop plants across the globe and in various environments. The book is published by the American Society of Agronomy, Crop Science Society of America, and Soil Science Society of America.

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A newly signed law makes Delaware the first entity in the world to reward owners of electric cars with vehicle-to-grid (V2G) technology for plugging in.

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“Smart Trash,” an approach developed by Prof. Valerie Thomas has caught the attention of major corporations and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). Smart Trash systems not only provide sustainable and productive ways for discarding items, but also can redefine the relationship people have with their garbage.

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A study published online ahead of print in the peer-reviewed journal Environmental Health Perspectives (EHP) evaluated the relationship between exposure to fine particulate matter (PM2.5) and heart rate variability (HRV) in taxi drivers in Beijing, China before, during and after the 2008 Beijing Olympics. The report is among the first to document health effects of the massive air cleanup effort by China prior to the 2008 Beijing Olympics.

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130 National institutions highlight need to fund comprehensive education and training via climate legislation.

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Cornell’s Climate Action Plan aims to cut the university’s carbon emission to zero by 2050 and it could potentially save the school hundreds of millions of dollars over the next 40 years. The plan was released Sept. 15, 2009.

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For Kermit the Frog, being green is a burden. But according to Michael McCann, Ph.D., professor of biology and associate dean of the College of Arts and Sciences at Saint Joseph’s University in Philadelphia, being green can be easier than it seems for America’s students.

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Cornell’s first comprehensive, campus tree inventory finds that its 7,000-plus trees store millions of pounds of carbon and provide more than $500,000s in benefits to the university.

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The tropics continued to respond in August to warming caused by the El Niño Pacific Ocean warming event, with the average temperature in the tropics warming. At the same time, non-tropical temperatures in the Southern Hemisphere plunged in August.

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The often adversarial groups of evangelical Christians and environmentalists are finding common ground in the green evangelical movement, according to new research from the University of New Hampshire.

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A new soil test for nitrogen fertilization of rice may not sound like blockbuster technology, but it is. The new technology is the first and only site-specific test of mineralizable soil nitrogen as a basis for nitrogen fertilizer recommendations in any crop.

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A new study by the Wildlife Conservation Society, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and other groups reveals how oil development in the Artic is impacting some bird populations by providing “subsidized housing” to predators, which nest and den around drilling infrastructure and supplement their diets with garbage – and nesting birds.

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Tornadoes that occur from hurricanes moving inland from the Gulf Coast are increasing in frequency, according to researchers at the Georgia Institute of Technology. This increase seems to reflect the increase in size and frequency among large hurricanes that make landfall from the Gulf of Mexico.

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Professor's research bolsters evidence that humans influence climate change.

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Arctic temperatures in the 1990s reached their warmest level of any decade in at least 2,000 years. New research in the journal Science provides new evidence that the Arctic would be cooling if not for greenhouse gas emissions that are overpowering natural climate patterns.

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Researchers at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute are working to create better, brighter green LEDs, which could lead to a new generation of high-performance, energy-efficient monitors, TVs, and other display devices. The problem, however, is that green LEDs are more difficult to create than anyone imagined.

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Researchers analyzed the gene sequences, proteins expressed and physiology of 10 strains of bioremediation microbes called Shewanella. Results showed surprising diversity not seen using traditional microbiology approaches.

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SmartSynch Inc., a smart grid infrastructure company using Internet protocol via wireless networks, is partnering with the University of Mississippi to reduce the power consumption of campus buildings while publishing real-time results for the general public on Facebook, Twitter and RSS feeds.

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The signing today of a comprehensive green “Memorandum of Understanding” (MOU) between Stony Brook University Hospital and the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) marks a first for any hospital in the United States.

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A new 2,000-year-long reconstruction of sea surface temperatures (SST) from the Indo-Pacific warm pool (IPWP) suggests that temperatures in the region may have been as warm during the Medieval Warm Period as they are today.

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Subtle connections between the 11-year solar cycle, the stratosphere, and the tropical Pacific Ocean work in sync to generate periodic weather patterns that affect much of the globe, according to research appearing this week in the journal Science.

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As the federal government announces new plans to protect water resources, research is underway to provide objective scientific information to policy makers and to those involved in the debate surrounding mountaintop-removal and other forms of coal mining.

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A blueprint for policy makers on how to boost climate-friendly real estate development in California. This type of development is typified by walkable communities near transit, jobs, and services and is key to reducing California’s greenhouse gas emissions. Released by Berkeley Law and UCLA Law.

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SBU’s SoMAS joins ranks of major universities collaborating with regional aquariums and preservation foundations to advance marine research and education.

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More extremely hot summer days are projected for every part of the country, detailed in a new report from the National Wildlife Federation and Physicians for Social Responsibility.

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The world’s last remaining “pristine” forest – the boreal forest across large stretches of Russia, Canada and other northern countries – is under increasing threat, a team of international researchers has found.

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Warmer ocean temperatures could mean dramatic shifts in the structure of underwater food webs and the abundance of marine life, according to a new study by researchers at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

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Stacy VanDeveer, associate professor of political science at the University of New Hampshire, is available to discuss the complexities and contradictions regarding climate policy in North America, and the politics of U.S.-EU energy and environmental policymaking.

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A student-run group called Green Campus Enterprise has determined the carbon footprint at Michigan Technological University and is exploring strategies for reducing it.

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One MTSU political science professor says investing in a green economy will create jobs and a healthier environment, according to his research.

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The world could buy time to forestall disastrous environmental and geopolitical climate change effects by using existing technologies to curb emissions created through diesel and solid biomass fuel burning, according to an article co-authored by Scripps Institution of Oceanography at UC San Diego climate and atmospheric scientist V. Ramanathan.

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A new study by the Maryland Department of the Environment and Salisbury University finds that pets and wildlife are significant sources of bacteria in the watersheds of eight Maryland waterways. Another MDE-SU study recently released suggests that bacteria are present in sediment and sand.

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In an effort to keep lakes and streams clean, municipalities around the country are banning or restricting the use of phosphorus-containing lawn fertilizers, which can kill fish and cause smelly algae blooms and other problems when the phosphorus washes out of the soil and into waterways.