Running Out of Energy
Paul Ehrlich, best known for his work on population growth, explores the issue of energy and availability of fossil fuels. According to Dr.Ehrlich, the biggest threat posed by reliance on such fuels is not running out of them but, rather, their nega...
Food for Thought: Primary Productivity and Global Geochemical Cycles
Thanks to recent breakthroughs in our ability to detect and analyze organisms much smaller than any studied in the past, scientists are now looking at a broad range of microbial life forms in the ocean. As part of this process, it's become much more...
Pollution Prevention: Clearing the Air: Case Study: Alternative Dry Cleaning Solvents
Like many other neighborhood businesses, such as the local bakery, auto body shop and photo finishing lab, dry cleaners nearly always have fewer than 20 employees. And yet, like these other small businesses, dry cleaners generate significant toxic ...
Food for Thought: Primary Productivity and Climate
Phytoplankton play an important if indirect role in regulating the chemistry of the ocean and the atmosphere system. They do this through their contribution to the carbon cycle, taking carbon dioxide with them when they die and sink to the deep ocea...
Food for Thought: Primary Productivity, Carbon Dioxide and the Role of Humans
Excessive amounts of nutrients applied to lawns, agricultural fields and farms can lead to what scientists call nuisance blooms of algae. When that matter decomposes and sinks into the deeper layers of the coastal ocean, it uses up the available oxy...
The Water Planet: Early Earth
At one time, Earth was a very different planet than it is today. Its atmosphere, in particular, bore very little resemblance to the one that we depend on for the air we breathe. It probably consisted primarily of carbon dioxide and nitrogen gas.
Its in the Water: Ocean and Carbon Dioxide, The
The exchange of gasses, like carbon dioxide, is a critical aspect of the ongoing and dynamic interaction between the ocean and the atmosphere. Scientists are very interested in the ocean's ability to absorb carbon dioxide that mankind's activities m...
Its in the Water: Thermohaline Circulation
Thermohaline circulation is driven by differences in temperature and salinity, as opposed to circulation driven by wind. Understanding patterns of water movement may be crucial to better understanding global climate and climate change.
How Each of Us Affects the Environment (Part Two)
Scientist and climate change expert Michael Oppenheimer talks about how the everyday choices we make as individuals take a toll on the environment, and discusses how we can make better choices (Part 2)
How Each of Us Affects the Environment (Part One)
Scientist and climate change expert Michael Oppenheimer talks about how the everyday choices we make as individuals take a toll on the environment, and discusses how we can make better choices. (Part 1).