The Delicate Balance, Part 1: The Human Imprint
The last half century or so has seen the impact of human enterprise on the environment escalate beyond the collective impact of humans over the previous four billion years. Human endeavors have changed the composition o..
The Delicate Balance, Part 2: Climate Destabilization
Global climate change is believed to be created by excessive amounts of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. While El Niño is not a reflection of climate change, it does demonstrate the results of unpredictable or unstabl..
The Delicate Balance, Part 2: Enduring Effect of Contaminates
Despite the fact that much clean-up has been done since the 1960s, the Great Lakes still contain fish that don't reach sexual maturity because of endocrine disrupting chemicals. A study of children whose mothers had eate..
The Delicate Balance, Part 2: Impact of Chemical Contamination
One of the difficulties of predicting potential dangers to the environment is that implications to future generations are often not foreseen. Rachel Carson galvanized public and political action to prevent indiscriminate..
The Delicate Balance, Part 2: Less is More
The same kind of technology that created most of today's environmental problems is equally capable of finding ways to correct them and, more importantly, mitigate the damage that current processes generate. The problem i..
The Delicate Balance, Part 2: Love Canal Tragedy
Lois Gibbs thought she had a sickly child until she learned that twenty thousand tons of chemical waste was buried just blocks from her home. When she learned that the area had a 56 percent rate of birth defects, Gibbs b..
The Delicate Balance, Part 2: Politics and Economics of Environmental Decision Making
Environmental policy begins with sound scientific data. But data is subject to interpretation, and environmental decision making is heavily influenced by politics and economics.
The Delicate Balance, Part 2: Prevention is Better than Remediation
Politically, environmental protection is a hard sell. What makes the grass roots environmental movement different is prevention. How to prevent waste from getting into the environment, whether via air, water, or soil.
The Delicate Balance, Part 2: Renewable Resources
Both non-renewable and renewable resources are at risk today. When Canada realized that the cod off their coasts had been fished to the risk of extinction, a moratorium was called, leaving Canadian fishermen out of work ..
The Delicate Balance, Part 2: Species Loss
Humans have altered the habitats of life forms from microscopic to whale-sized. General estimates of species loss is tens of thousands of species per year.