We at OnEarth unapologetically extoll the virtues of sound science -- data that help us see the world as it is, as distinct from how we might like it to be. We do so especially now, when a crazy 1,000-ring media circus so often obscures rather than enlightens us on critical issues. Thus the reemergent scourge of climate deniers, the rewriting of science textbooks, and general confusion about what science actually is and does. We, however, prefer to celebrate human passion and inquisitiveness, which lead us to a deeper understanding of the natural world.

Our cover story, by Bruce Barcott, set in the Bering Sea off the coast of Alaska, offers a fascinating blend of adventure and science. Fishing boats in these icy, turbulent waters venture out to catch shiploads of pollock, from which is made, among other things, your McDonald's Filet-O-Fish sandwich. But in the course of catching pollock, these boats also capture other types of marine animals -- unwanted fish, birds, and mammals that make up the collateral damage known as bycatch. Barcott went aboard such a ship, the Pacific Prince, to see biologist Monica Brennan at work. She is one of hundreds of professional bycatch observers who go out to sea to count fish -- in her case, pollock as well as bycatch such as king salmon, halibut, and other species. As these are netted and pulled from the frigid sea, Brennan, covered in rain gear and splattered with fish guts, painstakingly takes their measurements. The data she and others collect allow fishery managers and marine scientists to accurately assess the health of various fish populations and prevent their depletion.

Contributing editor Tim Folger profiles another seeker of data, retired probation officer and amateur scientist Dave Bertelsen, who has hiked the same 10-mile trail through Arizona's Sonoran Desert an astonishing 1,270 times during the past three decades. On those treks he jotted down 195,000 observations concerning hundreds of species of local plants and animals: there another curved-bill thrasher or Gambel's quail, here a bloated saguaro or blooming ocotillo. His meticulously recorded trove is being mined by a team of scientists at the University of Arizona in Tucson to better understand the impact of climate change on the desert -- a landscape seemingly immutable, yet surprisingly fragile and changeable.

We are more than ever awash in data, especially digital information. How much power, we wondered, is required to store, retrieve, and transport these countless terabytes? And can this energy be generated in a cleaner, more efficient way? This question is explored by contributing editor Alan Burdick, who transforms himself into the Synthesist -- that's the name of his new column, which will appear in every issue (and monthly at onearth.org) -- to examine intriguing intersections of culture, technology, and the environment.

Enjoy our feast of data. Used wisely, may it benefit us all, whether creatures of the air, land, or sea.