Molly Webster - OnEarth Magazine, from NRDC

Could jellyfish slow climate change?

Jellyfish have long been seen as a harbinger of climate change, and so have received quite a negative reputation (at least in my mind). Imagine my surprise, then, at reading an article published July 30 in the journal Nature that says these creatures might actually help mitigate climate change.

Jellies are like the weeds of the ocean. They are fairly resistant to changing environments, so as carbon pollution causes ocean waters to warm up and to become more acidic--a process that kills more sensitive organisms like coral and plankton-- jellyfish have moved in and taken over emptying habitats. In droves.

In recent years, cnidarians have been seen cruising up the Hudson River during triathalons, swarming beaches in Spain, and drifting far north, off the coast of Ireland. But the Nature study ...read full post

Comments (0) | July 30, 2009
When greener gadgets become the norm

Environmentalists rightly focus on greening the consumer, but with somewhat of a 'hell be damned' thought about the expensive upfront costs that often come with greening. Some rough estimates from my local shopping hubs here in Brooklyn: Seventh Generation Toilet Paper, 4 rolls at about $5.95, Scott Tissue, 4 at around 99 cents each; CFL lightbulbs, one for $4.95, regular bulbs, one at $1.25. For a person who lives paycheck to paycheck (and I, a freelancer, have good practice at this) if it comes down to the ability to buy multiple lightbulbs and at least two rolls of the unrecylced toilet tissue, or just a lightbulb, well, I often go with the former. This decision comes despite the fact that I know CFL lightbulbs will save me money on my electricity bill, or that Seventh Generation really ...read full post

Comments (0) | March 18, 2009
On the ground at the Greener Gadgets Conference: Heirloom Products

Last Friday, February 27, I was sitting in the middle of the Greener Gadgets Conference in New York City. The second annual conference was a discourse in how we might inject sustainability into the consumer cycle (a conversation that often reminded me of Annie Leonard's film, The Story of Stuff).
Despite my best intentions, I couldn't live blog from the event because of a faulty internet connection (the irony of a gadget conference with no digital connection was not lost on me). But in my mind, it's always a good day to discuss how we might change the developed world's consumption frenzy. So, even if the conference is over, I'd still like to talk about some of the points that were raised there, starting with heirloom products.
The morning key note speech was by Saul Griffith, who holds a PhD in mechanical engineering and is ...read full post

Comments (0) | March 4, 2009
Out West, Algae Cauldrons Bubble

If algae is going to take over the world (or at least make airplanes fly), we're going to need to work out a few kinks that come with growing the autotrophic organism. Lucky for us, a group outside Seattle thinks they've got some answers.
To start: there are three main problems with growing algae on an industrial scale.
One. Scientists are trying to find that perfect algae -- one that literally drips with the oily lipids that engineers and chemists can refine into a biofuel. Researchers are wondering if there is such a naturally occuring algae out there, or if scientists will have to create it (the latter option then opens the door to ...read full post

Comments (0) | February 25, 2009
WHERE ARE THE EXITS?

I refuse to ride the Delta shuttle anymore. I've been on it four times already. Whatever seconds of reprieve it offers me from the stale, caramel popcorn-smelling world of the Cincinnati airport just isn't worth it.

They won't let me out of the airport. In my search for a place to nab fresh air before my connecting flight, I was told by airport staff (who relayed the information with a disturbing smirk), "We don't let you out. Once you're in, you're in." Security, he explains. Terrorism.

The current security level is orange, says the loudspeaker.

I just had what one could safely say was a nauseating flight from LaGuardia in New York City to Cincinnati, Ohio - the turbulence led at least a handful of my fellow passengers to reach for, and use, their vomit bags. Now, I'm off the plane, and all my churning stomach wants is some fresh air. But everywhere I turn I am blocked: long windowed corridors end in Borders and Auntie Anne's ...read full post

Comments (0) | December 20, 2008
No Adults Left Inside

I have nature deficit disorder.
I can’t concentrate. My brain is foggy (so I apologize if this blog is jarbled). I want to go jump, leap, climb, twirl until my heart leaps out of my chest. I want to zone out in the way only nature lets you. I want to breathe in trees.
Nature deficiency disorder is not a classified disorder like those found in the DSM. Rather, it is a phrase coined by journalist Richard Louv in his 2005 book, Last Child in the Woods: Saving Our Children From Nature-Deficit Disorder. Louv interviewed over 3,000 parents and children across the United States about their relationship to nature. What did he ...read full post

Comments (1) | December 5, 2008