A Search for Water Comes to a Close
Today was a sad day for science. NASA formally announced it is ending its search for Earth-like planets with the Kepler Space Telescope, which is to say its search for liquid water outside our solar system. I reported on the ailing craft in the May 13 EarthDesk, and...
Transboundary Water Wars: Florida vs. Georgia
In much of the world, conflicts over transboundary waters are international in nature (see EarthDesk July 17, July 13, and June 17). Here in the US, we have a long history of conflicts over waters that transcend state boundaries. Best known are those fought over...
Our National Disgrace: Saving Washington’s Air and Water
Why aren’t the natural resources of the nation’s capital granted the same status as its monuments and museums? Instead, the Potomac River is still the “national disgrace” President Lyndon Johnson declared it to be in 1965. The eight-mile Anacostia River, a...
EPA Cuts by Adam Zyglis
Adam Zyglis is the staff editorial cartoonist for The Buffalo News, his hometown daily newspaper. He accepted the position fresh out of college, after winning 3 national awards as a college cartoonist. In 2004, he graduated summa cum laude from Canisius College with a...
Gulf of Mexico Sponsored By . . . Big Oil?
I have nothing against corporate sponsorship of aquarium exhibits, but, given what happened in the Gulf in 2010, the wording on the sign on this tank at the Audubon Aquarium of the Americas in New Orleans is way too...
Sitting on Top of the World: The Rush to Exploit the Melting Arctic
The National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) reported on August 2 that the Arctic “continued to warm at about twice the rate compared with lower latitudes” during 2012. The news is likely causing a great sense of urgency at the White House, though...
Global Water Security: Protecting Ecosystems, Protecting People
By Charles J. Vörösmarty and Claudia Pahl-Wostl Editor’s Note: The world water crisis demands more than the very models that are now creating national water crises in the developed world. It requires the interdisciplinary participation and expertise “of...
Backyard CAFOs by Joe Mohr
We are proud to add Joe Mohr’s work to EarthDesk. He is a talented and committed environmental and political cartoonist, and an excellent illustrator, designer and writer. He is the creator of the Hank D and the Bee comic and is a cartoonist for Yes! magazine,...
Environmental Policy Clinic Students at Work.
Preparing oyster shells for tagging at the Billion Oyster Project, Governor's Island.
With New York State Senator Terrence Murphy (center) in Albany to discuss state policy regarding mistreatment of elephants in circuses.
Investigating turtle mortality on a Putnam County highway in Cold Spring, NY with county legislator Barbara Scuccimarra (L.).
Learning the fundamentals of aquaculture at the New York Harbor School.
Demonstrating against the use of elephants in circuses, Hanneford Circus, White Plains, NY.
Crafting oyster regulation policy with Debbie Mans, NY-NJ Baykeeper, Pace, NYC. (L.).
Ready to dig into wood chip pile to feed campus composter, Pace, Pleasantville.
Featured Faculty:
Dr. E. Melanie Dupuis
Inspired by new scientific studies of the human body as a metabiome, Dr. E. Melanie Dupuis, Professor and chair, Department of Environmental Science and Studies, reimagines the American body politic through a new metaphor — digestion — opening social transformations to ideas of mixing, fermentation, and collaboration. In doing so, she explores how social activists can rethink politics as inclusive processes that involve the inherently risky mixing of cultures, standpoints, and ideas. Dangerous Digestion at Amazon.