From California to the NY Island, Fracking Questions Abound
By Tom Wilber Editor's Note: A centerpiece of President Obama's 2012 State of the Union Address was his aggressive support of "shale gas development" or fracking, hydraulic fracturing for gas. He has remained unwavering. So, it is no surprise that the promise of...
Sturgeon Moon
Earlier this evening, I laid my tools on the cabin top of the boat on which I was working, and settled-in to watch the rust red moon crawl to the shoulders of the Hudson Highlands. Once there, it continued upward, as if loosed from the grip of gravity, and floated...
Trip to the Arctic Refuge Reveals How Far Oil Industry Will Go To Drill Pristine Landscapes
By Frances Beinecke President, Natural Resources Defense Council Editor's Note: The Arctic is in the crosshairs as never before (EarthDesk, August 8). Its melting ice is yielding to new sea lanes, the Obama administration is asserting America's right to ever more...
Pale Blue Dot by xkcd
Editor's Note: This is especially for Carl Sagan fans, of which I am a big one. As much as I admire the late, good doctor, I equally admire fun, earned irreverence. If you don't know about the Pale Blue Dot, or its famous narration, you can check out my video here,...
Peace through Water Cooperation: EarthDesk Interview with Michel Jarraud, Director of UN-Water
Michel Jarraud, director of UN-Water, believes transboundary water cooperation is an avenue to international peace. It is a bold vision given how popular is the opposing view. Consider the apocalyptic headlines: Clark Judge's US News and World Report column, The...
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 loaded....
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 environmental...