Posts tagged “Environment”
Throwing a wrench in biogeochemical cycles
“Biogeochemical cycles” used to be a phrase that sent me running for the coffee. I know that understanding biogeochemical cycles will make me a better ecologist, and that biogeochemical cycles are fundamental for getting the big picture. Unfortunately, every time I tried to learn more about the subject, I ended up getting lost and bored […]
Pollution, Overfishing, and Framing Biodiversity Issues
Have you ever noticed how environmentalists tend to talk about ecology and the environment as if we humans aren’t part of the Earth’s ecosystems? That’s silly. With very few exceptions, all humans live on Earth in environments of Earth resources. For the most part, the environmental movement doesn’t recognize that the ways people change and […]
Figures Lie and Liars Figure: Heat Waves on the Rise
Image via Wikipedia If you’re new here, you might want to read the previous Figures Lie and Liars Figure posts, a public conversation on climate change between my skeptical aunt and myself. ********* Heat, ma’am! it was so dreadful here, that I found there was nothing left for it but to take off my flesh […]
Understanding comes too late
Nothing thrills the Waorani more than killing game and cutting down big trees. It’s what so many people don’t understand who haven’t lived in the forest. You don’t have to conserve what you don’t have the power to destroy. Harming the forest is an impossible concept for them. The fact that they use every part […]
Figures Lie and Liars Figure – Goodbye, Glaciers
One of my aunts, a sharp lady I love dearly, is skeptical of climate change. A few months ago, I sent her links to the IGBP Climate Change Index and an EPA slideshow describing some of the climate change indicators in the US. This sparked a conversation on climate change that I’m making public because […]
What I’ve Noticed
Instead of paying for decent healthcare or public transit, our government is paying, quite literally, for more cheese. Coming out can be really, really hard. But funny, too: “I think I’m… well, um… a bicycle.” Overcoming gender essentialism is also really, really hard. But it’s so worth it. Cheating is a huge problem in our […]
Why this extinction isn’t like the others
Almost a month ago I told you I’d have more to say about Novacek and Cleland’s biodiversity crisis paper. I’m sure you’re relieved to discover that I’m not a liar. Last time I wrote about this paper I focused on why we care about biodiversity from an evolutionary standpoint – how big extinction events prune […]