In 1810, in the Greenland Sea, William Scoresby Jr., the captain of Resolute, who was 21 years old, used an oceanographic instrument made from a ten-gallon wooden cask. It was built following Sir Joseph Banks’s instructions — he had sailed with Captain Cook, who also served as President of the Royal Society for 40 years. The cask…
To promote positive change, stating that climate change is your top priority is akin to saying attending church is the most essential activity of the week. Both involve acting on your personal beliefs without sharing much about the reasoning behind them. Without the clarifying details that make the existential crisis more personal and relatable for…
Enacting Ordinances for the Hydration of Our Landscapes It is time to acknowledge and codify the natural rights of the earth to retain the rainwater that falls upon it. Such recognition marks a paradigm shift from the prevailing approach of channeling stormwater swiftly out of our communities, toward a model that honors the earth’s intrinsic…
The fall of Rome did not happen at the feet of an enemy. There was no battle of Waterloo. It came from within its vast territory when women no longer spun spindles, blacksmith hammers no longer fell, and people refused to suffer the lash of indentured servitude. The efficiency of the civil administration collapsed. The…
In 1810, in the Greenland Sea, William Scoresby Jr., the captain of Resolute, who was 21 years old, used an oceanographic instrument made from a ten-gallon wooden cask. It was built following Lord Joseph Banks’s instructions. The cask was made of two-inch-thick fir planks, “as being a bad conductor of heat.” At each end of…
From Climate Misconceptions to Sustainable Solutions A new scientific study indicates that changing cloud cover may be behind most of the abrupt global warming observed in 2023, with the rise in carbon dioxide contributing to only 10% of the warming. Climate scientists at NASA’s Goddard Institute for Space Studies found that the world’s cloud cover…
The Miyawaki Forest is one of the most promising developments today in the fight against climate change. “Miyawaki Forest” is a term for a dense urban pocket forest filled with native species of trees, shrubs, and grasses. It is named for Akira Miyawaki, the famed Japanese botanist who is no longer with us. As a…
Phytoplankton in the Gulf of Maine have become 65% less productive. The Gulf of Maine is home to the North Atlantic right whale, a critically endangered species with less than 350 left alive. Right whales feed on zooplankton, krill, and other small crustaceans. These animals are fed by phytoplankton, organisms at the base of the…
