Feature Channels: Environmental Science

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With the holiday season just over a month away, you might be making travel plans to celebrate the festive season, or to ring in the New Year at a sunny locale. But for those eco-conscious travellers who are looking for a “green” resort, or who are interested in minimizing their carbon footprint, Ryerson tourism and hospitality professors Rachel Dodds and Sonya Graci offer up these tips on sustainable travel.

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When it comes to controlling carbon emissions, a Case Western Reserve University political scientist challenges conventional views that countries are the only rule makers in international politics of climate change. Jessica Green from the College of Arts and Sciences reports that today’s gold standard for measuring the carbon footprint of firms and organizations was created by the collaborative efforts of NGOs and the private sector—not by countries forging the Kyoto Protocol.

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The Earth is constantly manufacturing new crust, spewing molten magma up along undersea ridges at the boundaries of tectonic plates. Now, scientists at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) have observed ocean crust forming in an entirely unexpected way—one that may influence those cycles of life and carbon and, in turn, affect the much-discussed future of the world’s climate.

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Christmas trees come in many shapes and sizes. Charlie Brown’s tree is scraggly and woebegone – but perennially endearing – while the giant trees that command so much attention on the White House lawn and at Rockefeller Center tower majestically over crowds. Botanist Clint Springer, Ph.D., assistant professor of biology at Saint Joseph’s University in Philadelphia, says there is room for all kinds of trees to celebrate the holidays, but there are many benefits associated with choosing real Christmas trees.

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In both rural and urban areas across the U.S., racial minorities and the economically disenfranchised suffer disproportionally from the ill effects of assaults on the environment and often lack access to the power to protect their communities. Emmy-award-winning journalist Simran Sethi and Bennett College President Julianne Malveaux spoke at Wake Forest University, encouraging people to change the way they think about environmental justice.

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Geography researchers at the University of South Carolina are conducting climate research at the Congaree National Park, the largest old-growth floodplain forest that remains in the North America.

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A sustainable trade strategy for China suggests changes for the manufacturing and energy sectors, services, voluntary standards, as well as its “trade foreign policy” as an influential member of the WTO.

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A new research study highlights problems with some brass products in plumbing systems that can leach very high levels of lead into drinking water, even in brand new buildings – and suggests that such problems may often go undetected.

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Bryant U. undergrad is among the first to analyze newly discovered conifer fossils from the Canadian Arctic. Her studies determined that the molecular components of these fossils are extremely well preserved and led to finding a link between molecular composition and 3D preservation - a rarity in plant fossil material.

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Biodiversity crusaders Peter H. Raven and Edward O. Wilson received Linnaean Legacy Awards Nov. 6 for their extraordinary contributions to taxonomy and the exploration and classification of species. They used the occasion to call on individuals and taxonomists alike to do their part to sustain the biodiversity of Earth, which includes identifying millions of species before they become extinct.

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The Fall 2010 issue of the quarterly print and online publication - Imaging Notes magazine -- reviews the satellite monitoring of vanishing glaciers to the accounting of forestry, hydropower and mining assets as steps to boost sustainable development here on Earth.

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Interactive web-based map highlights dozens of university sustainability measures.

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How warm has 2010 been? So warm that although October was the coolest month so far this year year (compared to seasonal norms), it tied October 2006 as the second warmest October in the 32-year satellite climate record.

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Report estimates the level of oil production subsidies in Canada under a WTO definition that allows comparison with other countries. It also forecasts the fiscal, economic and environmental trade-offs of those subsidies.

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The Missouri River needs a flow of sediment, not just water, to stay healthy, and regulatory agencies and scientists need to do a better job of gathering and understanding information about that process.

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Nature’s capacity to store carbon, the element at the heart of global climate woes, is steadily eroding as the world’s farmers expand croplands at the expense of native ecosystem such as forests. A group of universities is releasing a study on the topic.

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Arthur Wheaton, senior extension associate at Cornell University’s ILR School, comments on the recent J.D. Power & Associates report concluding that battery-powered cars are “overhyped.”

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Noble metals such as platinum and palladium are becoming increasingly important because of growth in environmentally friendly applications such as fuel cells. A new solvent system could improve the recycling of these metals.

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MTSU agriscience professor will drive 500 miles across Tennessee on from Bristol, Va., to West Memphis, Ark., in a Toyota fueled by sun and water. His goal for 2011 is to go coast to coast using just 10 gallons of gas.

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Algae could make the perfect renewable fuel.