Habitat Loss

What happens to us as a people when the sources of knowledge are only to be found outside of our communities? When we ask the internet for gardening advice on a plot of land between Paint Rock Valley and Big Sandy instead of the farmer who has lived those conditions for eighty years? When our […]

Too Much Water to Waste?

Does California have too much water? Seriously. Because our actions are sending peculiar messages. Even the State Water Board has backed off on conservation targets for some water agencies. It’s true, rains have replenished much of Northern California’s reservoirs and Governor Brown’s mandated 25% water restrictions made a serious dent in our water binge. A […]

Secret meeting by environmentalists to target Exxon, oil industry

Environmentalists backing a Big Tobacco-style government probe of oil companies plotted their strategy for targeting companies like ExxonMobil at a closed-door meeting in Manhattan earlier this year, according to a Wall Street Journal report. The report sheds new light on an evolving campaign against the fossil fuel industry that has drawn in several attorneys general […]

New Documents Show Oil Industry Even More Evil Than We Thought

In 1968, a pair of scientists from Stanford Research Institute wrote a report for the American Petroleum Institute, a trade association for America’s oil and natural gas industry. They warned that “man is now engaged in a vast geophysical experiment with his environment, the earth” — one that “may be the cause of serious world-wide environmental […]

The population problem: should the Pope tell people to stop breeding like rabbits?

Image by Rakka. In this post, I argue that overpopulation is a complex problem that has to do with human choices at the level of single families. It is not impossible that such choices will eventually lead to a stabilization of the world population at a sustainable level. It has happened in some historical cases, […]

New environmental cleanup technology rids oil from water

A new technology that is easy to manufacture and uses commercially available materials makes it possible to continuously remove oils and other pollutants from water, representing a potential tool for environmental cleanup. The material is shown to be superhydrophobic and superoleophilic, meaning it rejects water while absorbing oils. It is made using melamine sponges, an […]

Storm ‘Unfreezes’ North Pole, Causing Temperatures to Rise 50 Degrees Fahrenheit Above Normal

A storm system that’s recently brought extreme weather across the country also caused temperatures to rise about 50 degrees Fahrenheit above normal in the North Pole today. The North Pole “unfroze” today, experiencing a temperature high of upwards 40 degrees Fahrenheit, a temperature that’s “unheard of” in the area during winter months, according to ABC […]

‘Ice Wall’ Is Japan’s Last-Ditch Effort To Contain Fukushima Radiation

 The nearly mile-long structure consists of underground pipes designed to form a frozen barrier around the crippled reactors. • The $312 million system was completed last month, more than a year behind schedule. • Nearly 800,000 tons of radioactive water are already being stored onsite. Japanese authorities have activated a large subterranean “ice wall” in a desperate attempt […]

Asia Likely to Face Severe Water Crisis by 2050

Asia, the continent that houses roughly half the world’s population, will face a “high risk of severe water stress” by 2050 if the current environmental, economical and population growth persists, warns a new study. The study points out that water shortages are not simply the results of climate change and environmental stress. “It’s not just […]

Fracking, Not Just Fracking Wastewater Injection, Causing Earthquakes

A groundbreaking study published today in Seismological Research Letters has demonstrated a link, for the first time, between hydraulic fracturing (“fracking”) for oil and gas and earthquakes. Hydraulic Fracturing and Seismicity in the Western Canada Sedimentary Basin” confirms the horizontal drilling technique (which in essence creates an underground mini-earthquake to open up fissures for oil […]

No Organism is Truly Autonomous – Including Us

An interview with Jonny Gordon-Farleigh, the editor and publisher of STIR magazine.
 
Current and back issues of the magazine are available in the online shop Jonny Gordon-Farleigh: Your new book, How to Thrive in the Next Economy, explores practical innovations in sustainability across the world. What stories would you pick out as the most instructive […]

World Water Scarcity: Conservation and Desalination

WATER STRESS Apart from the global overpopulation problem, water scarcity is as announced by the World Economic Forum in January 2015 : “The water crisis is the number one global risk based on impact to society as a measure of devastation”. The UN defines water stress when an area’s annual water supplies drop below 1700 […]

A look at the Fukushima and Chernobyl nuclear disasters

Japan this month (March) marked the fifth anniversary of the Fukushima nuclear disaster with a series of sombre remembrance ceremonies across the country. At 2.46pm local time (1.46pm in Singapore) on March 11, 2011, a 9.0-magnitude earthquake struck under the Pacific Ocean, triggering a 10 metre wall of water that devastated the north-eastern coast of […]

Population Growth the Impact on the Environment

For centuries, scientists have predicted that the the human race is closing in on the carrying capacity of the planet Earth to provide for humans. The more people who populate the planet, the more goods will be consumed, the more food will be required to be grown, and the more electricity will be utilized. All […]

The World’s Largest Fish Are Missing

Researchers say the biggest whale sharks have disappeared over the past two decades, raising concerns about the long-lived giant fish. Scientists are finding that even the world’s largest fish can hide in the vastness of the ocean. Or at least, they’re hoping that’s the case. The other option is that adult whale sharks are disappearing. […]

This Is What’s Happening to People Who Live near the Worst Gas Leak in US History

On February 18, SoCalGas and the national media declared the “worst methane gas leak in U.S. history” permanently sealed, but just over a month later, hundreds of Porter Ranch residents who evacuated — and are now returning home — are suffering the same symptoms they suffered when the gas leak was active. They are experiencing […]

The Single Biggest Thing You Can Do For The Environment

I’ve always considered myself an environmentalist, albeit a somewhat lazy one. I try to carry cloth bags with me instead of using plastic, and to shop at the farmers market (which, sadly, I recently found out is not always actually better for the environment). But while I’ve been trying to recycle my clothing and use […]

Report warns of severe global water shortage

A new report has warned that almost half of the world would be plunged into severe water stress by 2030, if countries and their governments do not alter current levels of demand for the precious commodity and ongoing pollution of rivers, seas and oceans. The International Resource Panel (IRP) says in the report it released […]

How water shortages threaten jobs and growth

An estimated three out of four jobs globally are dependent on water, meaning that shortages and lack of access are likely to limit economic growth in the coming decades, the United Nations said on Tuesday. About 1.5 billion people – half the world’s workers – are employed in industries heavily dependent on water, most of […]

It’s the Food Economy, Stupid!

I believe Rod MacRae (shown here) is one of a handful of experts to develop a critique of today’s food system based on its bad business case and its failure to do proper scenario planning. If you don’t like reading arithmetic, you will find his writings tough going, but as soon as you subtract that problem, […]

The future of the world’s groundwater

As California grinds into what is likely to be a fifth drought year, awareness of the importance – and poor management – of California’s groundwater is growing. For complex historical and political reasons, the state has acted as though groundwater is separate and isolated from water in our rivers, streams, and reservoirs even though all […]

A Big Win for the Arctic Ocean

President Obama and Prime Minister Trudeau announced an ambitious, broad array of initiatives that herald a new day in our cross-border partnership to combat dangerous climate change, transition to a cleaner and more prosperous economy, and protect our shared Arctic environment while supporting the indigenous communities who call it home. For the Arctic Ocean, the […]

Devastating photos show lakes vanishing around the world

Warm temperatures and lower snowfall rates are causing several lakes, like Lake Poopó in Bolivia, to vanish. Here are some troubling images of lakes around the world that are vanishing.

The Population Bomb

In 1900, the world surpassed 1.7 billion. By 1950 it had almost doubled that number at over 2.5 billion. By the year 2000, after only 100 years with two world wars in between, we had reached 6.1 billion. Now there are 7.5 billion people on this planet. By 2050 that number is projected to hit 10 billion. Protesters clash […]

The Legacy of the Fukushima Nuclear Disaster

Five years ago, on 11 March 2011, a large region of Japan was shaken for three minutes by a magnitude 9.0 earthquake. The movement was so severe that the country moved a few metres east, the local coastline dropped, and it triggered a tsunami which killed thousands of people. But what many people outside Japan remember is […]

Fukushima continues to leak radiation

Five years after an accident at the Fukushima nuclear plant in Japan, some scientists continue to find found small amounts of radioactive material along the West Coast of North America. And some of them say we should expect to see this in the ocean for decades to come. Elevated levels found off the coast of […]

Slowly Moving to Protect the Environment

Many of us feel a sense of urgency when we think of the steps needed to preserve our planet, but governments attempting to maintain economic well-being and stay in power continue to balance change with stability. I think that more and more people in power understand the need to address climate change, ecosystem protection, and […]

Former Prime Minister Admits Fukushima Almost Completely Destroyed Japan

This Friday, it will officially have been 5 years since the Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami disabled Tepco’s nuclear power plant in Fukushima. But despite the passing of 5 years, we still don’t really know much damage this disaster really caused. We don’t know what the long-term effects will be on the environment, or on the […]

Mutations, DNA damage seen in Fukushima

Conservation group Greenpeace warned on Friday that the environmental impact of the Fukushima nuclear crisis five years ago on nearby forests is just beginning to be seen and will remain a source of contamination for years to come. The March 11, 2011 magnitude 9.0 undersea earthquake off Japan’s northeastern coast sparked a massive tsunami that […]

Fukushima Disaster Will Wreak Environmental Havoc for Centuries

A report from Greenpeace reveals that the destruction of ecosystems caused by the Fukushima meltdown is worse than the government lets on. Radiation from the Fukushima nuclear disaster in Japan will have a long legacy of environmental destruction with up to hundreds of years of devastating impacts on the ocean, waterways, plants, and animals, according […]

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