A Year in the Life of Global CO2

Watch this NASA animation and ponder a bit

The Future of Food

National Geographic is doing an ongoing series called The Future of Food: how to feed our growing planet.  Check out the website here: http://food.nationalgeographic.com/

Past Due Invoice

Watch WE THE ECONOMY - A Bee's Invoice: The Hidden Value in Nature on Vimeo.


Jeff pointed me to this interesting website that presents a number of engaging films about a potentially dry subject: economics. Or as the website says more fundamentally: money.
 https://wetheeconomy.com/

 Check out one of the films above.  It's about the economic value of nature.

We Don't Got You Babe

The Salton Sea is an emblem of the Anthropocene.  Accidentally created by humans it is only maintained as a byproduct of the runoff from our irrigated agriculture.  Once a playground for the rich and famous it is now heavily polluted and largely desolate.  And yet it has become a very important link in the habitat chain used by migrating birds.  However, the end of the Salton Sea may be near as California suffers under a prolonged drought and demand for a dwindling supply of water increases.  Check out this brief info-graphic rich story from the LA times.

http://www.latimes.com/local/california/la-me-g-drought-drawdowns-and-death-of-the-salton-sea-20141021-htmlstory.html

For a longer, more comprehensive treatment of this peculiar part of America, check out Imperial by William T. Vollmann.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/02/books/review/Downes-t.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0

Week 4

What price water?

Fundamentally, the price of something reflects an interaction between its supply and how much people want it (....its demand).  That simple statement subsumes a whole lot of complexity that in practice can make either predicting the future price of things  difficult, or subverts the relationship between supply and demand.  This interesting recent article in the NYT argues that the price of water is too cheap.....particularly for farmers. 
http://nyti.ms/1EVGzg5

Eduardo Porto argues that the way water is distributed and sold makes it very difficult to manage and conserve water in the face of increasing demand and dwindling supply.  For example, in drought stricken CA many residents of Sacramento get charged a flat rate no matter how much water they use.

On the other hand, there are a number of compelling reasons for why water is not treated just like another commodity.  Many people feel that access to water is a fundamental human right.  Also, the cheap water that farmers have access too comes with some big societal benefits, namely cheap food.  What do you think?

A forest in a box?

For some, the industrialization and commodification of agriculture over the last 100 years or so has not been a good thing.  Even if you fall into that camp, it can still be good to keep an open mind about the value of industrial engineering.  Often, just a shift in goals and attitude can make a big difference.  Check out this talk by Shubhendu Sharma

Week 2 video blog

Water Blues

There is a great documentary series that has recently been produced called Water Blues Green Solutions.  It covers many of the topics that we touch on in this course, with an emphasis on the various ways that folks are coming up with real and tangible solutions to the many water related issues that we face.  The full documentary is being broadcast on Public Television; check your local listings.

But most of the content and more is available on their website here: http://waterblues.org/explore/stories

Week 1 Video Blog

Solar Freakin' Roadways

Check out this great example of innovation.  Solar roadways!

Evolution's motto: neccesity is the mother of invention

Evolutionary biologist Chris Thomas (above) takes a long view of the biological tumult being exerted by humans on the biosphere.  Chris argues that biological systems are incredibly resilient to change....even the profound changes we are causing.  From a scientific perspective he thinks this is just incredibly interesting to watch.  But he also thinks that maybe we need to take this dynamic resiliency more into account as we develop ways of negotiating our eponymous mass extinction.  Check out his interesting ideas here on this episode of Living on Earth: http://www.loe.org/shows/segments.html?programID=14-P13-00019&segmentID=6

Save Money, Live Better, Save the Planet?

There is growing concern  about the environmental costs of and threats to the sustainability of our food systems.  You can see this increased awareness reflected in the efforts of large retailers such as Walmart.  This story http://www.sfgate.com/science/article/Walmart-s-organic-push-could-alter-California-5396629.php describes Walmart's drive to increase the number of organic options they provide.  Other retailers such as the supermarket conglomerate, Tesco have pushed their suppliers to provide various sustainability metrics that they share with consumers.  As the story points out, any changes that such large food sellers enact can have large impacts on the entire food system.  It also brings up some interesting questions about what a "sustainable food system" looks like.

Washed Away

Some of the planet's most valuable and important ecosystem services are derived from soil ecosystems.  Distressingly, our stewardship of these systems is often laking.  Check out this brief article in the Guardian: http://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2014/apr/04/gardens-soil-erosion

By the way Helen Babbs is an apt name for a British garden writer.

Severe, Pervasive and Irreversible

That's how a new UN report describes the impacts of climate change.  Read details about the report in this BBC article: http://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-26824943

Note the control panel at the top of the story that links to other related stories and analysis.

We are creating this problem.  We will either solve the problem, or live with its consequences.

Storm Shelter

As the planet warms regional climates will change.  The precise details of how and when this will happen are still sketchy, but there is considerable concern that these changes, when they do come, will put tremendous pressure on our food systems.  There is some (still very preliminary) evidence that this is already happening.  Part of our response to climate change needs to include what has been called adaptation.  These are approaches to reduce the vulnerability of our systems (like agriculture) to changes in climate, as well as approaches to help people manage the impacts of these changes on their lives. 

An example of adaptation  is today's announcement by the White House of the creation of "climate hubs" around the country.  Check out a story abut the announcement here:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/post-politics/wp/2014/02/05/white-house-to-unveil-climate-hubs-to-aid-farmers-across-country/?hpid=z4

A Cool Refreshing Coke

Efforts to reduce, mitigate, and plan for the effects of climate change have been hampered by intense political debates that often seem to have very little to do with the topic itself.  Yet, we ignore the issue at our peril.  It is telling that many corporations such as Coca Cola (as this article in the NYT  describes: http://nyti.ms/19Rp18y) are increasingly concerned about the impact climate change will have on their businesses.  For these companies, climate change is not an ideological touchstone but rather a tangible threat to their shareholders that they feel obligated to plan for and to help minimize.  The broader global society would do well to follow their lead.

Free Park

Creating conservation areas that have more restrictive resource use regulations, limit the types of permissible activities, or limit access has become a very commonly used resource management tool around the world.   But creating a park is easier said then done.  This New York Times article describes the troubled effort to create a National Park in Maine: http://static01.nyt.com/images/2014/01/10/us/MAINE-2/MAINE-2-master675.jpg

Many of the pitfalls that have arisen in that case are all to common around the world.  Also, actually getting a park to fulfil its intended goals can also be just as challenging as creating a park in the first place.  Many conservation areas around the world exist as meaningless lines on a map where the rules designed to foster conservation and sustainable management are ignored, not enforced, or remarkably in some cases not even created or articulated.

The topic of parks as a land management tool is complex and there is a rich and  active and debate about their design,management, and use.  One bit of consensus that has emerged is that in order to be successful parks need to have a lot of support and buy-in from the people who live in and adjacent to the park or whose lives may be influenced in some way by its creation.  You can see the need for that reflected in he NYT article.