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.