City Bee

A study just published in the Proceedings of the Royal Society London reports that urban landscapes provide important habitat and resources (such as flowers) for a wide diversity of pollinators in the UK.  Check out a news story about the research here:
http://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-31359984

The ariticle itself is here:
http://rspb.royalsocietypublishing.org/content/282/1803/20142849

Social Capital

Although not directly related to this class, I found this story about the Indian based multinational corporation Tata very interesting. 

http://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-31057308

The company places social responsibility and charity on an equal footing with profitability as goals for its business.  As the Tata example points out, this is not an entirely new idea.  Indeed, the structure and history of the Kaiser-Permanente health care conglomerate is perhaps an interesting comparison with the Tata group.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kaiser_Permanente

Although, not entirely novel, there does seem to be an increased interest lately in exploring business models that are more socially responsible.  The social entrepreneurship movement, for instance, is an example.  I think these alternative business models and approaches dovetail nicely with changes in how we think about using resources and management the planet’s systems.

Boundaries People

In recent years a number of scientists have put forward the concept of "planetary boundaries".....the idea that there are safe operating ranges for the basic biophysical properties of the planet such as the amount of CO2 in the atmosphere.  If we push the planet beyond those limits through our activities we risk our own well being.  A recent paper in Science argues that we have pushed the planet past four of its nine fundamental boundaries.  Check out  this article in the Washington Post that summarizes the concept and the new Science paper:


http://wapo.st/1xtzGLK


There is a link to the Science article in that story, unfortunately OSU doesn't seem to subscribe to the early preview edition of Science so you can only read the abstract for now.  You can read the full article in a week or so when it comes out in the normal edition.

Arctic Playground

In the age of the Anthropocene there are few wild places left on the planet.  Perhaps the wildest is Antarctica.  Some argue that it should be left as wild as possible, including severely limiting access to it.  Others think that tourism is actually a vital way to ensure that Antarctica stays wild.  Check out this BBC story that discusses some of the points on both sides.

http://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-30709924

A Global Snapshot

Even in this highly interconnected, internet world we often tend to view the world through more localized and personal experiences.  Check out this infographic (above) that summarizes some basic metrics for the planet’s people.  Also see this brief blog post from the Washington Post that gives a bit more information:

http://wapo.st/1FcYIc9

The data in the infographic are a bit out of date, if you follow the link in the WaPo article it will take you to some more up to date statistics as well as more detailed information about the data sources.

How do your metrics compare with the rest of the world?

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/