Beneath the fold you will find news and notes, community announcements, and our eco-diary roundup.
Peruse the eKos Library to find previously listed diaries. You can also follow eKos on Twitter.
Tonight's editor: patrickz
With contributions from: citisven and WarrenS
Beneath the fold you will find news and notes, community announcements, and our eco-diary roundup.
Peruse the eKos Library to find previously listed diaries. You can also follow eKos on Twitter.
Tonight's editor: patrickz
With contributions from: citisven and WarrenS
In the best eKos tradition this is a recycled diary. I wrote it for Dawn Chorus last weekend but didn't actually use it. This is a virtual trip to Cumberland Island National Seashore, home to wild horses, armadillos, and the ever shifting boundary between the ocean and the firmament.
Welcome back to the world of biodiversity. Tonight we will pick up where we left off two weeks ago - taking a brief tour of the Great Barrier Reef. Last time we talked a bit about the ecology of the reef and about some of the fishes that live there.
Here's the reef at the surface reminding us of how vast it is.
Beneath the fold you will find news and notes, community announcements, and our eco-diary roundup.
Peruse the eKos Library to find previously listed diaries. You can also follow eKos on Twitter.
Tonight's editor: patrickz
All views expressed by today's editor do not necessarily represent those of eKos or eKos listed diarists.
I'm going to post-pone part II of the Great Barrier Reef for a week to take a bit of break for Hallowe'en. Below the fold are a bunch of scary looking critters. A lot of biologists and environmental types attempt to de-scarify snakes, spiders, etc. This is a valuable thing to do - it saddens me to see people so cut off from the natural world that their response to any organism is (unjustified) fear, horror, or disgust.
And yet...
Good evening and welcome a more ancient world, the world of biodiversity. Tonight let's take a tour of one of the great wonders of this world, the great barrier reef. I had the great privilege of spending a day snorkeling on the reef in May 2009. It was also the first time I used the underwater housing for my camera. Let's learn a bit about the reef and put away the cares of the day.
Our free market economy is nothing more than a huge auction called 'Supply and Demand', which - very efficiently - puts a price on on everything.
The problem is that it allows us to sell everything - the last drop of oil, the last tree, the last fish, the last of everything. It's called growth - but it is, obviously, growth into oblivion - the exact opposite of EcoEconomics. It is a fatal flaw of our present economic system.
Or, as Greenpeace puts it: "When the last tree is cut, the last river poisoned, and the last fish dead, we will discover that we can't eat money..."
[...]
The eco-economic price for a natural resource is, therefore, the price you would have to pay if our planet were to release that resource only at a sustainable level.
Who can put a Price on the Environment? ... We all should.
Afterall if we end up decimating the planet's EcoSystems -- trying to sell off their once abundant natural resources -- We can't eat the money ... or gold either, can we?
Welcome to the eKos Earthship, your one-stop-shop for green diaries and series.
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Peruse the eKos Library to find previously listed diaries. You can also follow eKos on Twitter.
Tonight's editor: patrickz
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The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) has just published its 2010 update on the Arctic environment. This report was produced in collaboration with scientists from the United States, Canada, Russia, and European Union. The bottom line in this report can be summarized in a single sentence:
Return to previous Arctic conditions is unlikely.
Warming of the atmosphere and sea water in the northern hemisphere are expected to produce long-term changes in the polar region, including the loss of summer sea ice, depletion of Greenland glacial ice, permafrost melt, and stress on many animal populations. Scientists first raised the possibility of an Arctic "death spiral" several years ago, which was dismissed as a passing fantasy by the ethically-challenged, half-term governor of Alaska. The possibility of an Arctic "death spiral" now looks highly likely.
Beneath the fold you will find news and notes, community announcements, and our eco-diary roundup.
Peruse the eKos Library to find previously listed diaries. You can also follow eKos on Twitter.
Tonight's editor: patrickz
All views expressed by today's editor do not necessarily represent those of eKos or eKos listed diarists.ss
This is a repeat of a diary I posted two and a half weeks ago as part of my Sunday evening biodiversity series. For reasons foot-noted below* I am 'publishing' this diary again.
Just about a month ago I was privileged to attend, as a guest (rather than a participant) a conference devoted to developing a coordinated research program to measure the impact of the BP oil disaster on Gulf of Mexico coastal ecosystems. I'm going to attempt to give you an overview of the main points and show you some pictures to go along with them.
Beach in Panama City, Florida in fall 2008. This was the easternmost point (that I know of) where oil came ashore during June 2010.
Two weekends ago I was privileged to attend, as a guest (rather than a participant) a conference devoted to developing a coordinated research program to measure the impact of the BP oil disaster on Gulf of Mexico coastal ecosystems. I'm going to attempt to give you an overview of the main points and show you some pictures to go along with them.
Beach in Panama City, Florida in fall 2008. This was the easternmost point (that I know of) where oil came ashore during June 2010.
Note: There will not be an 'A More Ancient World' diary next weekend.
Image from The Malay Archipelago by Alfred Russel Wallace
This is the first entry in what will hopefully be a series. I'll start off with a brief description (more details at the end) saying that my goal is an edu-technical yet entertaining series about biodiversity and its role in our lives. This is the international year for biodiversity and biodiversity is facing a crisis that is unprecedented within the existence of humanity. So it seems timely. I'll try and publish every Sunday evening or at least as many Sundays as I can.
Beneath the fold you will find news and notes, community announcements, and our eco-diary roundup.
Peruse the eKos Library to find previously listed diaries. You can also follow eKos on Twitter.
Tonight's editor: patrickz
All views expressed by today's editor do not necessarily represent those of eKos or eKos listed diarists.
Beneath the fold you will find news and notes, community announcements, and our eco-diary roundup.
Peruse the eKos Library to find previously listed diaries. You can also follow eKos on Twitter.
Tonight's editor: patrickz
Please remember to rec the BP Catastrophe Liveblog Mothership: 101
All views expressed by today's editor do not necessarily represent those of eKos or eKos listed diarists.
This is the international year for biodiversity. Early this year I planned to write a series of diaries in honor of the year. I haven't got very far but will try to make up for it now. Yesterday I finally visited a habitat I'd heard quite a bit about ever since we first considered moving to Tallahassee over three years ago. Although the Florida panhandle is called the redneck Riviera and is rightfully known for its right wing politics, it is also one of the most biodiverse regions of the US. The long leaf pine forests, rivers, and swamps house an incredible diversity of plants, reptiles, and other forms of life. One spectacular example of this diversity are bogs filled with carnivorous plants.
Welcome to the eKos Earthship, your one-stop-shop for green diaries and series.
Tonight's editor: patrickz
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The Brazilian government has given a 'green light' for construction of the world's third largest hydroelectric power plant. The Xingu river, which supports indigenous peoples and many endemic species, will be dammed, flooding 190 square miles and forcing the evacuation of 50,000 people.
In other news, El Niños Are Growing Stronger due to climate change, the wheat genome is sequenced, and James Hansen has a message about activism and greenwashing.
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Beneath the fold you will find news and notes, community announcements, and our eco-diary roundup.
All views expressed by today's editor do not necessarily represent those of eKos or eKos listed diarists.
Welcome to the eKos Earthship, your one-stop-shop for green diaries and series.
Tonight's editor: patrickz
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In a new study, scientists deduce the ultimate fate of our universe: a "Big Freeze". But don't fret - humans will be long gone before the last stars dim out.
Of much more immediate concern: the Smithsonian Institute and the University of Hawaii have created the first ever repository of frozen Hawaiian coral species, and new satellite imagery gives detailed data on the decline of the world's mangrove forests. In Pakistan, the situation remains dire.
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Beneath the fold you will find news and notes, community announcements, and our eco-diary roundup.
All views expressed by today's editor do not necessarily represent those of eKos or eKos listed diarists.
