I’d say you have to see the Amazon for yourself to understand how vast it is, but I’ve been there—and even I can’t imagine it. The rain forest is more than 2 million sq. miles—two-thirds the size of the continental United …
EcocentricForests
EcocentricForests
EcocentricWildlife
Bat Signal: More than 5 Million Bats Dead From White-Nose Syndrome
An animal apocalypse is happening right beneath our noses in the Northeast. Since 2006, bats throughout New York, Pennsylvania, Vermont, New Jersey, Indiana and other states have been infected with a deadly white-nose fungus that …
EcocentricHealth
Under the Weather: How La Niña May Influence the Outbreak of Flu Pandemics
There are two things you can be certain about when it comes to flu pandemics: they’re inevitable and you never know when one will strike. That unpredictability makes it difficult to prepare for a pandemic — some 40 years passed …
EcocentricHealth
Virological Trade: Screening Imported Wildlife for Emerging Microbes
Border customs agents are on the look out for many things: illegal drugs, stolen goods, smuggled liquor and sometimes even people. Add one more target: animal-borne viruses. In a new study published on Tuesday in the journal PLoS …
“Two years ago, it appeared that world leaders might address the truly global threats that we face. In many case, that trend has not been continued or been reversed. Fort that reason, the Bulletin of Atomic Scientists is moving the clock hand one minute closer to midnight, back to its time in 2007.”
EcocentricOil
An Oily Case: Chevron’s Never-Ending, Record-Breaking Lawsuit in Ecuador
How long has the legal battle between indigenous groups in the Ecuadorean Amazon and the oil giant Chevron been going on? So long that Texaco—the company originally accused of dumping 18 billion gallons of toxic sludge in and …
EcocentricTransportation
Battery Warning: Why Electric Vehicles Have Yet to Take Off
2011 was supposed to be the year of the electric vehicle. All kinds of people said it—including this guy. And in some ways it was. After years of anticipation—and piles of presumptuous magazine stories and unending …
EcocentricFood
Farm Drugs: The FDA Moves to Restrict (Somewhat) the Use of Antibiotics in Livestock
It’s no secret that America has a drug problem—so perhaps it shouldn’t be surprising that our livestock have one as well. Antibiotics are a major part of the conventional meat industry, and the drugs aren’t just used to treat sick animals—they’re also given regularly in feed to help growth promotion of pigs, chickens and cattle. …
EcocentricWildlife
Zom-bees: How Parasitic Flies Are Turning Honeybees into the Buzzing Undead
From the Nature Is Scary file: researchers from San Francisco State University announced this week in a new study that honeybees are being turned into “zombies” by parasite flies. The fly—known as …
EcocentricWildlife
Animal Actors: Why Wild Beasts and Hollywood Don’t Mix
My weekly Going Green column—one day late because of the New Year’s holiday—is up on the Time.com mainpage. Prompted by holiday films like We Bought a Zoo, I’m exploring the role of wild animals in Hollywood, asking whether …