Ecocentric

After the Floods, What Will Happen to Pakistan’s Farmers?

Monsoon season isn’t over yet in Pakistan — after three weeks of heavy rains and disastrous floods, the flood warnings are still coming in, threatening further chaos in a nation that is already in way over its head. To date, over 82,000 miles have been affected, killing at least 1600 people, destroying an estimated 723,000 homes and …

Can A Killer Lake Solve Rwanda’s Energy Problem?

Residents living along the shores of Lake Kivu in central Africa have always appreciated – and feared – its power. In Swahili, the word mazuku, or “evil wind,” refers to pockets of deadly, odorless gas that seep from the lake, killing whatever happens to be in its path. Two hundred and fifty feet below the surface of Lake Kivu, …

Oil Spill: The Relief Well Is Coming…Someday

Maybe Thad Allen just can’t let go. A few days after telling reporters that the final stages of the relief well was likely to go forward this week, it seems we might all have to wait a while longer. Further pressure tests on the well now indicate that some amount of concrete leaked into the annulus, or outer casing, during the earlier …

Oil Spill: Environmental Reviews for Deepwater Drilling

The White House announced today that all new deepwater drilling will require environmental reviews. What’s that you say? You assume an activity as transparently fraught with danger and risk as deepwater oil and natural gas drilling, one where human or mechanical errors can lead to major environmental damage, that an activity like that …

How To Feed The World By Going Veggie

I don’t eat bacon cheeseburgers. About three years ago I gave up red meat and pork. I am American, and brother do I love bacon cheeseburgers. But I decided that as part of the imperfect project of trying to live a decent, moral life, I could no longer chow down on bacon cheeseburgers. I could not put my preference for the taste of a …

Oil Spill: Measuring the Aquatic Effect

ON BOARD THE ARCTIC SUNRISE: I’ve always wanted to write that. I’m currently off the Dry Tortugas south of the Florida Keys, on board a Greenpeace ship. I’m here with a pair of marine biologists from Nova University who have hitched aboard the Arctic Sunrise to do a quick research study on sea sponges in the Tortugas. It’s part of a …

The Clean Energy Transition

A little light post for weekend reading. Science magazine has published a special news section on the alternative energy challenge, casting a sober eye on the difficulties—and oppourunities—of leaving behind the age of fossil fuels and scaling up green power. Usually Science studies are behind a paywall (hmm, sounds familiar), but …

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