Category: Environment
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Light at Night
We’re still wearing long underwear and puffy parkas and hats every day. We’re gearing up for Halloween and Thanksgiving and Christmas. We’re looking out our windows at a very convincing field of ice and snow. And yet here we are calling it “springtime.” There are a few clues that life here is transitioning into summer,…
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Ice Day
When I was a young girl, a snow day was a rare and glorious thing. Here at Palmer Station, it seems like every other day is a snow day – or, more specifically, a snow-and-ice day. It’s springtime, which apparently means: wind. Whiteness. Generally unpredictable yet predictably cold weather. The winter sea ice broke up…
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Perth shark attacks drive Western Australian politicians to call for idiotic shark cull
Shark conservation expert David Shiffman has been covering this news here and here; in brief, three people have been killed recently by sharks. This is obviously sad. But calling for legislation to legalize a currently illegal “shark cull” is idiotic. Primarily because it is very unlikely to affect shark attacks on people (as David explains)…
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Report: Global “warming” issue from 2 Or 3 years ago may still be a problem
Thus far, the study has gained unanimous favor in the scientific community, which was admittedly surprised in 2008 and 2009 at how quickly a defining issue that will undoubtedly affect everyone on the planet became so heavily politicized and took a backseat to health care reform, the housing bubble, and replacing Jay Leno on The Tonight…
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Lisa Jackson tells Republicans to stop using the economy as an excuse to pollute
From last Fridays LA Times: Americans must once again stand up for their right to clean air and clean water. Since the beginning of this year, Republicans in the House have averaged roughly a vote every day the chamber has been in session to undermine the Environmental Protection Agency and our nation’s environmental laws. They have picked up the…
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Favorite Iceberg?
Maybe it’s a commentary on climate change, or maybe he’s just a goofball. In any case… I’m working in Antarctica for four months. Click here to see all my Antarctic posts for SeaMonster! Visit www.xyzena.com for even more updates.
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Why do oceans matter?
Here’s why: [youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qojYm8JHKfE&feature=player_embedded[/youtube] From One World One Ocean
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A price tag on Paradise?
How much is nature worth? We can put a price tag on a fish (say, $350,000 for a prime condition bluefin tuna in Tokyo), or even on a salt marsh if it provides a breakwater out front of the house that reduces one’s flood insurance premium. But what about the value of Nature per se–the…
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all alone now
Yesterday the ARSV Gould left the pier, taking most of the winter crew northbound. I’m usually the one leaving on the Gould – either on my way farther south for a research cruise or heading home – so it was strange to be left on land while the ship pulled away. That’s it! Those of…
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Good news and bad news
Every day in marine conservation, you hear both. How about the bad news first. The Guardian is reporting another shark masacure in the Malpelo sanctuary off Columbia (but note I have not heard independent confirmation about this and the Guardian botched part of the article by suggesting whale sharks had been harvested for their fins). Like Scott…