Blog Profile / Shifting Baselines
| URL : | http://scienceblogs.com/shiftingbaselines/ | |
|---|---|---|
| Filed Under: | Biology / Marine Biology | |
| Posts on Regator: | 242 | This blog is retired. |
| Archived Since: | February 24, 2008 | |
Blog Post Archive
Extra Credit for Participating in Democracy
I just finished teaching a 200-level course on Marine Science at Western Washington University and this quarter, just as last quarter, I offered the students extra credit if they wrote a letter to their representative about an ocean issue and proposed solution to the problem that they learned about in class. Show More Summary
Beavers & South America
In some conservation circles, there has been alot of talk lately about the newly planned damns in southern Chile. In some ways, its a classic debate: finding a balance between energy needs and preserving wild places. But a different kind of damn is a much larger threat to southern South America: beaver damns. Show More Summary
Nuclear & Climate Change
John McCain announced his new goal of pushing through 45 nuclear reactors by 2030. Whether you are pro- or anti-nuclear (or somewhere in between), 45 by 2030 will be too late for mitigating climate change. This is an important point that is often overlooked. Show More Summary
Greenpeace Chides Retailers for Buying Bad Seafood
Yesterday, Greenpeace-USA released a report criticizing supermarkets for buying unsustainable seafood. Greenpeace-Canada also released a similar report, which I spoke about this morning on CTV news. As I said in the interview, if weShow More Summary
Carbon is Coming to DC...
While China has now clearly overtaken the United States in carbon emissions, carbon regulation appears to be finally coming to DC. While the Leiberman-McCain Climate Bill failed last week in the Senate, a 43-55 vote demonstrated bi-partisan support for climate change regulation. Show More Summary
Eat Less Meat
Since we're on the subject of eating lower on the food web, check out this wonderful, solutions-oriented article on Putting Meat Back in Its Place by Mark Bittman for The New York Times (and its imaginative artwork)... Read the comments on this post...
Skip the Salmon, Try the Sardines
Taras Grescoe, author of Bottomfeeder: How to Eat Ethically in a World of Vanishing Seafood has a new article out in the New York Times on why we should opt for sardines over salmon. On the one hand, I disagree with Grescoe's overall premise that we can steer consumption to achieve a desirable outcome. Show More Summary
A Carbon Trust
Peter Barnes, founder of one of the first social businesses - Working Assets - is full of good ideas. And people are starting to notice. His most recent book Capitalism 3.0 builds on his previous book Who Owns The Sky, which lays out a public trust model for public goods - like the sky and the carbon (and other pollutants) that enter it. Show More Summary
Randy Olson's New Movie: "Sizzle: A Global Warming Comedy"
It's movie time again for my sometimes co-blogger, Dr. Randy Olson, who today opens the website for his new movie, "Sizzle: A global warming comedy." Just the fact that they have been invited to the Outfest Gay and Lesbian Film Festival...Show More Summary
State of the Wild
550 cites will have populations of more than 1 million by 2015. 58% of the known human pathogens are zoonotic - they can jump between humans and animals. 371 people have been diagnosed with avian influenza as of March 2008, including 235 deaths. Show More Summary
Humans Don't Move Much
I have also imagined that high levels of mobility exacerbate the shifting baselines syndrome since the baseline would then be spatially inconsistent. But there is hope: humans don't move too much. A new study published in Nature andShow More Summary
A Long View
It's often useful to take a long view on change, the environment, and society. Last night, an Afro-american captured the democratic nominee. A monumental event that my parents' generation can appreciate better than mine. Yesterday, GM...Show More Summary
A Truly High Quality Naturalist Blog, and the Question of Yawning
Last year Jeremy Jackson went to South Africa to collect a big prize at a conference. While there he met a young nature writer/photographer named Adam Welz. A few weeks ago Adam was ambling down the west coast of the U.S. and stopped by to visit for a day. Show More Summary
Jellyfish Beaches
A student of mine recently sent me this photo of a jellyfish strewn beach with the following text: I took this picture when I was living in Arica, Chile four years ago. The people who lived there said that it was like this every summer, but it was getting progressively worse each year, not by much, but enough to notice. Read the comments on this post...
Junk Raft Departs for Hawaii with a Shifting Baseline Example
I put together this short video of yesterday's departure of Junk Raft. An amazing fellow showed up for the festivities--Redondo Beach resident Don McFarland who in 1958 sailed a similar sized raft along the same course from LA to Hawaii with three other men. Show More Summary
From Randy Olson: Hillary Shows the Power of the Heart
If you're an academic, it's officially not cool to speak from your heart. Academics do their best to keep things in the head--away from the sincerity of the heart, the humor of the gut, and especially (yeeks) away from the potentially atomic power of the lower organs. Show More Summary
From Randy Olson: Mass Communications 101 (Campaigning Lessons)
Lots o' Wednesday morning quarterbacking going on regarding the NH primary victory of Ms. Clinton (NOT "Hillary", even though an awful lot of people say "Rudy"). We got lesson #1 in Mass Communications 101 class with the note that Ms. Show More Summary
Shifting World Records for Fish Sizes
When I posted about the top shifting baselines stories of 2007, including the story on smaller Euro series spearguns (to shoot smaller fish), one kind reader wrote to me asking if I'd heard how, in 1996, the International UnderwaterShow More Summary
Fishing for Crabs, Finding Jellyfish
When fishing fanatic Sonia Ball lifted the crab pot out of the water she was disappointed to find its heavy weight was caused by a full load of jellyfish instead of the much-hoped-for mud crabs.That's the opening line on a story today from Australia. Read more here. Read the comments on this post...
Humpbacks Spared But the Hunt Continues
Japan may have given in on their hunt for humpbacks, but Sea Shepherd and Greenpeace will not rest just because the most charistmatic whales have been spared. Anti-whalers are out in Antarctic waters protesting the killing of minke and fin whales. Andrew Revkin has more on the hunt for the hunters at Dot Earth, a blog of the New York Times. Read the comments on this post...