Browsing Month 'March, 2007'
This year�s Earth Day, marking the anniversary of the founding of the modern environmental movement in 1970, is Sunday, April 22, 2007.
In celebration of this event, ESA News and Views will feature your thoughts, reminiscences, polemics, and general musings on Earth Day
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Contributed by Edward B. Barbier, Department of Economics & Finance, University of Wyoming
In a recent editorial in the New York Times (“False Hopes and Natural Disastersâ€, December 26, 2006), Andrew Baird has criticized Bill Clinton in his role as special envoy for UN tsunami recovery for endorsing publicly a $62 million program for preserving mangroves and coastal reefs as “natural barriers†to future tsunamis in 12 Indian Ocean countries.
Read more...Regardless of dictionary definitions, anyone who has ever restored a car or a house knows that it is not only possible, it is also a rewarding experience that allows one to regain use of something that has been damaged or fallen into disrepair. But no one expects a restored house to be the same house that it was before. The paint may be the same color, but if lead paint was used something less toxic would now be substituted. No one would propose the use of asbestos as insulation or wallpaper known to burst into flames from a mere spark. In some parts of the world, air conditioning might be installed to protect the remaining historic components of a structure from the elements; if threatened by floods, a historic house undergoing restoration might be raised up on pilings. Where a house might have been home to a family of five, it might now be used as an office or retail store.
Read more...Why on earth would an ecologist, much less one employed by the Ecological Society of America, say such a thing? Hundreds, perhaps thousands, of papers and books have been devoted to the subject, not to mention numerous meetings and at least one professional society (the Society for Ecological Restoration International, a partner in ESA’s 2002 and 2007 annual meetings.) The phrase “ecological restoration†generates 772,000 hits on Google, the phrase “ecological restoration is impossible†six. So this would appear to be a minority opinion. But perhaps some explication will produce broader agreement than the current three-quarter million to one ratio would imply.
Read more...When you are out in the cold, taking samples and measurements, do you sometimes get “jiggy with it†to keep warm? Then perhaps pole dancing is for you—dancing at the North or South Pole that is. March 1, 2007 marks the beginning of International Polar Year (IPY), an international and multidisciplinary effort involving 50,000 people from more than 60 countries in Arctic and Antarctic research.
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