News From PESWiki PESWiki Blog A lot of action here presently. Most of the new stuff is going here. Featured: PES Network > News > Free Energy Blog - Latest include: They did not read the safety manual • HopeGirl on QEG, in London • German Group achieves QEG resonance • Zenith of manufacturing: Airbus A380 • Latest on QEG: Re-insulating Core • YMNEE Provides 1 MW QMoGen Photos • MORE...
Generation Anthropocene Special Announcement (04 June 2013) The producers of Generation Anthropocene – Mike Osborne, Miles Traer, and Leslie Chang – are making a special announcement about the future of this show. We’re going to be expanding the scope of our storytelling as well as the types of material available on our website. The mouse brain detective (28 May 2013) Neuroscientist Nick Weiler discusses powerful new techniques used to map the brain at the molecular scale and how the manipulation of mouse whiskers can teach us how the brain changes as we learn. Nick also takes a moment to explain why the concept of consciousness is best left to the philosophers rather than the neuroscientists… but that won’t stop him from commenting on it too. The dawn of de-extinction (14 May 2013) Hank Greely and Jake Sherkow discuss the science, morals, and ethics of de-extinction: bringing extinct species back to life. Are you an environmentalist or do you work for a living?
The Science of Sustainability Getting Up Close with Cranes For decades, scientists have studied the annual migration of sandhill cranes through central Nebraska. A new project is using time-lapse cameras to capture and study crane behavior. Continue Reading Deforestation dries up dams threatening hydropower [SANTIAGO] Deforestation may lead to electricity shortages in tropical rainforest regions that rely heavily on hydropower, as fewer trees mean less rainfall for hydropower generation, a study shows. For example, if deforestation continues, one of the world's largest dam projects in Brazil will deliver around a third less energy than is currently estimated, according to the research, published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) last week (13 May). Deforestation cuts rainfall and the amount of water available for hydropower Brazil's biggest dam project could deliver around a third less energy because of deforestation Tropical nations should consider the effects of deforestation on their hydropower plans Researchers had presumed that cutting down trees near dams increases the flow of water and hence energy production. This is because crops and pastures that replace trees take less water from the ground and lose less moisture by evaporation.
Ecosystem services Humankind benefits in a multitude of ways from ecosystems. Collectively, these benefits are known as ecosystem services. Ecosystem services are regularly involved in the provisioning of clean drinking water and the decomposition of wastes. While scientists and environmentalists have discussed ecosystem services implicitly for decades, the ecosystem services concept itself was popularized by the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment (MA) in the early 2000s.[1] This grouped ecosystem services into four broad categories: provisioning, such as the production of food and water; regulating, such as the control of climate and disease; supporting, such as nutrient cycles and crop pollination; and cultural, such as spiritual and recreational benefits. To help inform decision-makers, many ecosystem services are being assigned economic values. §History[edit]
The Aldo Leopold Foundation The new issue of The Leopold Outlook magazine should be reaching our members in a week or so. In recognition of the centennial of the extinction of the passenger pigeon and the 40th anniversary of the Endangered Species Act, this issue is all about endangered species and the extinction crisis. It addresses some of the pressing questions before us as we examine the problem of species decline. Cities take lead in climate change CAMBRIDGE, Mass.--City governments' response to climate change ranges from cutting-edge distributed energy to adding more bike lanes and trees. Climate change experts from four cities--London, Toronto, Chicago, and New York--spoke about the connections between sustainable urban design, energy, the economy, and human health on Monday at the Mass Impact Symposium, organized by the Boston Society of Architects and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. The cities' climate action plans, some of which have yet to be fully rolled out, call for aggressive goals to measure, reduce, and monitor greenhouse gas levels--on the range of 50 percent to 80 percent in the next three decades. Under that over-arching goal are dozens of programs, including promotion of green technologies to lower energy consumption in transportation and buildings.
Richard Preston (con't. from the Home Page) ... In THE WILD TREES, Richard Preston unfolds the spellbinding story of Steve Sillett and Marie Antoine, who found a lost world above California, dangerous, hauntingly beautiful, and unexplored. The deep redwood canopy is a vertical Eden filled hanging gardens of ferns, reefs of lichens, small animals, and all sorts of plants, including thickets of huckleberry bushes and small trees actually growing on the branches of giant redwoods. There are massive redwood limb systems fused into flying buttresses and carved into “fire caves.” Thick layers of soil sitting on limbs harbor animal and plant life unknown to science.
What is the Leopold Center? Frequently Asked Questions Funding and Support Celebrating Our 25-year Anniversary View timeline of Leopold Center's 25-year history Proceedings from Our 10-year Anniversary What difference are we making? Silent Spring Silent Spring is an environmental science book written by Rachel Carson and published by Houghton Mifflin on September 27, 1962.[1] The book documented the detrimental effects on the environment—particularly on birds—of the indiscriminate use of pesticides. Carson accused the chemical industry of spreading disinformation and public officials of accepting industry claims unquestioningly. In the late 1950s, Carson turned her attention to conservation, especially environmental problems that she believed were caused by synthetic pesticides. The result was Silent Spring (1962), which brought environmental concerns to the American public. Silent Spring was met with fierce opposition by chemical companies, but it spurred a reversal in national pesticide policy, led to a nationwide ban on DDT for agricultural uses,[2] and inspired an environmental movement that led to the creation of the U.S.