- Author: Rose Marie Hayden-Smith
My father was ahead of his time.
Years before Americans were asked to, Jim Hayden ensured that our family conserved energy by keeping the thermostat low, turning off lights and taking "military" showers to reduce water use. My father also observed the speed limit. Our family vacations took us to national parks. I grew up with a keen appreciation for the outdoors. I remember the sense of horror and helplessness when I saw the images of distressed wildlife in the aftermath of the Santa Barbara oil spill, which devastated the beaches that were an important part of our family's life.
In part as a result of that oil spill, Earth Day came into being. And 49 years after that inaugural Earth Day event, many of us will find...
- Author: Pamela Kan-Rice
One approach to improving science literacy of children is to train their teachers in environmental education. Using the forest as a classroom, Project Learning Tree, now a program delivered through UC Cooperative Extension, educates teachers about the environment and provides ideas and the tools needed for integrating environmental education into their core curriculum.
The primary goal of PLT is to teach people how to think, not what to think, about complex environmental issues. This has been the vision of PLT since the mid-1970s, inspiring educators to teach and students to learn about their environment, by doing.
At the outdoor workshops, foresters demonstrate forest...
- Author: Pamela Kan-Rice
Air pollution is harmful to the health of people and animals. That much we know, but how does air pollution affect plants?
Scientists from 25 countries will gather on the Monterey Peninsula to discuss “Plants and the Changing Environment” in June. The 9th Air Pollution and Global Change Symposium will be held June 8-12 at the Asilomar Conference Center in Pacific Grove.
The goal of the series is to consider interactions of air pollution and global change and their impacts on vegetation.
“The symposium is unique in dealing with effects at all levels from molecular and cellular mechanisms, whole plant and crop impacts, all the way up to models of ecosystem and regional...
- Author: Katherine E. Kerlin
It's no big surprise that humans are impacting the planet. But a new study pinpoints a sobering connection.
As human life expectancy increases, so does the percentage of invasive and endangered birds and mammals, according to a study by the University of California, Davis.
The study, published in the September issue of Ecology and Society, examined a combination of 15 social and ecological variables — from tourism and per capita gross domestic product to water stress and political stability. Then researchers analyzed their correlations with invasive and endangered birds and mammals, which are two indicators of...
- Author: Ann Brody Guy
Read the bill. That was the first policy lesson that Linda Adams, Secretary of the California Environmental Protection Agency, brought to the newly minted Ph.D.’s at the Graduate Research Symposium of UC Berkeley’s Department of Environmental Science, Policy, and Management (ESPM) earlier this month, where she delivered the keynote address.
The bill Adams was referring to was AB 32, the landmark Global Warming Solutions Act of 2006, on which she was the lead negotiator. She told a harrowing tale of the legislative pipeline.
“When Governor Schwarzenegger appointed me in 2006… I was just vaguely aware of AB 32, which was actually very close to his desk,” Adams said. “Being a good former legislative staffer, the...
