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This new solar farm combines clean energy and bee hives
For pollinators, sprawling solar plants can provide space for much-needed habitat. (By the spring of 2019, when the new native plants are more established, the Eagle Point solar farm will offer 41 acres of new habitat.)
For nearby farms growing crops that rely on pollinators–at a time when thousands of wild pollinators are at risk of extinction, and beekeepers are still struggling to maintain their populations of honeybees–this type of project can also play a role in supporting the food supply…
Forests may lose the ability to protect against extremes of climate change
Kimberley Davis is a University of Montana postdoctoral research associate and the lead author of the study that suggests some forests will lose their capacity to buffer climate extremes as water becomes limited at many sites.
“Changes in water balance, combined with accelerating canopy losses due to increases in the frequency and severity of disturbance, will create many changes in the microclimate conditions of western U.S. forests,” Davis said…
Climate change is making it harder to revive damaged land
In the early 1980s, ecological restoration was much like cleaning up after a rowdy house party: trying to return a degraded habitat to its former pristine condition… “I’ve always been taught that restoration is about taking a degraded site and restoring it back to what it was before the disturbance,” Campbell said.
But increasingly, scientists who study ecosystems, as well as land managers who do restoration work, are questioning that model of ecological restoration, which relies on the idea of a stable “climax community,” even though many ecosystems are always changing…
Earth just had its 400th straight warmer-than-average month to global warming
No, it’s not a fluke. Yes, we can do something about it. But it’s not something we can wait 10 years for to take action. The lands and waters you love are at risk. Check out the drivers and the trends. You and your land trust can play a role in slowing it down…
What moral heroes are made of
Conservation might be seen as a heroic task. It involves taking the here-and-now and thinking into the future, against great odds. With climate change it means re-thinking what is a good use of our time and what is truly urgent. Just what are moral heroes made of? Maybe they are describing you…
Can we break the spiral of silence on climate change?
What can ordinary people do to combat the extraordinary problem of climate change? Talk, and keep on talking. Yet, that’s a step some of us are reluctant to take…
Climate change is happening, here’s how you can help
Talking about climate change and the impacts it is having on the animals, communities, and landscapes people care about is critical. Walking the walk demonstrates the land trust really cares about the issue and is serious about its pledge to conserve land for generations to come.
Providing community members with steps they can take is central to them staying involved and being part of the solution. Check out how one land trust is doing this…
California is turning farms into carbon-sucking factories
In a grand experiment, California switched on a fleet of high-tech greenhouse gas removal machines last month. Funded by the state’s cap-and-trade program, they’re designed to reverse climate change by sucking carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere. These wonderfully complex machines are more high-tech than anything humans have designed. They’re called plants.
Seriously though…
Brilliant teen’s invention to remove all plastic from ocean is finally becoming a reality
A solution to the catastrophic plastic pollution in the ocean, now a problem even in the Great Lakes, is getting a major boost. When Boyan Slat was 16 years old, he found himself coming across more plastic than fish while diving in Greece. It was then that he decided to dedicate a high school project to investigating ocean plastic pollution and how he could make a difference.
Check out what’s about to happen off the coast of California this summer…
Is there plastic in your beer? Probably
Love beer? How about water? According to a new study published in the Public Library of Science’s open access journal, micro-plastics found in the Great Lakes are making their way into the region’s beer. That’s not a good thing for your health…