Feb 27, 2024 | Salon.com
Thwaites Glacier goes by an arguably unflattering nickname, the “Doomsday Glacier,” and there is a very understandable reason for this. The western Antarctic natural wonder is roughly the size of Florida at 4,000 square miles (192,000 square kilometers), and if it melts, that would be a disaster for humanity. If it collapses on its own, Thwaites will cause sea levels to rise by roughly two feet (65 centimeters)....
Originally posted on salon.com
Feb 26, 2024 | Salon.com
There’s a good reason locusts are considered plague-worthy. Despite their size, swarms of these insects can cause considerable damage by shredding plant life to bits like ravenous piranhas.. The bugs destroyed millions of American lives during the so-called “Dust Bowl” of the 1930s and caused massive hardship in East Africa from 2019 to 2020 — perhaps the authors of the Exodus were right to vilify the notoriously gluttonous insects....
Originally posted on salon.com
Feb 25, 2024 | Salon.com
As William Blake famously wrote, “To see a World in a Grain of Sand / And a Heaven in a Wild Flower” is to “Hold Infinity in the palm of your hand / And Eternity in an hour.” But as innocuous, ubiquitous and just plain mundane sand can be, it can also be the source of significant conflict and violence while often being extracted to the detriment of our planet....
Originally posted on salon.com
Feb 23, 2024 | Salon.com
When the Center for Climate Integrity released its report about plastic recycling, one might have expected the environmentalist non-profit to encourage the practice. Anyone raised in the late-20th and early-21st century knows that the term “recycle” is often synonymous with “environmentalist causes.”
Yet the title of Center for Climate Integrity’s report — “The Fraud of Plastic Recycling” — reveals a very different point-of-view....
Originally posted on salon.com
Feb 23, 2024 | Salon.com
Whales are best known for their massive size and the biggest among them are the baleen whales. Containing 16 different whale species, the biggest of the baleen whales — the blue whale — measures in at a staggering 31 meters (102 feet) and 190 tons (210 short tons). Even the smallest baleen whale, the pygmy right whale, is a not-inconsiderable 6 meters (20 feet) and 3,000 kilograms (6,600 lb)....
Originally posted on salon.com
Feb 22, 2024 | Salon.com
On July 20, 1969, American astronaut Neil Armstrong changed history when he became the first human to set foot on the Moon. The Apollo 11 explorer famously proclaimed, “That’s one small step for a man, one giant leap for mankind.” Sadly, Armstrong’s leap didn’t last for long. Three years later, the Apollo 17 mission became the last American expedition — manned or unmanned — from Earth to the Moon....
Originally posted on salon.com
Feb 22, 2024 | Salon.com
Monarch butterflies (Danaus plexippus) are some of the most iconic insects around. But they are uniquely threatened and earlier this month, Mexico’s Commission for National Protected Areas announced that the number of monarch butterflies has dropped to frighteningly low levels. The monarch butterfly population returning to their winter habitats fell by 59% this year, making it the second lowest level since scientists started keeping records....
Originally posted on salon.com
Feb 22, 2024 | Salon.com
A recent report by San Diego State University (SDSU) details a growing issue at the US-Mexico border: Untreated sewage and other unhygienic pollution is flowing from Mexico into the United States.
Describing this development as a “public health crisis,” SDSU’s School of Public Health describes how “untreated sewage, industrial waste and urban run-off” have severely contaminated the Tijuana River and Estuary (TJRE)....
Originally posted on salon.com
Feb 21, 2024 | Salon.com
Given the existential stakes of climate change, it makes sense to feel afraid or depressed about the future of the environment. And it can be easy to feel alone when experiencing climate change-related depression. If a person is suffering through a drought, noticing temperatures are warmer than normal and observing the loss of local animal life, that individual can easily succumb to despair....
Originally posted on salon.com
Feb 16, 2024 | Salon.com
The inner ear may not seem like a particularly bony place, but human ears in fact have three small bones (also known as ossicles): the malleus, the incus and the stapes. While most people would assume that these bones are necessary for hearing, one would not imagine that they relate much to how we walk....
Originally posted on salon.com