josh donlan
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During Clinton's 11th hour, he initiated a number of policies that protected the environment; some of those regulations have remained in force, including the protection of almost 60 million acres of roadless areas. According to an article in Nature this week (and the OMB Watch, a Washington DC-…
I just returned from the World Conservation Congress in Barcelona, where 8,000 of conservation's "best and brightest" (along with plenty of the "most important") gathered to discuss, talk, and work toward a more diverse and sustainable world. I wish I had good news to report - but it is mostly…
Every year Houghton-Mifflin puts out a edited volume entitled "The Best American Science and Nature Writing". The latest volume looks like some delightful bedtime reading (although I may be biased because I was chosen as one of the authors). It includes works by Freeman Dyson, Edward Hoagland,…
I am hastily heading to the World Conservation Forum in Barcelona, which starts next week. Here, more than 8,000 of the world's leading decision makers in sustainable development will convene: from governments, NGOs, business, the UN and academia. Together in one place for 10 days, they will to…
In this month's issue of Wired Magazine, Andrew Curry writes about rewilding projects around the world. In particular, he describes the wonderful efforts going on in the Netherlands.
Economist Raghuran Rajan (past Chief Economist for the International Monetary Fund and Professor of Finance at University of Chicago) has an insightful view on the current financial crisis. He also asks what seems to be an important question that no one is asking: Why are we (the US Government)…
Jad Abumbrad and Robert Krulwich. These two guys are probably the world's best at bringing the wonder and fun out of science. If you have not listened to RadioLab, you should. Their show last week is a gem. Making the Hippo Dance is a behind-the-scenes look at just how these guys do it. You can…
Secretary Paulson's plan revealed today is bold indeed, and sounds like socialism to me (banning short selling on some stocks and giving government backing to select others). Well, here is another bold plan for the North Atlantic Ocean. John Briggs of Oregon State University makes an argument that…
In 2004, I was in a small intimate workshop with the founder of the field of Conservation Biology Michael Soule. To this day, I remember something he calmly announced. It went something like this:
Shit it is going to hit the fan due to global change. Not climate change explicitly but large-scale…
Nature's Emma Jones recently wrote about Moving On Assisted Migration in Nature Reports. "Experts who once disregarded it as a nutty idea are now working out the nuts and bolts of a conservation taboo: relocating species threatened by climate change." This will certainly raise some eyebrows and…
In the recent issue of the journal Biological Invasions, my colleague Chris Wilcox and I published an essay entitled, Integrating invasive mammal eradications and biodiversity offsets for fisheries bycatch: conservation opportunities and challenges for seabirds and sea turtles. It expands on a…
Who killed the megafauna is one of science's greatest debates. Starting roughly 50,000 years ago, where and when humans show up around the globe, large animals disappear. First in Australia, later in North and South America, and finally on islands in the Pacific and New Zealand. Whether the main…
In this month's issue of High Country News, journalist Kim Todd writes about northern spotted and barred owls. A new arrival to the Pacific Northwest, barred owls appear to be outcompeting the spotted owl. Managers are in a conundrum and are considering lethal control of barred owls in order to…
"Part of being on the road means the ability to live a little more luxuriously than at home, and that means not having to turn off the lights and the TV." Now, that is a good ole American quote. But, I wonder how many Americans live "a little more luxuriously" at home all the time as well.
Here's…
Here is recent article about beavers in the UK newspaper - The Guardian. This is a classic example of how a lack of appreciation for ecological history leads to ignorance. The journalist tries to compare the ecological consequences of North American beaver that have been introduced to southern…
Will Stolzenburg is one of the better science journalists I have crossed paths with. His new book is bound to make big impacts. Where the wild things were came out last week and people are talking alot about it (including in my inbox). Will takes us around the world answering the "So what?" to the…
SB's Randy Olson joins a conversation on NPR's Talk of the Nation to discuss his new movie Sizzle: A Global Warming Comedy. Randy and folks from The Martin Group discuss how to break through "the green fog" and fight green fatigue.
In this month's issue of Search Magazine (formally Science and Spirit), Chris Hallman writes about Pleistocene Rewilding and talks to conservation luminaries Michael Soule, Paul Martin, and Dave Forman. Hallman concludes that sometimes even science needs to take a leap of faith. Soule elegantly…
Nature reported last week about more bad news. Daniel Pauly along with SB's very own (Jennifer) and others reported on their new research that documents the underreported fishing impacts of artesianal fisheries around the world. The results are not pretty: the amount of overfishing is very often…
Now this is exciting. T. Boone Pickens, chair of the Hedge Fund BP Capital Management, is throwing his money to the wind. Listen to an interview on NPR with ex-oilman Pickens and his new wind energy investment in Texas.
As presidential politics ramp up and the environment becomes part of the rhetoric, it reminded me of a essay I wrote a couple of years ago as part of book project entitled Thirty-five Years Since Earth Day: Visions of a New Generation. The editor ended up dropping the ball on the book, but my essay…
Here's one for you, just in case you weren't confused enough about which foods you should eat. The diary industry is known for its use of recombinant bovine somatotropin (rbST), a protein hormone that boosts milk production. You may have noticed it on your pint of Ben & Jerry's Cherry Garcia: "…
In this month's issue of Orion Magazine, I wrote a brief piece on the idea of bringing back North America's charismatic megafauna, and its potential benefits to society along with the challenges involved. Click here to read the article.
In some conservation circles, there has been a lot of talk lately about the newly planned damns in southern Chile. In some ways, its a classic debate: finding a balance between energy needs and preserving wild places. But a different kind of damn is a much larger threat to southern South America:…
John McCain announced his new goal of pushing through 45 nuclear reactors by 2030. Whether you are pro- or anti-nuclear (or somewhere in between), 45 by 2030 will be too late for mitigating climate change. This is an important point that is often overlooked. Calls for carbon reductions from the…
While China has now clearly overtaken the United States in carbon emissions, carbon regulation appears to be finally coming to DC. While legislation failed last week in the Senate, 54 Senators were in favor of the bill - demonstrating bi-partisan support for climate change regulation. I was in DC…
Peter Barnes, founder of one of the first social businesses - Working Assets - is full of good ideas. And people are starting to notice. His most recent book Capitalism 3.0 builds on his previous book Who Owns The Sky, which lays out a public trust model for public goods - like the sky and the…
550 cites will have populations of more than 1 million by 2015. 58% of the known human pathogens are zoonotic - they can jump between humans and animals. 371 people have been diagnosed with avian influenza as of March 2008, including 235 deaths. 5,000 western lowland gorillas have died from Ebola…
It's often useful to take a long view on change, the environment, and society. Last night, an Afro-american captured the democratic nominee. A monumental event that my parents' generation can appreciate better than mine. Yesterday, GM announced that due to rising fuel prices they will be closing…
I just returned from Asia. Nepal is a country the size of Arkansas with 30 million people; the GDP per capita is less than US$1000. Nepal is one of the poorest countries in the world. It is also rich in culture and biodiversity, a place where Buddhism blends with Hinduism. A place with tigers and…