Categories
Water

Scientific Ocean Studies a Load of Garbage?

The Pacific Ocean is home to copious marine flora and fauna, vital fisheries for human consumption, and…a vast pool of litter? The “Great Pacific Garbage Patch” is in the gyre (large system of rotating ocean currents involved with large wind movements) of the North Pacific Subtropical Convergence Zone in the central North Pacific Ocean. The […]

Categories
Sustainability

Don’t Trust the Label

Stainless steel water bottles, reusable bags, and recycling are frequently associated with “going green” or “sustainability” in U.S. popular culture.  However, if asked to define sustainability, chances are, most Americans would falter.   At the Brundtland Commission of the United Nations in 1987, sustainable development was defined as “development that meets the needs of the present […]

Categories
Energy

The “Peak Oil” Debate

For the last 20 some-odd years, natural resource experts have estimated we have 30 years of oil left.  This seems counter-intuitive.  How can 20 years pass, but the amount of oil we have left on the planet stay the same, especially as we continue to consume it at an exponential rate?  The answer lies in […]