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Category Archives: Websites
Seeing Climate, Seeing Change
• October 12, 2009 – Fall 2009 STEP Seminar Series – “Seeing Climate, Seeing Change”
Heidi Cullen, Director of Communications, Senior Research Scientist, Climate Central,
Heidi Cullen is an excellent speaker: She needs more "soap boxes" She deserves many more platforms and communication devices! Climate Central is one: It’s "a new nonprofit science and media organization created to provide clear and objective information about climate change and its potential solutions."
She has excellent graphics, representative studies and anecdotes. Perhaps with Climate Central’s website, they will reach and convince lots more of us. As a "big picture" climate scientist of the Holocene, she could recite instances where climate change has drastically affected civilizations: the Anasazi, the Maya, the Great Drought of 1272-1298. People rely on climate stability.
A couple of worrisome publications: Raupach and Canadell, PNAS, 2007, illustrating CO2 data results beyond the "worst case" scenario, and Peter Stott, Nature, re: the hot summer deaths in Europe in 2003.
Human contribution to the European heatwave of 2003
Peter A. Stott, D. A. Stone, M. R. Allen
Nature 432, 610-614 (2 December 2004) doi:10.1038/nature03089 Letter
Abstract | Full Text | PDF | Rights and permissions | Save this link
She gives credit to GFDL, who, with the IPCC, is developing new climate models.
She offered the questions: how can we convince the public to have the credence and trust in scientists that they profess to have? How can we get more local news sources to educate people about climate change?
("Global warming" has too many political connotations, it seems.)
Notable websites, blogs, etc., mentioned in the presentation:
http://www.propublica.org/ ProPublica represents "journalism in the public interest"
http://www.climateprogress.com/ "An insider’s view of climate science, politics, & solutions" The writer is Joe Romm, who was recognized by Time magazine as "One of the heroes of Environment 2009, and the Web’s most influential climate-change blogger".
http://planetgreen.discovery.com/ A website with ideas for everyone on becoming green, the the areas of fashion & beauty, food & health, home & garden, tech & transport, travel & outdoors, and work & connect.
Dr. Cullen hopes for the establishment of a National or World Climate Service, much like the National Weather Service.
Norman Borlaug, of the Green Revolution, has died
Nobel Winner Norman Borlaug Dies At 95
Norman Borlaug, the U.S. agricultural scientist who received the 1970 Nobel Peace Prize for developing high-yielding crops to prevent famine in the developing world, has died at age 95.
Norman Borlaug Institute for International Agriculture
Article from New Scientist online from 9/18/09. A shorter piece is available here:
The New Scientist, Volume 203, Issue 2726, 16 September 2009, Page 7
Climate Change Conference, free online, Smithsonian Institution
The Smithsonian Education Online Conference on Climate Change" is a 3-day, free, education online conference taking place, Sept. 29 – Oct. 1, 2009.
Open to everyone, registration is here:
http://www.SmithsonianEducation.org/Climate
Sessions will be recorded for later viewing at the same site.
Climate change issues will be discussed from the aspects of science, history and art.
Source: Email from John Walber at LearningTimes.org.
World Library of Toxicology
World Library of Toxicology Launched
September 9, 2009: Toxipedia.org, in partnership with the USA National Library of Medicine (NLM), the International Union of Toxicology (IUTOX), and the Institute of Neurotoxicology and Neurological Disorders (INND), announces the launch of the World Library of Toxicology, Chemical Safety, and Environmental Health, briefly referred to as the World Library of Toxicology (WLT) (http://www.wltox.org).
This free global Web portal provides the scientific community and public with links to major government agencies, non-governmental organizations, universities, professional societies, and other groups addressing issues related to toxicology, public health, and environmental health.
The Collaborative on Health and the Environment is the source of the above text.
New Database on Pesticides, Food, and Health Risks
New Database on Pesticides, Food, and Health Risks
A new searchable database shows what pesticides are found on different foods, in what amount, and the health effects associated with exposure to each of the chemicals.
See Also: Where Does the Data Come From (Methodology)?
Source: Pesticide Action Network (via RTKNet.org)
Seconary source: Gary Price’s ResourceShelf Newsletter #420, Shirl Kennedy
U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service: National Wetlands Inventory
From the Scout Report, University of Wisconsin, July 31, 2009:
"The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is the primary federal agency that provides information on the state of the country’s wetlands, and this site provides extensive geospatial data on their current extent and location." Highly productive ecosystems, wetlands are so important in providing habitat and renewal of groundwater. There is a "Wetlands Mapper" and images from Google Earth. Digital wetlands data is downloadable by state or quadrant.
Research4Life collective website for developing countries
Research4Life launches website – 07 Jul 2009
Research4Life has announced the launch of www.research4life.org.. The website will act as the public face of the Research4Life partnership for journalists, partners and institutions considering joining one of the programmes. It will include news about the programmes, information on the partners and participating institutions, testimonials and case studies.
Research4Life is the collective name given to HINARI, AGORA and OARE, the three public-private partnership programmes of the WHO, FAO, UNEP, Cornell and Yale Universities and the International Association of Scientific, Technical and Medical Publishers. One hundred and fifty five publishers now participate in the programmes, including Elsevier, Springer, Wiley-Blackwell and Oxford University Press and many university and learned society presses. Together with technology partner Microsoft, Research4Life seeks to help achieve the UN’s Millennium Development Goals by providing the developing world with access to critical up-to-date scientific research.
The website features examples of how the programmes are having a real-world impact on developing countries.
Source: Knowledgespeak Newsletter 7/7/09
Ocean World: Coral Reefs
Title:Ocean World: Coral Reefs
Url: http://oceanworld.tamu.edu/students/coral/index.html
Publisher: Texas A & M University.
Ocean World.
Description: Texas A&M University presents Ocean World, a Web-based educational resource for oceanography. The feature on coral reefs has the most direct life sciences application, with easy-to-navigate sections about the coral animal, coral reefs as the rainforests of the sea, symbiosis, ecosystem services, and coral reef threats and conservation. The Web site also includes a handy hypertext glossary, an interactive quiz, and annotated links to interesting Web sites, including sites that provide real-time reef images and data. While no formal lesson plans are provided, this Web site could be easily incorporated to a related classroom module for a range of grade levels.
Source: AMSER.org via Scout Report, Univ. Wisc. 6/5/09
Mother Nature News: MNN.com
The Nature Conservancy News, via their newsletter today, introduced the Mother Nature News Network which provides information and resources about technology, transportation, earth matters, food, business, home, lifestyle and family.
"You can read Conservancy news, nature and environmental articles, blogs, videos and how-to guides, along with breaking news stories, such as:
- MNN TV shows Conservancy videos and gives visual advice on everything from green party planning and green parenting to impassioned musicians and local-food chefs.
- The Green News Roundup with daily environmental news and coverage from around the web including nature.org.content from each of The Nature Conservancy’s state programs.
- Plus, read what MNN’s featured bloggers cover about the Conservancy and green living topics from transportation to family to business and food. "