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EcoUniv Weekend Reads : Aug 2020
EcoUniv Weekend Reads # 25
2 August 2020
Conservation: How Costa Rica conserved it’s forests.
https://edition.cnn.com/2020/07/27/americas/reforestation-costa-rica-c2e-spc/index.html
Dams: China’s massive Three Gorges dam was said to be built for flood control among other reasons. In this year’s torrential rains, is the rationale holding up?
https://edition.cnn.com/style/article/china-three-gorges-dam-intl-hnk-dst/index.html
Green Energy: Is renewable energy really green, if manufacturing it’s equipment on a massive scale is anyway going to need fossil fuel based energy and disturbing the environment in other ways? A documentary film, and an article in response to it.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zk11vI-7czE
EcoUniv Weekend Reads # 26
9 August 2020
EcoUniv Weekend Reads completes six months.
Research – Species: Why are aquatic mammals much larger in size than those on land? The previous thinking was they don’t have the constraints that land-based mammals face. Research in recent years however shows that their large size is a trade-off between trapping enough body heat and finding enough food.
A paper: https://www.pnas.org/content/115/16/4194
An article: https://www.nationalgeographic.com/news/2018/03/whales-size-animals-ocean-marine-mammals/
Species: Rhinos, once the largest animals on land, have a fascinating natural history. E.g. Did you know that the original ancestor of all Rhino species evolved in India 50+ million years ago?
http://www.bbc.com/earth/story/20150518-the-epic-history-of-rhinos
Climate Change: How (and why) climate change is causing migration on a mass scale. A migration model and reporting on the ground both point to the same bleak future.
https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/07/23/magazine/climate-migration.html
EcoUniv Weekend Reads # 27
15 August 2020
Research – Climate Change: “Greenland’s ice sheet has melted to a point of no return, and efforts to slow global warming will not stop it from disintegrating….. It dumps more than 280 billion metric tons of melting ice into the ocean each year, making it the greatest single contributor to global sea level rise,”
“…widespread retreat between 2000 and 2005 resulted in a step increase in discharge and a switch to a new dynamic state of sustained mass loss that would persist even under a decline in surface melt.”
Paper: https://www.nature.com/articles/s43247-020-0001-2.pdf
A dialog with the authors: https://edition.cnn.com/2020/08/14/weather/greenland-ice-sheet/index.html
Trees: Why do some trees live for more than 1,000 years?
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/01/13/science/oldest-trees-ginkgos.html
Forests: A German forest ranger’s view on trees as social beings rather than the prevailing mechanistic view as just an organic system.
EcoUniv Weekend Reads # 28
23 August 2020
Energy & Transport: What is the real mineral, energy, and carbon footprint of so-called Electric Vehicles?
https://www.forbes.com/sites/tilakdoshi/2020/08/02/the-dirty-secrets-of-clean-electric-vehicles
Water: According to a 2018 report by Food & Water Watch, 64% of bottled water is tap water, yet it can cost many times more. Shouldn’t governments invest in making drinkable water available to all?
https://www.ecowatch.com/bottled-water-sources-tap-2537510642.html
Ecosystems: We are in the middle of an ecosystems collapse due rapidly declining insect populations.
EcoUniv Weekend Reads # 29
30 August 2020
Forests: What was our interaction with tropical forests in the pre-historic period?
Rivers: This article exposes how ineffective our river cleaning projects are, and how long they keep running.
Video: Rooted Truth – A short documentary on SAI sanctuary.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8zoxzZGD2WI