A Better Alternative: Driving Electric

Change is hard.  As much as we like to pretend we are malleable creatures, we have our habits and tend to stick to them.  We get up around the same time, get tired at the same time, eat food on a re...

The Crash of the Industrial Age

What if it were too late to save the world? What if rising threats to natural support systems on which all life depend, posed by humanity’s industrial way of life, have already done so much damage t...

Building New City Solutions to Pressing US Challenges

“. . .focus has escalated into military conflicts while domestically it has deflated our sense of promise and freedom through terror scares. . .”Let me digress to discuss the two other major chall...

Letters to Pushkin: From Loss to Inspiration & Healing

Iwas blessed to have Pushkin in my life and in our home for just over nine years. Throughout the years, he continually proved himself a resilient but gentle soul. He was feisty. He was peaceful. He wa...

The Future of Electricity: Embracing Transition

Life is full of transitions. Some are small like the transition kids make in the morning from being stone-cold asleep to biking off to school. Some are big like graduating from school and entering pro...

Propane Autogas School Buses: A More Economical Solution for School Districts

Building a safe, green school bus is easy. All it takes is NASCAR’s top winning owner, a bus manufacturer willing to break from convention, a multi-million dollar investment by thousands of small bu...

Climate Reform & Social Justice: A Plea for Parity in Communities of Color

With the devastation from Hurricane Sandy fresh in our minds, it is time to deliberatively address the menacing climate change concerns that are facing our planet and their disparate impacts on commun...

We Mean Green: One University’s Sustainability Initiatives

The University of North Texas (UNT) continues its leadership in sustainability with its We Mean Green Fund (WMGF) – a $5 per student per semester fee, which funds environmental projects on campus. A...

Kivalina & Climate Change: Innovative Solutions from Israel

“We’ve got to figure out how we protect the environment, the Native culture and still come up with a sound solution that doesn’t create more problems down the road. This means collaboration betw...

Solar as an Energy Partner Power Production’s Paradigm Shift

Much discussion and news about solar energy has occurred lately prompted largely by the Solyndra bankruptcy and the federal loan guarantees, which took taxpayer dollars down with the Company. In fact,...

The Arctic is Opening but the U.S.A. is Not Prepared

Environmentalists have talked about it for decades. Scientists have predicted it for awhile now. The U.S. Navy has been warning that we should prepare for it. Now even business is banking on it: Royal...

The Shadow Side of Smart Meters

Utilities market smart meters as a tool for customers to manage energy usage, to enable automated notification of power outages and to receive bills for actual as opposed to estimated usage. A smart m...

Businesses’ Role in Mitigating Climate Change Effects

Climate change is bringing unprecedented risks for business. The effects have become so destabilizing and potentially severe that the issue has risen to the top of many business agendas. Water scarcit...

Siberia’s Baikal: The Greatest Lake

You know, we Siberians live in fear of being exiled to Moscow, says Leonid Yevseyev, and we both laugh. Yevseyev, a native-born Siberian, is beside me on a promontory as we l...

Science & Intelligence Analysis

Intelligence analysis is a dynamic, interactive battle of wits played under complex, uncertain circumstances. Analysts must gather evidence from open and classified sources, evaluate its credibility, ...

U.S. Air Force Managing Wetlands at Hurlburt Field

Scientific research estimates that more than one-half of U.S. wetlands have been drained, dredged, flooded or filled since the beginning of colonial America with 45 percent of this loss due to urban d...

Saving Serengeti

It is one of the most famous names in the world. Almost any schoolchild, no matter where, can tell you about it. Many companies and services have adopted the appellation. Sunglasses and clothing lines...

Naval Base Ventura County Leading the Way with LED Lighting

As the designated “Energy Showcase Base” for the West Coast, Naval Base Ventura County’s (NBVC) charter is to install and test “new and emerging” and “state of the shelf” technologies an...

Honey Bee Health & Food Security

The honey bee is, arguably, the most famous insect on the planet. It has been associated with human populations for thousands of years and is a model for cooperation, collaboration and interaction wit...

US Air Force’s Hurlburt Field Black Bear Management Challenges

Department of Defense (DoD) lands, which account for approximately 30 million acres of pristine ecological habitat and rare species, provide a realistic setting for training, testing and mission readi...

The Past as Guide to the Future: US Geological Records of Sea-Level Change

Sea-level rise is one of the more certain impacts of future climate change; although, uncertainty surrounds its likely global and regional magnitude. Mitigation of greenhouse gas emissions is an unlik...

Alternative to Urbanization: Life after the City

Are people eternally destined to live in cities? Are jungles made of concrete, metal and glass the only environment in which they deserve to exist – even in the remote future? Today, these important...

Smart Power Move: Solar as a Crucial US Energy Component

Living and acting in an environmentally conscious way and finding a balance between economics, environment and society is, historically, not a new concept. However, it is a relatively new concept for ...

Education & Innovation Promoting Public/Private Water Solutions

The 2010 Federal Buildings Personnel Training Act (FBPTA) is a far-reaching measure that seeks to assure Federal buildings and property are managed with a priority on energy and water-efficient practi...

Behaviorally Realistic Solutions to Environmental Problems

Why don’t people: set thermostats to use less energy when they are out of the house; cancel mail catalogs they never open; check their tire pressure regularly; ask whether their nursery stocks non-i...

Draper Laboratory: The Growing Menace of Orbital Debris

The world is critically dependent on satellites in Earth orbit for global communications, navigation, weather forecasts, environment and resource monitoring, and numerous security functions. But, imag...

Mage Solar Understanding Solar Basics

It doesn’t take a solar expert to realize that the magnificent concept of clean, reliable and easy to deploy solar energy is unstoppably making its way into the collective conscience of society. Sol...

Christian Ziegler: The World of Wild Orchids

Confucius called them the “king of fragrant plants,” and John Ruskin condemned them as “prurient apparitions.” Across the centuries, orchids have captivated us with their elaborate exoticism,...

Atkins Engineering a Low-Carbon Society

Climate change puts the engineering profession at the threshold of the biggest fundamental change to our economy and our society since the last industrial revolution. Combating climate change requires...

USACE Institute for Water Resources: Adapting to Climate & Global Change

Major 21st Century global challenges, alone and in combination, affect parts of all missions and operations carried out by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE). These dynamic global and...
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