Category Archives: Environment

Catch-Up Linkage

Posted on May 24, 2010 by Cheryl

Because I have been busy for the past three days… – One of the reasons I love cosmology is the timescales over which things happen. This story, about a star eating a planet, explains that the poor planet may only … Continue reading →

Posted in Art, Books, Conventions, Environment, Fandom, Gender, Science, Space | 2 Comments

Some Brief Linkage

Posted on May 6, 2010 by Cheryl

Because yesterday I was offline most of the day and the RSS flood backed up again. – My friend Roz gets her poetry published in The Guardian. Cool stuff! – My friend Neil gets the first chapter of his Hugo … Continue reading →

Posted in Art, Books, Current Affairs, Environment, Movies, Religion | 2 Comments

A Million Fuel Cells Bloom?

Posted on February 24, 2010 by Cheryl

Work on fannish projects ground to a halt this evening when I discovered my Google Reader account was full of links to an interesting energy story about a product launch by a Silicon Valley start-up. As some of you will … Continue reading →

Posted in Economics, Environment | 12 Comments

Weight Loss

Posted on January 18, 2010 by Cheryl

It speaks for itself really. The data is from NASA (and measured using gravity data, which is rather cool). I found it on Deep Sea News. And that rate of weight loss equates to 24 cubic miles of ice per … Continue reading →

Posted in Environment | 20 Comments

Living in a Desert

Posted on December 14, 2009 by Cheryl

We all know that California is a desert, right? But we irrigate, and as a result we support rich farmland and big cities. What happens, however, if we take too much water, or if the amount of water coming into … Continue reading →

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Hell Comes to Helsinki?

Posted on December 1, 2009 by Cheryl

Via Lynne Kiesling I discovered this story about a data center in Helsinki being located underneath Uspenski Cathedral so that the waste heat from all of the computers can be used to keep the neighbourhood warm. Like Lynne I am … Continue reading →

Posted in Economics, Environment, Finland | 2 Comments

More on Hormonal Pollutants

Posted on November 6, 2009 by Cheryl

There’s an article just gone up in The Guardian about the presence of anti-androgens and estrogen-like substances in common household goods. This being science journalism in a popular newspaper I’m a little skeptical, and I’ll try to find the EU … Continue reading →

Posted in Environment, Feminism, Gender, Science | Comments Off

Big Science Cannot Save Us

Posted on September 2, 2009 by Cheryl

Ask science fiction fans about global warming and there’s a good chance they’ll start waxing lyrical about massive engineering projects that will Save Us All. We are, after all, used to the idea of terraforming planets so that humans can … Continue reading →

Posted in Environment, Science, Science Fiction | 5 Comments

The Sea Is Not Flat

Posted on March 17, 2009 by Cheryl

And I don’t just mean waves. What with things like planetary rotation, prevailing winds and marine currents, “sea level” is by no means the same everywhere in the world. Why does this matter? Well, global warming is going to change … Continue reading →

Posted in Environment, Science | Comments Off

ClimateFail

Posted on March 11, 2009 by Cheryl

There is a big climate conference going on in Copenhagen at the moment. The Nature crew, including Oliver Morton, have been blogging it. This new post from Oli is going to give me nightmares: The studies suggest that a) there … Continue reading →

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More on Transgender Fish

Posted on March 5, 2009 by Cheryl

The very helpful Bob Hole points me at this article from World Zoo Today. The research is talks about is actually the same work I blogged about a while back, but it is good to see it getting more coverage.

Posted in Environment, Gender, Nature | Comments Off

Penguins Speak Out on Global Warming

Posted on February 27, 2009 by Cheryl

Someone here has been having way too much fun. Classic SFnal reference too. (Warning – the penguins say naughty words.) Hat tip to Deep Sea News.

Posted in Environment, Video | Comments Off

Italian Sea Snails Go Macho

Posted on February 21, 2009 by Cheryl

Most of the stories we see in the news about “sex change chemicals” in the environment focus on male animals turning into females, with the blame often being placed on the use of contraceptives by human women. But all sorts … Continue reading →

Posted in Environment, Gender, Nature | 6 Comments

Weather FYI

Posted on February 11, 2009 by Cheryl

Apparently the weather has been totally whacko in Brazil as well. Just sayin’.

Posted in Environment | 1 Comment

All About the Numbers

Posted on January 22, 2009 by Cheryl

Here’s a lovely post by Oliver Morton on how people are unclear on the concept when it comes to carbon emission reduction. Sadly, because this does involve politicians and journalists having a basic understanding of science and math, I suspect … Continue reading →

Posted in Environment, Science | Comments Off

Politics and Pollution

Posted on January 19, 2009 by Cheryl

I’ve written before about the effect of complex chemical pollutants on the environment, in particular the “feminization” of animals such as fish and amphibians. There is little doubt that significant changes are being seen in many animal populations, and there … Continue reading →

Posted in Environment, Feminism, Science | 2 Comments

It’s a Global Economy

Posted on January 9, 2009 by Cheryl

Remember all those people celebrating the “death of capitalism” and saying how the world would be a much better place because of the economic troubles? Well, one of the effects of those troubles has been a massive collapse in the … Continue reading →

Posted in Economics, Environment | 9 Comments

Risks of Geoengineering

Posted on January 5, 2009 by Cheryl

It appears that terraforming is now known as geoengineering. Whether this is because you can only terraform worlds that are not actually dear old Terra, or whether someone decided that they needed a word that was not tainted by association … Continue reading →

Posted in Environment, Science | 3 Comments

Planet Earth

Posted on January 1, 2009 by Cheryl

After many evening of happy viewing I have finally come to the end of the BBC’s Planet Earth series (thank you, Kevin!). I’ve seen a fair amount of nature programming in my time, and I have to admit that this … Continue reading →

Posted in Environment, TV | Comments Off

Because Climate is Complex

Posted on December 31, 2008 by Cheryl

There’s an interesting article over at Nature on the effect of aircraft contrails on climate. As you may remember, the lack of air travel in the days immediately following 9/11 coincided with a significant rise in average temperatures in the … Continue reading →

Posted in Environment, Science | Comments Off