environment Archives

food waste and our problem with ugly produce

Food Waste: The Psychology of Ugly Produce

March 1, 2021March 3, 2021 Science Connecteddining, environment, food

Food waste is a big problem in the United States, where each household discards an average of one third of the food people buy.

Environment

The environmental impact of pet food

November 18, 2020September 30, 2021 Science Connectedcats, dogs, environment, food, pets

What is the environmental paw print of pet food? Larger than you may think! It takes an area twice the size of the UK to produce dry food for cats and dogs.

Sunlight May Be The Solution To Water Shortages

Engineering Environment New Technologies

Sunlight Solution To Water Shortages

November 11, 2020August 2, 2021 Science Connectedenvironment, ocean, Sun, water shortage

Water shortages could drop now that new technology combined with sunlight can make ocean water safe to drink in minutes.

Citizen Science New Technologies SciStarter Blog

Building DIY Air Quality Monitors

July 30, 2020April 7, 2021 SciStarterair pollution, air quality, environment

Colombian citizen scientists built cheap air quality monitors and deployed them across their city. Now they’re teaching others to build them, too.

Environment Science Debate Series Science Policy

Plastic Waste Necessitates Policies for Producers

September 5, 2019April 24, 2021 Science Connectedenvironment, microplastics, ocean, plastic pollution, science debate

By Neha Jain Countries around the world, both developed and developing, have been grappling with growing piles of plastic waste from overuse of packaging materials, such as those for food and beverages, and single-use plastic tableware. In 2015, 42 percent of all plastic produced was used for packaging, much of which is used only once and then tossed, according to a 2017 study published in Science Advances. The study estimates that from 1950 to 2015 about 8.3 billion tonnes of plastic has been produced globally. And of the 6.3 billion…

Environment

Microplastics Contaminate Snow from Alps to Arctic

September 3, 2019August 29, 2019 Science Connectedarctic, environment, microplastics, plastic pollution, pollution, snow

By Jacqueline Mattos (@mattosjacq) Microplastics are tiny pieces of plastic that pollute the environment and can range from 0.05 to 5 millimeters in length. Bigger plastic items can be fragmented by the action of light, temperature fluctuations, ocean waves, or mechanical abrasion into smaller pieces that are widely dispersed, persistent in the environment, and sometimes accompanied by microorganisms. A recent article by Bergmann et al., published in the periodical Science Advances, assessed quantities of microplastics in the snow from the Alps and other northern European sites to the Arctic and…

Craft beer aisles in a grocery store. Each aisle is labeled with the name of a different country.

Environment Science Policy

Globalization and Its Environmental Impact

April 4, 2019February 25, 2021 Science Connectedclimate, ecology, environment, globalization, weather

Globalization has many negative impacts on the environment. Corporations that benefit from globalization most must work toward sustainability.

Blogs Environment

Living with Wildfires: Fighting Fire with Fire

February 25, 2019April 21, 2021 Science Connectedenvironment, fire, fire management, wildfire

How do people live with the threat of wildfires, and what can be done to protect lives? Indigenous Californians may have a solution.

Biology Botany Physics

How Do Plants Know Which Way to Grow?

October 10, 2018March 30, 2021 Science Connectedbiology, botany, environment, gravity, plants

How do plants know which way is up and which way is down? No matter which way you put a seed in the soil, it will always send its roots down and its shoots up.

Environment Zoology

Honeybees Are Attracted to Fungicides and Herbicides

February 8, 2018April 5, 2021 Science Connectedagriculture, environment, food, honeybees, pesticides

Scientists found that honeybees are attracted to fungicides and herbicides. Honeybees have a deadly attraction to the chemicals in Roundup. By Neha Jain Whenever you eat fruits, vegetables, and nuts, take a moment to thank honeybees for their pollination services that contribute $17 billion to the US economy each year. In fact, almonds are almost solely dependent on honeybees for pollination. Populations of these much-needed pollinators have mysteriously plunged over the past decade, and many studies suggest a link to the use of neonicotinoid insecticides among other factors such as…