What is Evaporation? Why it Matters

What is evaporation? Evaporation occurs two ways. One happens as part of the natural water cycle and is directly related to the sun’s heat. The other is by means of intentionally boiling or heating any liquid. Evaporation Evaporation plays an important role in the water cycle. As the solar energy … Read more

What is Biodiversity and Why is it Important?

Most of the highly developed spaces that human beings create and inhabit are not exhibit biodiversity: large industrial farms, sprawling lawns, concrete-covered city blocks. When we go outside, in nature, we see examples of biodiversity and that is one reason that natural spaces are so valuable; they demonstrate to us … Read more

Atrazine Shown to Cause Negative Effects

Atrazine is a popular organic-compound herbicide used widely in the world, used heavily in the United States, but banned in the European Union. It is an effective pre- and post-emergence weed-killer, making it attractive to larger-scale agricultural operations where profit margins are thin, though it has been shown to cause … Read more

Why Radiation from the Sun is Brilliant

Sunday. It seems appropriate enough for civilizations to dedicate an entire day to the sun. The Sun has been a source of mythology, religion and the focus of science. And for good reason, without it we would all be dead. The sun emits gives planet Earth more than 99.97% of … Read more

Environmental Preservation, What it Means to All

The idea and principles of environmental preservation in the United States and in any part of the world is widely viewed as the act of setting aside precious and now-limited natural resources to avoid damage in any forms caused by man-made intervention. Such human demands on the environment include the … Read more

Where Does Coal Come From?

For hundreds of millions of years the world had no coal reserves. So where does coal come from now? Coal is a fossil fuel made from the carbon atoms locked up in plants that lived millions of years ago. 345 to 280 million years ago, the world was mostly covered … Read more

What is Thermal Pollution?

The phenomenon known as thermal pollution may also be classified as a type of water pollution since it is an unfavorable change in the physical, chemical, and biological properties of a natural body of water due to a dramatic shift in temperature within that same body of water. Whether the … Read more

What is a Microclimate?

A microclimate, as the name implies, is a unique and “micro” climate found within a broader area with different climate conditions. A microclimate can be created naturally or purposefully through landscaping and building placement. One example of a microclimate is a small grove of planted trees. The trees retain more … Read more

The Causes of Global Warming: Natural or Man Made?

Global warming (also referred to as Climate Change) is a complex issue which is difficult to tease out the human and the non-human causes. The precise causes of global warming are not crystal clear; whether humans are the cause, the Earth’s natural cycle or a combination of both is still … Read more

What is Fermentation?

Think of some of your favorite foods. Yogurt, bread, sauerkraut, pickles. Drinks? Beer, cider, kombucha. What do they have in common? They’re fermented. Fermentation not only makes food nutritious and tasty, it’s also an ancient form of food preservation, born from time-honored rituals that were practiced long before anyone could … Read more

Why Do Trees Lose Their Leaves?

Piles of leaves are either a chore to clean up or a pleasure to jump into, depending who you are. Each fall, leaves throughout the world turn bright orange, red and yellows displaying the best of fall colors before losing their leaves and scattering the ground with a natural multch. … Read more

Ocean Acidification, Causes and Environmental Influences

What is Ocean Acidification?, What are the Causes and Environmental Influences? Ocean acidification is, simply put, the change of the pH balance of the waters in our oceans. The pH levels of the ocean’s waters drop and this is because the water absorbs what is called anthropogenic carbon dioxide from … Read more

What are Deciduous Trees?

You’ve probably heard the word before, ‘deciduous’ but forgot it’s meaning. The definition of deciduous when it comes to trees is, ‘one that sheds it’s leaves annually’ or ‘tending to fall off’. In contrast to the evergreen, that keeps it’s green needles throughout the year, a deciduous tree goes through … Read more