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It’s hot but I want to be outside, so I head to my shady, tree-covered yard or over to a greenspace with lots of grass and plants. As I walk there, I’m sheltered from the glaring sun by the trees that line the street. Depending on which way I go, I may even be able … Continue reading
Did you know that 70% of fresh water extraction is for irrigation, mostly for agriculture? Or that this accounts for 90% of global water usage? This covers a large amount of land, higher in certain areas than others. Obviously, there are consequences of this practice. McDermid and colleagues (2023) examined the impacts of irrigation, both … Continue reading
As I sit here writing this post, we are experiencing unseasonably hot (not warm) temperatures and are blanketed by smoke from an unprecedented fire season. As a result, this research by Heeter and colleagues (2023) is sadly not surprising. But it is still important to consider and pretty cool how it was done. We don’t … Continue reading
As we wrap up one of the warmest May’s where I live on record it’s hard not to think about climate change and its impacts. The challenge is a lot of the natural changes are really difficult to notice without data recorded over a long time period. Getting funding for these types of projects can … Continue reading
I’ve investigated universal basic income a bit. This is the idea that everyone gets a basic income regardless of where they work or how much they work. There are probably as many critics as there are supporters. I enjoyed this episode of Poverty Unpacked which discusses the concept and two different use cases. And this … Continue reading
One of the things I have noticed during the COVID-19 pandemic is that there have been more people out biking and scootering. But with an increase in people there is also an increase in people not wearing helmets or not wearing them properly. Unfortunately, the natural consequences on this one can be devastating. Troy (2022) … Continue reading
I’m currently listening to E. F. Schumacher’s book Small is Beautiful: A study of Economics as if People Mattered. It’s a collection of essays published in 1973. In it, he talks a lot about how investing in smaller, perhaps even less modern technologies and policies can be better in many communities because they require less … Continue reading
I was talking with someone recently who said that all on road bike lanes should only exist for the non-winter months. It doesn’t make sense, in their opinion, to block part of a road off when so few people cycle. The problem is that even fewer people will cycle if there is no infrastructure, so … Continue reading
I often get asked why I bike commute. For me, there are multiple factors including getting exercise, having a smaller environmental impact, saving money, avoiding people (both other drivers and other transit riders), and having more control over my schedule. There’s other things too like getting outside and appreciating where I live in a more … Continue reading
The way currents work in the oceans they have collected plastic waste that has ended up in the ocean into large plastic islands that circulate in particular areas. The great pacific garbage patch, located between California and Hawaii, is the largest collection of ocean plastic in the world at 1.6 million cubic kilometers. While it … Continue reading
Connecting with Science 