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
A report from the University of Cambridge (2022) caught my eye as I went through recent sustainability related research. The report found that a third of church buildings in a particular diocese in the UK cost more money to maintain than they are able to raise in a year. The reason this caught my attention … Continue reading
I will admit that while sustainable fashion is of interest to me in the general sense of sustainability, especially given that the fashion industry contributes about 10% of global carbon emissions and contributes significantly to the creation of waste water, but its not an area I spend a lot of time thinking about. I try … Continue reading
I’m quite fascinated by how we use imagery to communicate information and inspire action. In previous projects I have analysed the photographs used in a textbook chapter on climate change – in short, anything negative was clearly foreign and everything positive was obviously local. I even used a photographic method to see how local outdoor … Continue reading
When I think of imports I typically think of things that are positive. I would never have chocolate without imports for example. But new research shows that Canada, the USA, and a number of other countries are also importing extinction risks. This doesn’t mean that the imports are causing extinction at home, it means that … Continue reading
If you have ever had the opportunity to go behind the scenes at a museum you may have seen many, many cabinets filled with artifacts that aren’t on display. Even just working at our local nature centre, I always found it kind of incredible to look through the different drawers and see what was there. … Continue reading
If you’ve been watching the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics you have likely heard about their use of artificial snow. The reality is that many places that once had pretty reliable snow conditions are suffering in the face of climate change. If I look around where I live, we had the best snow I think we’ve … Continue reading