In a recently published academic paper that I cannot now find nor fully remember, the author focused on the metaphor change from “Global Warming” to “Climate Change”. They asserted that that simple metaphor change was introduced initially as a compromise to “deniers”; that metaphor change, either intentionally or not, reduced angst, urgency and sadly, human…
Anthropocene just posted a summary of a research study published in Science, “Olfaction in the Anthropocene: NO3 negatively affects floral scent and nocturnal pollination.” Science. Feb. 8, 2024. This goes along with other posts on animal perception (and human’s inability to do same), as well as looking at unintended consequences from human actions – part of…
Several environmental justice leaning sites recently published updates about Alaska state government’s predator culling program. For ease of discussion, Grist’s article is easily accessible, and I think is a ‘should read’ around human / nature morality and ethics. The magnitude of the killing is alarming even beyond the questionable morality of the actions themselves. While…
Keeping with the theme of end-to-end behavior and consequence chains regardless of intent, a recent post in Grist prompted me to ask, “Did my old clothes burn, too?” Did my returned or donated clothing (my good intention) end up being sent to Chile causing human and environmental damage (my really bad output) without my knowledge?…
An article in “The Conversation” from earlier this year highlighted several key issues with consumer waste (and pollution). At first, the article seemed straightforward and simple with this headline. Decades of public messages about recycling in the US have crowded out more sustainable ways to manage waste The Conversation Plastic consumer waste a real problem The…
Our most simple, accidental actions can have disastrous results. Human actions have consequences. Something similar to the ‘butterfly effect‘. A recent post shared France’s efforts (and French people) to reduce and eventually stop plastic and other non-organic waste. The Pacific Ocean garbage patch (Wikipedia, CNN, National Geographic) has been well covered in mainstream press. On…
