Urban Geography and Big Data
The blossoming field of urban technologies will shape how the future looks, as spaces around the world become increasingly urbanized.
Adapting to Live in a Hypersaline Environment
In their field work, the Iranian and French researchers encountered a Günther’s sea snake in the Persian Gulf, beyond what was thought to be its geographical range.
World Bank and Coal
The World Bank invests through its International Finance Corporation (IFC), which is currently funding at least 41 coal projects and 50 other environmentally harmful projects across the world.
A Conservation-Based Future in Colombia
By properly including indigenous and impoverished peoples in the new economy and securing communal land rights in the forests, as well as fostering soil recovery in areas of coca cultivation and managing resource extraction, Colombia can move into a more equitable and environmentally sustainable future.
Microbial Life in Fracking Fluids
The introduction of fracking fluids very drastically changes the underground microbial ecosystems which become dominated by bacteria that thrive in highly saline environments including those of a new genus named Frackibacter.
Job Outlook in the United States
This analysis by CityLab shows that although jobs are being created, they are spatially clustered in certain areas and many of the newly created jobs pay low wages.
EPA Issues Report on Fracking and Earthquakes
According to EPA scientists in North Texas, earthquakes there are likely related to fracking and drilling. Although it is not a new discovery that this link is possible or even likely, an acknowledgement from the EPA is significant.
Dakota Access Pipeline Project Protest
At the Sacred Stone Spirit Camp and elsewhere on the path of the pipeline, activists have worked for months to impede construction, defending their rights to the land and protecting their water sources.
Reflections on the Recent Husky Energy Spill in Alberta
Following an oil spill on July 20th, oil companies in Alberta are expected to face tougher opposition and struggle to gain support from the public, other Canadian provinces, and the various parties involved in the creation of new pipelines.
Questionable Offshore Drilling is Exempt from Review
Recently the news organization Truthout and the Center for Biological Diversity have used the Freedom of Information Act to release documents related to the federal government’s views on offshore fracking for natural gas and oil.
Toxic Substances Control Act Reformed after 40 Years
Forty years after it was first passed in 1976, the Toxic Substances Control Act has been amended to better protect Americans from toxic chemicals in products.
Gold Mining in the News
In South America mercury is used to collect the gold after it has been mined, and it has polluted the environment and poisoned the workers. On the other side of the Pacific, ocean floor mining is seen by investors as a golden opportunity, but critics disagree.