In Nepal, everything from religious rituals to the types of agricultural crops being grown will soon be altered by erratic rainfall, drought and floods. It’s already happening. So some farmers, such as the one featured in this story, have recently abandoned traditional crops like rice and maize for bananas. The situation demands this kind of…Continue Reading…
As I wrote here several weeks ago, global warming is already changing South Florida’s ecology. The difficulty facing land managers and field biologists is determining the extent of the change and what actions to take. After talking with a number of U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service staffers based in the southeast, I had the impression…Continue Reading…
I’m starting to wonder if there’s a disproportionate concern being expressed for the future of investigative reporting. Here’s the latest, splashiest launch, which the Huffington Post is spearheading. (More coverage here and here.) Don’t get me wrong: I’m a big believer in investigative journalism. Let a thousand more Pro Publica’s bloom, and, in fact, a…Continue Reading…
Is there a difference between non-military experts serving alongside combatant soldiers in a war and those that are part of a peacekeeping force in a war-torn country? I wondered about this today after reading about plans to add “green” advisors to U.N peacekeeping operations in countries where chronic instability is fueled by over-exploitation of the…Continue Reading…
In case you spent all of March in a monastery, Jay Rosen, one of the leading journalism innovators of the day, recaps the newspaper industry’s quickening death spasms. Or, to put it another way, he has sifted through the latest obits and analytical dissections from people who are trying to explain how we got here,…Continue Reading…
Great headline, great mummy pics, and everything you wanted to know about mummies but were afraid to ask.
Jeff Jarvis is arguably the most influential media blogger. I’ve been reading BuzzMachine habitually for years because Jarvis is in the vanguard of a revolution–one that will ultimately reinvent journalism for the digital age. His blog is a must-read for many in the industry. But like some of his critics, I blanch at his all…Continue Reading…
Uh oh, looks like Joe Romm has coughed up another media hairball. This time, it’s the New Yorker that has gone off message in Rommian land. So let’s say there are legitimate points of contention with this editorial by David Owen. All you Rommians surely must see how the “indispensable” one completely undermines himself when…Continue Reading…
Environmental security is a topic rarely discussed outside Washington think tanks. Not anymore. This semester, the U.S. Academy at West Point is offering a course to Geography majors that examines “how the environment can act as a catalyst for conflict or simply as an amplifier of existing problems.” The goal is to educate future Army…Continue Reading…
Been in Southern Utah since saturday, frolicking–a new word my four year old son has learned on trails in Arches National Park. Blogging will be light for a few days.