Once you start dipping into the literature on animals and the carbon cycle, it's hard to stop. The relatively new field is packed with eye-popping numbers. A paper published in February notes without drama that “....the total carbon stored in wild mammals and birds is equivalent to roughly eight hours of current anthropogenic fossil fuel …
When People, Dogs, and Fungi Form an Inseparable Whole
This was the third time I had witnessed Andrea, the gruff Italian woodsman and truffle hunter, working closely with his dog Zara. Zara is a short-haired pointer, an awkward-looking blend of floppy ears, long legs, and bountiful canine energy who just happens to be excellent at sniffing out the black truffles that lie beneath the …
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Biodiversity Loss and (What is Not) Rocket Science
It’s the habitat, stupid! Such a well-worn phrase – or something close to it – could serve as a tag line for the alarming report on biodiversity loss released in summary form this week by the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES). The report doesn’t mince words about the fact that human impacts …
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How to Ensure an Effective Rebellion
On the same day as hundreds of protesters were getting arrested in London for their part in the Extinction Rebellion, a debate was brewing across the Atlantic that goes right to the heart of what may be required to save the planet. Sierra Magazine editor Jason Mark began the debate with a short essay titled …
Christopher J. Preston 