“It is easier to be a member of Earth First! or the Chemical Manufacturer’s Association than a member of neither.” Jeff Lockwood made this observation in Orion Magazine when reflecting on the anguish he constantly felt about killing locusts. An applied ecologist at the University of Wyoming, it was Lockwood’s job to develop methods for …
Food, Freedom, and Smiley Faces
The day before Independence Day in 2018 was the last day to comment on the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s proposal for mandatory labeling of foods containing genetically modified organisms (GMOs). The requirement for a nationally recognizable standard was passed in 2016 during the Obama administration. The proposal offers guidance to food companies who will soon …
Catching Carbon: Why ‘Cheap’ Still Comes with a Cost.
A peer-reviewed study published last week revealed that the cost of capturing carbon directly out of the atmosphere may not be as high as initially feared. Canadian firm Carbon Engineering have been running a pilot plant in British Columbia since 2015 capable of capturing a ton of carbon dioxide per day from the ambient air. …
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Climate Engineering and the Sustainable Development Goals: The Tangled Web of the Anthropocene
A report released by C2G2 at the end of May is an interesting exercise in bringing two important global challenges into conversation. Carbon Removal and Solar Geoengineering: Potential Implications for Delivery of the Sustainable Development Goals is a noble effort to tie what policy makers should do about climate change with what they should do …
The Ethics of Hijacking a (Rhino) Uterus
Researchers at the San Diego zoo were celebrating last week after one of their beloved southern white rhinos was determined to be carrying a rhino fetus. This rhino became pregnant after male white rhino sperm was injected into her uterus at just the moment that all the stars in the rhino universe aligned. Artificial insemination …
Sticky Feet in an Anthropocene World
Imagine a lizard trying to scamper away from a predator but being unable get a grip on a smooth floor. The cartoonish image of hind legs working fruitlessly to create forward motion has been replicated on actual lizards and filmed in the lab by Kristin Winchell, a post-doctoral researcher at Washington University in St Louis. …
Christopher J. Preston 