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On not seeing the forest for the trees (or the watershed for the lake)
One lesson I try to get across to my students is the importance of thinking about environmental problems from a holistic perspective. Otherwise, focusing only on one part of a problem can...
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Refuge in a Cloud Forest?
Reblogged from Biophilia: by Kate Hanson with help from Biol 211 coursemates Our course – BIOL 211: Introduction to Field Ecology – is visiting 4 sites in Costa Rica this January. Our group’s first...
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Scientists stepping out of the ivory tower
This week I read a pair of remarkable articles on scientists who have stood up against industry. The first piece, in the Feb. 10 edition of The New Yorker, profiles UC-Berkeley toxicologist Tyrone...
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Aquaponics Update
As winter continues its grip on Minnesota, a tropical river ecosystem is thriving inside the OWS greenhouse. We started last spring with a small-scale experiment, asking how efficiently we could turn...
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Masdar City: Oasis of Sustainability, or Just a Mirage?
Can a city be truly sustainable? In a 2012 paper, ecologist Robbie Burger argues that even Portland, Oregon, widely considered to be the “greenest” city in the United States, falls far short of true...
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The End of Growth? Perspectives from an Aquinas Honors seminar
“Questioning (economic) growth is deemed to be the act of lunatics, idealists, or revolutionaries. But question it we must. The idea of a non-growing economy may be an anathema to an economist. But the...
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UST Environmental Science students in national sustainability competition
The blog has been on hiatus for a while, partly because we’ve had so many exciting things going on. One of our current projects involves investigating the feasibility of using hydroponic gardens to...
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When form beats function: Plant-scrapers and indoor growing
This entry is from Kristen Bastug, a senior Biology major at the University of St. Thomas. The global agriculture system has benefited from technological advances, and scientists and farmers continue...
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Cooling with Food
This entry is from Ryan Merry, a senior Biology and Environmental Science major at the University of St. Thomas. When the weather is scorching hot, which is occurring more frequently due to global...
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The Compost Cure: a widely applicable and cost effective soil remediation...
This post is by Brendan Sisombath, a senior Biology major at the University of St. Thomas. Developing soil remediation strategies is becoming an important undertaking in urban environments. Many urban...
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