sustainability – Shamskm: A site to exchange knowledge and solutions

Sustainable, sharing communities explored in Karen Litfin’s book ‘Ecovillages’

By Guest PostSeptember 1, 2014Environmentbook, colin dale, entsorgungssystem, erde am limit, European Union, gabriele chiogna, germophobes, kerstin neumann, martin stuchtey, mutualistic bacteria, nutzungszyklus, pathogenic origins, quorum sensing, recycling, sodalis pre captivity, sustainability, sustainable, transportation industry, united nations, university of washington, uw today

Karen Litfin is a University of Washington associate professor of political science and author of the book “Ecovillages: Lessons for Sustainable Community.” She answered a few questions about the book, and her work, for UW Today.

Q: What is the main message of “Ecovillages”?

A: After teaching global environmental politics for two decades and watching planetary conditions deteriorate, I grew disenchanted with top-down solutions. I also grew tired of making my students anxious, depressed and guilt-ridden. If our ways of living are unraveling planetary life-support systems, then we must answer the question: How, then, shall we live? (more…)

UCLA study yields more accurate data on thousands of years of climate change

By Guest PostApril 8, 2014Environmentaradhna tripati, atmosphere, borneo, business world, change, climate change, data, data science, david ediger, diamond eye, Environment, global warming, greenhouse gas levels, last ice age, models, papua new guinea, robert eagle, sustainability, tropical pacific ocean, ucla study

Research also helps unravel the mystery of retreating glaciers in the Pacific Ocean’s western tropics

Using a cutting-edge research technique, UCLA researchers have reconstructed the temperature history of a region that plays a major role in determining climate around the world.

The findings, published online Feb. 27 in the journal Nature Geoscience, will help inform scientists about the processes influencing global warming in the western tropical Pacific Ocean. (more…)

Habitat research methods give a new peek at tiger life with conservation

By Guest PostOctober 28, 2013Naturebhim gurung, biodiversity, China, chitwan national park, conservation, habitat research, himalayan lowlands, human population, jianguo jack liu, michigan state university, neil carter, nepal, nepal tiger trust, panda, protected area, sustainability, systems integration, tiger habitat, tiger life

Twelve years ago, a team led by Jianguo “Jack” Liu at Michigan State University showed that China needed to revisit how it was protecting its pandas. Now research on tiger habitat in Nepal, published in Ecosphere journal of the Ecological Society of America, again shows that conservation demands not only good policy, but also monitoring even years down the road.

“Understanding long-term outcomes of conservation programs is crucial and requires innovative methods,” Liu said. “Now we’re learning that Nepal’s outstanding efforts to protect tigers are best supported with close monitoring because conservation situations are so dynamic. In both cases, the key is to understand how the people who live near the valued wildlife are faring as well.” (more…)

A truly global course

By Guest PostJune 5, 2013Educationafghanistan, australia, basic knowledge, california, class environment, food, food systems, global course, global life cycle, jason hill, kimberley mullins, mcknight land grant, minnesota, mooc platform, moocs, perspective, population, powerpoint slides, student in zimbabwe, sustainability, university of minnesota, world

Sixteen years ago, Jason Hill stood before some 30 students in one of his first classes as a teaching assistant at the University of Minnesota. This June, more than 14,000 students will log on to take his course, Sustainability of Food Systems: A Global Life Cycle Perspective.

Hill’s class is among the first five massive open online courses (MOOCs) the U of M is offering (for free) through a partnership with Coursera, a leading MOOC platform. (more…)

UCLA study shows warming in central China greater than most climate models indicated

By Guest PostJune 1, 2013Environmentaradhna tripati, atmospheric fronts, atmospheric phenomena, Beijing, calcium carbonate, carbon dioxide, central, central china, climate models, clumped isotope thermometry, Environment, greenhouse gases, ipsl model, jet stream, last ice age, loess, loess plateau, Mississippi, model, nebraska, numerous factors, past climate change, precipitation patterns, robert eagle, soil carbonates, space sciences, sustainability, temperature, ucla researchers, water cycling, wind blown dust

Temperatures in central China are 10 to 14 degrees Fahrenheit hotter today than they were 20,000 years ago, during the last ice age, UCLA researchers report — an increase two to four times greater than many scientists previously thought.

The findings, published on May 14, 2013, in the early online edition of the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, could help researchers develop more accurate models of past climate change and better predict such changes in the future. (more…)

Solar Fuel Success

By Guest PostFebruary 4, 2013Environment, Science45 degree angle, ajay prasad, aldo steinfeld, ceramic surface, chemically reacting environment, concentrated light cone, critical reaction temperatures, electrical, energy security, environmental responsibility, erik koepf, eriks project, exposure, gravity, high temperature environment, hydrogen from sunlight, long term energy, mechanical, michael giuliano, paul scherrer institute, reactant, reaction cavity, reactor with mirror, solar fuel success, solar hydrogen, solar process laboratory, solar reactor, suresh advani, sustainability, swiss federal institute, switzerland, Technology, thermal systems, thermochemical reaction, two vials, university of delaware, water, zinc oxide powder, zurich

UD-developed solar reactor can produce solar hydrogen, but how much?

Last spring University of Delaware doctoral candidate Erik Koepf and research associate Michael Giuliano spent two months in Switzerland testing a novel solar reactor Koepf developed to produce hydrogen from sunlight.

Eight weeks of sophisticated testing at temperatures up to 1,200 degrees Celsius revealed that the reactor’s mechanical, electrical and thermal systems worked just as Koepf had predicted. (more…)

State-Mandated Planning, Higher Resident Wealth Linked to More Sustainable City Transportation

By Guest PostOctober 13, 2012Environmentanna mccreery, columbus, ecosummit 2012, environmentally friendly, income, index, las vegas, los angeles, metropolitan area, new orleans, ohio, per capita, pittsburgh, population density, public transit, seattle, socioeconomic factor, solo commuter, span, state university, sustainability, time, transportation ecoefficiency, transportation practice, transportation system, US, wealthier

COLUMBUS, Ohio – Transportation practices tend to be more environmentally friendly in wealthier metropolitan areas located within states that mandate comprehensive planning, new research suggests.

The study involved an examination of 225 U.S. metropolitan areas between 1980 and 2008 to gauge how sustainable their transportation practices were and determine what kinds of socioeconomic factors appeared to influence those practices. (more…)

Employees at ‘Green’ Companies are Significantly more Productive, Study Finds

By Guest PostSeptember 11, 2012Economy, Environmentambrose hotel, beneficial effect, bottom line, certification, company, conventional firm, eco label, economic performance, employee, Environment, environmental commitment, environmental impact, environmentalism, fair trade, firm, france, green certification, green companies, green practice, interpersonal relationship, investor, iso 14001, labor productivity, magali delmas, mechanism, organic, paris dauphine, patagonia, productivity, proxy, revenue, sanja pekovic, santa monica, sustainability, ucla, united states, university, virtuous circle

Bucking the idea that environmentalism hurts economic performance, a new UCLA-led study has found that companies that voluntarily adopt international “green” practices and standards have employees who are 16 percent more productive than the average.

Professor Magali Delmas, an environmental economist at UCLA’s Institute of the Environment and Sustainability and the UCLA Anderson School of Management, and Sanja Pekovic from France’s University Paris–Dauphine are the first to study how a firm’s environmental commitment affects its productivity.

Their findings are published online Sept. 10 in the Journal of Organizational Behavior. (more…)

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