COVID-19: A Chance to Re-Evaluate our Approach to the Environment

Coauthored by Ashley Smith While many of us are concerned how Corona Virus will affect our health and economy in the long term, another area of our lives is being affected by the pandemic in some positive ways – our lived environment. NASA scientists are some of the people reporting their findings on the environmental…

How the fossil fuel and fracking industries are influencing children

This is an NPR article from 2017, but I think that it’s extremely important to read, even today. This article shows how the fossil fuel industry is sabotaging a generation of children in Oklahoma by giving them half-truths and omitting the important facts, such as the existence of climate change. I also think that it…

Conversations with Grandma

One purpose to learning, and increasing knowledge, is the opportunity to share this knowledge with others. Any scientific topic can be difficult to discuss because there is a baseline level of knowledge, and terminology, necessary for understanding. Regardless, there are ways to share knowledge accessibly through conversation. In an article for Yale Climate Connections, Sara…

Pittsburgh wins first round of Bloomberg American Cities Climate Challenge.

A few weeks ago, Michael Bloomberg, former New York mayor, visited Pittsburgh. Bloomberg and Pittsburgh mayor, Bill Peduto, announced that Pittsburgh won the first round of the Bloomberg American Cities Climate Challenge. As the winner, Pittsburgh will receive $2.5 million, which will be used to make greener policies for buildings, make the city friendlier to…

But, what about soil?

Available healthy soils begin to decrease as populations in urban areas continue to increase.   Anthropogenic activities are causing contamination to soils that could be used for food production and ecosystem health. Urban soils are limited in growing cities, seen in parks, urban gardens, and homeowners backyards.  Forests are few and far between and the…

When Climate Change Meets Mental Health

Climate change. There’s no secret that there are ALOT of sides to that story; but I’m about to tell you a very crucial one and it’s the impact that climate change has on mental health. Climate change is thought to be the “stable changes in the meteorological parameters like precipitation and temperature over a period…

Conflicting World Views and Environmentalism

It is hard to be an environmentalist. The average person might complain that recycling is too much work, or that organic food is too expensive, or that riding your bike is too much of a hassle. However, these complaints exist because the cultural infrastructure does not support the environmentalist ideology. The basic tenets of keeping…