The summer is warm and sunny in Corvallis, but my travels draw me east. Over and past the Cascades is an open land where the cold sparkling waters of a river flow north, and the sweet smell of Ponderosa pine blends with the fresh scent of lodgepole — the Deschutes National Forest. My one-person tent [...]
Tag » Climate Change
February 26, 2013
Roots of Relationship
Under the pine needles lies one of the secrets to forest health
January 23, 2013
Ice Core Diaries
Records from the past carry warnings for our future
We are slowly beginning to understand the anatomy of global climate and how it changes, its geographic fingerprint and its tempo. Ice cores paint a complex and sometimes surprising picture, one that generations of scientists will spend decades trying to fully understand.
May 30, 2012
From Wood to Watts
Forest-based fuels could fire up rural development, but at what cost?
About a million years ago in South Africa, a Homo erectus cave dweller used fire on purpose, and some charred bones at the site suggest it may have been for cooking. Thus was born the biofuels industry — and also the first known barbecue. The name of that cave, Wonderwerk, means “miracle” in the Afrikaans [...]
May 25, 2012
Evidence for Change
Rigorous climate science trumps our senses
Some people take a dim view of the idea that Oregon, as well as the rest of the world, could be expected to continue warming in coming decades. They may cite March snowfall in the Willamette Valley or unpublished comparisons of mean temperatures over a given time period in specific places. Appealing as it is, [...]
April 11, 2012
Toward a scholarly embrace
Environmental Humanities Initiative brings science and the humanities together
Ambling along the oaky trails at Finley Wildlife Refuge last Saturday morning — one of the first days without rain in a long, long time — my two friends and I paused at the edge of a pond along Woodpecker Loop. Just under the murky surface, several rough-skinned newts were swimming in slow motion, their [...]
February 21, 2012
Climate roulette
If you like to gamble, you might think that nature is bluffing. With each passing year, it appears she is not.
February 17, 2012
Communicating about climate change
Knowledge of concerns and values leads to a respectful conversation on difficult topics
I remember when I felt that the climate change workshop would go well. After a period of planning and preparation, our Oregon Sea Grant team arrived in Port Orford not knowing how the diverse community group would respond to the issue of a changing local climate when we were all actually face to face. So, [...]
December 14, 2011
Advocate for the planet
Bill McKibben travels the Earth to save it
What we’ve come to understand in recent years is the scale of change and the pace of change that we’re now kicking off. We’re not going to be able to adapt past a certain point.
December 13, 2011
Strange bedfellows: magnetism and climate
What's magnetism got to do with it? An OSU postdoctoral scientist joins an expedition to the Atlantic to look for climate clues.
Chuang Xuan is at sea on the research vessel JOIDES Resolution studying magnetic and climate evidence in deep-sea sediment cores.
May 31, 2011
One Less Child
Reproductive choices affect long-term carbon emissions
If you’re concerned about sustainable living, you probably pay close attention to your “carbon footprint.” We all have one: the amount of climate changing carbon we emit to the atmosphere through our energy intensive lifestyles. Some of us even calculate our household’s footprint with one of the many carbon calculators available online. It helps to [...]
April 22, 2011
A Slippery Slope
Warm rains and glacial melting trigger dangerous debris flows
Grinding over ancient layers of lava and ash, the glaciers of the Cascade Range act like supersized sheets of shrinkwrap. Stretched taut across tons of pulverized rock, these blankets of frozen snow hold sand, gravel and boulders in place — that is, until they start to melt. Then the sediments, unlocked from the glaciers’ icy [...]
November 20, 2010
Linking Climate Sciences and Society
Northwest universities team up to serve regional needs
The Oregon Climate Change Research Institute will lead efforts to assist government agencies and the public.
November 17, 2010
Model Maker, National Medal Winner
OSU alumnus Warren Washington received the National Medal of Science in a White House ceremony on Nov. 17, 2010.
June 23, 2010
Stones on Ice
Greenland streams hold clues to future sea levels
Why should the residents of Seattle, San Francisco, New York City and Boston worry about warming in Greenland, an ice-laden island in the North Atlantic? Because if all the water locked in the massive Greenland Ice Sheet flowed into the oceans, low-lying coastal cities worldwide would be inundated. “The Greenland Ice Sheet could contribute up [...]
February 22, 2010
Regulating Immunity: Toxicologists seek novel gene therapies
Dioxin, the chemical pollutant made infamous by Vietnam-era defoliant Agent Orange, has long been known to suppress immune function in humans and other animals. Surprisingly, this dangerous side effect has a scientific silver lining. While studying the toxin’s health effects, researchers discovered the genetic pathway to immune system malfunction. For people who would actually benefit [...]
February 1, 2007
The Ice Sages
For millennia the people of King Island have depended on the walrus hunt. But as Arctic ice recedes in response to a changing climate, hunters have to go further to reach their quarry. OSU anthropologist Deanna Paniataaq Kingston leads a team documenting the culture, language and natural history of her ancestral homeland.
