biojournalism.com

A beautiful Carbon Sink. Photo:Giampaolo Macorig via flickr

A beautiful Carbon Sink. Photo:Giampaolo Macorig via flickr

Climate change, behind habitat loss, is the second biggest threat to biodiversity and may become the largest factor responsible for species extinctions in the coming years (Chivian et al. 2008). Forests store carbon and loss of this carbon sink can have a large effect on the climate (Bradshaw et al. 2009).

Unfortunately, less than 10% of the world’s forests are protected. It is estimated that 13 million hectares of the world’s forests are cleared annually (FAO).

The northern Boreal forests are large coniferous forests that contain roughly 30% of all the stored carbon on earth—an estimated 550 gigatonnes of carbon in soil and above ground pools (Bradshaw et al. 2009) Boreal forests are the largest contiguous forest left. However, this crucial carbon sink may become a carbon source if global warming increases decomposition rates and the growing season. The location of the Boreal forests at the northern latitudes makes one of the largest carbon sinks highly susceptible to climate change. Continued logging of this important forest will release carbon, speeding up global warming.

One study modeled carbon fluxes in the 21st century, looking at climate change, human interaction and deforestation rates of tropical forests. High deforestation (129 thousand km squared per year) could give more than 360 gigatonnes of carbon. This could lead to an addition 29 to 129 ppm (parts per million) concentration in the atmosphere (Cramer et al. 2004). That is a LOT, considering that in 2007, CO2 levels were estimated at 384 ppm. That level of deforestation is not ridiculous considering how the rates have been climbing.

SO DO SOMETHING! We need forest so they can act as a climate stabilizer (and for many many other reasons). The rate of deforestation needs to decrease in order to prevent it from having a significant contribution to climate change.

Sources:

• Bradshaw, Corey J.A, Ian G. Warkentin and Navjot S. Sodhi. Urgent preservation of boreal carbon stocks and biodiversity. 2009. Trends in Ecology and Evolution. 24.10: 541-546.

• Chivian, Eric and Aaron Bernstein. Sustaining Life: How Human Health Depends on Biodiversity. Center for Health and the Global Environment. Oxford University Press, 2008.

• Cramer, Wolfgang, Alberte Bondeau, Sibyll Schaphoff, Wolfgang Lucht, Benjamin Smith and Stephan Sitch. Tropical forests and the global carbon cycle: impacts of atmospheric carbon dioxide, climate change and rate of deforestation. 2004. Philosophical Transactions: Biological Sciences. 359.1443: 331-343.

• Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. Forestry: Managing Forests for the future. 2009. Rome, FAO.

So.

Hope you all had a wonderful thanksgiving dinner. By now, perhaps the pumpkin pie has been consumed and everyone is getting a little drowsy after the big meal.

But why?

Well, there are people who claim that consuming lots of turkey, as people are apt to do during thanksgiving, will make people more drowsy. This is due to an amino acid called Tryptophan. Tryptophan is awesome and our bodies need it, but it is a natural sedative.

However, this is probably just a fun idea… In most cases, if you eat a lot of food, you feel drowsy. Especially if you eat a lot of carbs with your meal.

There are a number of different reasons, but part of it is teh amount of blood being diverted to the intestines. This means the blood, and oxygen isn’t going elsewhere….

Earth Hour: Trying to save the world from climate change, one switch at a time.

Earth Hour is a movement trying to convince people to turn off their lights for one hour a year.

Think about it. Flipping the light switch off for one hour is not really that hard. This hour is set every year.

The next Earth Hour is on Saturday, March 27th, 2010.

The World Wildlife Fund (WWF) organizes Earth Hour. They will also have an effect when world leaders meet at the Copenhagen Climate Summit to discuss climate change in December. The people of Copenhagen will be turning out the lights at 7pm, Dec. 16th.

Make a difference by joining the Earth Hour movement. “Cast your vote with your lightswitch.”

Earth Hour asks you to “Vote Earth.”

UPDATE:And they want you to Vote Earth so bad that they suggest I embed a video in my post…. so I did.

More about Earth Hour

The main way environmental activists have tried to get apathetic parties interested in a certain cause is through economic means. If they make a particular conservation effort also economically viable, they stand a better chance of making the effort a reality. I propose a more unorthodox method; use people’s annoyance to further a cause.

Perhaps this is an odd topic for a post, but it was asking to be written about.

Middle school is not the best time for students to learn about biology.

Middle school students are right at the pre-adolescent stage. Too old…

I would not bore my readers with the below project:

However, since this was a feat of biojournalism, here are a few excerpts from the essay:

Dividing up the Fish:…

This post should really be called “Adventures in Info Hell.”

I have been working all term on a 100 page assignment on a certain topic. I have researched it thoroughly.

When it is completed, I will probably upload the entire project… although…

My friend was reading the news during class. I glanced over because the term ADHD caught my eye, and I read a most disturbing title.

“A.D.H.D Drugs Linked to Higher Test Scores”

I have no problem with the article or with the scientists who conducted the study the article discusses. It simply states that children with ADHD (Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder) who are being treated with medication are shown to have higher test scores than those who are not.

As a journalism major, my teachers have stressed the need for word choice and critical thinking. A title like that is very disturbing to me, someone who suffers from ADHD. It makes it sounds like people with ADHD who are medicated somehow have a better chance in school. In my mind it is like its implying that ADHD drugs are to students as steroids are to athletes.