(This review was Published in Ecological Restoration Volume 31, Number 1, March 2013, pp. 99-100)(Copyright by the journal 2013; all rights reserved)Having begun research on possible ecological effects of global warming in 1968 and developing one the first major methods to forecast such effects on forests, I looked forward to reviewing Saving a Million Species, because … [Read more...]
Bridges, Wayfarers, and Risk Assessment
Thursday, May 23, 2013, the Interstate 5 bridge over the Skagit River at Mount Vernon, state of Washington, collapsed. The immediate cause was a truck carrying an oversized load hitting the bridge. But a federal database had listed the bridge as “functionally obsolete.” This suggests that the feds knew that the bridge ought to have been repaired or replaced.As someone who … [Read more...]
Novel Ecosystems and the Balance of Nature
Two important books suggest major new ways we need to think about nature and our connection to it: Novel Ecosystems: Intervening in the New Ecological World Order by Richard Hobbs, R.J., Eric Higgs, and Carol Hall and Rambunctious Garden: Saving Nature in a Post-Wild World by Emma Marris. Both start with the premise that people have changed the environment in major ways, and … [Read more...]
Is There a Balance of Nature?
NO: THERE IS NO BALANCE OF NATURE, BUT WE KEEP ACTING AS IF THERE WAS.It is common to believe that nature --- our entire environment ---is constant, as long as people stay out of the way. But as an ecologist with more than 40 years’ experience in research, I have studied every aspect of our environment. And it is clear that there is no balance of nature. Everything … [Read more...]
Morph The Moose
A New Symbol For Our Times!As the summer wildfire season approaches, we need to rethink how we manage forest fires. It is time to say goodbye to Smokey Bear, because suppressing all fires leads eventually to very large, intense, and disastrous fires. Most forests in the United States used to burn relatively frequently before European settlement. These were the result … [Read more...]
Should We Introduce More Wolves On To Isle Royale National Park?
Wolves and moose have lived on Isle Royale National Park since the 1940s, the wolves feeding mainly on moose, the moose trying to avoid being killed by wolves. They live in one of America's best wilderness. Isle Royale in Lake Superior, is 45 miles long and 8 miles wide. A new report from Michigan Technical University, Houghton, MI, states that the island’s wolf population … [Read more...]
Carbon Dioxide and Temperature: Who Has Led Whom?
As I wrote in my new book, The Moon in the Nautilus Shell, given the scientific complexities, one can only be rather agnostic about the role that human actions have played and are playing in climate change. A new, important paper in the journal Science casts some fascinating light on the question of whether carbon dioxide change precedes temperature change, and therefore is a … [Read more...]
Radio Interview on AM Ocala Live!
Why is my book called “The Moon in the Nautilus Shell” and why do I write about the “Discordant Harmonies” of nature?In the radio interview I did with Robin MacBlane and Larry Whitler on “AM Ocala Live!” I got a chance to explain these. It led to a discussion about why music and its harmony are a good way to think about what nature around us is really like. And also to tell … [Read more...]