Author Archives: Amanda Starling Gould

This Week’s Links: From the March for Science to the Climate March

March for Science (April 22, 2017): Why They March: “Science and Scientists Are Now Under Attack” via The Intercept

Marching Scientists Will Have A Lot In Common With Angry ’70s Farmers via FiveThirtyEight

Our Climate Future is Actually Our Climate Present via NYTimes

16 Great* Things That Came Out Of Trump’s First 100 Days via Good Magazine

Did you catch Jon Jarvis, a forty-year veteran of the National Parks System (NPS), this week at Duke? You can watch his talk here:

Geoengineering plastic-eating bugs sounds brilliant, right? Not so fast: Plastic-eating bugs? It’s a great story – but there’s a sting in the tail via The Guardian

Caterpillars that can munch up plastic bags have just been identified, fuelling excited speculation that this could one day eliminate global pollution from plastic waste. The chance discovery, initially made by a scientist and amateur beekeeper whose plastic bag had been eaten through by the moth caterpillars, was reported this week by researchers at Cambridge University and the Spanish National Research Council. How thoughtful of nature to provide bugs that eat our rubbish. Is this the end of landfill, turtles with plastic-congested stomachs, and trees adorned with tattered ribbons of shopping bags Well, it’s never that simple, is it?…Breeding wax moth caterpillars to devour our waste sounds good. But they would attack bee colonies too, and ultimately put crops at risk”

Berlin has public refrigerators to reduce food waste and combat hunger! But…the government might shut them down: Berlin’s Public Refrigerators Were Just Declared a Health Hazard via The Atlantic CityLab

Remember the Sustainia Solutions Explorer? Now there’s a Sustainia Global Opportunity Explorer!

Because we love literature: Jeff VanderMeer & Cory Doctorow Discuss the Future of Sci-Fi & the World via Electric Lit

Climate March (April 29, 2017): We owe our planet this climate march. But we also owe it – very faint – hope by Bill McKibben via The Guardian

Happy Marching!

This Week’s Links: April 15

Life on the Forgotten Farms of Guangzhou” via City Lab

Read to Respond: Articles for Student Activists” via Duke Press

Artist’s brilliant National Park posters advertise a grim future” via Treehugger

The Intrepid ’20s Women Who Formed an All-Female Global Exploration Society” via Atlas Obscura

Letters to a Young Farmer: “Barbara Kingsolver Cheers on Young Farmers” via The Daily Beast

Depressed about climate change? There’s a 9-step program for that.” via Grist

The Smog of the Sea: Ian Cheney & Jack Johnson’s (with collaborators) film about ocean waste.

This Week’s Links

Interested in solar panels? Google Project Sunroof can help!

Think You Have What It Takes to Become a Farmer? It is harder than it looks.

How about a cotton bouquet?! Black Cotton: This Man Has a Surprising Idea to Help Black Farmers Thrive.

Are you eating happy food? Paleo vs Vegan.

Need another dose of hope for the future? This Changes Everything: Beautiful Solutions!

Curious about popular thinking about climate change? The NYTimes has a few maps for you: How Americans Think about Climate Change in Six Maps.

Is climate change gender neutral? (Nope) See for instance this new piece: Women’s Crucial Role in Combatting Climate Change.

Feeling down about POTUS’s recent anti-environmentalism? See how cities are already fighting back!

Oh my, this guy:

https://planetsave.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/global-warming-hoax.jpg

Wikipedia Writing Tips

A key starting point: Wikipedia Article Wizard

From Sydney University Press: Wiki CHEATSHEET

Wikipedia Markup Cheatsheet

Wikipedia Manual of Style (WP:MOS)

How to create Wikipedia entries that will stick

Wiki Rules

Wikipedia’s Principles

Spring Break Links

Anthropocene Minerals

Rock solid evidence of Anthropocene seen in 208 minerals we made” via New Scientist

Plastiglomerate, the Anthropocene’s New Stone” an interview with Kelly Jazvac via Hyperallergic

Humans have caused an explosion of never-before-seen minerals all over the Earth” via The Washington Post

Climate Change and the Brain

Climate on the Mind” series via Grist

Your brain on climate change: why the threat produces apathy, not action” via The Guardian

This Is Your Brain on Climate Change” via The Nation

Technology, Waste, and Climate Change

Samsung and Greenpeace: what you need to know about e-waste” via The Guardian

“Greenpeace claims Samsung has 4.3m smartphones to dispose of after its Galaxy Note 7 recall. What’s the responsible way to recycle them?”

Greenpeace Closed Loop Manifesto & Campaign to “Redefine Innovation”

“We need gadgets as innovative for the planet as they are for our lives… The future is in our hands, let’s change it!”

The Restart Project

This Week’s Links: International Women’s Day & EPA Environmental Justice

In Honor of International Women’s Day

All the sustainable ladies: 10 women who will inspire you

76 women on a glacier are changing the world

Femmes Environnementales: Your International Women’s Day Reading List. Nine female nature writers who will inspire you to explore, enjoy, and protect the planet

How Women Are Going From Climate Victims to Climate Leaders

In Environmental Justice News

Chief Environmental Justice Official at EPA Resigns, With Plea to Pruitt to Protect Vulnerable Communities

and “Here’s What We Lose If We Gut The EPA’s Environmental Justice Work

And Then There’s This Little Guy

Special backpack helps boy to track pollution

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Eco Media Challenge

By now, we have read environmentally-themed novels and short stories, we’ve discussed eco-imagery and climate communications, we’ve conducted deep critical analyses of a range of environmental issues, we’ve watched environmental films, and we’ve now for today skimmed the UN Paris Agreement and the Pope’s Encyclical Letter Laudato Si. The only thing we’ve not yet done is move our scholarship outside (into ‘nature’) and beyond the classroom (to the public social sphere). Today we’ll do both. Today your challenge is to participate in the local and global online conversations around environmental and climate change. On Thursday, then, we’ll discuss the Laudato Si, the UN Paris Agreement, and the environmental explorations you document today. <The schedule has been corrected to reflect our new plan>

 

For TODAY:

  1. Create a Twitter or Instagram account if you do not already have one. If you already have one but would prefer to create a new one for this assignment, please feel free.
  2. Send me via email the Twitter or Instagram handle you’ll be using today.
  3. Explore! From 3:05 – 4:20, explore the campus (East, West, and Central) and/or spaces off-campus (Duke Forest and the Eno River are great if you’ve never been) and document your environmental findings. Find a new outdoor space, take a new look at a favorite place, or go on an afternoon hike with your eyes trained toward your surroundings. Post images of what you see to your Instagram or Twitter account using the hashtag #ecolit290 + at least one of the following:

#climate
#climateselfie
#soilselfie
#everydayclimatechange
#climatechange
#environment
#globalwarming
#water
#renewableenergy
#climatejustice
#environmentaljustice
#oil
#sustainability
#recycle
#ActonClimate
#nature
#animal
#plant
#mineral
#humanschangingclimate
#anthropocene

As you post your photos and selfies, take note of tweets or Instagram posts that are using the same hashtag. See if you can get someone (or many someones) to retweet or regram you. Accumulate at least 10 high-quality microposts before the close of the course period. Questions? Email me, send me a chat message via gmail (amandastarling [at] gmail…), or send a DM via my @stargould Twitter account. I will be online and at the ready during our full course period, watching for your posts and waiting to answer any questions you may have. Bonus: You do not need to go to the classroom today. Just start your explorations when the course period begins. Don’t forget to send me your Twitter or Instagram account before you start and don’t forget to use #ecolit290 so that your posts will be counted toward your total.

This Week’s Links

Mapping Sea Level Trends

From National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA): Tides and Currents Sea Level Trends Map  https://tidesandcurrents.noaa.gov/sltrends/sltrends.shtml.

Mapping Public Opinion Trends

From Yale Program on Climate Change: Yale Climate Opinion Maps http://climatecommunication.yale.edu/visualizations-data/ycom-us-2016/.

Shell Knew

“‘Shell knew’: oil giant’s 1991 film warned of climate change danger” via The Guardian

“Public information film unseen for years shows Shell had clear grasp of global warming 26 years ago but has not acted accordingly since, say critics”

Events This Week & Weekend

#DataRescue at UNC!

Wendell Berry Film at The Carolina Theater!

E.O. Wilson Biodiversity Days at Duke!

Sustainable Duke News

Re-blogging the rich and wonderful content loaded into this week’s Sustainable Duke newsletter:

News

Nominate staff, faculty, or students for the 5th Annual Sustainability Awards

Nominations due March 24th, award winners and their nominators will be celebrated at the annual Duke Sustainability Awards luncheon

Duke Carbon Offsets Initiative 2016 Annual Report

Read about the innovative programs implemented by DCOI to produce carbon offsets for Duke University

DCOI Collaboration Builds Local Carbon Markets
Urban Offsets partners with “TreesCharlotte” to create offsets that support climate commitments by Duke University and other institutions

Live for Life Mobile Market CSA & Customized CSA Work Drop Off Site

CSA sign up and special chance to customize drop off location at your workplace

Duke Campus Farm 2016 Annual Report

Learn about new staff, programs, and produce at the farm in 2016

Duke Campus Farm 2016 CSA Sign Ups Open

Receive a weekly share of high-quality, sustainably-grown produce that’s harvested hours before delivery

Duke Campus Farm Offers First Credit-Bearing In-The-Field Programming

“Imagining Food Futures” brings humanities and natural science scholars together

The Herald-Sun: Back to The Land

Duke Campus Farm promotes education, food systems


See more at sustainability.duke.edu/news_events. Subscribe to the newsletter yourself via this link.

This Week’s Links

Interested in Sustainable Agriculture?

Check out Patagonia’s new 20-minute video Unbroken Ground.

“Our food choices are deeply connected to climate change. Unbroken Ground, a compelling Patagonia Provisions film directed by Chris Malloy, explains the critical role food will play in the next frontier of our efforts to solve the environmental crisis. This film explores four areas of agriculture that aim to change our relationship to the land and oceans. Most of our food is produced using methods that reduce biodiversity, decimate soil and contribute to climate change. We believe our food can and should be a part of the solution to the environmental crisis – grown, harvested and produced in ways that restore our land, water and wildlife. The film tells the story of four groups that are pioneers in the fields of regenerative agriculture, regenerative grazing, diversified crop development and restorative fishing.”

 

Interested in Reducing Waste?

Check out Trash is for Tossers

“I have been living a Zero Waste lifestyle for four years now and all of the trash that I have produced fits in one 16oz mason jar. What is in that jar? Check out this video to find out.”

 

Interested in Fashion?

Check out “Climate change puts weather on fashion students’ radar” via American Public Media’s Marketplace

 

Interested in Climate Data?

Check out #DataRefuge