The Earth has less water than you might think. [via]
posted by cashman on May 13, 2012 - 68 comments

Beautiful HD video of whirlpools flowing around rocks, courtesy of NASA and neatorama.
posted by mediareport on Mar 25, 2012 - 10 comments

When Humans Ruled the Earth. [SLV] An insight into the human machine and it's consumption addiction.
posted by Fizz on Sep 20, 2010 - 12 comments

In 1926, Nikolai Vavilov founded the world's first modern seedbank, and amassed a collection which today contains over 90% unique varieties of plant, contained in no other collection in existence. For his opposition to Lysenkoism he died in prison, and several of his colleagues famously starved to death instead of eating their specimens during the Siege of Leningrad. Now the Pavlovsk seedbank facility has been seized by the Federal Agency for Public Estate Management, and pending a court ruling will be demolished - contents and all - to build a housing development. The collection cannot be moved in time because it is a working seedbank of living plants.
posted by mek on Aug 9, 2010 - 40 comments

June 5th was established in 1972 as World Environment Day by the United Nations General Assembly. Home, the movie by Yann Arthus-Bertrand, which premieres today for the occasion, has some nice aerial visuals. [more inside]
posted by nickyskye on Jun 5, 2009 - 15 comments

Geoengineering and the New Climate Denialism. "[S]ometimes the politics around an issue become so twisted that it's necessary to address the politics before we can have a real discussion about the problems and how to solve them. That's the case with geoengineering."
posted by homunculus on May 2, 2009 - 70 comments

Rethinking Earthrise. On the 40th anniversary of the NASA's Apollo 8 mission [caution: weird JFK animation], which answered Stewart Brand's epochal, LSD-inspired question "Why haven't we seen a photograph of the whole Earth yet?" with an unforgettable image of a seemingly fragile and isolated blue planet, Nature editor Oliver Morton -- author of a new book on photosynthesis called Eating the Sun -- disputes the notion that the Earth is fragile and isolated. "The fragility is an illusion," he writes. "The planet Earth is a remarkably robust thing, and this strength flows from its ancient and intimate connection to the cosmos beyond. To see the photo this way does not undermine its environmental relevance -- but it does recast it."
posted by digaman on Dec 24, 2008 - 39 comments

Elemental ‘Earth Art’: 15 Epic Land Formations. 15 Epic Water and Ice Formations and Phenomena. 12 Elemental Fire and Light Formations and Phenomena: Flares, Lightning, Smoke and Meteors. 10 Breathtaking Natural Cloud and Color Formations.
posted by homunculus on Oct 19, 2008 - 10 comments

Google goes geothermal with EGS.
posted by Artw on Aug 19, 2008 - 16 comments

80 percent of Americans say global warming is real and poses a threat to humanity. Which is good because if the global temperature raises by 4 degrees we're all dead. However only 44 percent would be willing to face any financial hardship in the name of a solution.
posted by Artw on Aug 10, 2008 - 89 comments

Yale Environment 360 is an online environment magazine from the Yale School of Forestry & Environmental Studies. It has a lot of great material, like "Biodiversity in the Balance" by Carl Zimmer and "Carbon’s Burden on the World’s Oceans" by Carl Safina and Marah J. Hardt. [Via Zimmer's blog The Loom]
posted by homunculus on Jun 18, 2008 - 6 comments

When I grow up I want to be an environmental engineer. I want to work on projects that can provide potable water for people. I want to clean the polluted Mother Ganga [Ganges] who provides life giving water from the Himalayas to the Bay of Bengal. Or the Nile, both blue and white, spilling fertility from her bunds on a regular cycle. I want to design products that use the least amount of energy and fuel, from recycled materials and are biodegradable. I want to seek alternative sources of energy, such as using biofuel to power cellphones. I want to design with maximum constraints. Call her mother earth, gaia, demeter, ceres or inanna, our planet is on the brink of no return. Or is it all just a matter of perspective?
posted by infini on Feb 9, 2007 - 21 comments

Mattingly Global, by Mary Mattingly, and Greetings From the Salton Sea, by Kim Stringfellow -- two web projects featured in the International Center of Photography's Ecotopia exhibit.
posted by jrb223 on Nov 16, 2006 - 4 comments

“Negative eco-tourism from orbit.” Sprol shows the visual macroscopic effects of the decisions and behavior of our society. Since previous generations have not had the advantage of this perspective, it is our obligation to use it wisely.
posted by crunchland on Jun 29, 2005 - 20 comments

Ecological art takes many forms, fascinating, beautiful, provocative, ephemeral, live, active, and even bloggy. See greenmuseum.org's featured artists and visit the Getty's Ecological Art Gallery (see also Art and the Earth, six photo essays).
posted by taz on Nov 11, 2003 - 4 comments

Happy Earth Day. We probably need an all-encompassing post. So post your links here. Find local events here and here (hint: they're not all taking place today, many are this upcoming weekend). Do something for the future generations.
posted by Ufez Jones on Apr 22, 2003 - 18 comments

The Voluntary Human Extinction Movement "Phasing out the human race by voluntarily ceasing to breed will allow Earth's biosphere to return to good health. Crowded conditions and resource shortages will improve as we become less dense." More inside...
posted by Irontom on May 30, 2002 - 21 comments

Spring feel like it is here a little early this year? does anyone care?
posted by specialk420 on Feb 18, 2002 - 24 comments

Humans Pushing Planet Earth Beyond Capacity.

Kiss your asses good bye.

I say, good f**kin' riddance.
posted by Mr. skullhead on Oct 20, 2000 - 34 comments

Will Bush or Gore do anything viable to help the environment? I can't even believe Bush agreed to submit answers. On the other hand, Al "Earth in the Balance" Gore doesn't have much credibility either.
posted by norm on Sep 21, 2000 - 1 comment