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A Threat So Big, Academics Try Collaboration: Disciplines Cross Lines to Fight Global Warming

December 25, 2007

New York Times
The threat of Global Warming is sparking new collaboration between academic disciplines. “‘We want all the departments to contribute without thinking they own the initiative themselves,’ Dr. Fink said. Already, experts in biogeochemistry — the study of the scientific underpinnings of earth’s origins and existing biosystems — are working with social scientists to study the impact of rapid urbanization on plants and animals.”

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Help Water Supply with Better Softening Solutions

December 21, 2007

by Peter Fox for the Arizona Republic

As a child growing up on the outskirts of Chicago, I recall trips to the country where drinking water from wells always tasted odd. My relatives would try to convince me that drinking well water was good for me and that I should learn to enjoy the taste. Why did the water taste funny? The well waters were rich in calcium and magnesium. As it turns out, the definition of water hardness is primarily based on levels of these two minerals and those well waters were very hard. It was also quite logically good for me because hard water helps people get their daily recommended intake of calcium and magnesium, and studies have confirmed this fact. > Read more…

Building Biking System Creates Healthy Option

December 15, 2007

by Brad Allenby for the Arizona Republic

I always enjoy visiting the Netherlands. It’s a small country, prosperous and nicely designed, with a cultural friskiness that enabled them to become the first major European trading empire. This time, I was visiting the Technical University in Delft, and I couldn’t help noticing two related things. The first was the continuing popularity of bicycles, supported by a sophisticated network of bike paths that let you get anywhere you wanted. The second was most people in Delft were in noticeably better shape than many Phoenix residents. > Read more…

Arizona Leaders Look at Sustainability

December 8, 2007

Mark Brodie for KJZZ Environmentalists aren’t the only ones talking about sustainability anymore. KJZZ’s Mark Brodie speaks with two of the authors of a new report on the subject, and how it relates to Arizona. > Read more…

Agricultural Past A Key to Arizona’s Future

December 8, 2007

by Michael Barton for the Arizona Republic

In H.G. Well’s famous book, The Time Machine, the central character travels into the future to witness the long-term consequences of the actions of human civilization. Alas, we have no time machine to aid us in trying to make wise decisions and sound public policies that will shape the world we live in. But my colleagues and I in the School of Human Evolution & Social Change at Arizona State University are seeking new ways to learn from the long record of decisions and actions from the past, and from their consequences, to help us better anticipate the outcomes of the complex ways in which our actions may impact the world around us. Many times, both the desirable and the undesirable (from a human point of view) consequences in our past were the result of well-intentioned decisions. But whether the results of those decisions were positive or negative became apparent only over the course of decades and centuries. This is all the more reason to wish for a time machine to allow us to glimpse the future. Fortunately, emerging computer technology, combined with scientific study of past societies (archaeology) and ecosystems (paleoecology), offers an exciting new opportunity to study the interactions between human activities and environmental consequences. > Read more…