October 15, 2018 | Several events have converged in the last couple of months to make people consider more urgently than before our relationship to the environment. These include Hurricanes Florence and Michael, as well as the latest report from climate scientists, warning that we have until 2030 to reduce greenhouse gas pollution if we’re going limit the increase ... READ MORE
October 15, 2018 | Fairfield, Ohio (October 15, 2018) – FINN, a leading provider of erosion control equipment, announced today the launch of a new campaign across various media inviting end-users within the industry to opt-in to be a FINNsider. This new campaign will be launched just prior to the GIE+EXPO, October 17-19, 2018. The campaign will consist of ... READ MORE
October 8, 2018 | Fertilizers. Insecticides. Fungicides. These are some of the many substances—collectively known as agrochemicals—farmers apply to crops to increase production and prevent losses. They’re necessary, if at times potentially overapplied, but there is increasing concern about where they eventually end up and what effect they’re having on groundwater and surface water, especially on potential drinking water ... READ MORE
October 1, 2018 | How much of the stuff in the world is yours? In other words, if you added together the weight of all the objects humanity has created—the bridges and buildings and statues and airplanes and park benches and bulldozers and all the rest of it—and divided it by the world’s population, what would be the total ... READ MORE
September 25, 2018 | We’ve talked a lot online and in the magazine about what to do following a wildfire: how to stop the bare soil from moving, how to revegetate quickly, and how to prevent or at least minimize the flooding and landslides that so often follow. Now California—a state that’s repeatedly experienced the “biggest in its history” ... READ MORE
September 17, 2018 | Researchers at the University of California Riverside and elsewhere have just published a paper linking the effects of climate change to more frequent and intense flooding. It has to do with the effects of temperature, rainfall, and humidity on the macropores in the soil—that is, the spaces larger than 0.08 millimeters, which, when they’re plentiful, ... READ MORE
September 10, 2018 | What’s a commodity in short supply in many large cities? There are many possible answers—parking spaces, reliable public transportation, affordable housing—but New York City is focusing on dirt. As this New York Times article explains, the city has set up a Clean Soil Bank, “a soil exchange that pairs local builders with environmental restoration projects ... READ MORE
August 30, 2018 | Any number of problems are blamed on dams: flooding when they fail, downstream sedimentation when they’re removed, disruption of habitat and fish passage when they simply exist. Recently in the Chesapeake Bay region, officials are blaming one particular dam, and those who control its floodgates, for a trash problem. Heavy rains several weeks ago led ... READ MORE
August 27, 2018 | When’s the last time you tried a kedondong berry? As changes to the climate and soils—drought, desertification, and rising temperatures—threaten production of the most common crops, scientists are looking at ways to bring back local or “alternative” crops. Today, about two-thirds of the world’s agricultural output is limited to just four crops: wheat, maize, rice, ... READ MORE
August 20, 2018 | Thanks to all of you who joined us last week at StormCon in Denver. We’re already looking forward to next year’s conference in Atlanta, GA, which will take place August 18–22, 2019. You can see more information—and the call for speakers coming soon—at www.stormcon.com. In their keynote address, popular returning speaker Dominique Lueckenhoff of EPA ... READ MORE
August 19, 2018 | Every type of construction project—building, road, bridge—involves erosion control. As soon as removal of an existing structure starts or a shovel turns over grass to expose the soil beneath, the need for erosion control begins. ... READ MORE
