A short and beautiful time-lapse video of Mt. McKinley at sunset.
From photographer Ronn Murray.
A short and beautiful time-lapse video of Mt. McKinley at sunset.
From photographer Ronn Murray.
Maybe it’s because my mind is fried from all the research I’m working on today, but this video from Oregon Wild is pretty amusing. It’s done Jib Jab style, with cartoon figures of Senator Wyden and Representative DeFazio hiking through the Devil’s Staircase Wilderness.
Wyden and DeFazio introduced legislation to protect the area last year, but the bill has languished on the sidelines as Congress has focused on other issues. Oregon Wild is leading a petition drive to remind them that Oregonians are still paying attention to the Devil’s Staircase and want to see the legislation passed.
If you want to see who’s making things happen in Oregon’s environmental community, then check out this list from 1000 Friends of Oregon.
To celebrate the group’s 35th anniversary, it’s naming 35 Innovators Under 35, a list of “young, emerging leaders”. They all have some kind of tie to environmentalism or sustainability.
From www.endangeredspeciescondoms.com
Here’s one of the more interesting campaigns to raise awareness about overpopulation.
The Center For Biological Diversity is handing out 100,000 free Endangered Species condoms for Valentine’s Day.
The Center has lined up about 3,000 volunteers to start handing out the condoms at bars, supermarkets, schools and pretty much any kind of public event.
And if they run out? They’re making more.
Thanks to Notice Software of Portland, we’re now able to offer a free iPhone application for Natural Oregon.
To download it, follow this link or from the Follow Us section in the column to the right of this story.
Here’s one of the more “interesting” stories I found today. It’s not about Oregon. But the news comes from the University of Washington, which is sort of nearby.
Courtesy David Hall/seaphotos.com
UW Professor Ted Pietsch has documented a newly discovered tropical fish that not only looks strange, but doesn’t even swim. It sort of hops along the ocean bottom like a bouncing ball. Fittingly, he’s calling it H. psychedelica. Prietsch says it’s the only fish that behaves like this.
It’s also unusual because it has forward looking eyes. As you can see in the photo, it’s a fish with a face.
So if you’ve got a few moments, go to the press release and check out the videos on the right side of the page.
I went to college in the late 70′s, a few years too late to be part of the big protest era that swept campuses during the Vietnam war.
Back then, student power meant the power to influence policy and university administrators. Today has a whole new green meaning.
When students at Oregon State University climb aboard one of 22 elliptical exercise machines at the recreation center, that workout is being converted into renewable energy. OSU uses technology from a company called ReRev.com to turn the machines into little generators that feed electricity back into the power grid.
Some health clubs in the Portland area got some media attention after setting up similar programs. The whole concept has always struck me as too gimmicky to be taken seriously.
But, Brandon Trelstad, the OSU sustainability coordinator says students will be sweating some 3,500 kilowatt hours of electricity in a year. Or, in his words, enough “to power a small, very efficient house.”
By Dennis Newman
Ever wonder where the seafood you eat comes from? I mean, where it really comes from?
More information than you can possibly imagine about that tuna fillet will soon be available thanks to a new program called Pacific Fish Trax.
Here’s how it works. Later this month, two New Seasons Markets in the Portland area will begin selling albacore tuna with Fish Trax bar codes. Scan the fish at a special kiosk, and you’ll get a Facebook like page introducing you to the fisherman who caught fish, the boat from which it was caught, and the processor who packaged it.
Fisherman Bob Aue scans a frozen fish fillet with a barcode during a test run of the project.
A screen shot of what you’ll see after scanning the fish.
Photos Courtesy: Lynn Ketchum, Oregon State University
Once you’re home, there’s even more information about that frozen fillet on the internet. The Pacific Fish Trax website will tell you where it was caught, the water temperature, maps of the ocean floor, etc……
The program is combined effort by Oregon State University, the Community Seafood Initiative, and Oregon commercial fishermen.
“It’s a way of connecting people directly to the food they eat, ” says OSU seafood economist Gil Sylvia. He sees restaurant chefs and seafood retailers having conversations with customers about the food they’re buying, and the stories behind it.
Fish Trax is a pilot program for now. Three fishermen from Newport and about 1400 pounds of frozen albacore are participating. Sylvia hopes to expand the program to include salmon.
By Dennis Newman
For the first time, researchers at Oregon State University have developed a tracking device that’s so small, it can be attached to a hummingbird.
What’s at stake here is not just tiny technology, but rather serious science to find the cause, or causes, of the world’s pollination crisis.
Green Hermit Hummingbird with transmitter held on by non-toxic eyelash glue.
Courtesy Oregon State University
When we look at pollination, we usually start with bees. But bees are still too small to track individually. So the scientists at OSU decided to think bigger and found a way to track hummingbirds, another important pollinator of the world’s plants and forests.
Working in Costa Rica, they followed the Green Hermit Hummingbird on its trips through the rain forest. What they discovered is that the bird will do just about anything to avoid flying through open areas, even if that means taking an extra long route.
If there’s an island of forest surrounded by open fields, the hummingbirds don’t show up. And without pollinators, these forest islands will find it harder to survive over the long term.
“It’s been widely observed in many studies that we’re seeing a global decline in both pollinators and plant diversity, to the point that many ecologists are calling it a crisis,” says Matthew Betts, an OSU assistant professor. “It’s less clear exactly what is causing this. But it’s a serious concern, since 70-80 percent of all plants are pollinated by animals.”
So far, this is just a small piece of the puzzle of the pollination crisis. The researchers don’t know if pollinators in temperate zones also go out of their way to avoid certain areas. But in general, they say, most animals prefer having these natural connected zones.
According to Betts, “If we get to the point where almost all patches of forests are fragmented, it’s possible that could completely disrupt forest plant ecosystems”.
The study will be published soon in the journal, Biology Letters.
It’s not the same as taking a helicopter ride over Mt. St. Helens, but three new videos posted on the National Volcanic Monument’s website are the next best thing.
The videos take you on a tour of the crater, the crater rim, and the blast zone. They were produced by Immersive Media of Portland.
What makes them so cool, is that you can control the angle of the camera in almost all directions. Want to see what’s going on behind you in real time? Just click on the video and move the mouse.
So take a few minutes when the boss isn’t looking and indulge yourself.
