SCIENCE

Media Controversy Rages in Mobile Alabama Over Oil Storage Tanks

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By Glynn Wilson – MOBIlE, Ala. – While the national news is rife with stories about the death of the Keystone XL Pipeline out west, the ongoing climate talks in Paris and the low price of oil internationally, a local petroleum industry front group and the politicians and media they are trying to buy seem…

Earth Doesn’t Have Be Doomed Like Atlantis: We Can Change Course

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A cheat sheet on how epic floods have shaped civilization – By Andrew Lawler – When it comes to confronting global climate change, we don’t have much experience to draw on. As world leaders prepare to meet in Paris starting on November 30 to hash out a binding international agreement to limit greenhouse gases, it…

Solar Power Set for Record Year, in Spite of Critics on the Right

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By Glynn Wilson – WASHINGTON, D.C. – In spite of the naysayers on the political right, solar power continues to grow as a significant source of energy in the economy of the United States, setting records every year, according to a new report out from the Solar Energy Industries Association. Out of all new electricity…

NASA Provides Proof That Sea Levels Are Rising Due to Global Warming

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By Glynn Wilson – WASHINGTON, D.C. – Seas around the world have risen an average of nearly 3 inches since 1992, with some locations rising more than 9 inches due to natural variation, according to the latest satellite measurements from NASA. An intensive research effort now underway, aided by NASA observations and analysis, points to…

NASA Satellite Camera Provides ‘EPIC’ View of Earth

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A NASA camera on the Deep Space Climate Observatory (DSCOVR) satellite has returned its first view of the entire sunlit side of Earth from one million miles away. The color images of Earth from NASA’s Earth Polychromatic Imaging Camera (EPIC) are generated by combining three separate images to create a photographic-quality image. The camera takes…

NASA’s New Horizons Reaches Pluto

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By Glynn Wilson – After a decade-long journey through the solar system, NASA’s New Horizons spacecraft made its closest approach to Pluto on Tuesday, making it the first-ever space mission to explore a world so far from Earth. The craft passed 7,750 miles above the surface of the dwarf planet, roughly the distance from New…

Legendary Peregrine Falcons Make Slow Comeback from DDT

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By Glynn Wilson – HOGBACK MOUNTAIN, Va. – It’s officially summer now in the Shenandoah National Park, although you wouldn’t know it from the cool nighttime temperatures in the mountains, compared to the rest of the South. But it’s true. The summer solstice occurred Sunday, the longest day of the year. For a few weeks…

NASA Releases Detailed Global Climate Change Projections

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The latest data from NASA shows changes in global temperature and precipitation through the year 2,100 depending on how much greenhouse gas emissions continue to plague the Earth’s atmosphere. The dataset, available to the public, shows projected changes worldwide on a regional level in response to different scenarios of increasing carbon dioxide simulated by 21…

Shenandoah: Daughter of the Stars

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Photos by Jane Cappe – There’s an ancient Native American legend of dubious history about a Great Spirit which allegedly made the world and gathered the morning stars together on the shores of a quiet, silver lake bordered with blue mountains, the most beautiful place on Earth. Hovering above the quiet waters and lighting the…

Oh Shenandoah in Spring: How the Fawns Escape the Bears

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“Oh-skan-ohn-doh in Oneida.” – Secret Vistas – By Glynn Wilson – BIG MEADOWS, Va. – Finally. It’s 1:47 on a Sunday afternoon. Me and my loyal dog Jefferson are taking a break in the camper van, aided by a little afternoon air conditioning — and an April shower on the mountain in May. It’s been…

An Awesome Responsibility: Respect and Protect Shenandoah

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The Big Picture – By Glynn Wilson – SHENANDOAH NATIONAL PARK, Virg. — It’s an incredible feeling sitting here at 3,500 feet above sea level on the hill looking out over the Big Meadows campground, watching a spring shower roll through the mountains. I can’t think of a spot east of the Mississippi where I…

Blinded by the Delight: Missing the Baltimore Grit and the Gulf Oil Escape

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By David Underhill – MOBILE, Ala. – Thoroughbreds charging around the final turn and down the homestretch. Blinders strapped on the sides of their faces to keep their attention on the finish line straight ahead. Preakness Stakes at Pimlico racetrack in Baltimore. Second leg of the Triple Crown later this week. Delegations of civic leaders…

Full Corn Planting Moon in Maryland

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Secret Vistas – By Glynn Wilson – PATAPSCO VALLEY STATE PARK, Md. – As the sun went down on Sunday, May 3, I was walking my dog Jefferson around the outer loop of the campground along the ridge top and noticed the full moon coming up over the horizon. It was so orange it looked…

Earth Day in the Nation’s Capital

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WASHINGTON, D.C. – The National Aeronautics and Space Administration will celebrate the 45th annual Earth Day April 17-22 with a variety of live and online activities to engage the public in the agency’s mission to better understand and protect the planet. The agency uses the vantage point of space to increase understanding of the planet,…

NASA Asteroid Hunter Spacecraft Images Now Available to Public

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Millions of images of celestial objects, including asteroids, are now available to the public online from NASA’s Near-Earth Object Wide-field Survey Explorer (NEOWISE) spacecraft. “NEOWISE is a vital asset in NASA’s program to find objects that truly represent an impact hazard to Earth,” Lindley Johnson, program executive for the Near-Earth Object Observation Program at NASA…

New NASA Mission Launched to Study Environmental Changes on Ocean Health

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NASA is beginning work on a new satellite mission that will extend critical climate measurements of Earth’s oceans and atmosphere and advance studies of the impact of environmental changes on ocean health, fisheries and the carbon cycle. Tentatively scheduled to launch in 2022, the Pre-Aerosol Clouds and ocean Ecosystem (PACE) mission will study Earth’s aquatic…