Dialogue Earth

03/31/2012

New question in as part of the EarthQ project. Vote it (and and other questions) up at http://dialogueearth.org/questions

As part of this answer, we'll need to explain the role of batteries and/or fuel cells. The answer infographic will detail different ways that fruit trees are pollinated. If you would like to see a high-quality infographic developed for this question, please share it with your network using the shari...

03/29/2012

Spread the word about this new question. The way it works is that the more it is liked on FB and shared on Twitter, etc. (see the tools on the post), the sooner it will rise to the top of the queue for getting a high-quality infographic. We'll also be accepting donations to support the research, in 99 cent increments--crowd-supported media about the environment!

The answer infographic will detail different ways that fruit trees are pollinated. If you would like to see a high-quality infographic developed for this question, please share it with your network using the sharing icons below—these actions will increase the question's priority. Also, if you would ...

03/27/2012

Take a look at this infographic and let us know what you think. Quick answer is: Bacteria use up the oxygen in the process of breaking down organic matter, like the waste from tiny animals and dead algae. Thanks!

Answer to: What causes oxygen to be used up in deep waters? This answer is focused on coastal ocean waters, but generally applies to deep waters in estuaries, ponds, lakes, and slow-moving stretches of rivers.

03/02/2012

Great new guest post up from Kevin Cocco. He built an app to estimate weather mood from Twitter tweets. It uses a service from Google to predict mood that was calibrated using Dialogue Earth's library of human-coded judgments about weather mood. Check it out!

Want to see how people feel about the weather in San Diego, right now? Check out the weather sentiment prediction web app. Read about how Google Prediction API and Pulse data was used to train the cloud!

02/28/2012

Coming soon: we'll be launching a new question-and-answer effort dubbed EarthQ. Our re-designed website will be rolling out in the next few days. Get your tough questions about the environment ready!

02/10/2012

While tough to swallow the concept of drinking water that was recently flushed, the honest truth is that it isn't that much different from what we've been doing for years. This is a great example of a community (in San Diego) wrestling with a tough issue where insight from the science community was key.

From Toilet to Treatment to Treatment to Tap in San Diego

01/18/2012

New state-fed program launched yesterday by MN Governor Mark Dayton, EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson, and USDA Secretary Tom Vilsack takes aim at reducing ag runoff through a volunteer program. Specifically, farmers will need to agree to operate based on tailored management plans in order to be certified through the program. Our take: this will need to be paired with ongoing water quality monitoring in order to confirm that on-farm practices are, in fact, leading to the desired improvements in water quality.

Monitoring Will Be Key As Minnesota Takes A Leadership Role in Managing Nutrient Runoff

12/20/2011

Woes about your holiday shopping budget? Problem solved. A quick estimate suggests there's $1 billion worth of nitrogen flowing needlessly from the Mississippi into the Gulf of Mexico. Hmm. Now we just need a "nitrogen net" and we'll be set. Seriously, thinking about it as an economic inefficiency might help shift the debate, which is hugely contentious.
http://www.dialogueearth.org/2011/12/20/a-billion-dollars-flowing-down-the-mississippi-annually/

A Billion Dollars Flowing Down the Mississippi Annually

12/14/2011

The upshot: not much change in the flow of nitrate into the Gulf of Mexico over the past few years.

Why do we care? Nutrients including nitrogen can lead to algae blooms, which become food for bacteria in deeper waters of the Gulf of Mexico. What do bacteria need to grow? Oxygen. They suck up the dissolved oxygen while breaking down the remains of the algae blooms, leaving waters that are very low--or devoid of oxygen. This can kill sedentary animals or those who can't escape, giving it the name "dead zone." Those creatures that are mobile and normally live in deep waters will do their best to avoid these waters with insufficient oxygen.

Anything New in the Story of Nitrogen Moving into the Gulf of Mexico?

12/02/2011

Take a look at this new answer on Quora--might be helpful if you ever want to answer a question there. Thoughts?

Answer: The infographic below sketches out a strategy for answering questions. Here's a video that walks through the strategy. Note that there are annotations in the video that link to specific pages on Quora--turn on annotations in the YouTube player to see them or watch video on YouTube site. htt...

11/28/2011

Thinking about a hybrid, or an all-electric vehicle? A new tool available (as a spreadsheet) by an economist from the U of M's Extension can help lay out the long-term costs of ownership. Plus, it compares greenhouse gas emissions from different vehicle types.

Making Decisions About Purchasing Alternative Vehicles

11/16/2011

Support Dialogue Earth's parent org as part of today's Give-to-the-Max day! Spread the word. Thanks!

Help me support Foundation for Environmental Research on Razoo! Donate or click "Share" below to spread the word.