Politics threatening the Amazon rainforest of Brazil

The Amazon rainforest is one of the first major natural landmarks ever introduced to a child. The sheer vastness of it, the fact that it is considered the “lungs of the world” and produces close to 30% of the total oxygen production of the world is something no child forgets easily. The rainforest, though, is […]

Why is shifting cultivation being blamed for land degradation?

I’m on a study tour through South India, visiting different National Parks and scientific institutes. Today was my first day, and already, the lectures we had were extremely interesting… One of the lectures I really found fascinating was given by Amit Jose Kurian, a research scholar at the Ashoka Trust for Research in Ecology and […]

Coastal Dead Zones: Killing coastal ecosystems worldwide

When you think of coastal ecosystems, a region of thriving life generally comes to mind. This image, however, is being slowly corrupted because of human activities. The “life” out of these zones is being sucked out, creating what is referred to as “dead zones”. Can coasts die? In a way, the life associated with coasts, […]

Human habitation in coastal environments

In a previous post, I talked about how climate change is a major threat to the coastal ecosystems of the world. But I also said that that’s not the only threat…. Truth is, most of the effects of climate change can be buffered by the ecosystem itself. That’s because climate change is not a new phenomenon. Ecosystems […]

Rangeland restoration: Combating heavy overgrazing

Rangelands are grasslands heavily used for the purpose of meeting animal farm requirements. Therefore, it is not surprising that it is these lands that are heavily affected by overgrazing. I’ve written extensively about the role overgrazing plays in land degradation. Let’s now look at what we can do to bring these heavily degraded rangelands back […]

Restoring minespoils

(The reason posts on restoration ecology is coming thick and fast is because I have an exam on this subject tomorrow. Might as well blog and study at the same time!) Minespoils are one of the most degraded bits of land to have been generated by human activity. Even nature thinks so. Why do I […]

Restoring degraded lands: Land reclamation

In a previous post, I suggested how land degradation can be overcome by 10 simple and effective management practices. However, these steps are mostly to prevent further land degradation. What to do when faced with a piece of land that is already degraded? How is it restored to it’s past ecological prime? For that, we […]

Overcoming Land degradation

Land degradation (also called soil degradation, to be more specific) is continuing to grow into a major problem in today’s world. While it does threaten biodiversity and the living standards of other living species, the largest effect of this by far, is on human life. More importantly, land degradation has seriously taken a toll on […]

Mining: Environmental degradation caused by improper practices

Mining has been an done on Earth since humans realized the potential of metals and non-metals in improving the quality of their lives. However, mining has taken humongous proportions since the industrial age. The uses of mined materials, ranging from metals to radioactive elements to coal and petroleum, has expanded into fields that were previously […]

The Poop problem: Pollution caused by animal wastes in the United States

(Also in response to Daily Prompt’s one word prompt-percolate…”the water mixed with wastes percolates into the ground and pollutes the groundwater”) Growing animals for consumption is a huge task that requires great environmental investment. This “investment” causes a multitude of environmental problems like deforestation, overgrazing, and soil erosion, among others (see Land degradation: Role of Overgrazing for […]