Media ecology

Environmental Quality as a Social Problem When we speak of environmental quality, we are speaking about the quality of our total environment, not just the natural environment. “Environmental quality is the measure of the health of that environment itself (including the plants and animals it supports), and of the effects it has on the health, comfort, and psychological state of the people that inhabit it.” We all agree that the environment people live in has a noticeable effect on their health,…

Since forests were never able to exceed their natural severity and scale during this time, the ecology was altered. Scientific research about the importance of fire wasn’t developed until the 1960s. This work completely shifted the U.S. Forest Service policy of forest fire management by allowing fires to burn when appropriate. Unfortunately with a…

To put it another way, a student can major in conservation biology and become a ‘conservation biologist,’ but this term also includes other specializations and careers, such as conservation ecology, in which conservation is the main emphasis. In nearly all conservation biology research and restoration projects, the goal is to protect the environment while educating and assisting local people who are affected by poor environmental conditions…

Today in the year 2015 there are alarming factors impacting the Earth. In the study of environmental science, defined as “the study of how the natural world works, and how our environment affects us, and how we affect our environment (Withgott, 2012)”, takes a deeper look in how we can improve our world by changing our ways of living. Environmental issues such as depleting natural recourses, harming ecosystems, using fossil fuels and population growth are major contributing factors in harming…

Introduction According to Charles J. Krebs ecology is the “scientific study of the interaction between organisms and their environment that determine their distribution and abundance” (Krebs 1978). The environment is made up of different components that are classified as abiotic and biotic. Abiotic deals with nonliving and physical elements like rain, wind, soil or pollutions. Biotic are living components that include predation, parasites, and competition. Competition is an interaction between…

Today, billions of people share this earth and have built up civilization to reach its full potential. The people have made use of the land to build major cities, highways, farming, malls, corporation, etc. Humans are craving to maximize and capitalize on what the land as to offer meanwhile; with great success there is also great loss. This land, before the modern era, was flourished with countless amounts of full, healthy forests and the species that lived throughout the years. Yet, the…

The Survival of Beautiful Blue Planet Rachel Louise Carson was an American marine biologist and conservationist whose book Silent Spring and other writings are credited with advancing the global environmental movement. Rachel Carson mentioned in her book Silent Spring that “Those who contemplate the beauty of the earth find reserves of strength that will endure as long as life lasts. There is something infinitely healing in the repeated refrains of nature - the assurance that dawn comes after…

The ad I choose for my discussion is a tv commercial which aired during the 2010 Super Bowl. The reason I picked this commercial is because of it's great sense of humor and it's ability to utilize several concepts Julia B. Corbett discusses in her article, "A Faint Green Sell: Advertising and the Natural World" (235). In the opening scene we see a young white male purchasing groceries and is asked whether he would like paper or plastic. After a sudden pause, he decides to go with plastic, when…

De-extinction (bringing extinct species back from the dead) has been making a wave of enthusiasm, fueled through Steward Brand’s TED speak and a number of distinguished books and articles. The primary idea of de-extinction is to use bits of genetic fabric salvaged from an extinct species (museum specimens, frozen mammoths) in modern day biotechnology to create living animals in the lab, and use these lab-created specimens to re-establish populations of the extinct species in the wild. Actually,…

Woodpeckers are a vast bird family, composed of approximately 217 species worldwide. They are found throughout the Americas, Eurasia, and Africa, with the largest number of species occurring in the tropics of the New World. Here are a few woodpecker species you may encounter, along with some of the more unique members of the woodpecker family. Red-headed woodpecker The Red-headed Woodpecker is known for its fiery red-head and black and white body. It resides predominately in the Midwest and…