Category Archives: Sustainability & Green Jobs

Conservation: History and Future

Conservation: History and Future
What is Conservation? Defining Conservationism We define conservation as a broad approach to preserving what is already there and the due care and attention to protecting it for the future (1). It is also dedicated to restoring something to a natural state and maintaining equilibrium. It is a practice and a philosophy, utilizing scientific tools…
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Geoscience: Unlocking the Planet’s Nature

Geoscience: Unlocking the Planet’s Nature
What is Geoscience? “Geoscience”, also known as “Earth Science” is not a single discipline but an umbrella term for any science relating to planetary processes (1). Anything to do with the physical structure of the planet, its various atmospheres from the bottom of the oceans to the upper limits of the atmosphere, from short-term weather…
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Renewable Energy: All You Need to Know

Renewable Energy: All You Need to Know
What is “Renewable Energy” and where does it come from? We all think we know and some of us may even be able to name some of the most prominent sources of renewable energy, but do we really understand the purpose of each type (such as how and where it is used), how much energy…
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Groundwater Introduction & Career Avenues

Groundwater Introduction & Career Avenues
Most of us remember the simplified version of the water cycle we are taught in elementary school in which water from the ocean is heated and evaporated by radiation from the sun, transported over land where is cools and condenses to fall as precipitation before returning to the oceans via runoff. It is a tidy…
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What Is Sustainability and Why Is It Important?

What Is Sustainability and Why Is It Important?
Sustainability is a broad discipline, giving students and graduates insights into most aspects of the human world from business to technology to environment and the social sciences. Define Sustainability The definition of “sustainability” is the study of how natural systems function, remain diverse and produce everything it needs for the ecology to remain in balance.…
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Birds as Environmental Indicators

Birds as Environmental Indicators
Humans have invented a variety of instruments to monitor the health of ecosystems.  For example, to examine water quality in a wetland, an environmental scientist may use a sensor to measure dissolved oxygen in the water or perform chemical assays in the lab to examine heavy metals in the soil. However, in some cases we…
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Indoor Air Quality and Environmental Health

Indoor Air Quality and Environmental Health
It is estimated that people spend up to 90% of their time indoors. (1)  As such, indoor air quality can have an immense impact on health and general quality of life.  Both the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) provide guidance based on research for indoor air quality but it…
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Cold Hard Facts about Nuclear Power

Cold Hard Facts about Nuclear Power
Most countries in the western world have harnessed the power of nuclear technology for decades. Since the development of the atomic bomb, the human race has found other uses for this technology that still divides people – it provides power for our homes and has medicinal uses. Nuclear physics is a well-established division of the…
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Nuclear Energy 101

Nuclear Energy 101
Out of all the ways we power the planet, nuclear energy may be the most divisive. When it first began as an offshoot of nuclear weapons programs, it seemed to promise unlimited electricity that would power a new atomic age. The first nuclear power plant came online in the USSR in 1954, followed three years…
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Wind Power 101

Wind Power 101
Modern wind power is a recent development based on a very old technology. The wind has propelled sail boats for at least 5000 years, and turned windmills for perhaps 1500 years. Even the concept of generating electricity with wind power dates back to the first successful attempt in the late 1800s. But aside from the…
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