Crossing Boundaries

Simple and cost effective investments in predator proof stockades, known as bomas, eliminates much human-predator conflict... The economic well-being of the country depends ultimately, not on the bricks and mortar of runaway development activity, but on the natural environment that-alone-will define the limits of what we can, or cannot, do. Only by embracing conservation can we create a sustainable basis for our continued economic and social development.

Tony Cenicola/The New York Times The strict new federal standards limiting pollution from power plants are meant to safeguard human health. But they should have an important side benefit, according to a study being released on Tuesday: protecting a broad array of wildlife that has been harmed by mercury emissions.

"World population reaching seven billion is a great opportunity for you to incorporate environmental education and global studies into your classroom. The following teacher-friendly activities are classroom-ready and will get your students to actively engage in these timely issues. All of the lesson plans are correlated to the national content standards for eleven middle school subject areas. Themes: P = Population Dynamics E = Environmental Connections S = Societal Connections"

"Preventing the extinction of the world's most imperiled species would also bring untold benefits to people according to new research"

"Centered around an interactive Web site that features more than 75 videos, scores of audio recordings of birds and animals, and photos and text that are an elegy for lost and threatened species, Lin's "What is Missing?" project has the same arresting, unsettling qualities that are a hallmark of her Vietnam memorial."

Remember The Story of Stuff video? This is a sequel, discussing how to take environmental action that goes beyond making responsible shopping choices and taking out the recycling.

ohhh. I've used this website often but didn't realize they offered spatial data. Can't wait to try

"Berkeley Earth has just released analysis of land-surface temperature records going back 250 years, about 100 years further than previous studies. The analysis shows that global warming is real, and the best explanation of the temperature trend is a combination of volcanoes and CO2."

Have you ever wanted to create a bundle of links to share? Bundlenut makes this possible with just a few easy steps. Visitors can use the site to create a bundle of links and give the bundle a title. There's a "bundle browser" as well, and it's easy to share them. Some of the sample bundles on the site include "Mrs. Comstock's 11th Grade Reading List."

Earthzine is an online source for news, articles, information and educational materials about Earth science, Earth observations and users of Earth information for the international Earth-observing community. Earthzine is updated regularly with news from around the world about the Earth, Earth observations, environmental policy, and new and emerging environmentally-friendly and earth-observing technologies.

EPA's downloadable PDF maps and GIS datasets for U.S. ecoregions

If you're looking for some good map-related laughs, give this page a try.

"World leaders need to do much more to protect the Earth's millions of species for the services they provide, according to a new scientific consensus statement in Nature based on over 1,000 research papers. "

Nearly 100 endangered species should be on track to meet federal scientists' recovery goals, according to a new analysis by a national nonprofit organization that seeks to protect the planet's biological diversity. The Center for Biological Diversity's review examined population trends of 110 endangered plant and animals protected under the Endangered Species Act (ESA) in every state across the USA, including Florida's American crocodile, the gray wolf of the Rockies, and the black-footed ferret, which once existed from southern Canada to Texas. The group found that 90 percent of the species listed are on a positive trajectory toward recovery - and some are even doing better. Source: redOrbit (http://s.tt/1cmi1)

Giant snakes are eating their way through the Everglades, leaving a drastically changed ecosystem in their wake, a new study shows.

The EOL collection tool allows you to organize lists of species, information, media, maps, and sounds into a virtual collectionnthat you can annotate and share. Existing collections include "Darwin's Finches" and "Animal Phyla."

"Over the past few generations, conservation groups have spent billions of dollars on scientific research, land purchase, policy change and education to address these threats. But one question that has received little attention is: How do we get people to change their behavior? What really works?"

The Conservation Education Strategy Toolkit contains resources developed by the Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies (AFWA) to support conservation educators. Includes lots of useful stuff: downloadable lessons, "Benchmarks for Conservation Literacy," "Field Investigations: Using Outdoor Environments to Foster Student Learning of Scientific Processes" etc.