sustainability – Athens Science Observer

The Trap of Pseudo-Sustainability

Simone Lim-Hing — Thu, 18 Mar 2021 16:06:45 +0000

Last week, I received an email from Brandless, an online store that specializes in affordable, healthy, and environmentally-conscious products. Their email was advertising their new line of “tree-free” products – paper products that are made from bamboo and sugarcane, rather than trees. I strive to be environmentally conscious, but I am also a person who […]

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In defense of trees and those who cut them

Colton Meinecke — Tue, 24 Nov 2020 13:00:00 +0000

Trees have received a lot of press lately. As wildfires tore through forests worldwide, President Donald Trump blamed the devastation on poor forest management. Meanwhile, the United States formalized a commitment to planting trees to restore our climate. The world’s governments and scientists are grappling with how we both protect and manage forests. What should […]

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Plastic tips: a more sustainable science

Kathy Bui — Fri, 07 Feb 2020 14:50:52 +0000

Alternatively, this post could have been titled, My Guilty Conscience Series: Plastics. This blog post has been a long time coming – given the fact that I (and many others) have been conditioned to “reduce, reuse, and recycle” before we could even multiply. Yet, as I continue to diligently organize my empty jars and cans […]

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Coffee and sustainability Part II: Have your coffee and drink it too

athenssciencecafe — Sun, 19 Aug 2018 21:46:14 +0000

In the previous post of this series, I pointed out how some current coffee farming practices often lead to clear-cut of rainforests, leaving less habitat for wildlife populations and thus threatening their persistence. “Well, that sounds pretty terrible,” you say, “but I’m not willing to give up the one thing that gets me out of […]

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Coffee and sustainability Part I: The caffeinated inconvenient truth

athenssciencecafe — Mon, 09 Jul 2018 00:46:47 +0000

For my Master’s research, I was fortunate to study avian ecology in Costa Rica where I developed a deep appreciation for the incredible bird diversity observed there. Other things that also stayed with me from the experience was the scenic coffee farms and the friendly farmers who not only let me work on their properties […]

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Time to Rustle Up Some Grub!

athenssciencecafe — Tue, 22 Sep 2015 14:00:22 +0000

So you heard about the health and sustainability benefits of eating insects and want to try entomophagy, huh? I had thought about doing this for years, so I embarked on an adventure to raise mealworms and make recipes from six different continents: Mealworm Tacos, Mealworm Lettuce Wraps, Mealworm-Meat Pie, and Cricket Flour Crepes. Not included […]

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Slimy, Yet Satisfying: Eating Insects for the Modern World

athenssciencecafe — Tue, 15 Sep 2015 14:57:24 +0000

In the Disney classic, The Lion King, Simba finds out that Timon and Pumba eat nothing by way of mammalian meat. When he asks what they do eat, they produce a bounty of wriggling beetles and grubs arranged on a leaf. Is this gross, or is it smart-eating? Entomophagy, or eating insects, has cropped up […]

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