Index of articles by category
Beyond the Book Articles
Nature and the Environment
Page 3 of 3
Polar Bears (02/11)
In Village of the Ghost Bears, Trooper Nathan Active and his fellow law enforcement personnel must discuss the problem of polar bear poaching, because at least one of the suspects in the arson/murder has been involved in the illegal trade of selling polar bear gallbladders to China...
The Value of Bear Gallbladders
As the book ...
Factory Farm Alternatives (10/10)
Foer suggests that meat lovers who don't want to support factory farms consider patronizing small family farms rather than buying grocery store meat, which has been produced by factory farms. The products offered by these small farmers tend to be pricey, but these producers say that their animals live most of their lives outdoors, pain-...
Entomology: Did You Know? (10/09)
Entomology is the scientific study of insects. Defining characteristics of insects are: three main body parts (head, thorax and abdomen), an exoskeleton and no more than 6 legs in their adult form.
'The geneticist J.B.S. Haldane remarked, when questioned by a cleric about the putative properties of God, that one sure characteristic of ...
Helping Injured Birds (06/09)
The
WildBirds.com website offers the following advice if you come across an injured bird:
If you find an injured bird, make sure it is really injured before you act. Often the bird is simply stunned. It may fly away in a few minutes if you leave it alone. Birds often become stunned by flying into glass windows.
If the bird has a ...
Animal Behaviors in Grief and Mating (02/09)
There have been many observations of
elephants grieving. In Joyce Poole's
Coming of Age With Elephants, Poole illustrates the depth of elephant grieving. A clan of elephants was moving towards newer territory, when suddenly one of the elephants fell over. Soon enough the other elephants noticed that one of their ...
All About Bananas (01/09)
Bananas may look like they grow on trees but in fact they grow on plants that are related to the lily and orchid family.
The term 'banana republic' was coined by American humorist and short story writer O. Henry, in reference to Honduras - 'republic' in his day being a common euphemism for a dictatorship.
On a number of occasions the term ...
Fishing Facts (04/08)
Did you know:
- Today, the British know
the North Sea as muddy and
cold. It's always been cold,
but evidence suggests that
it wasn't always muddy. Just
100 years ago there were
vast oyster beds up to 120
miles...
Gray Whales (02/08)
Adult
Gray Whales weigh 30-40 tons and measure about 45 feet (14 meters); they have dark skin with gray patches and white mottling, the calves are born dark gray to black (sometimes with distinctive white markings). They are baleen whales (with a series of 130-180 fringed overlapping plates hanging from each side of the upper jaw in lieu ...
The Mobile Bay Jubilee (11/07)
In "Titan" a man recalls a boyhood vacation spent on the coast of Alabama in which he experiences a
"Jubilee".
Jubilee is a natural phenomena that occurs in Mobile Bay from time to time, usually before dawn on a warm summer night, when large numbers of fish, crabs and shrimps swarm close to shore, making themselves ...
Pigeons and Doves (10/07)
- Pigeons and doves are one and the same thing, 'pigeon' is simply a French translation of the English word 'dove'.
- Pigeons have been domesticated for at least 5,000 years, probably closer to 10,000.
- It is said that a pigeon delivered the results of the first Olympics in 776 BC.
- Pigeons are credited with saving thousands of soldiers' lives ...
Coal (04/07)
Facts & Stats according to Big Coal
- More than 1/2 of the USA's electricity comes from coal.
- The USA burns more than a billion tons a year - an average of 20 lbs per
person per day.
- Coal plants account for 40% of carbon dioxide emissions in the USA.
- According to alternate energy guru Amory Lovins of
The Rocky Mountain ...
Ways to Reduce Global Warming (12/06)
- Change to accredited Green Power option = Eliminate household emissions
from electricity.
- Install energy-efficient hot water system = Up to 30% reductions in
household emissions.
- Install solar panels = Eliminate household emissions from electricity.
- Use energy-efficient white goods = Up to 50% reduction in household
...
