News Archive

Yep, he’s back. Professor Ed Keller is a UCSB Professor of Environmental Studies, Earth Science, and Geography, and his latest weekly column about the natural history of Santa Barbara appears on page 2 of the Santa Barbara News Press every Thursday. Ed’s column is part of the public service mission of UCSB, without payment from the News Press, and your editor is proud to contribute to this outreach effort by continuing to...

The following , titled “Famine Officially Declared in Somalia,” was written by Libby White, a Computer Resource Specialist who works with the Geography’s Climate Hazards Group and the Earth Research Institute: On July 20th, 2011, the United Nations officially declared that Southern Somalia was suffering from famine. In order to declare a famine, at least 20% of the population must be consuming less than 2100...

The western way of dealing with death isn’t very ecofriendly. Burial, with its attendant casket and embalming, uses a lot of resources, takes up a lot of space, and results in a lot of chemicals being put into the ground. Cremation is almost as bad because it requires a huge amount of energy and releases serious amounts of toxins into the atmosphere. But a Scottish firm called Resomation Ltd. has been thinking outside of the box...