The Cornell Daily Sun (https://cornellsun.com/tag/conservation/)
Thanks to research like Cornell Prof. K. Max Zhang’s, energy providers are starting to create contingency plans to more efficiently store and distribute energy in residential voltaic systems. In the context of sunny winter days, for example, a system would store excess energy in the midday and distribute it for use when traditional energy production methods can’t meet the demands on their own.
The project was inspired by the desire of the Town of Ithaca “to help promote biodiversity, provide shelter and food (nectar, pollen, seeds, nuts, leaves, etc.) for wildlife, and support pollinators,” wrote Michael Smith, senior planner of the Town of Ithaca, in a press release.
Cornell Lab of Ornithology conservation scientist Dr. Ken Rosenberg led an international team of 12 scientists in an analysis of decades of data on bird population — and the conclusion is disturbing. In the last 50 years, one in four birds in North America has disappeared. Pesticide use and loss of habitat to farmland are some of the most significant contributors to the decline in bird populations, according to Rosenberg. Although scientists have known for a long time that certain bird species were threatened by human activities, this study reveals that these issues apply to birds of nearly all species. “Seeing this net loss of three million birds was shocking,” Rosenberg said.
Under the Doris Duke Conservation Scholars Program, students spend their first summer conducting independent research projects and their second summer doing paid internships.
“Global Big Day began in 2015 … and for the past four years has progressively set the new world record for the most number of species of birds seen in a single day in the world,” Davies continued.
Most classes at Cornell end by 4:30 p.m., but the lights in academic buildings sometimes stay on until midnight, even when not in use — potentially costing the university up to $60,000 each year, a 2010 report found. Several efforts have been taken to alleviate the electricity waste.
The “Mighty Mekong” River, which winds through Southeast Asia, is slowly ceding its might in “one of the most over-engineered places on earth,” argues Brian Eyler, who studies this phenomenon, in his latest book.
While eradicating foot-mouth disease in African wildlife is impossible, Professor Steven Osofsky and his colleagues are striving to learn how to manage it more effectively.
Love & Bananas, at times, feels like a souped-up vlog. At other moments, it makes you want to run out of the theater and go hug an elephant. Unfortunately, the nearest zoo is 40 miles away from campus, which makes that a tad difficult.
The documentary follows actress Ashley Bell and elephant conservationist Lek Chailert on their mission to rescue a 70-year-old elephant, Noi Na, from a trekking camp. Bell’s narration introduces the audience to the largely unknown plight of Asian elephants. She, with Chailert’s assistance, details the horrors of human abuse toward the massive, yet gentle, creatures.
Touchdown, Cornell’s unofficial mascot, is the only red bear in New York. But the state is home to at least 6,000 to 8,000 black bears, spread across all forms of terrain. Tracking all of them proves to be a significant challenge for New York’s Department of Environmental Conservation, the agency tasked with the welfare of these animals. However, the development of a new mobile app at Cornell, named iSeeMammals, could soon revolutionize how data about bears and their presence is collected. “We have approximately 200 research sites every summer across the Southern Tier, but we still can’t get everywhere.