Ecologue

Scientists have given us an urgent timeline. We have about a decade to cut greenhouse gases in half to avoid catastrophic climate change. How do we, each of us, need to transform to answer this once-in-a-lifetime call and rise to the challenge of the years ahead? How can we change the narratives in our minds […]

A team of Oregon State researchers recently published a case study on the adoption of the Instove Water Purifier in Mbale, Uganda. The goal of was to evaluate the efficacy and adoptability of the current product, so the team can improve the design of the novel water treatment technology. As is often the case in […]

Plastic Pollution Plastic pollution is one of the greatest anthropogenic threats to wildlife; this is because plastic takes far longer to decompose than other materials like aluminum or paper. Most plastics take about 450 years to decompose, while polystyrene (commonly known as Styrofoam) never fully decomposes! Thus, these plastics remain in the ecosystem, where wildlife […]

Communities, Food, Resilience is a seminar hosted by OSU’s College of Agricultural Sciences, the OSU Extension Service, and OSU150 to converse about and reflect on local food systems, community food resilience, and the role of land grant universities. The event will consist of keynote presentations, followed by examples and discussion of systems-level work on community […]

What is the IPCC? The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), created by the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) and United Nations Environmental Programme (UNEP) in 1988, is the “international body for assessing the science related to climate change.” Its purpose is to provide policymakers with assessments of the scientific literature on climate change, the impacts […]

A simplified diagram of one specific ecosystem. Since Oregon State University is often associated with both natural resource management and engineering, it should be no surprise that we have a very active Ecological Engineering program. To understand what ecological engineering is, it helps to be acquainted with the concept of an ecosystem, and the study […]

Water is a prerequisite for life, but currently over 1.2 billion people lack access to clean drinking water. Water crises affect 2.8 billion people around the world at least one month out of each year. Scarcity is usually caused by climate change, increased pollution, and increased human demand for fresh water. Water scarcity is a […]

On Wednesday, New York City became the first city in the world to report its progress on the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). In 2015, 193 countries agreed to 17 Sustainable Development Goals created by the UN; the SDGs are broad sustainability goals that encompass topics like environmental justice, poverty, and inequality and successful […]

Over than 1.2 billion people lack access to clean drinking water. Water crises affect 2.8 billion people around the world at least one month out of each year. Scarcity is usually caused by climate change, increased pollution, and increased human demand for fresh water. Just yesterday (July 1st), gunfire broke out at riot due to […]

Amy Salisbury and Gavin Bennett, civil engineering undergraduate students, learned that culture is often an important factor to consider for sustainable engineering.  Amy, Gavin, and a team of other students have been working on a multi-faceted project to build an irrigation system and housing for a plant nursery and a bathroom for a village school, […]