By Dr. Robert Thorson Sometimes it’s the footnotes to a larger text that catch the most attention. So it was when I suggested in an offhand aside during a speech last month that we get rid of the word “watershed” — a word that’s been confusing environmental scientists for the last century. For at least […]

By Dr. Robert Thorson The Swedish Academy’s Announcement was stunning: “The Nobel Prize in Literature for 2016 is awarded to Bob Dylan ‘for having created new poetic expressions within the great American song tradition.’” I was delighted because the award was for his bardic poetry, rather than for his vocals, which sound like doggerel to […]

By Dr. Robert Thorson Let Hurricane Sandy be our tipping point toward a better America. First, we’re all in this together. As the wind strengthened and the hurricane neared, the political negativity and hostility waned. There’s nothing like a common adversary to unite us, even a benign atmospheric one. It wasn’t just that Sandy wreaked […]

By Dr. Robert Thorson Who’s to blame for California’s deadly Esperanza wildfire? Was it the arsonist who allegedly set the blaze? Or was it a land-hungry public so desperate for housing lots that they built directly in harm’s way? It was the latter. If building on steep slopes invites landslide damage, and if building on […]

By Dr. Robert Thorson I’m thankful for the selectivity of extinction. Those dinosaurs big enough to eat us are gone. Those we eat on Thanksgiving are still around. In case you haven’t heard, a Big Bird nicknamed Friggin made the New England news last week. It was an emu (Dromaius novaehollandiae) a fast, flightless, feathered […]

By Dr. Robert Thorson A good atmosphere is easy to take for granted. This was my first thought when I read the joyous NASA press announcement that Mars “once had conditions suited for ancient life.” Mars lost its opportunity for life because its atmosphere changed too much. But what about planet Earth? Though we’re not […]

By Dr. Robert Thorson What would you do if an American cultural relic was being endangered? Would you look the other way as someone rough-handled the U.S. Constitution? Would you leave George Washington’s portrait to be burned by the British? Would you toss Dorothy’s ruby-red shoes into a musty closet? No! You would place them […]

By Dr. Robert Thorson Last week, the world got a case of sticker shock. For the first time in recorded history, the price of our energy-rich lifestyle hit the magic number of 400 parts-per-million carbon dioxide in our atmosphere. There’s no politics involved in this number. No propaganda. No conspiracy. It’s a fact as plain […]

By Dr. Robert Thorson The blizzard of snow making new news in Colorado this week is burying old news about Mount Hood in Oregon, where two climbers were last heard from on Dec. 10. This old story — now muffled by a veil of deep snow — made me wonder why all climbing parties on […]

By Dr. Robert Thorson What lies beneath? That’s what worries Cheshire resident Mary Vosburgh. A good-sized chunk of her backyard is being swallowed up by something that has already gobbled up truckloads of fill, dozens of old tires, a few old automobiles and even a children’s swing set. In 1978, it took a bite out […]