UNC Dietician Argues Benefits of Organic Produce
The News and Observer (Raleigh)
By Suzanne Havala Hobbs, a registered dietitian and a clinical associate professor in the department of health policy and administration in the Gillings School of Global Public Health at UNC-Chapel Hill.
Despite nutritional similarities in organic and conventionally grown produce, it is often better to buy organic. This is due to environmental contaminants such as pesticide residues found on conventional produce and unknown effects of low-dose, long-term pesticide exposure. Many nutrition advocates also see commitment to organic growing techniques as part of a broader stance favoring local and sustainable farming practices. Learn more »
UNC Professor Argues for Fewer Fossil Fuels
The News and Observer (Raleigh)
By John J.W. Rogers, retired William R. Kenan Jr. professor of geology at UNC-Chapel Hill.
Fossil fuel production should not play a significant part in the state’s energy future. Several geological features make North Carolina an unlikely site for offshore oil development, natural gas extraction, or coal mining. Learn more »
Pollution will feed lake algae for years
The Columbus Dispatch (Ohio)
The toxic algae problems that Lake Erie and Grand Lake St. Marys in Ohio face are mirrored in lakes in Florida, China and New Zealand. In 2007, algae in Lake Taihu in China grew so dense that the problem overwhelmed city drinking-water-treatment systems and green-stained water came out of faucets in thousands of homes. Efforts to fight the Lake Taihu algae include tracking the phosphorus to its sources — sewage plants and farms — and a new forecasting system to warn cities when a new bloom might form, said Hans Paerl, a University of North Carolina professor of Marine and Environmental Sciences. Learn more »
Taking the lead on the environment at UNC-Chapel Hill
The Triangle Business Journal
The Institute for the Environment at UNC-Chapel Hill received a 10-year pledge of $285,000 from the parents of a recent graduate, now doing graduate work in Florida on turtles, who credits the institute with changing her life. Formed in 1998 as the Carolina Environmental Program, the institute is counting on its impact in experiential field programs for students, support for students and teachers in the North Carolina public schools, and environmental research to help raise its profile as part of a longer-term fundraising effort. Learn more »
Great Barrier Reef coral seeing 'major decline,' scientists report
"World News" NBC News
A study released by the Australian Institute of Marine Science shows that the Great Barrier Reef — a Heritage Site frequently held up as one of the world’s most striking coral conservation successes — has experienced considerable decline since 1985. Without intervention, live coral cover is projected to decrease another 5 to 10 percent over the next 10 years. John Bruno, a coral expert who was not part of the study, called the findings "really grim" and reflecting loss even higher than deforestation in the tropics. "In 2007, we first sounded the alarm that the Great Barrier Reef, and Pacific reefs in general, were not as pristine and resilient as a lot of people wanted to believe," Bruno, a marine biology professor at the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill, told NBC News. Learn more »
UNC students shape businesses to fill social needs
The Associated Press
Student-led business plans for enterprises that would both generate profits and provide social services were competitively evaluated at the first North Carolina Social Business Conference, held by North Carolina's public university system. College students are interested in social businesses because their generation is uniquely steeped in the self-branding and freelance culture of today's business world and also possesses the can-do optimism of youth, said Prof. James Johnson Jr., who teaches social entrepreneurship at the UNC-Chapel Hill business school. Learn more »
