BY CHERYL REITAN

Tom Johnson, a University of Minnesota Duluth Regents professor and Institute on the Environment resident fellow, knew his work on Lake Malawi in 2005 would yield significant scientific discoveries. Now, eight years later, he and his colleagues have announced research that impacts our knowledge of the near extinction of the human race. They have determined that 75,000 years ago, the Toba volcanic eruption in Sumatra did not cause a volcanic winter or the dramatic drop in human population in Africa, as some anthropologists had proposed.

BY PAUL C. WEST

Many of the increases in food production during the Green Revolution can be attributed to a single element in the periodic table -- nitrogen. Begun in the early 1900s as an effort to convert nitrogen gas from the air we breathe into a solid form that could propel ammunition farther, the Haber-Bosch process later became the key mechanism for boosting crop yields through mass production of nitrogen fertilizer. Unfortunately, excess nitrogen degrades our drinking water quality, causes many coastal areas to be oxygen-depleted "dead zones," and adds a very powerful greenhouse gas to our atmosphere. How can we manage our farmlands more effectively?

BY MONIQUE DUBOS

Tim Bristol is playing offense. That's how the Trout Unlimited Alaska director described his group's efforts to protect Alaska's vital watersheds at the Feb. 20 Frontiers in the Environment seminar, "Watersheds: Clean Water, Wild Places, Healthy Communities."

Trout Unlimited Alaska is fighting to protect two critical habitats and communities that rely on them: Bristol Bay in southwestern Alaska and the Tongass National Forest in the southeastern panhandle. Both areas boast productive salmon fisheries that have vital economic benefit to the communities that rely on them, said Bristol. Both are at risk from development projects that threaten the health of their watersheds.

BY MONIQUE DUBOS

What do prehistoric cave dwellers and today's humans have in common? The ongoing quest for fuel sources. Humans have always had an energy crisis, said Larry Wackett, IonE resident fellow and professor at the BioTechnology Institute, at the first Frontiers seminar of the spring semester: Is Frac(k) A Four-Letter Word?

The opening of the American Museum of Natural History's new exhibition, Our Global Kitchen: Food, Nature, Culture, this Saturday (Nov. 17) comes at an interesting time. 

The exhibit, which will look at food production throughout history and address the challenge we currently face of feeding an ever-growing population without destroying the planet as we do so, comes just days before Thanksgiving, the nation's holiday most focused on food as celebratory act. Obviously, as this is an annual holiday, the exhibition planners no doubt planned the opening with Thanksgiving in mind. The second reason the timing is interesting, though, is due to an event that no one could have anticipated well in advance. The AMNH is located in New York City, which, along with other areas of the East Coast, is still recovering from Hurricane Sandy. In recognition of these dichotomous events, Ellen V. Futter, president of the AMNH, said in a press release, "As the Museum prepares to open this comprehensive exhibition on the subject of food, we find ourselves disquietingly poised between the extremes of Hurricane Sandy--with its extensive devastation, including disruption to the food supply--and...Thanksgiving. In such a timely and vivid context, the Museum presents Our Global Kitchen, which addresses the vital and complex topic of food from the perspectives of the environment, food supply, and human culture."

BY PAUL C. WEST

Several reports estimate that we need to double current crop production by 2050 in order to meet the needs of a growing population that eats more meat and uses more crops for fuel. Some strategies - like reducing waste and reducing meat consumption - would reduce pressure on our land and water resources and free up more food calories that are potentially available. But we commonly assume that increasing crop production will come at a cost of increased environmental damages to our climate, water and natural habitat.  It turns out that does not have to be the case.