Making Headlines
The following articles reflect our commitment to share sustainability-related accomplishments across the university — representing its colleges, departments, institutes, centers and other units — in the areas of research, student engagement, campus stewardship and collaborations with the public and private sectors.
WKSU, 9-Apr-18
Ohio State University is piloting a project that could provide more food and jobs to the cities that need them. Kip Curtis, an assistant professor at the Mansfield campus, helped build the first micro-farm there last year in a parking lot. ...
Mansfield News Journal, 6-Apr-18
Tyler Arter is a local guy who now holds the first new job created by a promising food production experiment at the Ohio State University-Mansfield campus. The extensive experiment is a micro-farm built last year in a campus parking lot. Arter, 23, manages 10 interns who care for and harvest a variety of vegetables produced there. ...
CNN, 27-Mar-18
"For our modern society, there are so many more people at risk and more vulnerabilities to consider: modern infrastructure and cities at risk of rising sea levels, agriculture unsuited for warmer seasons and more drought, moving disease vectors, lost biodiversity and ecosystem services, and so on," White wrote in an email. "It's good to hear stories of adaptation and resilience, and not just crisis and collapse. But we need to be cautious with either." ...
Featured expert(s): Sam White, professor of history
Toledo Blade, 23-Mar-18
The Kasich administration — after years of resistance on behalf of agriculture — announced Thursday it will declare the open waters of western Lake Erie as impaired, marking a reversal on what has arguably been northwest Ohio’s most contentious water-policy issue. The Ohio EPA said its decision came after consultation with experts from Ohio State University’s Sea Grant College Program, Bowling Green State University, the University of Toledo, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, and the U.S. EPA. ...
Energy News Network, 22-Mar-18
promising technology under development at The Ohio State University converts fossil fuels into electricity without emitting carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. If the method makes it out of the lab and into the real world, it could represent a breakthrough for “clean coal.” ...
Featured expert(s): L.S. Fan, professor of chemical and biomolecular engineering
Morning Ag Clips, 22-Mar-18
A group of independent Mansfield campus students designed and constructed a microfarm Tyler Arter pulled weeds as he talked about the project Kent “Kip” Curtis believes will expand well beyond the borders of the parking lot where it’s located on the Mansfield campus of The Ohio State University. It is a microfarm, a concept brought to the regional campus by Curtis, an assistant professor of environmental history at Mansfield. ...
CityLab, 19-Mar-18
In 1748, the French philosopher Montesquieu published The Spirit of the Laws, a survey of political systems that argued for the separation of powers and citizens’ rights to due process. ...In the book, after discussing taxes and before considering slavery, Montesquieu set out a theory that climate differences help to shape human societies. ... More than two centuries after Montesquieu, the notion that climate molds character is getting some support from modern science. A report published in November in the journal Nature Human Behaviour claimed that ambient temperature (that is, the temperature of the surrounding environment) is a “crucial” factor associated with an individual’s personality. ...
Featured expert(s): Brad Bushman, communication
Fremont News-Messenger, 16-Mar-18
Researchers say that while agriculture is a primary source of phosphorus runoff into Lake Erie, they want to work with the farm industry, not against it, to prevent devastating harmful algal blooms. “We know there’s a tremendous amount of jobs and revenue in this state because of agricultural production. This is the largest industry in our state,” Chris Winslow, director of Ohio Sea Grant and Ohio State University’s Stone Laboratory, said at the Ottawa Soil and Water Conservation District’s annual Agricultural Community Breakfast on Friday. ...
Featured expert(s): Chris Winslow, director of Ohio Sea Grant and Ohio State University’s Stone Laboratory
The Daily Reporter, 16-Mar-18
On average, North American continental snowfall measures annually at approximately 1,200 cubic miles — the equivalent of 7.5 inches spread evenly throughout the continent from the southern frontier of Mexico to the Canadian Arctic. That’s a lot of snow and even more than previous estimates, Ohio State University researchers wrote in the journal Geophysical Research Letters. Scientists now have revised the estimated snow volume for the entire continent in a typical year 50 percent higher than previously thought. ALSO: HealthNewsDigest: How Much Snow Accumulates in North America Each Year? More Than Scientists Thought ALSO: USAgNet: How Much Snow Accumulates in North America? ...
Featured expert(s): Melissa Wrzesien and Michael Durand, graduate student and professor of earth sciences
Daily Mail, 14-Mar-18
More snow is covering North America than scientists previously realized, according to a new study. Researchers from Ohio State University discovered that the amount of snow covering the continent is a whopping 50 percent above the amount scientists previously believed to be blanketing North America. The researchers discovered that about 1,200 cubic miles of snow accumulate each year. Featured experts: Melissa Wrzesien and Michael Durand, graduate student and professor of earth sciences ALSO: Science Newsline: How Much Snow Accumulates in North America Each Year? More Than Scientists Thought ...