Environment

Whether you are growing fruits and vegetables or prefer ornamental flowers in your landscaping, this is the time of year pests can invade and quickly damage or destroy your plants. 

The W.C. Beckjord Station power plant, located on the bank of the Ohio River southeast of Cincinnati in New Richmond, began generating electricity in 1952. Duke Energy closed the plant in 2014, but there are still large coal ash ponds on the site containing arsenic, lead and other toxins that pose a potential danger to the environment and drinking water. Local government leaders, the Environmental Protection Agency and Duke Energy are now trying to determine the most effective, safe method to clean up the site and prevent any hazardous material leaking into the Ohio River or other water supplies.

More people are growing their own fruits, vegetables and herbs to provide their families with a steady supply of fresh foods. But some backyard gardeners often find they have an over-abundance of produce. And many of them are discovering the value of small market gardening as an extra source of income, or even as a career.

Now that summer is almost here, more people are outside working in gardens, playing in parks, camping or hiking in wooded areas.

Last Saturday, the Cincinnati Zoo's Dangerous Animal Response Team was forced to shoot and kill a critically-endangered gorilla after it began dragging a 4-year old boy who had fallen into the exhibit.

After the boy climbed through a public barrier and fell into a moat, 17-year old Harambe, a male gorilla, grabbed the child and began violently dragging and throwing him around.

 The Cincinnati Nature Center (CNC) held a groundbreaking ceremony yesterday for its new Center for Conservation & Stewardship. The Center, located in the historic Groesbeck Lodge on the CNC's Rowe Woods property in Union Township, will serve as a living laboratory of diverse native habitats and provide conservation research and education.

Dr. George Uetz is a professor of biology at the University of Cincinnati and Alex Sweger is a graduate student and together they have discovered a new species of wolf spider with audible mating songs that sound a lot like a cat purr. Last summer they presented their findings to the Acoustical Society of America. They sat down with Cincinnati Zoo Director Thane Maynard to talk about wolf spiders and their mating songs.

Electronic waste, or E-waste (monitors, computers, cell phones and other electronic devices)– represents 2-percent of America's trash in landfills, but it equals 70-percent of overall toxic waste. And worldwide, 20 to 50 million metric tons of electronic devices are disposed of each year.

Most crops grown for their fruits, nuts, seeds and fiber require pollination by insects, such as bees and butterflies. These pollinators are responsible for much of the food we eat and play a critical role in ensuring the production of seeds in most flowering plants.

The first Earth Day in the U.S. was 46 years ago on April 22, 1970. It's considered the birth date of the modern environmental movement. Today, Earth Day is a worldwide event to celebrate the earth and raise awareness of environmental issues.

Dr. John Kricher is longtime professor of biology at Wheaton College who teaches courses in ecology, ornithology, and vertebrate evolution.

Flowers are in bloom, lawns are turning a deep green and spring is in the air. But there is still a chance we could experience hard frosts and even snow before the warm weather finally settles in.

The Cincinnati Zoo and Botanical Garden kicks-off its annual Barrows Conservation Lecture Series this month. Over the years, the series has brought dozens of internationally acclaimed scientists, explorers and naturalists into town to address wildlife issues and global conservation efforts.

As we have all seen with the recent problems uncovered in Flint, Michigan, it’s easy for most of us to take clean water for granted. Until we can’t easily get it. In many parts of the world, such as Nairobi, it’s a rare commodity. “The Intimate Realities of Water,” a documentary by University of Cincinnati professors, follows the lives of the people in two of Nairobi’'s slums, Kibera —- the largest urban slum in the city and all of Africa -— and Dagoretti.

With the recent arctic air and snow, spring seems a long way off, but now is the time to start planning your garden and deciding how to get the best use of your landscape this year.

The third annual Great Tree Summit will take place Saturday, February 13, at the Cincinnati Zoo. The summit is presented by Taking Root, the campaign to restore our region’s tree canopy with a goal of planting two million trees by 2020. 

This interview originally aired April 16, 2015.

  Jon Cohen is a correspondent with Science magazine and author of several books, including Almost Chimpanzee: Searching for What Makes Us Human, In Rainforests, Labs, Sanctuaries, and Zoos. He spoke recently with Thane Maynard from the Cincinnati Zoo about his interest in wildlife and his recent article called Zoo Futures.

Noel Rowe grew up in Cincinnati, worked at the Cincinnati Zoo as a young man, and his family has a long history of supporting the local environment – in fact, Rowe Woods at the Cincinnati Nature Center is named after his grandfather. 

Permaculture is a system of agricultural and social design principles centered around working with nature, instead of against it, to foster sustainable systems and lifestyles.

The film Trees in Trouble tells the story of America's urban and community forests,their history, their growing importance to our health, economy and environment - and the serious threats they now face. The film shows how community-wide efforts can save and protect our urban forests for future generations.