Amber Williams's blog

Unfortunately, along with its glitz and glam, the jewelry industry is notorious for ripping through the earth and subjecting workers to dangerous conditions. Audubon went in search for examples of sustainable and environmentally friendly practices among the vendors at the Jewelry Association Conference in New York City.

(Kellie Irwin, a science instructor with the Ocean's Institute, teaches a student how to touch sea life at a science fair. By Elizabeth Thompson, Wikimedia.)

A scientist is a man. He’s white, with Einsteinian hair and, most likely, mad. At least that’s what many children think. When teachers ask their students to sketch a scientist, the predominant drawing is a man with a beaker and crazy hair, says Megan Groome, who directs the NY Academy of Science's K-12 Education. She was one of the speakers at “Reaching the niches: connecting underrepresented groups with science,” an event held August 24 by Science Online NYC at Rockefeller University in New York City.

(A young male elephant standing on a cube and reaching for a branch baited with food. By Foeder/Reiss, CUNY)

Elephants are smart. No doubt about it. They use tools, have excellent memories and pass the “mirror test,” in which an animal can identify itself. Up until recently, however, they failed to show insight, a special ability of highly intelligent species. No longer. Researchers at a zoo in Washington, D.C. filmed an elephant using a cube in his enclosure as a stepping stool to grab fruit. Light bulb!

(Primitive eel found off the coast of the Republic of Palau. By Jiro Sakaue)

The saying goes that there’s nothing new under the sun. But under the sea is a different story. Researchers recently discovered a new eel in the Pacific Ocean that they’ve deemed a “living fossil.” It’s so new in fact, that they had to make up a new family, genus, and species to classify it.

      (Citrus swallowtail. By Muhammad Mahdi Karim)

“Literature and butterflies are the two sweetest passions known to man,” said Vladimir Nabokov, the famous Russian novelist and lepidopterist. Akin to bird watching, butterflying is an adventure during which the winged object can elude entirely, flit just out of sight, or daintily alight on a nearby bush, poised for adoration. Nabokov wasn’t the first to fall for the myriad beauties of the butterflies, nor was he the last. Classifying and identifying Lepidoptera, which include all the butterflies as well as their furry counterparts, moths, remain important tasks for both professionals and hobbyists alike.

                              (Cheese production. By Sopra Mais, Flickr)

It’s not news: We need to eat less meat. Producing meat ready for the plate takes large amounts of fuel, fertilizers, pesticides, and water. Eating meat can also put your health at risk and endanger animal welfare. That’s why what you eat matters, says the Environmental Working Group, which recently released a “Meat Eater’s Guide to Climate Change and Health.” But even vegetarians may be hard pressed by the group’s findings. As it turns out, public enemy number three, right after lamb and beef, is cheese.

(Leda Meredith leads a foraging tour in Prospect Park, Brooklyn.)

Leda Meredith, an expert urban forager, stepped off the park’s cement walkway and into a clump of knee-high greenery. “We could get our lunch right here,” she says to a group of want-to-be and practicing harvesters with notebooks and cameras at the ready.

(Heat wave sweeps across the U.S. Credit: NOAA)

You can bake cookies on a dashboard or cook a pizza on the sidewalk. And the temperatures indicate that we’re not done living in an oven yet. Watch the heat wave engulf the country with new satellite videos and images.

(United States Border Patrol at Algodones Sand Dunes, California. By Department of Homeland Security)

Surrounded by controversy, the fences lining the U.S.–Mexico border were constructed as obstacles to human travel. But these fences also threaten the animals whose homes happen to fall on arbitrary state lines.

("Protester" Photo credit: T.J.Watt)

In the late 1990s, the Earth Liberation Front (ELF), a radical environmentalist group, set fire to limber companies, meatpacking buildings, and SUV dealerships. They wanted to make a statement: If big industries weren't going to be gentle with the earth, than the ELF wasn't going to be gentle with them. A new documentary, If A Tree Falls, explores the reasons ELF members took justice into their own hands and follows the federal investigation of the activists, deemed "eco-terrorists." Read Audubon's review here and watch our interview with the director and co-director of the film.