Technology

What it would take to grow enough food to meet human needs in 2050, while reducing agriculture’s environmental impact? What about supplying the world with clean energy? How do we solve climate change? Experts weigh in on these and many more critical questions.

Here at Audubon, we appreciate a good Internet sensation as much as anyone (if Honey Honey Badger Don’t Care, we certainly do). From snowboarding crows to cute kittens, animals consistently creep into our inboxes and on our Facebook feeds. When these images and videos are posted, blogged, and altered enough to be considered part of the web’s consciousness, they become memes. Animal memes can be silly, offensive, or even insightful – and these are some of the greatest, with explainations of their origins according to Know Your Meme.

Image: Delancey Underground Project

From the time New York City’s High Line Park opened in June 2009, it’s caused a stir. In a city that can feel packed with people, any new nook for trees is a blessing. This park in particular was a reminder of how an aging urban space—in this case, former freight train tracks—could be reused and recycled into something new. Two new proposals for NYC could provide more inspiration.

Photo: Terry Spivey, USDA Forest Service

Ever wonder how birds fly through a cluttered forest? New research out of MIT has offered up a solution: Birds obey the speed limit. 

Image: NASA Earth Observatory map by Robert Simmon, based on multiple data sets compiled and analyzed by the Woods Hole Research Center.

A map of the 48 contiguous states offers a high-res and detailed look at our nation’s trees. The data is more than just a forest census, however. Trees may hold up to 45 percent of the planet's carbon, making this map of this country's organic carbon banks as well.

It was the kind of moment Steve Jobs dreamed of: the gleeful clapping of a 4-year-old, awestruck and delighted by his own image on an Ipad screen. But there’s a twist to this tale. The tot in question is Mahal, a young orangutan at the Milwaukee County Zoo.

The Hall sisters are "Birding the Net" with abandon.

We’ve let birds loose all over the Internet, and we're challenging people to find them.

When we were putting together our special food issue earlier this year, I was struck by the wide range of topics that we covered: factory farms, technology, pollution, nutrition, agricultural traditions, labor conditions, poverty, and so much more. That interconnectedness is being celebrated across the nation today, the first annual Food Day. Modeled on Earth Day, it’s a grassroots drive to improve our food system, sponsored by the nonprofit Center for Science in the Public Interest. There’s plenty that needs fixing.

We know Steve Jobs didn’t have too much to do with birds—except, perhaps, for making possible the creation of all our favorite Angry Birds thanks to his sleek devices. But in honor of the life lost last night, we wanted to briefly pause to show you a couple of the ways he did influence birders, even if just tangentially. Plus, it gives us an excuse to talk about apples and birdfeeders, too.