Skeptics Stack Exchange
Skeptics Stack Exchange

Questions tagged [environment]

Referring to the surrounding ecosystem of the planet Earth, its natural mechanisms and balances, and study of the effects of human interaction with it.

191 questions
3
votes
1 answer

Is the water used in coal burning power plants "never returned to the environment"?

According to a Duke University press release titled Replacing Coal with Gas or Renewables Saves Billions of Gallons of Water: Water consumption – the amount of water used by a power plant and never returned to the environment – drops by 260…
DavePhD
  • 103,432
  • 24
  • 436
  • 464
3
votes
1 answer

Has regulated hunting never led to threatened or endangered wildlife populations?

Hunting advocates and various fish and game bureaus argue that hunting is an effective and needed means to control various species and manage wildlife. One such claim says that "hunting benefits all wildlife" and that: Scientifically-based and…
user11643
3
votes
1 answer

Can current flooding in California end the years-long drought?

California has been stricken by severe drought for years now, to the point that the governor has been required to mandate water rationing. In an Accuweather piece about the storm currently ravaging the west coast of the US, senior meteorologist Alex…
TheEnvironmentalist
  • 315
  • 1
  • 3
3
votes
0 answers

Is Russia funding environmentalist groups to protest fracking?

Leaked transcripts from a private Clinton speech suggest that Russia has given large amounts of money to environmentalist groups in Europe and the US to promote protests against fracking, according to this article from October 2016. Similar claims…
user6246
  • 149
  • 1
3
votes
1 answer

Is animal agriculture the leading cause of species extinction?

The cause of species extinction interests me. Cowspiracy: The Sustainability Secret is a documentary that attacks the environmental damage caused by animal agriculture. Their facts page states (with references): Animal agriculture is the leading…
Looft
  • 441
  • 4
  • 7
3
votes
1 answer

Are latex balloons biodegradable?

The Balloon Council, a pro-balloon lobbying organization, makes the following claims on its website: A latex balloon is made from 100 percent organic material and is 100 percent biodegradable. Stress caused by inflation starts this decomposition…
Evan Carroll
  • 28,401
  • 42
  • 129
  • 239
3
votes
0 answers

Does a dog have a larger carbon footprint than a SUV?

In his song, The Fence, Tim Minchin makes the claim that dogs have a larger carbon footprint than a four-wheel drive. YouTube video of The Fence Is this actually the case?
Russell Steen
  • 12,872
  • 1
  • 64
  • 86
3
votes
1 answer

Does using paper contribute to deforestation?

Does paper use contribute to deforestation? Many people and groups insist that it does because large amounts of trees are cut down to produce paper. Thus some amount of the forest lost every year must be the consequence of paper consumption. Other…
Winston Ewert
  • 167
  • 5
3
votes
2 answers

Does Carbon Dioxide mix well in the atmosphere?

At Skeptical Science, they explain: Mauna Loa is often used as an example of rising carbon dioxide levels because its the longest, continuous series of directly measured atmospheric CO₂. The reason why it's acceptable to use Mauna Loa as a proxy…
user19459
  • 39
  • 1
3
votes
1 answer

How fair is "N% lower environment load" claim for lower grammage paper?

This is basically a rephrase of this question from Sustainability SE. Paper manufacturer UPM claims they have paper that has the same key characteristics (as white, as thick and as usable in office equipment) as "usual" office paper but lower…
sharptooth
  • 1,891
  • 1
  • 14
  • 16
3
votes
1 answer

Is Gasification of Garbage a Viable Energy Solution?

I read this NYT article about using blast furnaces to turn garbage into burnable gas, yielding a net energy output. The article suggests that the company, Sierra Energy, is very close to building a commercial system. The article also states that the…
speedplane
  • 131
  • 2
3
votes
0 answers

Does lead used in electronics leach into the environment via landfill at detrimental levels?

Despite being one of the earliest metals exploited by man, lead is an environmental poison. If it gets into the body it causes a variety of acute and chronic symptoms and even low levels are thought to have noticeable effects especially on children…
matt_black
  • 56,186
  • 16
  • 175
  • 373
2
votes
0 answers

Is vertical farming viable?

Are vertical farms a “a global solution” to the world’s urban food needs." - Professor Dickson Despommier or just bad math written large? Vertical farms are portrayed as amazing solutions, but I can't find any real numbers on how viable they look to…
Suni
  • 121
  • 2
2
votes
0 answers

Is dolphin hunting in Taiji unsustainable?

In the article "Dolphin hunt claim denied" (page 3 of mX Sydney, 25 March 2015), Australia for Dolphins chief executive Sarah Lucas refers to "the violent and unsustainable dolphin hunts in Taiji". The article doesn't specify what "unsustainable"…
Andrew Grimm
  • 38,859
  • 36
  • 141
  • 342
2
votes
0 answers

Is it actually beneficial to reduce water consumption?

Household appliances are getting more and more efficient at conserving water, and advertising claims that this helps conserve the environment. Some time ago, I've seen a documentary about a German waste water treatment plant where the incoming water…
Simon Richter
  • 129
  • 3
1 2 3
…
12
13