Latest Content for Locus Focus

HIGHWAY TO HELL: CANADIAN TAR SANDS EXTRACTION & THE PACIFIC NORTHWEST Now that most of the easy oil on our planet is gone, oil companies are turning to exotic places to extract oil: deep under the ocean as well as from shale and sand formations. In the far north of Alb... Read more

Now that most of the easy oil on our planet is gone, oil companies are turning to exotic places to extract oil: deep under the ocean as well as from shale and sand formations. In the far north of Alberta, Canada, millions of acres of pristine boreal forest are being stri... Read more

CATACLYSMS ON THE COLUMBIA: THE FORCES THAT CARVED THE COLUMBIA GORGE Missoula Floods were one of the greatest sets of geological events in North America. Occurring as many as 40 times during the last ice age, the floods were caused by waters released from ancient Lake ... Read more

Missoula Floods were one of the greatest sets of geological events in North America. Occurring as many as 40 times during the last ice age, the floods were caused by waters released from ancient Lake Missoula that scoured the Columbia River basin, carved out the Columbia... Read more

WHAT'S HAPPENING WITH THE SELLWOOD BRIDGE? It's been nearly two years since a neighborhood-backed plan was approved to rebuild the Sellwood Bridge with only two auto lanes, along with bike and pedestrian paths and street car tracks. But in recent months the final decisio... Read more

It's been nearly two years since a neighborhood-backed plan was approved to rebuild the Sellwood Bridge with only two auto lanes, along with bike and pedestrian paths and street car tracks. But in recent months the final decisions on bridge design and funding have hit st... Read more

THE SALMONELLA EGG RECALL: ANIMAL WELFARE AND HUMAN HEALTH This past summer half a billion salmonella-tainted eggs were recalled. It turns out that these eggs were raised at huge factory farms in Iowa, where up to 80,000 hens are crammed into cages in filthy, rodent-infest... Read more

This past summer half a billion salmonella-tainted eggs were recalled. It turns out that these eggs were raised at huge factory farms in Iowa, where up to 300,000 hens are crammed into cages in filthy, rodent-infested sheds. The salmonella scare has made many people thin... Read more

SUMMER OF 2010: FLOODS, FIRES AND MUDSLIDES The summer of 2010 brought us some very dramatic weather extremes, from the monsoon flooding in Pakistan, and devastating mud slides in China, to the most intense heat wave and worst rash of forest fires that Russia has ever se... Read more

The summer of 2010 brought us some very dramatic weather extremes, from the monsoon flooding in Pakistan, and devastating mud slides in China, to the most intense heat wave and worst rash of forest fires that Russia has ever seen. Are these catastrophic events a sign tha... Read more