Happy 2016! For those of us in the environmental industry, 2016 has already been a year full of headlines. Some of the more positive headlines however, happened just before the end of 2015. In late December, Texas set a new energy record when it produced 40% of its total electricity by wind for 17 full hours. Take a moment to let that sink in. For 17 straight hours Texas was producing just under HALF of its electricity via wind turbines. Continue reading
The sage grouse is a bird that made national headlines this week because of the US Fish and Wildlife Service’s decision to keep this animal off of the federal endangered species list. This verdict comes out of multiple years of tension between the federal government, environmentalists, and energy companies in contemplating how to best protect both the bird and financial interests. Continue reading
Much of our work at Banks involves GIS software. We thought we’d give you some background on these tools.
GIS, which stands for geographic/geospatial information systems, is a software tool used for analyzing the spatial components of any given data set. One of the most widely used tools is ArcGIS software, but there are also many free GIS systems available to people of all experience levels as well as plentiful online resources to learn about the various softwares. Most of the tutorials are free. Continue reading
Credit: Aric Crabb/Bay Area News Group, via Associated Press
El Niño, also known as the El Niño Southern Oscillation, is a climatic condition where warm waters in the pacific alter weather patterns across the globe. In the United States, this typically results in dryer than average winters for the northern states and wetter than average winters for the southern states down to Mexico. These conditions usually emerge about once every five years.
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Everyone loves a long weekend in late summer. But how did this holiday and treasured American tradition come into being?
According to the Department of Labor,
“Labor Day, the first Monday in September, is a creation of the labor movement and is dedicated to the social and economic achievements of American workers. It constitutes a yearly national tribute to the contributions workers have made to the strength, prosperity, and well-being of our country.”
Read more about the history of Labor Day here.
Enjoy the holiday!
The Banks Team
The United States National Park Service celebrated it’s 99th birthday this Tuesday, and with that came free admission to all 408 of the parks, monuments, and other landmarks within the NPS system. In celebration, we have included a slideshow with stunning aerial imagery of our beautiful park system. Continue reading
