9 rad nature sites for citizen scientists

Doing good for nature is just a mouse-click away.

Citizen science, or the general public's participation in scientific research, allows the average person to help conservationists do extraordinary, impactful work. Websites that help facilitate this are often filled with simple yet entertaining tasks, which will educate you on the natural world while also freeing up time for conservationists to do the heavy lifting. 

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Find the right site, and the work is anything but menial — and it can have a massive impact, no science degree required. You just need a passion for helping the environment, vulnerable animal populations and those on the frontlines of conservation efforts. 

Here are nine nature websites that will help you save the earth.

1. Monitoring osprey feeding habits

IMAGE: EXPLORE.ORG

Using this 24-hour osprey live stream by bird conservation nonprofit the National Audubon Society and Explore.org, citizen scientists can help researchers monitor feeding patterns of the birds of prey. Users simply keep tabs on the cam, and grab their best snapshot when there's a feeding on the nest.

Sure, tragedy sometimes strikes the nest when an eagle swoops down for a snack — but that's just the ruthless reality of nature. The majority of the time, however, the soothing sound of the water makes for peaceful background noise while you're waiting to take your shot.

2. Classifying bat calls

IMAGE: BATDETECTIVE.ORG

Identifying bat calls isn't as difficult as it might seem. Bat Detective allows users to listen to and sort bat calls so scientists can better understand the behavior of bat populations.

Users classify three-second bat call clips as either for social, searching or feeding purposes depending on their pitch and frequency. Don't worry, it's easier than it sounds — and you'll learn a lot about these slightly creepy (but very important) creatures. 

3. Identifying wild animals for a cause

IMAGE: ZOONIVERSE.ORG

A partnership between big cat nonprofit Panthera and citizen science web portal Zooniverse created your new favorite way to do some good. Through Camera CATalogue, citizen scientists can help classify wild animals to help Panthera researchers learn more about big cat populations.

Users sort through photos taken by Panthera's "camera traps," which take an image every time movement is indicated in the wild. Those photos can capture a number of wild animals — from hartebeests and wildebeests to cheetahs and leopards. Sometimes you'll even run across images of people caught checking up on the cameras, or a jeep speeding by.

The cataloging will allow you to learn more about animals in the wild, while helping conservationists learn more about wild habitats and the big cats that call them home.

4. Decoding nature's past for an improved future

IMAGE: TRANSCRIPTION.SI.EDU

If your hidden talent is reading scrawled handwriting, then these citizen science projects are for you. Scientists have meticulously documented nature for ages — long before the advent of technology. Their handwritten observations now need to be transcribed and documented through computer cataloging — and you can help.

• Science Gossip lets you classify Victorian-era reports and drawings to help map some very early observations of nature.
• Notes From Nature allows citizen scientists to transcribe and document fascinating museums records on nature — complete with scans of actual specimens of beautiful flowers and plants.
• The Transcription Center at the Smithsonian Institute lets you transcribe records — some nature-themed — from one of the most famous museums in the world on a rotating basis. Current selections include a bug diary and field notes from noted scientists.

5. Sorting snapshots of the Serengeti

IMAGE: SNAPSHOTSERENGETI.ORG

If you always wanted to hang out with the wild animals of Tanzania, now's your chance. WithSnapshot Serengeti, you can sort through images taken by camera traps set up by theUniversity of Minnesota's Lion Center, with the goal of helping researchers understand the food webs, biodiversity and sustainability of the region to assist lion conservation efforts.

By categorizing and identifying animals, citizen scientists get an education themselves, learning the difference between a caracal and a wildcat, or a genet and a civet. And it's all while helping researchers monitor vulnerable wild lion populations and save their habitats.

6. Simply counting whales and dolphins

IMAGE: ZOONIVERSE.ORG

Everyone's favorite massive mammals of the ocean need your help — and counting skills. This Zooniverse endeavor, dubbed Snapshots at Sea, is the first step in helping researcher identify individual whales as part of the — wait for it — Whales As Individuals project.

It couldn't be simpler. All users have to do is identify whether there's one or more whales or dolphins in a photo. It's super easy — and super helpful — in cataloging the animals for further research and identification.

7. Counting condors in California

IMAGE: CONDORWATCH.ORG

Condors in California face devastating lead poisoning — and documenting their locations and behavior can help conservationists curb its impact. Condor Watch, an initiative from those on the frontlines of condor conservation, can help.

Users simply look at photos of condors taken by motion-activated cameras set up by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, National Park Service and Ventana Wildlife Society. By identifying the tag number of each condor and its behavior around a feeding carcass, these organizations can judge if the bird's behavior indicates possible lead poisoning. Just try not to get squeamish from the very visible animal carcasses.

8. Picking through pictures of plankton

IMAGE: PLANKTONPORTAL.ORG

Plankton Portal asks you to mark images of plankton taken by underwater imaging systems in the Mediterranean and off the coast of California. The photos then go on to help researchers learn more about the health and stability of the planet's oceans — and hopefully help conservationists in their quest to improve overall ocean health.

As Plankton Portal says, no plankton means no ocean life. So take time to show appreciation for these microscopic organisms' impact on your favorite aquatic creatures.

9. Helping computers understand animal faces

IMAGE: ZOONIVERSE.ORG

Are adorable pictures of animals more your speed? With Understanding Animal Faces, another Zooniverse endeavor, users simply draw a box around the face of each animal in photos. This simple task trains computers on how to identify faces — which can be incredibly valuable to researchers.

The eventual goal is to establish an annotated database of animal faces, comprising hundreds of different animal species. Maybe you'll stumble on American bulldogs, polar bears or even a mountain gorilla. The possibilities — and the species — are nearly endless.

How Apple is taking the tech world’s love affair with renewables to a new level

Apple is no longer just a tech company with a commitment to powering itself completely from renewable energy. It is now officially licensed to sell clean electricity too, in an rare move that could save the company hundreds of millions of dollars in energy costs and corporate taxes.

The California tech giant last week won federal approval to start selling electricity, on top of its iPhones, iPads, MacBooks, watches and headphones. Rather than buying solar and wind electricity from another operator, like most technology firms do, Apple can also sell the juice from its own clean power plants. 

The iPhone maker is part of a growing group of companies pledging to run most or all of their operations on renewable energy. Microsoft, Facebook and Amazon, for example, have also invested in wind farms and solar plants to help power their data centers and warehouses — a move that cuts both greenhouse gas emissions and energy and tax bills.

While apps, files, emails, Pokémons and other digital trappings seem to exist only in the cloud, the facilities needed to store and process that data are extremely energy-intensive. 

The Apple Store in New York City's Upper West Side.

IMAGE: KENA BETANCUR/GETTY IMAGES

Data centers use anywhere from 10 to 50 times the energy per floor space of a typical commercial office building, according to the U.S. Department of Energy. In the U.S., these spaces account for roughly 2 percent of the nation's total energy consumption.

Internet-focused companies are facing pressure from environmental groups and their shareholders to power data centers not with coal or natural gas but with emissions-free alternatives. The activist group Greenpeace, for instance, ranks these companies as dirty or green in its annual “Click Clean” report.

In response to such scrutiny and their growing energy footprints, more companies in tech and other sectors are investing in renewables.

IMAGE: GREENPEACE

Last year, large corporations signed contracts to buy a record 3,200 megawatts of clean energy capacity. That equals about half of all the “power purchase agreements” signed in 2015, in an industry usually dominated by utilities.

“It's a dramatic change from even five years ago,” Jenny Heeter, senior energy analyst at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) in Golden, Colorado, told Mashable. 

The tech sector's focus on renewables has been a big boost for the broader U.S. transition to cleaner energy sources.

In 2014, the IT industry bought about 8.3 million megawatt-hours of renewable energy, about four times the electricity appetite of New York State, according to federal energy data.   

By 2020, the tech sector could buy between 18.5 million and 37 million megawatt-hours of renewables, NREL estimated. That's up to three times all the electricity used in California.  

“We have seen more and more companies making these 100-percent renewables goals and looking for ways to buy renewables,” Heeter said. “It’s definitely becoming a large market.”

Greening Apple

Apple’s latest effort to sell clean electricity — not just buy it — is relatively unique in the tech industry. Among its peers, only Google’s parent Alphabet has federal approval to sell wholesale power, which it won in 2010.

The strategy has three key benefits for the tech giants: It bolsters their green credentials and cuts their environmental footprint; it gives them independence from the broader U.S. electric grid; and it eases a portion of their total tax burdens.

“It is a big step, and not all companies want to be in the energy business,” Heeter said.

“We don’t expect that would be a common strategy for all IT companies,” she added.

On Aug. 4, the U.S. Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) authorized Apple’s subsidiary Apple Energy LLC to sell wholesale energy, power capacity and other services needed to provide reliable electricity.

The FERC filing "supports our plan for 100 percent renewable energy," Apple told Mashable.

Apple said it sought federal approval so it could sell wholesale power from its California Flats Project with First Solar, a major U.S. solar company, and the utility Pacific Gas & Electric.

Apple CEO Tim Cook in February 2015 announced an $850 million deal to buy 130 megawatts of solar power capacity over 25 years from the project in Monterey County. 

That should power all of Apple’s California stores, offices, headquarters and a data center. But it's still a tiny slice — 0.01 percent — of America's total power capacity of nearly 1.2 million megawatts, according to U.S. Energy Information Administration estimates. 

California Flats will eventually encompass 2,900 acres of land and more than double in size, to 280 megawatts of solar capacity. Apple will then own all of the project's output.

With the project, Apple will pay less per unit of electricity than it pays now to buy from a utility company. 

The move should save the company "hundreds of millions of dollars" in avoided energy costs, Lisa Jackson, Apple's vice president of environmental initiatives and former head of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, said at Wall Street Journal's ECO:nomics conference in March 2015.

Apple consumed 966 million kilowatt-hours of electricity in 2015 across all its U.S. and global facilities, the company estimated in its 2016 Environmental Responsibility Report. 

The company said it also planned to use its power-selling abilities for other future projects.

The MacBook producer already owns a handful of large solar projects in the U.S., including a 20-megawatt facility in Nevada and a 50-megawatt solar plant under construction in Arizona. 

Additionally, Cook has pledged to make the company’s new “spaceship” headquarters in Silicon Valley into the “greenest building on the planet.” 

The building, still under construction, will run exclusively on renewables when it’s finished in late 2016, Cook said.

Apple says the company is 93 percent reliant on renewable energy supplies worldwide, marking progress toward its goal of being a 100 percent renewable energy company. 

Still, the company faces plenty of obstacles in its quest for environmental stewardship, including the heavy energy usage of its overseas manufacturing facilities and the lack of recycled materials in its products. 

The dilemma isn't unique to Apple. Many major tech companies have set clean energy goals and released their consumption data, yet some of these numbers may not be completely accurate, according to several studies. 

For example, in its 2015 "Click Clean" report, Greenpeace graded Amazon Web Services an F for transparency. 

The Utility Approach

For corporate behemoths like Apple and Google, each with market caps of more than $500 billion, there can be financial benefits to owning clean energy projects outright, rather than just signing long-term power contracts.

Companies with a sufficiently large tax liability can tap into a pair of federal incentives designed to encourage more investment in clean energy. 

The Investment Tax Credit gives tax breaks to owners of residential and commercial solar projects that is worth 30 percent of project costs. The Production Tax Credit gives wind farm developers 2.3 cents for every kilowatt-hour of electricity that the turbines produce.

The tax breaks not only help make clean electricity cheaper; they also chip away at huge corporate tax bills.

For companies that own solar and wind farms, however, they may not need to use 100 percent of the electricity their projects produce. And if they have excess supplies, then it makes sense for their subsidiaries to sell the extra electrons into the wholesale market and generate revenue, NREL's Heeter explained.

“It gives them some extra flexibility … and the ability to make sure that any excess electricity is sold into the market, instead of not being used,” she said. 

Google said its subsidiary, Google Energy LLC, buys and sells power in the wholesale markets in areas where it can’t directly supply its data centers with renewable energy.

The Ivanpah Solar Electric Generating System, owned by Google, NRG Energy and BrightSource Energy,  sits in the Mojave Desert in California.

IMAGE: ETHAN MILLER/GETTY IMAGES

But other companies aren’t likely to take the leap toward selling energy, either because it doesn’t make financial sense or they don’t want the extra hassle.

The strategy requires a substantial investment in time and resources. Google and Apple, for instance, both created separate subsidiaries to run their energy operations. Applying for regulatory approval is also a long, expensive process laden with paperwork.

“It’s not an easy process, and many companies see it as not really their core business,” Heeter said. So although major IT firms are investing heavily in renewables, most are unlikely to see federal regulatory approval. 

Purchasing Power 

The more common approach for companies is to sign long-term power purchase agreements with another developer, which Google and Apple also do.

The deals are generally considered less risky and cumbersome than owning a power plant outright. 

“You’re just buying the output. Then it’s up to somebody else to manage how those renewables get put on the grid,” Heeter said.

Microsoft, for example, has signed two 20-year power purchase agreements: one to buy 175 megawatts of wind energy from a project in Illinois, and the other to buy 110 megawatts from a North Texas wind farm.

With those agreements, and by buying wind, solar and hydropower straight from the grid, Microsoft has been able to power 44 percent of its data centers with renewable energy, the company said.

“But this means we have the opportunity to do even more,” a Microsoft spokesperson said. 

The Redmond, Washington-based software giant recently announced a new goal to power 50 percent of its data centers with clean power by the end of 2018.

When asked if Microsoft would create a Microsoft Energy, a spokesperson said: "We’re committed to playing a role in accelerating the transition to a clean energy infrastructure, whether that is through the purchase of a project, or backing projects through long-term purchase commitments."

Facebook said it powered 35 percent of its data centers with renewable energy in 2015 and also aims to reach 50 percent by 2018.  

Facebook's data center in Prineville, Oregon.

IMAGE: FACEBOOK

Two of Facebook’s data centers in Iowa and in Sweden are powered by renewable energy. Data centers currently under construction in Ireland and Fort Worth, Texas will be entirely powered by wind energy.

Facebook declined to comment on whether the Menlo Park-based company has plans to create a subsidiary for energy selling like Apple and Google. 

As for Amazon — which is drawing more and more of its profits from powering the internet through Amazon Web Services —  the e-commerce giant set a goal to power 40 percent of its facilities with renewables by the end of this year.

The company oversees three wind farms — in Indiana, North Carolina and Ohio — and one solar farm in Virginia. 

Other tech giants have taken new steps into renewable energy and have committed to a 100 percent goal. This year, Salesforce signed two power purchase agreements with wind farms in Texas and West Virginia. 

“As a cloud company, it is our responsibility to seek out clean energy sources to power our data centers,” said Patrick Flynn, director of sustainability at Salesforce. 

The story behind the star-studded film that schooled Donald Trump on climate change

Hillary Clinton’s campaign is hoping to capitalize on yet another controversial proclamation from Donald Trump: That global warming is a hoax.

Trump, the Republican presidential nominee, has said he rejects the scientific consensus on climate change and opposes most U.S. efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and curb fossil fuel use.

“Obama’s talking about all of this with the global warming and … a lot of it’s a hoax,” Trump said at a Dec. 30 campaign rally in South Carolina. “I mean, it’s a money-making industry, okay? It’s a hoax, a lot of it.”

Trump’s anti-climate stance is the focus of a new short film, directed by James Cameron, that will play tonight at the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia.

“Not Reality TV” offers a gut-wrenching survey of the consequences of climate change, including deadly floods, rising seas, crop-killing droughts and raging wildfires. 

But the video also highlights the deep divide between Trump’s agenda — including his avowal to “cancel” the Paris climate change agreement — and Clinton’s pledge to “tackle” the climate challenge and install millions of solar panels throughout the country.

Clinton, who last night became the first woman to head a major party ticket, vowed in a voiceover to transform the United States into “the world’s clean energy superpower.”

Trump dons a hard hat to show his support for U.S. coal miners at a West Virginia rally.

IMAGE: GETTY IMAGES

The five-and-a-half minute video is part of a broader effort by Democrats and Clinton supporters to make global warming a key issue among voters in the 2016 presidential race, Cameron told Mashable and other reporters on a Wednesday press call.

“It should be a much bigger issue than it is,” the climate activist said. “I think people of compassion, people of conscious really need to take this problem seriously.”

Cameron, who directed such blockbusters as Avatar and Titanic, also produced the Emmy Award-winning documentary TV series Years of Living Dangerously, which chronicles both climate change and clean energy progress in the United States and globally.

At the Republican National Convention in Cleveland last week, Republicans barely gave climate change a passing glance. Trump didn’t mention climate or the environment at all during his big speech, and GOP politicians who did reference the climate threat only did so when deriding Democrats.

Sen. John Barrasso (R-Wyo.), who chairs the GOP platform committee, drew laughs from other committee members when he noted that Democrats were planning to include climate change in their party platform, Talking Points Memo reported.

"There's sections about that they call 'climate justice' — climate justice!" Barrasso said at last week’s meeting.

In Philadelphia, by contrast, climate change is taking center stage.

“This election is about climate change, the great environmental crisis facing our planet,” Sen. Bernie Sanders, runner-up for the Democratic presidential nomination, said Monday on the first night of the DNC.

“Hillary Clinton understands that a president’s job is to worry about future generations, not the profits of the fossil fuel industry,” the Vermont senator said, noting that Trump “chooses to reject science.”

With Wednesday's video, Democrats also hope to appeal to undecided voters who — if not already turned off by Trump’s controversial stances on immigration, freedom of religion and national security — might be dissuaded by the candidate’s denial of climate science, Cameron said.

To that end, the film includes the voices of Republican, military and religious leaders warning of the threats of climate change.

“We all know that human activities are changing the atmosphere in unexpected and in unprecedented ways,” former President George H.W. Bush said in an old video clip.

“I’m a Christian; I’m a conservative in many ways. And I also believe that climate change is real,” said Andrew Farley, a pastor and academic whose wife, Katharine Hayhoe, is a prominent climate scientist. 

“A thermometer is not Republican. A thermometer is not Democrat,” he added.

Cameron said the video is “partially a reach across [party] lines, and partially calling bullshit on the hypocrisy of people who know this is a serious problem and refuse to do anything about it.”

The Hollywood director and his wife, Suzy Amis Cameron, made contributions to the DNC's account; that money was used to pay Mob Scene, a production company, for the film, a public relations representative told Mashable. Cameron worked with that company as a volunteer to create the film, which he made specifically for the DNC.