Opinion Columns

Science -- Environment -- Geo-politics -- Nature -- Education -- Family -- Academia  

• Recent Columns - Available in full text on the Courant's Website.
• Complete List - Weekly from March 04 - December 07.  Bi-weekly since January 2008.
• Selected Columns, listed alphabetically by topic, and linked to full texts.
• Byline - "Robert M. Thorson is a professor of geology at the University of Connecticut's College of Liberal Arts and Sciences and a member of The Courant's Place Board of Contributors. His column appears every other Thursday. He can be reached at profthorson@yahoo.com."

The full text of every column is available through electronic data bases available through public libraries.  I recommend the search terms "Robert" and "Thorson" under the heading "author" and then either a key word or a date range. Proquest is available through the University Library System.

PHOTO BANNER : Water issues from 2009 freshwater bog Walden to Wobegon. Road sign in Linton, North Dakota urging residents to hook up to the regional Missouri River system, rather than to municipal wells. Porch chair in upstate New Hampshire proclaims patriotism, even as the facility pollutes a nearby lake. Poland Spring water is a registered brand, not a gathering of molecules, and hence need not come from the original well at Poland Spring, which it certainly does not. Paddleboats, choking weeds, and swimming dock at a small lake in southern Ontario illustrate multiple uses of a small lake, one of which is to receive fertilizer runoff.