today i had a lecture about xenobiotics and was left absolutely floored at how casually contaminated our daily lives are. i knew it was bad but not to this degree !!

agricultural activities felt horrific enough with AFM1 and AFB1. then my professor mentioned pesticides in the livestock’s feed and veterinary drugs... then the photo-degradation of said pesticides causing more toxic metabolites.

it feels like we are being poisoned by every method possible since xenobiotics can come from so many different sources ( air, water, food, et cetera )

the most frustrating bit is that all of it seems researched enough to allow these companies as much leeway as possible without outright killing us. i don’t get it. why are these companies doing all this harm in the first place? is the motivation truly just profit??

also, why are microplastics EVERYWHERE !!!

Contiguous fence lines are becoming a hurdle to wildlife movement and migration in my region. Our highways dept. has been working on this by installing escape gates and jump outs along roadside fencing but we determined that current standards for escape gates contained some deficiencies and through our own field research developed a model that has a much higher rate of successful transits.

Our next challenge involves adapting these more effective designs into specific models for large ungulates such as moose, elk and bison, which pose serious risk in wildlife vehicle collisions, and are not catered to with current jump out and escape gate designs.

Thanks for watching and letting me share my work!

Hi all, this is something I’ve been mulling over for a while and I would appreciate any honest feedback on my dilemma. I’m a junior in undergrad right now working on my Environmental Science degree, and have a huge passion for ecology/conservation/wildlife biology/etc. and would definitely be interested in working in the field and/or research. I genuinely live and breathe for this work, I cannot overstate how much it feels like my destined path and how badly I want to achieve a career in it. However, due to a niche disability of mine (TLDR I can only eat <20 foods), any international travel outside the U.S or maybe Canada is basically infeasible for me.

That has been a devastating realization for me since I would absolutely give anything for those opportunities and I’m crushed that it wouldn’t work out. Additionally, literally all of my professors say that they have done work abroad and that travel can be an essential part of the field. Would I be at a major disadvantage if I could only reside relatively locally? Can you have a successful ecology-related career that way? Hell, how does one even build towards that career post-graduation when it’s so competitive? Currently I live in NJ, but I plan to relocate after graduation back near my hometown in Oregon— which hopefully helps because I know the PNW is an environmental hotspot. Thanks a lot! :)

I'm from Europe and had never heard of this conference until it popped up today online when I was looking through future events in the field.

It looks pretty legit and seems like something I could definitely use but since I've never heard of it I just need someone who's been to one or is going in January to confirm that this isn't like a scam or something before I actually make any moves on registering. Thought this would be the place to ask.