TreeHugger

WTO: From "Battle In Seattle" To "No News From Geneva"

Fri, 25 Jul 2008 01:06:02 -0500

World trade rules are incredibly complex and right now, government officials are meeting in Geneva to try to hammer out an agreement to save the World Trade Organization. Remember how the negotiations failed spectacularly nine years ago in Seattle? The same proposals - many of them anti-environmental, a...

END Tries For A Recycled Content, Sustainable Sneaker

Thu, 24 Jul 2008 19:10:05 -0500

On August 1, at REI stores and at the REI web site, trail runners and hikers from newcomer Environmentally Neutral Design (END) go on sale for between $60 and $90 a pair. Recycled content sneakers END, a start-up in Nike's hometown of Portland and with a former Nike employee as founder, is aiming to sell a sneaker that has sustainable attributes - no "air" insets or other fancy extras. Instead, END's Stumptown sneakers have very earthy tones and a streamlined design with 15 to up to 30 % recycled rubber in the soles. END and other experts say more recycled content in the soles doesn't work for high performance running and hiking shoes. If...

Graphic Of The Day: Cumulative Non-OPEC Oil Production Changes - 2003 To 2007

Thu, 24 Jul 2008 18:48:13 -0500

Useful for thinking about foreign policy choices, peak oil uncertainties, and, of course, cost. Via::USEIA, International Energy Outlook 2008 with Projections to 2030, Cumulative (ppt file)...

Don't Take it for Granite that Your Countertop isn't Radioactive

Thu, 24 Jul 2008 17:22:19 -0500

I have a lot of issues with granite countertops, the cherry on top of the McMansion sundae; they are heavy, expensive and cost a lot to ship. I have heard stories of Brazilian granite being shipped to China for cutting and then to Toronto for installation. Now the New York Times tells us about another problem: some of it glows in the dark. The Times reports that demand for granite has increased tenfold in the last decade, and the stuff is coming from 63 countries; some are more radioactive than others. “It’s not that all granite is dangerous,” said Stanley Liebert, the quality assurance director at CMT Laboratories in Clifton Park, N.Y., “But I’ve seen a few that...

Greensburg Hits Connecticut's 'Burbs Through Photography

Thu, 24 Jul 2008 17:16:00 -0500

Having grown up in Connecticut’s ‘burbs, I know just how difficult it can be trying to live green there when the nearest grocery market can be a 25 minute drive away. My observations of one of the state’s wealthiest parts (Fairfield County) have felt like a series of dichotomies. You might see a lush veggie garden growing beside an, old Victorian home but then a SUV or two parked in the driveway. Or a family of three eating all organic but living inside a giant McMansion. I’m sure this suburban story isn’t exclusive to CT and I bet I’m not the only one daydreaming of a time when it won’t take a natural disaster to build suburbia green from the bottom up, like they did wit...

Massive Saharan Solar Project Could Power $71 Billion EU Supergrid

Thu, 24 Jul 2008 16:05:00 -0500

Image from bachmont Sometimes called the Saudi Arabia of solar energy, the Sahara could soon be home to dozens of huge solar farms under a new EU supergrid initiative to supply the continent's electricity needs with renewable energy. The Guardian's Alok Jha reports that the plan, which would cost around $71 billion (€45 billion) and take several decades to finish, would let all EU countries share electricity from wind, geothermal and solar energy. Solar...

Surveillance for Obesity Coming to London?

Thu, 24 Jul 2008 15:25:04 -0500
Matthew noted earlier the connections between a high meat, high processed food-based diet and climate change; It has also been noted that obesity is an environmental issue as well as a health issue, a big deal in countries with national health systems like Britain and Canada. In the UK, where they have surveillance for everything everywhere, RCA student and engineer Benjamin Males has designed the Static Obesity Logging Device, or SOLA, which measures the body mass index of passers-by. "The casing of the device conceals a mass of technologi...

Larry’s Beans Launches Biodegradable Packaging for Coffee

Thu, 24 Jul 2008 15:24:17 -0500
It’s no secret that we like Larry’s Beans. We’ve posted a few videos about the company and even included them in our Valentine’s Day Gift Guide. So when we heard the news that the company has launched biodegradable packaging for their already delicious coffee, we started searching our local spots to see where we can find it. When we first read the headline, we thought “well, it must be made from corn-based” plastic, after all, that’s one of the most popular bi...

Plan for Park(ing) Day 2008

Thu, 24 Jul 2008 15:04:08 -0500
Thanks to Anna, who asks today in the comments to a former Park(ing) Day:
I would love to do something like this in my town next year, BUT, How do I know what day is Park(ing) Day?? Someone care to give me dates?
Thanks, Anna
Well, Anna, it is not too soon to start planning for Parking Day 2008 on 19 September 2008! For those not yet familiar with Park(ing) Day, it is a one-day event originated by REBAR in San Francisco. Artists, activists and citizens gather to transform parking spots into NO Parking Parks: artistic, miniature, tempor...

Tryckcykeln: 4 Color Printing by 4 Colored Bicycles

Thu, 24 Jul 2008 14:30:54 -0500
People will have to get very creative when the lights go out; Swedish design students Calle Enström and Johan Undén certainly did when they turned four bikes into a colour printing system. After all, they say "Vi gillar att cykla och vi gillar att trycka". (We like to cycle and we like to press.) There is one bike each for cyan, mangenta, yellow and black. They printed a book on it as well. ...

Plasma TVs Draw More Juice from Grid than Plug-In Vehicles

Thu, 24 Jul 2008 14:30:15 -0500
Plasma TVs vs. Plug-In Cars We already wrote about a study by Oak Ridge National Laboratory that shows that plug-in cars might not need new power plants (or few of them), and now we learn that a big screen plasma TV actually drains more power from the grid than a plug-in. "Plasma TVs, industry officials say, consume about four times the electricity as recharging a plug-in hybrid. Yet utilities have managed to cope with the increased loads as thousands of new televisions came on line." Transition Rate is What Matters Mark Duvall from the...

Putting the Sun's Temperature in a Tube: SEHC Labs Turns Up the Heat on Solar Thermal Energy

Thu, 24 Jul 2008 14:25:43 -0500
image: SHEC Solar Hydrogen Energy Corporation Labs has announced that they have developed the world’s most efficient solar thermal energy technology. Though only at the prototype stage, SEHC has developed a way to concentrate sunlight to levels 5,000 that which normally fall on the Earth’s surface. By focusing the light through a tube the heat can approach 6,000°C, a temperature which can melt metal at the light’s focus point. In order to keep the system from self-destructing the heat has to be continually pulled off the tube and put to work elsewhere. ...

Indiana Launches Ambitious Energy Plan

Thu, 24 Jul 2008 14:23:26 -0500

As debate over U.S. energy policy stalls on whether or not we should drill for more oil, it's heartening to see states taking the lead on real energy solutions.

And it's not just California anymore. From Texas's multi-billion dollar wind projects to Pennsylvania's rust-belt renewal, states across the country are realizing the m...

Architects: Your Websites Suck. Read This Post!

Thu, 24 Jul 2008 13:58:06 -0500
There is not much green about this post; you can consider it a rant or perhaps a public service. One of the joys of this gig is that I get to look at the work of a lot of talented architects and great green design; one of the horrors of it is that I have to look at a lot of their websites. For some reason architects think that if they can design a building, then they can reinvent web design; Every day I have to learn a new way to navigate through a site, get stronger glasses for the tiny type, and endure interminable flash intros. Sometimes I never actually do find anything at all, it is so hard to get around. If they designed their building...

One Fewer SUV: You Decide What Happens to It (Blow it Up? Donate it?)

Thu, 24 Jul 2008 13:38:21 -0500
You Decide the Fate of this SUV Ryan Mickle made a website to help decide what he will do with his Range Rover Sport SUV. Here's his story: "In 2006, I bought this beautiful but totally excessive Range Rover Sport. A big part of the motivation then was the huge tax write off for heavy SUVs, combined with a short commute and weekly trips to go hiking with friends. Since I moved back to San Francisco, I don't need a car, so I want to take this SUV off the road for good. If I sold it, it'd just keep polluting with someone else behind the wheel. So I'm leaving what to do with it to everyone to help me decide." Ryan wants your suggestions. Should he bl...

Save Energy, Save the Planet, Lose Weight = Eat Less Meat & Junk Food

Thu, 24 Jul 2008 13:33:38 -0500
photo by flako via flickr We’ve covered the connection between a high meat, high processed food-based diet and climate change a number of times: Most recently on how meat and dairy production itself creates more carbon emissions than how we ship those products to market. Adding more fuel to this fire is a new report from Cornell University published in Human Ecology. One-Fifth of U.S. Energy Consumption Goes Into Food Production The study points out that considering that the average U.S. citizen consum...

Green Power for Your Home Gets a Little More Affordable, in New Jersey

Thu, 24 Jul 2008 12:35:20 -0500
photo by Richard Masoner One of the easiest ways for homeowners to reap the benefits of solar power, with a minimum of up-front costs is to enroll in a lease agreement such as offered by Solar City or Helio. However, this sort of plan isn’t available everywhere, and some homeowners would prefer to own their system outright. For those people in the latter category, if you live in New Jersey, PSE&G has announced a prog...

Ford Introduces 63.6 MPG ECOnetic Diesel Fiesta... Only in Europe

Thu, 24 Jul 2008 11:45:26 -0500
Ford Fiesta ECOnetic Diesel At the British International Motor Show, Ford has introduced the ECOnetic version of its Ford Fiesta. The engine is a 1.6-liter Duratorq TDCi (diesel) that has been tweaked for efficiency. Fuel economy for the ECOnetic Fiesta is 3.7 L/100km (63.6 mpg US) combined, or 3.2 L/100km (73.5 mpg US) on the highway! It's not exactly a race car, with 0 to 60 mph in 12 seconds, but those who will buy it won't care, the mileage will more than make up for it. Fuel Saving Tricks The ECOnetic Fiesta uses a bunch of tricks to reduce fuel consumption, things like improved aerodynamics (its coefficient of drag is 0.33)...

Wetland ‘Carbon Bomb’ Has One of Its Wires Cut: Democratic Republic of Congo Creates World’s Largest Protected Wetland

Thu, 24 Jul 2008 11:38:50 -0500
Congo River photo by LM TP via flickr. Scientists warned the world last week that due to human interference in wetlands, a potential 'carbon bomb' is waiting to go off. As wetlands are increasingly drained due to urban sprawl or expansion of agricultural lands the 771 billion tons of carbon dioxide sequestered begins to be released. Now, thanks to action by the Democratic Republic of Congo, at least some of that sequestered carbon will remain out of the atmosphere. ...

Urban Mining: Philadelphia is Losing its Manhole Covers

Thu, 24 Jul 2008 11:33:18 -0500
Installing lock on manhole cover; Jessica Kourkounis for The New York Times It is happening everywhere; the price of metals has climbed so high that everything that isn't nailed down (and a lot that is) is being stolen and "recycled." In Philadelphia, over 2500 manholes and sewer grates have disappeared in the past year, compared to the previous average of 100. People are falling into the holes; “They used to say the streets around here will swallow you up, but they were talking about drugs and guns.” Finally a city worker developed a way to lock them from the inside. ...

Tiga's Travel To Be 100% Carbon Offset With Atmosfair

Thu, 24 Jul 2008 11:05:55 -0500
We had a great time dancing to Tiga last weekend at Summercase Festival in Barcelona. Now we are even more fans of him having read that he decided to carbon offset all his future travels, similar to Radiohead, José Gonzáles, Pearl Jam or

Waste Not, Want Not: The Future of Toilets

Thu, 24 Jul 2008 10:51:21 -0500
Turning waste into fertilizer in Boston We have written before about the need to change our waste water system that mixes black and gray water and flushes it away; commenters were not impressed and wrote "Composting toilets are NEVER going to make it into the main stream market. Debating it is silly." But the debate is happening anyways; Rebecca Tuhus-Dubrow writes an excellent article in the Boston Globe on the subject. "IN A WORLD of rapidly diminishing resources, there's one we tend to overlook. It's easy to produce and extremely abundant. But instead of viewing it as an embarra...

The "Real" Cost of Bananas: Crop Dusting and Toxic Fungicides in Costa Rica

Thu, 24 Jul 2008 10:28:20 -0500
Stephen Brooks is the co-founder of Kopali Organics and a correspondent for Planet Green’s G Word. A common topic when discussing environmental issues is the acronym “NIMBY,” meaning “Not in My Backyard.” This simple phrase refers to the way many people around the world are not overly concerned with man...

Why the Arctic Won’t Keep Our Cars Running: Arctic Oil Reserve Potential a Quarter of Previous Estimates

Thu, 24 Jul 2008 10:18:29 -0500
photo by Baine via flickr A couple of months ago we reported on how the Las Vegas firm Arctic Oil & Gas announced that the Arctic could contain 400 billion barrels of oil, a figure that would be more than double the largest conventional oil field in the world, Saudi Arabia’s Ghawar—an oil field, which, despite Saudi claims to the contrary, is likely in terminal decline. Oil Potential in Arctic Revised Downward Well, not so fast: According new(er) data from the US Geological Survey, that 400 billion barrel figure is a littl...

New York Times Goes For The Mild Jalapeño Salsa: A Food Tracking System To Lower Salmonella Risk

Thu, 24 Jul 2008 09:50:50 -0500
Predictably, today's NYT has an opinion piece calling for a half-hot sauce, a command and control-style food 'tracking system', to make more safe from contamination, food produced in places that lack even clean public water. Tracking the life cycle of Jalapeños, to avoid salmonella exposure in a restaurant 2 thousand miles distant is not only logistical and financial pile on; it is a way of locking locally produced food out of the entire US market place.
Congress could relieve consumers and food producers alike with a comprehensive food-safety bill that would require a system for tracin...

Escape to New York

Thu, 24 Jul 2008 09:30:05 -0500
John Carpenter had it backwards; Snake Plissken's job is going to be keeping people out of New York, not in it. According to the New York Post, "The subprime crisis and the gas price crisis are accelerating the trend that people want to be in walkable urban areas," said Christopher B. Leinberger, a visiting fellow at the Brookings Institute, who is also a real estate developer. "It's been happening for the past 15 years and these trends have just accelerated it." Whereas New York City had the most housing starts in the nation last year, "If you look at what is happening in California you see the trend; in Los ...

TH Blog Love - Our Favourite Greens Of The Week

Thu, 24 Jul 2008 09:27:00 -0500
BBC Thread: Cottoning On by Joanna Yarrow "Fibres like cotton can be far from natural by the time they reach the shops. Joanna Yarrow exposes how the production process can be crippling to both people and their environment" Ecorazzi: French Vogue Peta Controversy by mlariviere "French Vogue is making a pretty big statement with a photo-spread in its August issue. Model Raquel Zimmermann is seen walking through the streets of Paris, wearing fur and leather while 'sticking it to PETA p...

The TH Interview: Paul Hawken—Blessed Unrest (Part Two)

Thu, 24 Jul 2008 09:11:33 -0500
Image credit: Shall.us
In part two of our in-depth discussion, Paul Hawken unpacks his new opensource, wiki-based Web entity, WISER Earth. He also offers up some details on Blessed Unrest the movie (and the remix), and brings it back to basics with the news no one wants to talk about. ::TreeHugger Radio Listen to the podcast of this interview via iTunes, or just click

Taking Back the Streets: Dumpster Diving in Style

Thu, 24 Jul 2008 08:50:01 -0500
London designer Oliver Bishop-Young's work "focuses on skips [Britspeak for dumpsters] and looks at three main areas: exchange of waste materials, re-use of waste and making use of wasted spaces." While he does wonderful things with dumpsters, turning them into everything from swimming pools to skateboard parks, he has a more serious ambition. ...

Johnny Depp's Green Home, Dark Knight's Eco-blunders, Natalie Portman's Green Project Runway, and More

Thu, 24 Jul 2008 08:05:59 -0500
...Alas, Johnny Depp is going public with his eco-lifestyle. A few years back, the super-private actor and hater of Hollywood excess bought a 35-acre Caribbean Island he endearingly named "F*ck Off Island." Now he's planning to have his "leave me alone" paradise run on clean energy. According to the Huffington Post, the actor is third in line to receive a grid-independent solar hydrogen system from Mike Strizki, the man who created the first solar- hydrogen house in the United States. Via:ecorazzi...

Adam Stein on Vertical Farms: "Pie in the Sky"

Thu, 24 Jul 2008 08:00:58 -0500
Downtown Real Estate Too Expensive for Food Production? Vertical Farming has gotten us TreeHuggers excited on more than one occasion. From this diagonal tower to a lively debate in our forums, the concept of moving food production closer to population centres is certainly an intriguing one (not to mention reducing the geographical footprint of a farm). However, there are dissenters. And the ever thoughtful Adam Stein of TerraPa...

A Picture is Worth...Stolen Bikes

Thu, 24 Jul 2008 07:48:38 -0500
The story of Igor the bicycle thief in Toronto just gets more astonishing by the day; his concert pianist wife, "one of Canada's best accompanists," was just charged. He seems to be personally responsible for the City's reputation as the bike theft capital of North America; the picture shows just some of the 2,000 bicycles police have pulled out of houses, garages and warehouses. I will stop being churlish and asking why it took so long, and will just be thankful that it might be over. ::...

Great Ideas: Beach Cleanup

Thu, 24 Jul 2008 05:52:55 -0500
(Image: Takakuku) As the weekend approaches, I'm thinking of the beach and maybe going for a swim. The Pacific Ocean is a wonderful place to go on a steaming hot July day, on this side of it as well. What is not so great is the trash. It was worse a decade ago, and I recently found out why. Local volunteers are making a huge effort to get people to join beach cleanup campaigns along Japan's long coastline. Japan Environmental Action Network (JEAN) was founded by three Japanese women who wanted to do something about the trash they found on their trips to the ocean, and held its...

Eco-Friendly Art or Not?

Thu, 24 Jul 2008 05:05:29 -0500
We thought that Anthony Gormley's winning proposal for the fourth plinth was the most ecological art possible: a different person standing on top of a column for an hour, all day, every day, for 100 days. Some commenters at TreeHugger disagreed since people had to travel to get to it and the structure itself wasn't green. But Martin Creed, another English artist, may have upped the stakes with Work No 850, his entry for the controversial Turner Prize. It consists of a runner sprinting through the ga...

Wanted: Green Electronics Blogger to Write for TreeHugger ($1000 Referral Reward!)

Wed, 23 Jul 2008 23:50:48 -0500
Image via Sparking Tech We're looking for a full-time blogger who can cover the latest, hippest, greenest gadgets and electronics. We are looking for someone who has in-depth knowledge and passion about this topic, can identify and explore current and emerging trends, un...