For such a gentle creature, the Florida Manatee actually has a tough life. I mean, they just sort of bob and float around and eat grass all day, which is pretty nice, but with Manatee Awareness Month starting in November, it's a good time to look at the number of deadly threats facing...
It’s conservatives’ favorite science-denying talking point: that global warming has slowed down, or even stopped altogether, over the last 15 years. It’s bogus, of course. Read Chris Mooney’s great feature for a full breakdown of how the myth has been spread. (Among other dishonest sh...
Think about the volume of toys manufactured each year. Millions upon millions of games, dolls, trinkets and other baubles are churned out for the entertainment of children around the world. As the titans that make them start considering their complete environmental footprints , they a...
[T]he entire flow of the Susquehanna River contributes 26 billion gallons of water per day to the Chesapeake Bay. The cumulative volume of water used by all wells in Pennsylvania is roughly equal to the daily flow from the entire river basin. These cumulative impacts are especially im...
Once you detach the fear of unknown technology we can directly address the fear of corporate oligarchy. That, I think, is a legitimate fear. There are real problems with the consolidation of our crop innovation into just a few big companies: Group think and patent thickets can hinder ...
imelda/flickr Pyrethroid use has increased dramatically in recent years as a replacement for organophosphate pesticides. Insecticides commonly used in households may be associated with behavior problems in children, according to a new study by researchers in Quebec. The study is one o...
For Immediate Release, October 31, 2013 Contact: Kierán Suckling, (520) 275-5960 Notorious Koch Brothers Win 2013 Rubber Dodo Award TUCSON, Ariz .— The Koch Brothers, an ultra-secret and super-rich duo that shamelessly funnels money to the climate-denier movement and campaigns to ram ...
Maynard first began by photographing feathers, then moved onto arranging them in shadow boxes. He's since developed his own technique of cutting bird-shapes from actual feathers and arranging them in careful compositions, perfected with the help of fine eye surgery tools he inherited ...
Farmers in Argentina have been using Monsanto ‘s genetically engineered soybean seeds and pesticides since the 1990s. They’ve increased crop yields so much that Argentina is now the third largest soy producer in the world and the country’s farmers are convinced that GMOs and pesticide...
A recent Yale study written about in Monday's New York Times studied 48 "consistent" women cycllists who cycled at least 10 miles each week. They concluded that handlebar positioning can be a big determinant in whether women cyclists experience numbing and tingling in the soft tissues...
The Hawaiian Monk seal is one of the most critically endangered marine mammals in the United States. It is also the the oldest species of seal on the planet. Hunted to the brink of extinction, they now teeter on the edge. This one, in typical curious seal fashion, came up to check out...
Companies can change people's behavior in order to benefit society and the environment -- it's just a matter of knowing how to do it. The Network for Business Sustainability's Systematic Review on Driving Social Change (PDF ) reveals three key components to effectively change people's...
See Neil deGrasse Tyson speak below What's the point of protecting the environment if bad luck brings a big space rock on a trajectory that crosses Earth's path? Even near Earth objects that are not big enough to create an extinction event (we apparently had a near miss in 1883 ) coul...
Mars is unique in several ways. First, we’re still owned by the founding Mars family, which is just brilliant for our sustainability strategy because it allows us to think in terms of generations instead of just quarterly goals, like at many other companies. Next, we’ve always been a ...
It is time, I think we can all agree, for some good news. So thanks to the Netherlands Environmental Assessment Agency and its report today suggesting the global growth in carbon emissions faced a dramatic slowdown last year. Total emissions grew by 1.1 per cent, or 1.4 per cent when ...
One woman from North Dakota is on a mission to ruin Halloween for a lot of kids. Instead of candy, she’ll be handing out letters addressed to the parents of “moderately obese” trick-or-treaters. The letter, shown in the Consumerist , says: Happy Halloween! You are probably wondering w...
While Costa Rica’s Interpol Red Notice has been lifted, Watson and Sea Shepherd are set to defend themselves in court against charges brought by Japan. “Captain Paul was not arrested upon entry in the the United States and is there to testify in defence of his name in the contempt of ...
A Year After Sandy, The Wrong Policy on Rebuilding the Coast One year after Hurricane Sandy devastated parts of the U.S. East Coast, the government is spending billions to replenish beaches that will only be swallowed again by rising seas and future storms. It’s time to develop coasta...
I don't even know what Isengard is -- but apparently this has the GTM solar analysts all aflutter. Here's Isengard . According to the Lord of the Rings Wiki, Isengard "was one of the three Fortresses of Gondor." (Note that Ivanpah 1 is one of only three large-scale CSP facilities.) It...
The largest international development banks have made it a priority to deliver energy to the 1.3 billion people without access to the modern grid. But are they approaching the 21st-century market with 20th-century solutions? In this week's show, the Gang will discuss whether organizat...
Government tactics have been more insidious, often designed to silence anyone who could stand in the way of massive resource extraction and export policies. Politicians in the U.K., Australia, the U.S., Canada and elsewhere have created a false dichotomy between the environment and th...
Now would be a good time to pick up that special bottle of French Bordeaux wine that you had on your list – and a couple of extra for the wine cellar. Morgan Stanley Research has just released a report that projects a global shortage in wine production. According to the researchers, i...
Different crops face different levels of stress in different regions . More than 40 percent of wheat is grown in areas facing high or extremely high levels of water stress. Fiber crops, such as cotton, are grown under even more stressed conditions. More than half of global cotton prod...
The renewable energy industry has welcomed confirmation from the government that its financial support schemes will remain intact, despite a wide-ranging review that could roll back some green policies. Speaking in the House of Lords this week, Energy Minister Baroness Verma said the ...
It would most certainly be a different situation this time around. Chrysler's execs are really responsible for how badly the Daimler-Chrysler merger turned out. They orchestrated the deal and then immediately jumped ship once Daimler took over, leaving with enormous golden parachutes....
Stuffed tigers send two soldiers to jail in Indonesia (10/28/2013) A military court in Indonesia’s Aceh province has jailed two soldiers for illegally possessing two stuffed Sumatran tigers (Pathera tigris sumatrae ) and a stuffed sun bear (Helarctos malayanus ), a rare verdict in the...
One of the problems with a one-size-fits-all smartphone design is that they are only as strong as their weakest component, and because different users have different needs, most of the custom functionality comes through apps, not different hardware. A modular design, however, could al...
This week, Pratt Institute held a ribbon-cutting for the Brooklyn Fashion and Design Accelerator, a collective workspace that will help local designers launch and grow their businesses. Located in Williamsburg, the Accelerator aims to reinvigorate New York City's local fashion industr...
This time-lapse nature porn is your five-minute dose of Zen By Holly Richmond We’re starting to suspect National Geographic solely exists to make everyone breathe a collective “Ahhh.” At least, that’s the result of this five-minute dose of awe and wonder from photographer Shane Black:...
In his most recent report, Grid-Scale Energy Storage in North America 2013: Applications, Technologies, and Suppliers , author Chet Lyons spoke with dozens of energy storage CEOs and summarized their thoughts. Below is an excerpt of his 311-page report, highlighting eleven common thre...
