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Clean technology gaining ground in U.S.

Posted by bchristo on Thursday, 23 August 2012 in Clean Technology

by Angie Bergenson Cleantech Group releases new report on clean technology patents The Cleantech Group, a market research firm that focuses on clean technology, has published the latest edition of its Clean Energy Patent Growth Index. The report aims to provide insight on the trends that are influ...

How the Drought is Hurting Baby Bears

Posted by bchristo on Wednesday, 22 August 2012 in Water Conservation

Shocked by the prices you’re seeing at the grocery store? Widespread drought is causing the prices of common foods like corn, soy beans, and beef to shoot through the roof. Many families are struggling to keep bellies full despite browning plants and cracking ground, and not all of them ar...

Trees found to be emitting methane gas

Posted by bchristo on Monday, 20 August 2012 in Forestry

By Jim Shelton It's time to add gassy trees to the list of climate concerns. According to a new study by Yale University's School of Forestry and Environmental Studies, diseased trees may be releasing unusually large amounts of methane gas into the air. If the data holds up, it could alter forest ...

Is the Global Ocean Healthy? We Can Answer That Now

Posted by bchristo on Saturday, 18 August 2012 in Ocean/Seas/Coastlines

by Ben Halpern, Jameal Samhouri, and Karen McLeod of psmag.com As the Ocean Health Index makes its public debut, three of its parents describe the moment of 'Eureka!' in summing up the well-being of the global ocean and its human dependents. There are very few moments in science where years of wor...

This Futuristic Shower Will Save You Thousands Of Gallons Of Water

Posted by bchristo on Thursday, 16 August 2012 in Water Conservation

by Jennifer Polland of Business Insider Most people love taking a long, hot, steamy shower on a cold day. But it comes at a cost to the environment and your wallet. A person taking a 10-minute shower uses anywhere from 20 to 50 gallons of water, at the use of 2 to 5 gallons per minute. Aust...

Save Our Shores Honors 2012 Ocean Heroes

Posted by bchristo on Thursday, 02 August 2012 in Environmental Heroes

Save Our Shores, the leader in ocean awareness, advocacy, and citizen action on the Central Coast, is pleased to announce the recipients of their annual Ocean Hero awards. The Save Our Shores 2012 Ocean Hero Award goes to Mark Stone, whose leadership authoring and passing Santa Cruz County’s single...

Coast Guard to conduct rare oil-spill test in Arctic

Posted by bchristo on Tuesday, 24 July 2012 in Oil Spill

by Alex DeMarban With Royal Dutch Shell possibly on the eve of exploring for oil off Alaska's Arctic coasts -- and other companies waiting in the wings -- the U.S. Coast Guard plans an oil-spill response drill in the fragile region next week. The exercise will be part of the agency's effort to bee...

Aware But Unwilling to Change? Green Guilt Not Enough To Change Behavior

Posted by bchristo on Wednesday, 18 July 2012 in Sustainable Development

by Brigid Milligan According to the National Geographic Society and the consultancy GlobeScan, Americans lag behind the rest of the world regarding sustainable behavior, but notably don’t feel that bad about it. The fourth annual Greendex report studied 17,000 consumers in 17 countries, asking que...

Report urges UK food industry to adapt to climate change

Posted by bchristo on Thursday, 12 July 2012 in Food

By Alex Blackburne Food businesses that adapt properly to the impacts of climate change are the ones that will prosper in the future, according to a report by the Department for Food, Environment and Rural Affairs (Defra). The study, called Adapting to climate change in the food industry, was writ...

Denmark to Reach 100% Renewable Energy Target by 2050

Posted by bchristo on Wednesday, 04 July 2012 in Energy Efficiency

Under a comprehensive strategy, Denmark is leading the world in renewables by Carin Hall According to Denmark's Energy Strategy 2050, the country's aims are to reduce fuel consumption 33 percent by 2020 and to achieve complete independence from fossil fuels by 2050. How? Numerous new wind project...

The Ick Heard Round the 'Green' Design World

Posted by bchristo on Tuesday, 03 July 2012 in Green Design

At May 2012 Sustainable Cosmetics Summit in New York, CEOs from various natural and organic cosmetic and personal care companies said one big issue with eco-friendly packaging is it's not attractive. Apparently these CEOs are not the only ones who think green products need a face lift. Gre...

Corporate hijack - the business lobby at Rio+20

Posted by bchristo on Monday, 02 July 2012 in General Environment

by Olivier Hoedeman There is a growing outcry at the corporate capture of United Nations action on sustainable development - a campaigner reports from the Rio Summit The lobbyists will be out in force at this week's Rio Summit on sustainable development - fighting to make sure that any proposals t...

Galapagos tortoise Lonesome George dies

Posted by bchristo on Sunday, 01 July 2012 in Animals

Lonesome George, the last surviving Pinta Island giant tortoise, has died at his home in the Galapagos Islands. Scientists believe he was more than 100 years old. Staff at the Galapagos National Park in Ecuador say George, the only remaining member of his subspecies (Chelonoidis abingdoni), was f...

Moldy matters: How wasted food is destroying the environment

Posted by bchristo on Thursday, 28 June 2012 in Food

By George Webster At first glance, Austrian artist Klaus Pichler's spell-binding photographs could be mistaken for a set of stylish advertisements. It takes a moment to digest -- excuse the pun -- that you're staring at pictures of rotting food. Among them, a pineapple hangs suspended in neg...

Internation Study of Ocean Acid

Posted by bchristo on Thursday, 28 June 2012 in Ocean/Seas/Coastlines

The UN nuclear agency announced on Monday the creation of a new centre in Monaco to help coordinate international efforts to research and combat the serious environmental problem of ocean acidification. "During the past five years, numerous multinational and national research projects on ...

L.A. County beach pollution case goes to U.S. Supreme Court

Posted by bchristo on Wednesday, 27 June 2012 in Ocean/Seas/Coastlines

The U.S. Supreme Court agreed Monday to hear Los Angeles County's appeal of a lower court decision requiring the county to clean up polluted runoff that flows to the ocean through two urban waterways. The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals last year sided with environmental groups in finding the county a...

Rio +20 makes no fresh, green breast of the new world

Posted by bchristo on Monday, 25 June 2012 in General Environment

by Fiona Harvey Like The Great Gatsby, this summit failed to measure up to the challenge of a new world, preferring to recreate the failures of the past, "And as the moon rose higher the inessential houses began to melt away until gradually I became aware of the old island here that flowered once ...

Aspen Environment Forum: Living in the new abnormal

Posted by bchristo on Sunday, 24 June 2012 in Climate Change

Aspen Environment Forum panel says life as we know it already is changing Scott Condon Living in a world where the population is topping 7 billion and temperatures are rising is going to be anything but normal. A panel Saturday morning at the opening session of the Aspen Environment Forum painted...

The Issue of Population is More Than a Little Radioactive

Posted by bchristo on Sunday, 24 June 2012 in Population

By Michael D. Lemonick Talk to people who care about the environment and you'll hear plenty about pollution, deforestation, sustainability and climate change. What you won't hear is the word "population," unless it refers to populations of endangered species. But if you think about it, the Earth's...

Killings of environmentalists appear to be on rise

Posted by bchristo on Thursday, 21 June 2012 in Peace

By DENIS D. GRAY The eulogies called Chut Wutty one of the few remaining activists in Cambodia brave enough to fight massive illegal deforestation by the powerful. The environmental watchdog was shot by a military policeman in April as he probed logging operations in one of the country's last great...