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Design is evolving, but according to “Garbage Warrior” (2008), a timely documentary on unconventional architect Michael Reynolds and his so-called “earthships”, it’s not evolving fast enough. Partly, it’s because the “powers that be” are afraid of making mistakes, of learning how to live sustainably through trial and error. But can Reynolds’ thirty-year long approach to self-sustaining building – which involves using discarded tires, plastic bottles, old beer cans, rammed earth, rain-harvesting, solar power and on-site food production – be a feasible solution to the

Image from ESA There is still no light at the end of the tunnel for fire-besieged Northern California. According to some reports, there are still over 1,000 wildfires burning in the region with little hope for improvement in the near future. Over 1,400 square kilometers of land have already been burnt, and there are more than 19,000 firefighters on hand, many from around the country, helping to put out the blazes. The image was captured by the European Space Agency's Envisat satellite on June 2...

Tom Bolton discovered the first black hole using the 75 inch reflector at the David Dunlap Observatory just north of Toronto; how sad to see him sitting on the steps, crying, as the University of Toronto kicks him out and shuts it down, as they sell this green oasis to developers. The university says you can't do good work there anymore because of light pollution; they will take the hundred million or so dollars and invest it in the astronomy program. Bolton disagrees, telling the National Post: “If [the university] had talked to me, I would have told them how we could be doing world-class research,” he said. With a modest investment, the university could have...

Image from petrr Given all the recent backlash, it seemed inevitable that the EU would be forced to revise its misguided biofuel targets. The final push may very well have been provided by a World Bank report concluding that biofuels may have caused global food prices to rise by up to 75 percent. Four percent from renewable sources by 2015 In light of this, Claude Turme...

Why Fly When You Can Float? It has been more than 70 years since the giant Hindenburg zeppelin exploded in a spectacular fireball over Lakehurst, N.J., killing 36 crew members and passengers, abruptly ending an earlier age of airships. But because of new materials and sophisticated means of propulsion, a diverse cast of entrepreneurs is taking another look at the behemoths of the air. ::New York Times See also Zeppelins are Back, Too

We know it sounds like putting a square watermelon in a round hole: but Wal-Mart claims it is the nation's largest buyer of locally grown produce. The scaling of centrally managed industrial agriculture in the USA will be transformed. More changes are coming. Wal-Mart Stores Inc. plans to buy and sell $400 million worth of produce grown by local farmers within its state stores this year, an effort the company says will only grow. One obvious upshot is diversification of the supply chain. Smaller contracts with more farmers & distributors. ...

Well, dear readers, that mortal moment has come. My alter-ego, Super City Cycle Girl, has been struck low by the evils of traffic. But do not fear. Your heroine bravely battles on with one-handed typing and a new secret weapon: tricycles. Yes, after toppling the two-wheeler, Super City Cycle Girl has returned to the lab to get a closer look at an eco-vehicle which can skid across wet pavement without tipping. Of course, it has to be a cool tricycle -- stylish, sporty and sleek. ...

It's that time of year again, and with the official G8 Hokkaido Toyako Summit finally getting under way here in Japan next week, the question on everybody's lips is, "will the G8 see a formal commitment to greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions cuts?" The G8 Summit is the source of no end of speculation on this policy or that policy, but with news items like such as MSNBC's piece on the possibility of an ice-free arctic by the end of this summer, climate change is looming large on everyone's lips, and t...

Penguin life has gotten more precarious since this 1913 NOAA photo. Penguin populations have been declining and shifting globally as a result of oil pollution, overfishing, guano mining (!) and increased coastal development, according to research by Dee Boersma from the University of Washington, published in the July-August edition of the journal BioScience. Climate changes cause dramatic shifts Boersma sees penguins as marine sentinels of the Southern Hemisphere. They depend on predictable climate for their breeding cycles and need high ocean productivity for the krill and fish they su...

Ray Anderson started his company, Interface, back in the 1970s to make carpet. Like any business man, he wanted to shake up the market and make a healthy profit, which he’s done, and Interface now has 17 manufacturing locations on four continents. But this is not business as usual. Not anymore. Since having a sustainability epiphany, as he calls it, Ray has starting steering Interface toward one hell of a goal: zero negative effects on the planetary ecosystem by the year 2020, a goal he admits no corporation has yet reached. TreeHugger has long found inspiration in Interface’s elegant design solutions—products li...

School may be out for the summer, but the truth is that many PTA’s and school organizations start planning for next year’s fundraisers a good deal in advance. And there’s an eco-minded fundraising company called Growkids that’s offering 50% of the proceeds to your school or organization, a vast improvement over some of the organizations offering much, much less that we told you about in a post called “Green Fundraising with One Big Caveat” not so very long ago....

Bike-Share Put on Hold After eight months of reviewing potential contracts "aimed at finding a company to provide the service and maintain a fleet of rental bicycles," Portland, Oregon has put its bike-share plans on hold due to nagging logistical and funding issues. In essence, the city wants to spend more time studying other bike-share models in Europe and the U.S. before it starts its own program. Two companies--ClearChannel Outdoor and Portland Bike Co.--had already entered ...

Brooke Shields and Kyra Segwick are also taking green steps. …Cameron’s eco-documentary, “Power Shift,” which explores different energy sources, is making the rounds in a new green video club. The Earth Cinema Circle offers hers, plus a number of other films dedicated to increasing social & environmental awareness. Members get four eco-films every other month for $18. Join: earthcinemacircle ...

Both Don and Don expected that it would have been harder to do, both the off-grid experience and the local eating. We learned that food is available if you look around you and the internet is a big help in the research. In Sherbrooke there is the Marche de Solidarite promoted by Les Amies de la Terre de l’Estrie (Les Amies de la Terre) You order on-line and then pick up local produce and products at a spot on King Street. A similar set-up, Les Amies de la Terre du Voisinage de Waterloo, is being developed in Waterloo, Quebec (atvwaterloo.com). With a little creativity (s...

Image from jpctalbot At the risk of gross oversimplification, let me start by revealing the Climate Change Risk report's two main takeaways: Avoid living in most parts of Africa if you're especially risk averse (75 percent of the world's 20 most vulnerable countries are found there) and move to Canada to best hedge your bets. The Comoros Islands: most at risk The riskiest location by far, as

Image from jpctalbot At the risk of gross oversimplification, let me start by revealing the Climate Change Risk report's two main takeaways: Avoid living in most parts of Africa if you're especially risk averse (75 percent of the world's 20 most vulnerable countries are found there) and move to Canada to best hedge your bets. The Comoros Islands: most at risk The riskiest location by far, as

Stealing some of California's thunder, which itself outlined a new plan to significantly reduce its carbon emissions, Massachusetts' governor, Deval Patrick, unveiled the Green Communities Act a few days ago to great fanfare. The bill's primary aims are to encourage businesses and homes to become more energy efficient and to stimulate clean energy development in the state. The Green Community Act's major provisions Some of the provisions detailed in the legislation, as

Stealing some of California's thunder, which itself outlined a new plan to significantly reduce its carbon emissions, Massachusetts' governor, Deval Patrick, unveiled the Green Communities Act a few days ago to great fanfare. The bill's primary aims are to encourage businesses and homes to become more energy efficient and to stimulate clean energy development in the state. The Green Community Act's major provisions Some of the provisions detailed in the legislation, as

Ghost Bike for Un-named victim, Toronto We were appalled when, after yet another door prize death, a policeman discussed charging the woman who did it and said “If she didn’t look, would that be negligence? It’s very hard to label that as negligent." In our survey, 75% of the respondents agreed that " The driver broke the law and killed someone and sho...

Because of the price of gas, Americans drove 1.4 billion fewer miles in April then they did in the same period a year earlier. Nearly 20 billion fewer miles have been driven this year than last. That is a problem for Mary Peters, the Secretary of Transportation, who is getting less gas tax money and complains "We're burning less fuel as energy costs change driving patterns, steer people toward more fuel efficient vehicles, and encourage more to use transit. Which is exactly why we need a more effective funding source than the gas tax." What, change the fixed gas tax of 24.4 cents a gallon? How about making it proportional so that it goes up with the price...