Daily Archives: November 16, 2008

Image courtesy of TripAdvisor

TripAdvisor found a unique way to earn itself some PR by donating $1 million to charity—and letting users vote online on where the money went. The “More than Footprints” program (not to be confused with carbon footprints) ended up getting more than a million user votes (voting was free), allocating the funds between 5 different charities. The people have spoken. Here’s the breakdown

Image: DESIGN 21
Biodiversity isn’t the only thing that is threatened nowadays – it seems that linguistic diversity (and by extension, cultural diversity) is also deteriorating as our world becomes increasingly mono-lingual and mono-cultural. Of the estimated 7,000 languages spoken in the world today, experts say that nearly half are endangered and may disappear within a generation. Every two weeks, another language disappears, consigning equally valuable cultural perspectives and histories to s

Image courtesy of Park Ayalon

For decades, Hiriya, a 2,000 acre garbage dump, has sat on the outskirts of Tel Aviv as an ecological and aesthetic blight. At its center was Hiriya Mountain—a massive 230 foot mound of waste. But after an intensive national revitalization effort the eyesore has reemerged as Ayalon Park, and the mountain is being transformed into an eco-tourism attraction replete with terr

Image courtesy of Motoring File

A specially designed rear spoiler could increase the fuel efficiency of minivans and SUVs, according to a new study detailed in Green Car Congress. The study reveals that such a spoiler could both reduce drag and nearly eliminate aerodynamic lift—effectively saving several miles per gallon worth of gas consumption.

Photo courtesy of Timeout

After Election Day yielded a brand new (allegedly) environmentally progressive president-elect, the green-mined media and blogosphere predictably spawned a deluge of To-Do and Should-Do lists for the new head of state-to-be. Everyone from the prestigious New York Times to humble ol’ yours truly was guilty of contributing to the advisory frenzy. But as resident TreeHugger John Laumer sagely pointed out shortly after, such suggestions are largely

Photo By 30th Century Fox

Futurama is now carbon neutral. The animated series went green in 2007 when it released its first feature-length production Futurama: Bender’s Big Score. It even won the Carbon Neutral DVD Release of the Year Award. Since then, Twentieth Century Fox has released two more straight-to-DVD Futurama features. Both are carbon neutral. In that time, Futurama and Co have made significant cuts to

New York City, which has been working hard to promote cycling of late, has now proposed “bicycle parking rules that could be among the toughest in the nation, requiring one secure bike parking space for every two units in new apartment buildings and one space for every 7,500 square feet in new office buildings.” This comes on the heels of City-sponsored bike rack design comp

Rising Sea Levels Move Maldive Residents to Buy Land In Case of Disaster
The Maldives plans to move money from tourism to purchase land in case of climate disaster. Eighty percent of the island country, comprised of 1,200 islands, rests at only one meter above already rising sea levels. More on these future climate refugees below the fold

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This just in from the Take Back the Filter campaign:

Brita is going to announce a recycling program for its water filter cartridges on Tuesday.

The brand manager from Brita contacted the Take Back The Filter campaign yesterday and gave us the word.

We can’t reveal the details until Monday night. But I can say that their plan includes almost all of the things we asked for on our petition and during the campaign.

Brita has provoked strong reactions with ad campaigns that bash tap water quality and even comments