Daily Archives: December 9, 2008

Image credit: Sky Vegetables

Vertical Farming Innovators Convene for Two-Day Summit
Vertical farming, or building-integrated sustainable agriculture – call it what you will – the idea of commercial or residential buildings that can produce a significant proportion of their residents’ food needs is certainly an attractive one on paper, though the world is currently short on working prototypes of any scale. From Mithun architects’ vertical farm in Seattle to <a href=”http://www.treehugger.com/files/2005/06/vertical_f

Photo Credit: Freeplay Foundation

Freeplay Energy has been developing some great consumer products over the years, such as the Lifeline Radio, Jonta “human-powered” Flashlight, and the Indigo Lead Lantern. But there is an offshoot of Freeplay we have yet to discuss, which is the non-profit Freeplay Foundation.

With the help of the Le

:: Learn how to live large in small spaces with this handy plan from Lloyd.

:: Enjoy the indulges of the holiday season without leaving a heinous carbon footprint.

:: Making an escape to one of these five US urban centers? See the best of what the city has to offer on a rental bike!

All photos by Pete Oxford

It seems that we only hear about environmental plans and initiatives being made at legislative, university, and corporate levels—and we can forget that there are still folks like progressive secondary school teachers making bold moves in environmental education around the country. They just never get any press.

So now that the Toyota International Teacher Program has drawn to a close, I thought it’d be a good opportunity to take a long overdue closer look at some o

This week’s TreeHugger Deals comes to you from The Groovy Mind, a company that’s known for their groooovy, gourmet gifts. Each is deliciously organic, fairly traded and seasonally harvested and includes coffee (one of our faves), tea, cookies and corn chips, to name a few. The Organic Meltdown chocolate is some of the best we’ve tasted (we love the “one bar saves one tree” campaign), while the Metro Sens

…There will be a lot of cleantech VC predictions this season.
First of all, it’s clearly a bit of an “in” thing this year, based upon the traffic of P.R.s through my mailbox right now — and of course I already put out some of my own a couple of months back, so mea culpa as [

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photo: Ford Motor Co.

According to a new piece of analysis by NRDC of fuel economy plans submitted to Congress by General Motors and Ford will be able to meet the most stringent emissions standards in the nation. Chrysler did not provide fuel economy projections.

You can download a PDF of the analysis (GM and Ford Investment Plans and California Greenhouse Gas Emissions Standards) but here are the key points:

Photo via orphanjones

Gwinnett County in Georgia has decided that it needs to get really serious about recycling. They’ve beefed up their recycling program, and passed an ordinance that slaps a fat fine on anyone who trashes recyclables, or puts trash in the recycle bin.

photo: Henning Leweke

If you at all follow renewable energy, or even just watch television, you’ve probably heard that T. Boone Pickens has been back-peddling on the future of the wind power portion of the Pickens Plan. While reports that its cancelled probably overstate the situation, the rapidly receding economy is putting a hitch in Pickens’ get-along.

Reuters ecently ha

Image via ESA – AOES Medialab

By 2016, we just might have space lasers measuring the carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, and telling us whether or not (or how quickly and for how long) we’re melting the planet.

The Advanced Space Carbon and Climate Observation of Planet Earth – or A-SCOPE for short – is one of six possible missions to be considered for a feasibility study, which could lead to a 2016 launch timeframe for the mission.