Daily Archives: December 13, 2008

Image from Martin Pettitt

Cheetahs are fast, but can they outrun extinction? According to a new report released by the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP), the speedy feline, which can reach speeds of up to 120 kilometers per hour, or 75 mph (making it the world’s fastest land animal), is at risk of becoming the latest extinct species, The Independent’s Ian Johnston reports. The report blames the c

Hangzhou officials demolished a building at Zhejiang University last year

Downsizing
Unesco World Heritage status, that coveted prize of global cultural tourism, has become a popular pursuit for Chinese officials. So too, of course, is the compulsion to build tall buildings, in an attempt to one-up other municipalities in China and around the world. But in Hangzhou, China’s “most beautiful city” (a title claimed by a few cities in China), the two impu

Could the first fully sustainable city block in America rise out of a nondescript parking lot in downtown Dallas, Texas?

After a full year of design competitions aimed at stimulating discussion about the nature of sustainability in cities, San Francisco-based Urban Re:Vision is about to transform theory into reality in Dallas. The land is available, the city is on board and there appear to be no serious obstacles to the development of a city block that would radically redefine sustainability in the urban context.

“The goal is to create the first fully sustainable block downtown,” said Brent Brown, Dallas architect and founder

SpongeBob SquarePants runs across a grassy Japanese garden, mowing down ’smog monsters’ and other gas guzzling foes with some sort of green gun as he goes. Every so often, he hurls a glowing green orb at a dead-looking tree and makes it sprout leaves.

Whatever it is that’s going on, exactly, certainly looks fun enough for kids to get into—it’s the trailer for Nickelodeon’s new online videogame, The Big Green Help Global Challenge, which launches tomorrow. The title’s not quite as catchy as “Double Dare,” sure, but if Nick can successfully engross kids into

Photo courtesy of Spitting Out Teeth

Attention green music fans—how much do you love rock music? Are you such a huge Clapton fan that you’d clothe yourself in his guitar’s byproducts? Do you love Queen enough to press that which guitarist Brian May’s fingers once caressed upon your arm? Would you don Keith Richard’s, Jack Johnson’s, or Jack Black’s silvery strings as proud evidence of both your greenness and devotion to all that rocks?

Or maybe you’ve just been patiently waiting

As in world bike-capital Portland, Oregon, so in (relative) biking backwater Gothenburg, Sweden – short-hop urban biking can be a breeze, but try biking from the far suburbs in to central city locales. Your mileage and your experience will vary wildly.

Kristina Johansson, a cyclist and student in Gothenburg

Hockey Puck Horn. Image credit: O’Canada Gear

A Canadian player made famous the hockyism: ‘I don’t pass the puck to where they are – I pass the puck to where they’re going to be‘.

The lesson seems to have been missed in renewable energy quarters; with Canada falling behind the US in wind power capacity – during the Bush years!

The Canadian Wind Energy Association (CanWEA) said Canada has become the 12th country in the world to surpass 2,000 MW of installed wind energy capacity

Ontario is the

Comics by Alex Hallatt used with permission. Courtesy of dkcnews.

The Arctic Circle comic strip is a rare blend. On one hand, it’s a story of cute migratory penguins who have adventures with their mammalian pals at the North Pole. On the other, it carries a definite ecological message replete with disdain for those willing to sell out the environment for a buck. An overt

Photo by teacher Lena Tashjian

Now that the Toyota International Teacher Program has ended, I’ve decided to turn the spotlight on a few of the teachers involved. First came the middle school teachers. Next up, a couple of the high school-teaching trekkers. Just see what a couple weeks in the Galapagos can do for an ambitious educator.

If there is one good thing that can be said about this recession, it is that it is bringing out the creativity in people who are using their hands and their brains instead of their wallets to make or wrap their gifts this year.

London based design headhunter Represent challenged the design community “to develop fresh and eco-friendly solutions to the problem, by designing sustainable and totally tape-free ways to wrap a Christmas gift.” They are adding a new one every day, and they include lots of clever ideas that will come in handy this frugal holiday season.