Daily Archives: January 29, 2009
Knowledge Gap of How We ‘Fit In’ is Greatest Threat to Environment
photo nicholas_t @ flickr
We know that trees can increase the thickness of clouds with terpenes, and lizards can drink water from wet sand with their feet, but we have very little understanding of how we fit into the environment and how the environment fits with us. The 2005 Millennium Ecosystem Assessment (MEA) found that 60% of the ecosystem services (you know those things that provide clean air, water, and food) are being degraded or used unsustainabl
How I Learned To Stop Worrying and Embrace Change: The Story Of A Trader-Turned-”Treehugger”
Portrait of Richard Gilmore, guest author.
Until the early years of the 21st century, I was a climate change skeptic. Despite mounting scientific evidence, to accept the truth of climate change would have meant that one of the fundamental bases on which my comfortable life and lifestyle were founded – the burning of low cost and abundant fossil fuels – was unsound. Like many others of the time and many still today, faced with a choice between a convenient ignorance and a difficult reality, I chose ignorance.
By the time I was born in the mid-1970s the possibility of a human-induced climate change had already begun to concern scie
Take Part in a Twestival (Twitter Festival) for Charity:Water
On Thursday, February 12, over 100 cities around the world will be taking part in Twestivals – Twitter festivals – to help raise awareness and funds for a really good cause helping to bring clean, drinkable water to developing nations.
Read on for how you can Twitter your way to a happier world!
Domino Magazine Closes; Green Style Enthusiasts Everywhere Lose a Friend
We’re sad to report that Domino magazine is closing up shop; its March issue with be their last. Condé Nast Publications is pulling the plug on the style and decorating mag, as flagging ad revenue in the recessing economy claims another victim.
TreeHugger had the real pleasure to work with Domino to create The Green List, a big feature in their green issue in March 2007. It was a fun, meaningful project — a great way to spread green to a new audience — and we’re sad we won’t have
Wave-Powered Data Center Floats Forward with Plans
Photo via John Haslam
Looks like a datacenter powered by the tides isn’t too far off from being a reality. No, it doesn’t include floating an offshore datacenter – but it’s still a cool idea.
Tidal turbine company Atlantis Resources Corporation has signed a development partnership with data center developer Internet Villages International (IVI). The duo plans to build an energy-efficient “Blue Data Center.” It will be hooked up to Atlantis’ planned tidal power arrays in the Pentland Firth of Scotland
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Will Obama Change the Way America Eats?
Obama Tucks In via Getty Images
Sustainable food and agriculture watchers have been on a roller coaster ride ever since Barack Obama was given the nod by the American people. Soon after the election there were hopeful, if misguided, calls for Michael Pollan to be named head of the USDA and people were giddy at the idea that Obama had read Pollan’s open letter to the next president. The excitement was muted with the appointment of Tom Vilsack
Amino Acids, Fatty Acids, and Acai Berry
Acai berry is all about the antioxidants, you may think. This is what we are told when acai is described to us; this is a super food because of the amount of antioxidant that is contained within it. This supposition is partly true: there is a lot of antioxidant in acai berry, and there is [
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Ford Fusion Hybrid Qualifies for Maximum Tax Credit of $3,400
2010 Ford Fusion Hybrid Get More Affordable
The bad news have been piling up for Ford lately (it lost $14.6 billion in 2008), but the company is very proud of its Fusion hybrid, the most fuel efficient mid-size sedan (41 MPG city/36 MPG highway) in the US, and thinks it is part of the light at the end of the tunnel. That light just got a bit brighter when the 2010 Fusion hybrid was approved by the feds for the maximum $3,400 tax credit allowed for hybrid vehicles
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Think Bottled Water is Bad, Could Bottled Orange Juice Be Even Worse?
You’d have to have been living under a rock for the past year, or perhaps exhibiting some willful ignorance, to have missed all the discussion about the environmental problems with the global bottled water industry. Here on TreeHugger, just last week, Pablo came to the conclusion that, yes, bottled water really is that bad. Which got us thinking: What about bottled juices? If it takes all those resources to bring you bottled water from some spring in Italy, or (gasp) an island way out in the Pacific Ocean, surely making and shipping ora