Daily Archives: March 11, 2010
Lifestyle Adjustments, As Poverty Comes To The American Suburbs
Food pantry. Image credit: St. Louis Post Dispatch, (Laurie Skrivan/P-D)
The era in which increasing numbers of people were willing to pay a premium for locally grown food or for ‘organic’ clothing appears to be ending. Poverty has become common in many US suburbs, triggered by ‘the economy,’ and in particular by the preceding fad of having a huge home with low property taxes in the far suburbs . For an example, see the emblematic story in the StarTribune, <a href="http://www.startribune.com/loca…Read the full story on TreeHugger
Scientists Aim to Learn More About Tiny Anteaters
Photos: Projeto Tamanduá
Very little is know about Silky anteaters, which make their home in the Amazon rainforest, other than the fact that they’re tiny, nocturnal, ant-loving, and of course, incredibly cute. But, in hopes of learning more about these fascinating little creatures, soon scientists will be venturing out into the jungles of Brazil to observe them in the wild–where they hope to find its population strong and stable, unlike those of the diminutive anteater’s <a href="…Read the full story on TreeHugger
Today on Planet 100: Arctic Methane Leak (Video)
<embed src="http://c.brightcove.com/services/viewer/federated_f9/59348474001?isVid=1&isUI=1&publishe…Read the full story on TreeHugger
All Together Now: Green Modern Cooperative Living in Australia
Images from Sanctuary Magazine, Rachel Pilgrim & Andrew Lecky
So many of the green houses we see are single family, alone in the country, but there are more and more developers and builders trying to build green communities. On Munro court in the mining town of Castlemaine, outside of Victoria, Australia, eight lovely little modern houses have been designed by Robyn Gibson of Lifehouse design. None are over 1500 square feet, and it is sort of a cooperative, sharing responsibility for the communal vegetable gardens, emptying the compost and feeding the “chooks” [sic]
…Read the full story on TreeHugger
Pig Business Exposes the Grisly Inner Workings of the Pork Industry
Image credit: Grist
Pig business is not an easy documentary to watch. First of all, the images of the inner workings of pig farms and slaughterhouses can turn the stomach of even the most steadfast meat-eater. Second, and more significantly, the film has not been—and likely never will be—released in the United States. This means that American viewers are relegated to ingesting the film in 10-minute segments via YouTube….Read the full story on TreeHugger
Rarest Flower in the World Blooms in the UK (PICS)
Photos via the BBC
It’s one of the (if not the) rarest flower in the world: the Middlemist’s Red exists in only two known locations: a greenhouse in the UK, and a garden in New Zealand. Imported to Britain two hundred years ago from China, back when flowers where a luxury item, it has since been exterminated in its original homeland. And now the Middlemist is blooming again–nice looking flower, right?…Read the full story on TreeHugger
Riding in New York with Village Voice Columnist Michael Musto (Video)
“Nobody used to ride a bike in New York, but now it’s becoming mainstream”
Our friend Clarence at Streetfilms rode around NYC with Village Voice entertainment columnist <a href="http://www.villagevoice.com/columns/la-dolce-musto-…Read the full story on TreeHugger
After Smart Grids, Smart Sewage? Urine-Separating NoMix Toilet Gets Thumbs-Up in 7 European Countries
NoMix Toilet. Photo: Flickr
Technological Innovations in the Bathroom? You Bet!
Being green is all about solving problems and grabbing overlooked opportunities. It turns out that there’s such a double-win in most bathrooms around the world; if we had “NoMix” toilets that separate urine from solid waste, municipal wastewater plants would have a significantly easier task (and produce more methane to generate electricity), and we could much more easily extract precious nutrients like phosphorus and nitrogen for use as fertilizer (instead of using fossil fuels). So what’s stopping us from going NoMix?…Read the full story on TreeHugger
Young Farmers are Combining Politics with Pitchforks
Image credit: Good
The life of a farmer is a difficult one—meaning, for most, years of hard work, little money, and even less appreciation. Maybe it is this reason that passing down the family farm has become an increasingly difficult proposition….Read the full story on TreeHugger
Unilever & Solazyme Working On Algae Oil Process For Soaps And Other Personal Care Products
World consumption of most common commodity triglyceride vegetable oils. Image credit:Wikipedia
Certain plant oils, especially palm oil, have a reputation of being produced unsustainably. Many plant oils are low-cost commodities (see table above for recent global volumes). Certain of the commodity plant oils are used extensively in soap and personal care products; and demand for these is increasing (a growing market segment does not accept animal fat-based product). For personal care products of the future, a key challenge is to find sustainable feedstoc…Read the full story on TreeHugger
