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
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
69 Bear Invasions In New Jersey Last Year: Hunt On
Dog wounded in New Jersey black bear attack. Image credit:News 12, video.
Without getting into what constitutes a black bear “home invasion” or “pet attack” incident, all would agree that black bears frequently in the yard, tipping trash cans, smashing the chicken coup, attacking pets in the yard, and possibly breaking in on a search for food calls for action. There is an environmental side to this story, too, as reported on NJ News 12 Interactive and elsewhere and …Read the full story on TreeHugger
Zombie Power: Abandoned Nuclear Projects Rise From Their 1970’s Graves
Zombie attack survival kit. Image credit:iPower
Dave Levitan writing for SolveClimate has published an excellent survey of what the future may hold for the ‘More than 60 proposed US nuclear projects, scrapped in the 1970s and early 1980s.’ Some are nothing more than unapproved plans on paper (there was no CAD back then – so hand drawn), others are in various states of completion and “mothballed,” some were started up b…Read the full story on TreeHugger
10 Things That Could Suddenly Make Americans Love Electric Vehicles
Commuter park and ride lot. Image credit:Virginia DOT.
Post about a transformational technology here and comments are sure to contain one-off criticisms. Many of these critiques become memes that return any time a certain phrase is mentioned. ‘Wind power is unreliable.’ ‘Hydrogen cars will never work because…’ ‘Green jobs programs are socialist.’ No matter that the success of transformational technologies must hang on many factors.
For example, setting aside design for a moment, a b…Read the full story on TreeHugger
No More Nucs – ‘Say Hello To My Rewewable Friends’
An image of a windmill is made into a crop formation by Greenpeace and Iowa Farmers Union. Image credit:All American Patriots, by B.G. Johnson
Last year I laid out a case that we have nothing to fear from ‘Clean Coal’ a.k.a “CCS” because as a matter of process economics these are going nowhere fast. No matter how much taxpayer money they throw down the coal hole, financial risks are too high to get big lenders behind full scale development. See <a href="http://www.treehugger.com/files/2009/04/carbon-captur…Read the full story on TreeHugger
3G Capable Smart Phones May Reduce Cumulative Exposure To Electromagnetic Radiation
Image credit:me.
There is no doubt in my mind that cell phone texting or emailing are among the most dangerous driving distractions you can intentionally partake of. (Sure, you could worsen things by driving, drinking, speeding, and texting at the same time but I’m talking about just the hazards specific to cell phone use.)
Inspired by Jessica’s recent post on cell phone cancer causation risk, I decided to do some cell phone EMF measurements (as pictured above) and also to do some thought experiments on this subject. What I lea…Read the full story on TreeHugger
Behind The Scenes, A Green Apple ‘Walking The Walk’
Green apple. Image credit:Aztec International, Inc. candle making scents.
Those of you who have read my previous missives on personal electronics know I have little use for the like of Greenpeace’s electronics rating scheme and am anoyed by the constant hectoring of Apple by NGO’s. Often they are chasing trailing indicators and pushing protocols that miss the big picture. Continuing along those lines, I recently congratulated Apple’s Board of Directors for opposing shareholder demands that Apple publish an ann…Read the full story on TreeHugger
We Are Like “Watermelons: Green On The Outside And Red Or Socialist On The Inside.”
Will Hales of Wicomico County, MD., describes how Mar-Delicious watermelons are produced on his farm.
Name calling is so much fun. Maryland State Senator Richard Colburn, R-Cambridge, thought he was having some at our expense when he characterized environmentalists as watermellon-like (quoted in the headline of this post). Per the response from <a href="http://news…Read the full story on TreeHugger
Trend Watch: Wisconsin State Legislators Overwhemingly Support BPA Ban For Baby Bottles
Baby bottle nipple. Image credit:TipTopHealthShop
Direct from the Stevens Point WI Journal: “A bill banning the manufacture or sale of plastic baby bottles and cups in Wisconsin that contain the chemical bisphenol-A (BPA) has passed both houses of the state legislature…The bill passed the Assembly 95-2 Tuesday [yesterday]. It passed the Senate 33-0…Read the full story on TreeHugger
