Photo via the New Republic It's a widely held notion that politicians have long been in the pocket of Big Oil. And there's good reason for that perception: oil companies' huge campaign donations, vast lobbying power, and close ties to politicians have ensured that their taxes remain low , that hidden subsidies are around to provide extra funding, and that they receive preferential treatment in US energy policy. But there could be a new, ... View original post here: The Next Big Oil: Big Smart Grid?
So there really isn't anything that deep to this image. It's just a (more or less) life-sized blue whale eye. And on the Whale and Dolphin Conservation Society site you can educate yourself/be mesmerized/ waste some time for a while staring at it while the entire life-sized animal scrolls across your browser window. Believe me, it's way cooler than you might think:... Read more from the original source: Ever See a Blue Whale Life-Sized on Your Computer? Now You Can
published December 4, 2010 and has No Comments
Residents of the Kaz Mountains (pictured) in Turkey are worried about the impact of gold mining. Photo: B@ni / Creative Commons . With few legal or political avenues open to fight what they say is illegal and environmentally damaging mining, four Mongolian activists took drastic action earlier this fall: They opened fire with hunting rifles on gold-mining equipment owned ...
Read more...published November 30, 2010 and has No Comments
Image: Friend of Family Farmers via flickr Despite small but significant signs that the country wants to move in a different direction, factory farms across the country are growing at an unprecedented rate—not in number, but in size. ... Read the full story on TreeHugger Excerpt from: Factory Farms Decreasing in Number, But Increasing in Size: 20 Percent Growth in ...
Read more...published November 29, 2010 and has No Comments
photo: Soil Science / Creative Commons There's been lots of back and forth in the past year on biochar , ranging from research showing it has huge potential for absorbing carbon emissions on one side, to uncertainty about its potential, to outright hostility towards the enthusiasm shown towards it--and all from people with good environmental credentials. A new report ...
Read more...published November 26, 2010 and has No Comments
Image credit: Woods End Laboratories Despite claims that biochar could offset 12% of human carbon emissions , and boost agricultural production in the process, others are not so sure. Whether it's the author of the biochar solution saying it's not a solution (OK, not a complete solution), or See the rest here: Biochar or Compost - What's Best for Soil ...
Read more...published November 23, 2010 and has No Comments
Image credit: Encore /The Purpose Prize From beekeepers using the internet to fight colony collapse disorder , through crop mob and other new agrarians organizing online , to wireless soil sensors optimizing farm resources , a return to sustainable farming does not mean a rejection of what technology has to offer. Inspired by the ... Read the full story ...
Read more...published November 15, 2010 and has No Comments
Photo credit: Walmart This guest post was written by Beth Keck, senior director of sustainability at Walmart. Walmart customers—whether they live in Chicago or Tokyo—want locally grown fresh produce. Yet, while grocery sales make up more than half our business, we haven't focused enough of our sustainability efforts toward the food we sell. We've set dozens of sustainability goals ...
Read more...published November 12, 2010 and has No Comments
Image credit: Fishy Farm Aquaponics From the urban aquaponics of Growing Power to planned industrial-scale fish and plant farming operations , there is no shortage of people trying to make aquaponics—or the symbiotic combination of hydroponics and aquaculture—work. Yet while there are a few ready-to-use aquaponics kits on the marke... Read the full story on TreeHugger View original here: Fishy ...
Read more...published November 5, 2010 and has No Comments
Image credit: Permaculture TV Back in 2006 the Dervaes' family's Path to Freedom urban homestead project hit the airwaves of TreeHugger TV. Since then we've seen a proliferation of urban farm tours , awesome small-scale permaculture projects , See the original post here: Growing 6000lbs of Food on 1/10th of an Acre (Video)
Read more...published November 3, 2010 and has No Comments
Photo credit: Tormod Sandtorv / Creative Commons This guest post was written by Le Ngoc Thach, president of the Dai Nghia cooperative and one of the first SRI farmers in Ha Noi province, courtesy of Oxfam America . Watching my parents' rice crop fail was a heartbreak I will never forget. It was 1984, and that growing season, stem ...
Read more...published October 11, 2010 and has No Comments
Wine and canned produce from the tasting room. Photo by Frank Ladra. Medlock Ames is an organic and sustainable winery nestled upon Bell Mountain in Sonoma County's Alexander Valley. Sheltered from the fog of the nearby Pacific Ocean, the valley is one of Northern California's warmest wine regions. But gentle coastal breezes do find their way in. And those ...
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A Finnish designer has made a working surfboard from broken skateboards. Read the original here: Hollow Surfboard Is Made from Broken Skateboards
How to grow tastier tomatoes and how to make food taste sweeter without sugar: just two amazing discoveries from a study of the chemical interactions underlying tomato flavor preferences Read the rest here: The Secrets of Tasty Tomatoes Discovered - Can ...
