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 August 3, 2010 and has No Comments
Whenever one discusses the idea that buying local food saves fuel, the naysayers show up. After all, there is the study from New Zealand's Lincoln University that proved New Zealand lamb transported to the UK to have a carbon footprint of only 688 kg per tonne shipped, vs the purported 2,849 kg footprint of UK raised lamb. (They evidently ...
Read more...published July 30, 2010 and has No Comments
Cleaning the supply chain is one of the challenges of Walmart's sustainability project. Image credit: williamcho /Flickr This guest post was written by Rand Waddoups, senior manager of sustainability at Walmart. Last July, we announced that we would lead in the creation of a Sustainable Product Index —a tool that will help manufacturers, merchants, customers and other retailers make ...
Read more...published July 1, 2010 and has No Comments
Photo via CCAC North Library We're fans of e-readers. They're a way to dramatically decrease how many trees are used in the production of reading materials, especially text books, magazines and newspapers. But they have their place. While we love e-readers, we love libraries even more. Paper books that are shared over and over again are far greener than ...
Read more...published June 21, 2010 and has No Comments
torontopix This is the new postcard view of Toronto's CN Tower, as the downtown core of the city is surrounded by "recyclable" fencing for the Billion Dollar Summit. David Frum asks,"Couldn't the G20 meet by teleconference?" ... Read the full story on TreeHugger The rest is here: Why Can't The G8 and G20 Just Phone It In?
Read more...published June 16, 2010 and has No Comments
Photo by Scottfeldstein A new report by by the Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP) and sponsored by AT&T has revealed that videoconferencing can mean huge savings for companies, both in money and carbon footprints. According to the report, adding a telepresence to their repertoire can mean U.S. and U.K. businesses "cut CO2 emissions by nearly 5.5 million metric tons in ...
Read more...published June 15, 2010 and has No Comments
Photo by nicholas_t What exactly is the smart grid, why don't we have it, and when will we? For most Americans, the smart grid is a mystery. That's part of the reason why there is some bubbling hostility toward smart meter installation projects in many places, and smart grid pilot projects happening in (relatively) so few. Tom Raftery of ...
Read more...published June 9, 2010 and has No Comments
Image credit: NC Museum of History Only yesterday I lamented the fact that too many TreeHuggers are overly focused on individual carbon footprints as a metric for success . So what should I make of news from The Guardian that a heart bypass operation carries with it a huge carbon footprint—as much as two short-haul flights? Should we worry ...
Read more...published June 8, 2010 and has No Comments
Image credit: Pasty Muncher I've been thinking some more about why individual environmental action is not enough . It's not just that the metric for success—personal reductions in our impact, as opposed to collective—is on the wrong scale. It's the wrong metric too. We are spending so much time worrying about how to reduce our impact, and be less ...
Read more...published June 1, 2010 and has No Comments
Image Source: Jonny Hunter Dear Pablo: I grow plenty of vegetables in the summer but can't in the winter. In addition to preserving what I can in canning jars, I am thinking about getting a freezer chest to store my vegetables into the winter. I am concerned about the energy use and am wondering if it is better or ...
Read more...published June 1, 2010 and has No Comments
Image Source: Jonny Hunter Dear Pablo: I grow plenty of vegetables in the summer but can't in the winter. In addition to preserving what I can in canning jars, I am thinking about getting a freezer chest to store my vegetables into the winter. I am concerned about the energy use and am wondering if it is better or ...
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This hand operated gramophone is as simple as it gets. Original post: Minimalist Gramophone Makes Playing Music Super Simple
Contrary to previously held notions of how whale songs are shared between neighboring populations, a surprising study finds that whales living the same ocean basin are singing different songs. Read the original post: Study: Humpback Whales Living in Same Ocean ...
