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By giving Rick Santorum three primary victories in one day, the Republican electorate placed the presidency of the United States of American within the potential reach of the candidate with the most consistently distasteful opinions and ideas. I can’t quite pin down what kind of global warming denier Rick Santorum is, though his denial is [...]
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We have already reported on how bamboo construction can protect homes against earthquake damage. But that is by no means the only way in which bamboo can help to safeguard against natural disaster. While harvesting the stalks can lead to its use in making the frames of houses both durable and flexible, merely planting and [...]
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Every one of the remaining GOP presidential candidates utilizes national debt rhetoric as a way of decrying government spending, but paradoxically each one of them champions extensive tax cuts for the wealthy that can only serve to worsen the debt even in the event of a commitment to powerful austerity. The necessary consequences of an [...]
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JC Penney has announced some interesting changes to its pricing structure. It is effectively eliminating sales, except for seasonal price reductions on certain types of items and clearance for things that haven’t sold after a certain period. I think this kind of move is long overdue. I’m not much of a shopper, but I’ve noticed [...]
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With the official results contradicting the original reports in Iowa and a candidate who had seemed discounted now winning South Carolina it looks like we’ll be enjoying an extended stay from the circus that is the Republican Primaries. It will come complete with more character assassination, negative advertising, and vitriol. In fact, let me do [...]
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In an effort to make its products sustainable and ecologically friendly, German-based toymaker Hape has been manufacturing toys made largely from bamboo. Additionally, the company claims to avoid plastic in its packaging, utilize organic inks, and so on. There’s really no way to tell to what extent such measures are based on an earnest sense [...]
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A study recently published in the journal Environmental Research Letters explores the trends towards colder winters that have been occurring throughout certain parts of the Northern Hemisphere. Reuters’ coverage of this study describes that observation as “counter-intuitive.” The article also begins with a reminder of the extreme cold that visited parts of Europe and the [...]
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The phrase “clean coal” is an oxymoron. No matter how much the polluting emissions from coal are reduced, it can never qualify as “clean,” and that fossil fuel will have no place in the infrastructure of a truly sustainable future. However, current news from the Philippines illustrates a growing trend in the production of alternatives [...]
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Sunday’s New York Times included on the front page of its Arts & Leisure section an article by Michael Kimmelman declaring that “it’s time to take parking lots seriously, as public spaces.” It’s a worthwhile but perhaps unfamiliar consideration for environmentalists or anyone who is interested in an overall improvement of the American landscape. Parking [...]
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I know that America loves a celebrity marriage. Based on recent news, it looks like there will soon be one to be excited about as more than just a union of pop culture royalty. Justin Timberlake reportedly proposed to Jessica Biel while the two were in Montana during the holidays. In addition to one half [...]
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Happy New Year (almost)! 2012 cometh, and if you listen to certain New Age types you know what that means: the end of the Mayan Calendar, and therefore the end of the world. Maybe. But probably not. The rational thing to do is recognize that no civilization, however arcane and exotic it may seem, has [...]
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As soon as I heard that gray wolves in the western Great Lakes region were being removed from the endangered species list, I wondered whether states would perceive the sudden absence of federal protections as free license to begin killing the animals that came into range of their hunters’ rifles. And lo and behold, even [...]
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So far, December in my hometown has had precious little snow, but a good deal of rain. The prospect of a white Christmas was fairly reliable when I was a child, and I still have the expectation of a winter wonderland arriving early and lasting through the season. But the fulfillment of that expectation has [...]
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Every time I take my recycling to the curb, I feel a little guilty about the waste I’m producing. After all, the fact that that material isn’t going directly to a landfill doesn’t mean that it won’t end up there someday. I feel better about putting recyclable papers and cans to the street than I [...]
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The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization recently released the results of a satellite-based survey of global forest area. The study, which tracked deforestation and new growth between 1990 and 2005, shows that the net loss of forest area was less than had been previously expected. It is important to resist the temptation to read [...]
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Now that Thanksgiving has passed, followed by the annual fourth Friday consumer brawl, I am willing to admit that the holiday season has genuinely begun. Now is the appropriate time to buy bamboo gifts for your environmentalist friends and family, especially if you didn’t throw all of your money at big box stores on Black [...]
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Apart from the obvious impact on the environment, what do programs to weatherize homes in Maine, build wind turbines in the Dakotas and Oklahoma, reforest wildfire-damaged areas in Colorado, and capture landfill gas in various regions in the eastern United Statesall have in common? You might be surprised to learn that the answer is funding [...]
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Soon Great Britain will have another famous couple to gawk at. As Prince William and Duchess Catherine settle into married life, the Edinburgh Zoo in Scotland will welcome a breeding pair of giant pandas from China by the end of this year. Along with Tian Tian and Yang Guan, the zoo will also be receiving [...]
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