Archives - 22 November 2011, Tuesday

“As the congressional Super Committee announced its failure to reach a budget deal today, we are extremely concerned with the impacts that failure could have on our national parks. According to Congress’ budget agreement made in August called the Budget Control Act of 2011, failure of...

Here’s the horrible tale of what happened to Vucko, the German Shepherd. Two intoxicated youths in Bosnia duct-taped a firework in a German Shepherds mouth and blew off his face. But the torture didnt stop there. The poor dog, known as Vucko, wandered in agony for five days, unable ...

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Some politicians are trying to turn clean energy into something dirty. They say we ought to cut federal support for energy programs - unless maybe they involve drilling for oil and gas. he money to do it by eliminating tax breaks to Big Oil companies. In a Science magazine editorial, ...

In the grand tradition of Michele Bachmann's "carbon dioxide is a product of nature " tactic, Fox News is now calling pepper spray a "food product ." Man, first pizza is a vegetable , now this. Pepper spray is "a derivative of actual pepper ... a food product, essentially," said Fox N...

Photo: Peretz Partensky It's hard to put a finger on the exact moment the crap took over Americans' lives, but I know exactly when it happened to me. And as we head into a day of national gluttony followed by a collective, orgiastic display of shopping, I've resolved to do more than w...

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Here’s a superbly-kept secret: You know all those dates you see on food products—sell by, use by, best before? Those dates do not indicate the safety of your food , and generally speaking, they’re not regulated . I couldn’t believe it either, but a quick look at USDA’s food labeling s...

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LIVINGSTON, MONTANA (November 22, 2011) – Grizzly bears living in the Yellowstone region won a reprieve today from efforts to remove federal endangered species protections from the population. A 9th Circuit Court of Appeals panel unanimously agreed that one of the grizzly’s key food s...

Earth's climate has changed lots of times without human help, but does that really mean humans are incapable of changing it? As Skeptical Science points out, that's "like arguing that humans can't start bushfires because in the past they've happened naturally." When the climate change...

There are some other messaging tips in the article, including recommendations that I've highlighted in the past for just about anybody charged with communicating about climate change -- the need to frame climate change not just as an environmental issue but also as a question of our e...

The Occupy Big Food rally at Zuccotti Park on Saturday. "Whose food? Our food!" This was the rallying cry at the first Occupy Big Food event on Saturday in Zuccotti Park. The rally, which I led with Erika Lade, a graduate student in NYU's Food Studies program, gathered about 100 peopl...

The 17th session of the Conference of the Parties of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP), is scheduled to open in Durban, South Africa , next week, on November 28. The accelerating need for action and agreement is at odds with the pace of the negotiations. ...

Earth has had many mass extinctions, but about 250 million years ago something really, really bad happened. In an event known to paleontologists as "the Great Dying," life itself was nearly extinguished by massive releases of greenhouse gases. And by “massive releases” we mean “releas...

Mark Bittman has provided the ultimate Thanksgiving guide for anyone interested in making our broken food system work again. His exhaustive list of the 25 people or groups for which he is most thankful is a must-read.* It starts with nutritionist and food system reform pioneer Marion ...

Senor Codo via Flickr /CC BY-SA 2.0 If you hadn't read the headline to this post, how many Americans would you have guessed would be in favor of a carbon tax? Not many. After all, our mythology demands a built-in aversion to taxes, a staunch dedication to treating the notion like four...

Tropical Depression Thirteen-E formed over the eastern Pacific Ocean in late November 2011. The depression strengthened into Tropical Storm Kenneth on November 20, and further strengthened into a hurricane the following day, according to the U.S. National Hurricane Center (NHC). On No...

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What happens when a multi-billion dollar oil company accidentally unleashes thousands of barrels of oil into the Atlantic ocean? Well, in Brazil at least, they receive the financial equivalent of a slap on the wrist. As a consequence for Chevron's triggering of the latest environmenta...

If we go by the saying “the early bird catches the worm”, these chicks must have gotten up at the crack of dawn, as they’re catching big juicy worms – as well as insects – in their hungry little beaks. However, they’re not getting these snacks from the ground, of course, but courtesy ...

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3. Can Robotic Deer Used To Catch Poachers Be Scaled Up for Endangered Species? Here is an idea that is not necessarily saving endangered animals right now, but it could be. Robotic deer have been used for some time in catching poachers taking aim at deer outside of hunting season. Th...

Not a newsflash: Barack Obama has not been the climate champion many had hoped he would be. For a president who described his taking office as "the moment when the rise of the oceans began to slow and our planet began to heal," he's been remarkably content to make virtually no headway...

In square-foot gardening, begin by visualizing what you want to harvest. This simple step prevents you from planting too much. Picture a large plant like a head of cabbage. That single cabbage will take up a whole square foot so you can only plant one per square foot. It’s the same wi...

Suntech Power, Hanwha SolarOne, Canadian Solar and LDK Solar all posted losses for the third quarter and many included inventory write-offs in their financial statements because their goods have lost values as a result of the rapidly declining prices in the market. The story is the sa...

Shop in your pantry: “Before you even start to make a menu, take stock of what you have,” suggests Vaughn. Using what you have on hand keeps prices down in the kitchen and reduces waste. Take inventory of what’s in your fridge, freezer and cupboards and build your shopping list around...

Paired with a Darth Vader mask, the dress makes the perfect scare crow. Kevin Cotter thought his marriage would last forever, but after 12 years he found his wife packing up everything into her car - except her wedding dress . Faced with his shock and confusion, he channeled his heart...

Following a tradition started by artists such as Space Invaders and Juliana Santacruz Herrera , a group of artists from the city of Rosario in Argentina sought to improve the public space experience of their neighborhood by fixing missing street tiles with handmade calcareous replacem...

There are 11 towns in Texas that are on a state list of places in danger of running out of water. One of them, Groesbeck, has only until Dec. 6 to find an new supply, the Houston Chronicle reports . The Texas drought has been going on for more than a year now, but what's terrifying ab...

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Would knowing that more wind energy was used to manufacture a cell phone lure you to buy it instead of a similar model made with regular power? The wind industry hopes so. It's making a high visibility bet that most consumers will be swayed by a new WindMade label that will start appe...

"Everyone's excited and there are hundreds of projects planned," says Jonathan Kendall, founding partner of Rio Energy Consulting - TSS Brazil . This fact has of course not been lost by industry heavyweights such as Gamesa, Iberdrola, Vestas and Alstom, which are licking their chops i...

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In the no-man's-land between Brooklyn and Queens, a 3.8-mile-long river known as Newton Creek has attained the dubious distinction of being one of the most polluted bodies of water in all of North America. And yet the toilet of New York City's industrial revolution for the past 150 ye...

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Making your own cleaning supplies is environmentally-friendly, cost-conscious, and ultra-organized. If this sounds like too many good things all at once, remember that 2011 is coming to an end and all your old spending habits can be tossed out the window along with your chemical-laden...