Photo Credit: Steve Punter
With a population over 8 million, Mexico City is making a dent in the production of plastic bags with its new ban outlawing the usage of standard plastic bags at the checkout line in supermarkets throughout the city. Only five months ago, the City passed a law requiring all stores to provide biodegradable bags in place of their harmful counterpart. On Wednesday, August 19, this law went into effect and will allow for a one-year grace period before penalties are imposed. (Such penalties have yet to be outlined). Read more…
Photo Credit: Rennett Stowe
While progress towards solutions to climate change are being made with trends such as electric cars, carbon credit trading, solar panels and windmill energy; it is a simple building strategy that could offset billions of tons of CO2. The concept that is cutting costs and emissions is the “cool roof,” which is a shiny plasticized white covering on roofs that rely on the principle that white objects absorb less heat than dark objects.
The movement towards cool roofs has demonstrated how beneficial this small change in construction can be to benefit one’s energy bill. Studies are showing that white roofs reduce air-conditioning costs by 20 percent, making it one of the most affordable shields to global warming. Read more…
Photo Credit: Mariusz Chilmon
Celebration broke out last week in Oregon when forest lovers were informed that future excess logging plans (passed while Bush was in office) had been canceled. The Obama administration responded to several lawsuits filed by thirteen conservation and fishery protection organizations that fought against the Bush logging arrangement. The arrangement would have nearly quadrupled current logging on public lands in Oregon, and apparently illegally ignored requirements to protect endangered species living within the forests. Among these species, are the spotted owls that are still in danger, but are no longer facing such a high risk of becoming endangered. Read more…
It appears that San Francisco is beaming with success from its one-year-old solar energy incentive program that was set into place last July. Since its installation one year ago, there has been an increase of 450% in applications for solar installations in the city. It is the first of its kind in the U.S., and hopefully will set a precedent for all cities throughout the country. Read more…
After thirty years of extinction, the large blue butterfly has been reborn. The mysterious disappearance is said to be due to changes in farming techniques that took place in the 1970s. However, until studies could prove that the decline of the butterfly was due to the loss of grazed hillsides, it was greedy butterfly hunters who were blamed.
While conducting research, Jeremy Thomas spent six summers in the 1970s studying what remained of the large blue butterflies in the United Kingdom. He discovered that the butterflies were dependent on only one species of red ant for their survival. The synergy between the red ants and the large blue butterflies is quite amazing. While still in caterpillar stage, a chemical is released that fools red ants to believe the caterpillar is actually in the immature “grub” stage of a red ant. The posing caterpillar is then carried off to an ant colony, where it feasts for about 10 months before it forms into a butterfly and flies away.
This remarkable research has enabled scientists to reverse damaging environmental changes even thirty years after a species is declared extinct! It has recently been reported that there are now more than 30 colonies of large blue butterflies in the UK. And this is only the beginning.
For more information on the large blue butterfly check out BBC NEWS
In today’s hectic throw-away society, our landfills are overflowing with (not only) our garbage but often valuable and reusable items. Unfortunately, such extensive consumerism has resulted in colossal amounts of waste that take up valuable space and pollute our planet. In order to reduce this waste and ease the burden on the landfills, Deron Beal of Tucson, Arizona came up with the idea of Freecycle. With the vision of “changing the world one gift at a time,” Beal created the Freecycle Network in 2003 as a place where people could gift their unwanted belongings to others in their community, for free. Read more…
Formula One race car engineer, Guy Negre, has created the ultimate solution to car pollution, AND at an affordable price! Teaming up with India’s number one car manufacturer, Tata motors, Negre has created a vehicle, called the Air Car that fulfills his vision to enable clean driving at any speed and any distance. The cars have an electric pump that compresses air into the tank. When this compressed air escapes at high pressure, the vehicle can drive at up to 70 miles per hour. There are three completely eco-friendly vehicles, including the OneFlowAIR, MiniFlowAIR and CityFlowAIR, all of which have a unique size and shape to them, but most importantly, no toxic pollutants. Read more…
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