Ten Years ago, you had to be a true believer to buy organic produce. It was expensive, and it looked awful – small, shriveled and covered with the bruises and holds wrought by unsprayed bugs. But that was then, and organic produce has come a long way since. Visit a good health food store now, and you’ll find fruits and vegetables that easily rival any in Stop & Shop: plump, shiny, and blemish-free.
Why become a bat rehabilitiator? Without exception, rehabilitators talk about their fascination with the small mammals. "Most people don’t realize how intelligent and valuable bats are," says rehabilitator Amanda Lollar. But according to Melinda Alvarado, a bat rehabber working out of San Luis Obispo, California, all you have to do is meet a bat to be hooked. "They look right at you with their bright little eyes," she says, "and you can see the intelligence and curiosity shining there."
Climate change has yet to make it onto the radar screens of most Americans. The opposite is true in England, where the science is hotly debated.
Volunteers in the Louisiana Bucket Brigade monitor air pollution in the neighborhoods adjoining ExxonMobil’s Chalmette Oil Refinery.
Michael Shellenberger of the Breakthrough Institute, and Evans/McDonough pollster Ted Nordhaus wrote an essay last fall titled "The Death of Environmentalism," an incendiary bomb thrown at the green braintrust. But the bombastic report may have been less than meets the eye.
It was only in the last century that the culture of a "proper lawn" began to firmly take root in much of the U.S. To achieve that look, Americans apply more than 80 million pounds of chemical products to their lawns and gardens each year. According to one scientist, these chemicals "have poisoned humans and other species, contaminated our water supplies, reduced biodiversity, increased pest resistance, interfered with natural pest control and are directly responsible for a host of other environmental problems."
Despite many a gloom-and-doom environmental scenario, Scripps-Howard News Service columnist Joan Lowy identifies five hot green trends underscoring Americans’ love for the environment as Earth Day approaches this Friday.
The U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia heard preliminary arguments last week in a case in which a coalition of 12 states and a handful of environmental groups charge the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) with neglecting its responsibility to protect public health by regulating tailpipe emissions that contribute to global warming.
According to some experts, construction and demolition projects together contribute as much as 60 percent of all solid waste in the U.S., so the building industry is certainly ripe for some increased recycling efforts. According to the Sourcebook for Green and Sustainable Building
Biodiesel is one of the cleanest burning alternative fuels available today. Diesel engines that run on biodiesel emit substantially less carbon monoxide and soot compared to engines that run on regular diesel fuel.
