Although there are many socially responsible banks, credit unions and loan funds, ShoreBank Pacific (an outgrowth of Chicago’s South Shore Bank) stands out for environmentalists eager to put their savings or banking dollars to work directly supporting green efforts.
In 1910, German-born Ralph Hosmer planted 86 varieties of non-native trees in Maui, including the eucalyptus trees that have now grown to great heights in the grove named after him.
The soot spewing from the exhaust pipes of diesel buses doesn’t just look dirty, it is dirty. Diesel exhaust accounts for 20 percent of U.S. air pollution, says the Natural Resources Defense Council. Some forward-thinking transit agencies are fighting back with hybrid diesel-electric buses. New York City Transit (NYCT), for example, took the lead and […]
From Barbie dolls to the latest consumer gadgets, most of the goods stocking North American store shelves arrive by ship. Large marine vessels such as container ships and oil tankers are one of the least-regulated sources of air pollution in the United States. As these ships make their way to and from their ports of call, a steady stream of toxic filth is released from their smokestacks.
Are cancer clusters more likely in populations that live near nuclear power plants? Researchers are starting to think so….
China Embraces Sustainability—One City at a Time When China announced last November that it would impose strict new fuel-economy standards for small cars and minivans, it was only one sign that the world’s most populated country is headed down a more sustainable path—while the U.S. moves in the other direction. "China’s economic development is happening […]
The Island’s New Environmentalism Faces Challenges The students of the escuela primeria in Los Tumbos, a village nestled deep within the rich agricultural province of Pinar Del Réo, constantly hover around the computer awarded to the school a year ago. Their computer runs off of two small solar panels that gleam in the sun when […]
Replacing Fossil Fuels in a "Clean Energy" Economy Three towering smokestacks rise from the fossil fuel-fired Schiller Power Station in the quaint New England city of Portsmouth, New Hampshire. Built more than 50 years ago, Schiller is a striking example of a dirty, coal-burning power plant constructed during the mid-20th century. An archaic plant exempted […]
While many futurists predicted that we’d be enjoying the paperless office around this time, Americans are still at the epicenter of a paper blizzard. Were you under the impression that the electronic age would free us from all that?
Kenaf, a long-fiber plant that originated in the East Indies and is grown in the U.S., Thailand and China, is a relative of okra and cotton that is now making inroads as a wood substitute.
