As the weather gets colder and many of us batten down for winter, it’s a great time to start drawing up plans for those improvements you’ve been contemplating. Go green and you can make an important individual contribution to the environment, help take a bite out of global warming, and save money over the long haul, too.
Last October, Iceland announced it would resume hunting great whales, breaking a 20-year moratorium on commercial whaling. Icelandic whalers will be allowed to kill nine endangered fin whales and 30 smaller, more abundant minkes by the end of August. The killing has already begun: By the end of last November, whalers had killed seven fins, producing a storm of international criticism.
When it comes to solid waste, most people think of candy wrappers, soda bottles and Styrofoam packing peanuts instead of the house they’re living in or the Target where they shop. However, the EPA estimates that up to 40 percent of U.S. solid waste is construction and demolition debris. Deconstruction—taking homes and commercial buildings apart, rather than landfilling the waste—does involve more labor than demolition, but it also avoids costly disposal fees. What had been a total loss—demolition and landfilling—turns into a revenue-generating opportunity to resell what was previously waste.
A bipartisan group including the CEOs of Fedex, UPS and Dow Chemical, along with some of the nation’s best known retired generals, has come together to urge the White House to push for a new energy policy that reduces U.S. dependence on foreign oil. The group, which calls itself the Energy Security Leadership Council (ESLC), warns that weaning the country off foreign oil won’t be enough, and that the White House and Congress need to take decisive action to promote homegrown alternatives as soon as possible.
Just in time for the busy holiday travel season, the non-profit Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) released a new report last week scolding the airline industry for the shocking amount of otherwise recyclable waste it discards every year. The report, entitled "Trash Landings: How Airlines and Airports Can Clean Up Their Recycling Programs," also details creative solutions undertaken by some airlines to boost recycling efforts.
India’s exploding housing sector in high-tech centers like Pune and Bangalore is finally seeing green development to satisfy the demands of more sophisticated and environmentally-conscious consumers—and improve the bottom line for developers.
Organic wine is here to stay thanks to several pioneering American wineries incorporating local produce and green packaging.
Querido DiálogoEcológico: Estoy un poco preocupada acerca de los rumores que se va a usar hidrógeno como combustible. ¿No fue el hidrógeno el que causó la explosión del dirigible Hindenburg en los años 1930?
Querido DiálogoEcológico: Soy una peluquera (estilista) y he estado reflexionando recientemente acerca del efecto sobre la salud y el ambiente de los productos estilizadores que uso todos los días en mis clientes.
The famed Appalachian Trail that stretches from Georgia to Maine may just become America’s largest living laboratory for environmental science, if an unlikely grouping of institutions has its way. The National Park Service and U.S. Forest Service are teaming up with Cornell University, the National Geographic Society, the Appalachian Trail Conservancy and the American Hiking Society to launch the Appalachian Trail Mega-Transect, a comprehensive and ongoing assessment of various environmental indicators along the 2,200-mile hiking trail.
The nonprofit Land Trust Alliance (LTA) reported last week that Americans have increased the conservation of private lands by more than 50 percent in just five years. Currently about 37 million acres of private land has been set aside as natural areas across the U.S., as compared to just 24 million acres when the group last conducted such a tally in 2000. LTA works with local land trusts to help conserve private lands.
