Scotchgard was created by accident in a 3M laboratory a half-century ago after an experimental chemical formula spilled onto a technician’s sneaker. Remarkably, it kept the spot clean despite the rest of the canvas fabric collecting dirt over time.
A large array of local governments, nonprofit organizations and ad hoc citizen groups has risen to the challenge, making the United States the world’s nexus for river restoration work.
When a handful of concerned undergrads at the University of North Carolina advertised in the Greenpeace newsletter in 1988 for other student environmentalists to connect with, they weren’t sure what kind of response to expect.
Thanks to forward-thinking action by the European Union (EU), people around the world are beginning to recognize that wasteful packaging puts unnecessary stress on the environment. In 1994 the EU issued a “Directive on Packaging and Packaging Waste,”
Most researchers agree that even small changes in temperature are enough to send hundreds if not thousands of already struggling species into extinction unless we can stem the tide of global warming.
Beyond the simple exercising of one’s own purchasing power, there are many actions consumers can take—and organizations and resources available to help—to pressure companies to green up their ways.
Dear EarthTalk: What kinds of cat litters are kinder to the environment: traditional clay litters (so-called clumping litters) or other varieties? What about some of the new alternatives, such as those made out of wheat and corn? —Stef Gandolfi, Oakland, CA Traditional clay-based clumping cat litters are the most common and widely sold in supermarkets […]
I have heard that wind power turbines kill a lot of birds, including migrating flocks, and that some people oppose wind power for that reason. If this is true, to what degree do they harm birds and what is being done about it?
As of the end of 2006, 169 countries had signed onto the Kyoto Protocol, an agreement forged in Kyoto, Japan in 1997 calling on the world”s industrialized nations to reduce emissions of so-called “greenhouse gases” thought to be contributing to global warming.
It is difficult to do an apples-to-apples cost comparison of a “green” structure against one that is not due to differences in design, materials and other factors, including the location.
