Sustainability Digest

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How are Cows and Bikes Connected? The connection is not obvious until you know the story of The Read the full article -->

How are Cows and Bikes Connected? The connection is not obvious until you know the story of The Cow Spokes. Tim Whittemore, Sam Stickney, and Noah Hoskins-Forsythe are farm boys who are trying to make their contribution to "just and sustainable development through out the world". They plan to do this by raising $10,000 in moo-lah from supporters of their marathon charity ride from Alaska to the Panama Canal. The money will go to Heifer.org, a charity which fo...

This is an update of the post from 2007 titled: Mirror, Mirror On The Wall, Who Are The Read the full article -->

This is an update of the post from 2007 titled: Mirror, Mirror On The Wall, Who Are The Greenest (States) Of All. That earlier post graphic was based on a multi-parameter index ranking. This new one is simpler:- the graphic you see here shows state ranking based on per capita emissions. The greener the bar, the better they are. Via::Eredux, United States Energy Usage Comparison Chart...

Image Credit: Rebecca Cook, Reuters McCain Takes a Look at the Chevy Volt Fresh off his proposal Read the full article -->

Image Credit: Rebecca Cook, Reuters McCain Takes a Look at the Chevy Volt Fresh off his proposal for a $300 million government-sponsored prize for the development of better battery technology, presidential candidate John McCain, along with "GM Chief Executive Rick Wagoner and other company executives. . .examined and got into a model of a Chevrolet Volt, a plug-in hybrid-electric car GM says it plans to have on the market by 2010." During th...

My house is carbon’s Big Foot. Built in 1912, it’s a Portland bungalow that has Read the full article -->

My house is carbon's Big Foot. Built in 1912, it's a Portland bungalow that has never known the meaning of the word "efficiency." So setting out to conquer Chapter 7 of Graham Hill and Meaghan O'Neill's Ready, Set, Green: Eight Weeks To Modern Eco-Living seemed the biggest challenge of my eight week journey thus far. Green decks still challenging I've been working on my house extensively this summer, but I don't feel as if my energy consumption, my water use or my building practices have improved very much. And the main reason is cost. This is still the major Achilles heel of home greening, ...

Sink holes along the Dead Sea shore. Caused by the receding waters, these holes have begun Read the full article -->

Sink holes along the Dead Sea shore. Caused by the receding waters, these holes have begun appearing spontaneously in recent years. (image: he.widipedia.org). Despite harsh criticism and a host of skeptics, the Red Sea to Dead Sea "Peace Conduit" plan is proceeding apace. Although construction has not yet begun, the project is expected to be presented to the Israeli government for approval this summer. This week, however, the Israeli press reported that developers are planning on building en...

Tally up one more reason why planting switchgrass may be a good idea. According to a study Read the full article -->

Tally up one more reason why planting switchgrass may be a good idea. According to a study conducted by Kristine Nichols, a microbiologist with the Agricultural Research Service (ARS) Northern Great Plains Research Laboratory, soils planted with native grasses have significantly higher levels of glomalin, a sugar-protein compound that helps improve soil quality, than soils planted with non-native grasses. The natural alternative to carbon capture and storage (CCS) Not only that, glomalin also <a href="http://ww...

Before air travel, how on earth did people get around the globe? For a brief moment in history, Read the full article -->

Before air travel, how on earth did people get around the globe? For a brief moment in history, there were steam ships and then diesel ferries. Now, due to high fuel costs, such ferries may no longer be a solution to your travel needs. Arimura Industries, which has operated passenger ferries between Japan and Taiwan, ceased operations this year. The company operated under bankruptcy protection for some time and tried to work a rehabilitation plan, but was turned down, according to Japan Upd...

Image from dobak Thanks to a last minute injunction by a federal judge in Montana, the gray wolf Read the full article -->

Image from dobak Thanks to a last minute injunction by a federal judge in Montana, the gray wolf will be returned to its endangered species status, reports the LAT's Tami Abdollah. U.S. District Court Judge Donald Molloy didn't mince his words in criticizing the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's ill-advised decision to take the wolf off the list, calling it baseless and dangerous. A capricious decision without merit "Congress does not intend agency decision-making to be fickle. When...

Image: Ecotopia Biketour 2007, pid.blog.hr With all their gear and tents strapped to their Read the full article -->

Image: Ecotopia Biketour 2007, pid.blog.hr
With all their gear and tents strapped to their bicycles and trailers, a small group of young people from several European countries are slowly but surely making their way from Bulgaria to Turkey on the annual Ecotopia Biketour. Despite their self-described status as a “totally chaotic tour, with constantly changing sleeping places, group composition and food quality,” it’s no ordinary bunch of cyclists and it’s no run-of-the-mill r...