Travel & Nature

Image via YouTube video screengrab

Holy wow. This video is such a trip (har har). It's not quite as relaxing as if you were on the cruise enjoying it in real time, but if you don't have the funds or vacation time from work, the five minutes it takes to experience five days aboard this ship is sure amazing -- and, we must admit, a whole lot greener.

Food & Health

Image: Dirk Becker

Last week Colleen brought us the story of a woman in Michigan who is facing jail time for planting a garden. Sadly, this type of heavy-handed by-the-letter enforcement of bylaws exists at the same time as people embrace urban agriculture as a viable source of high quality nutrition. A man in Lanztville, British Columbia is facing a similar battle with the local government after converting his 2.5 acre "residential" lot from a gravel pit into a thriving organic farm. His refusal to "cease all agricultural activity" could land him six months in jail.

Science & Technology

Photo: Wikipedia, CC

Offshore Wind Farms Might be Best Place to Grow Seaweed 'Farms'
Biofuels made with food crops are generally a bad idea. By competing with food production for land, they increase the price of many commodities which are already expensive for the poorest people on Earth. This is so bad that the Association of American Physicians and Surgeons (AAPS) has released a warning that U.S. and European policy to increase the production of biofuels could lead to almost 200,000 deaths in poorer countries. So if we're going to make biofuels, they better be made from non-food sources of biomass... So how about seaweeds?

Science & Technology

Image via reusethisbag.com

Reusable Bags has a good infographic on the continuing climate change debate (as if it's debatable). You wont' believe what the skeptics are saying!

Take Action

So far TreeHugger readers have picked 3 new challenges for the Double Impact platform: using dishtowels or cloth napkins instead of paper towels, switching to biodegradable plates and cutlery instead of styrofoam or plastic and closing the curtains to reduce a/c usage. What will you pick this week?

Cars & Transportation

Photo: Flickr, CC

Only Available in 7 States So Far, So It's Just the Beginning...
Since it was introduced in 2008, Tesla has sold about 1,650 electric Roadsters in 30 countries. Since it was introduced in a handful of U.S. states about 6 months ago (Arizona, California, Hawaii, Tennessee, Texas, Oregon and Washington, with additional markets launching later this year), the Nissan LEAF electric car has sold over 4,000 units. If that's not a success, I don't know what is. Now of course, the Roadster and LEAF are very different beasts; the Tesla is faster, has a longer range and is more expensive. And without Tesla kicking the hornet's nest in 2006, the LEAF, Volt, Focus Electric, etc, might never have seen the light of day... But to make a difference, this technology must at some point transition to the mainstream, and nothing guarantees that the innovator will be the one bringing it there.

Business & Politics

"Above the Clouds, Looking down on Pennsylvania." Image credit:Flickr, katrha

The Charlotte News-Observer reports that "Duke Energy has spent $5 million over the past two years to fix corrosion in pollution-catching devices at its power plants, which are among dozens nationwide plagued by the problem." The sulfur dioxide from coal burning, captured by wet "scrubbers," forms sulfuric acid. This acid corrodes pollution control equipment from the inside. For a price, there are technical fixes available. My question is this: with the Republican-proposed end to enforcement of most EPA air regs affecting coal plants, what happens to people and fish exposed to these emission gases when scrubbing stops?

There's more...

Travel & Nature

Image: IRRI Images

As salinization impacts agriculture around the world—another effect of climate change that will hit already-vulnerable places and people the hardest—farmers, small-scale farmers in particular, have to figure out how to adapt.