gRound-Up
Farmed vs. Wild Salmon: the choice is clear
Check out this infographic on the health and environmental effects of farmed atlantic salmon compared with wild salmon. Not only is wild salmon tastier than atlantic salmon, it is healthier for both you and the environment. Seafood choices matter! Choose wisely with the help of the Monterey Bay Aquarium’s Seafood Watch next time you visit your [...]
Worldwide extreme weather events in 2012
The World Resources Institute has put together a nifty timeline showing the most significant extreme weather events thus far in 2012. Climate change has “loaded the climate dice” towards more extreme weather.
5 bold ideas to save coral reefs
Concerted global action to stop climate change is unlikely to come fast enough to stop serious damage to the world’s coral reefs. Authors of a new study argue that marine conservationists need to explore dramatic steps to save these precious ecosystems.
Return of the Kings to the Elwha
For the first time in nearly a century, an adult Chinook (King) salmon has been spotted in the Elwha river. Since 1913, most of the Elwha river watershed was cut off from the ocean by two dams in Olympic National Park. Score one for nature.
Greenland experiencing record ice melt this summer
By July 12 of this year, 97% of Greenland’s ice sheet was melting. This extremely unusual event is yet another indication that the Arctic is experiencing a major change in climate norms, driven in large part by human-induced climate change.
Follow the Phoenix Islands Expedition Online
What do pristine coral reefs look like? If you have ever been snorkling or scuba diving, what you have seen may be pretty, but it almost certainly is a reef that has been shaped by human influences such as fishing or pollution. Follow the New England Aquarium’s 2012 expedition to the Phoenix Islands to see for yourself what pristine reefs look like.
Amazing US wind speed visualization
Check out this real-time wind speed visualization for the US. It was developed by the brains behind IBM’s Many Eyes and Google’s “Big Picture” visualization lab. Not only does it show the tremendous potential of this renewable energy source, but watching it live is really, really hypnotic.
James Hansen’s alarming talk on the climate crisis, and how we can solve it
Watch James Hansen sound the alarm on climate change. “Imagine a giant asteroid on a direct collision course with Earth. That is the equivalent of what we face now [with climate change], yet we dither.”
China’s greenhouse gas emissions will exceed U.S. emissions by 50% in 2015
China’s greenhouse gas emissions are continuing to grow at an alarming rate. In 2010, emissions were 20% higher than the United States’ but by 2015, emissions could top 50% higher
Bill Clinton calls out climate deniers: “We look like a joke”
Former president Bill Clinton, speaking at the Clinton Global Initiative annual meeting, called out climate deniers and their champions in the GOP. He said, “If you’re an American, the best thing you could do is to make it politically unacceptable to engage in denial. We look like a joke. You can’t win the nomination of one [...]
Featured
The Future of Green Building is in Seattle
I have seen the future of buildings. And it is awesome. Today, Earth Day 2013, The Bullitt Center – the “greenest,” most sustainable commercial building in the world – officially opened. I’ve been fortunate to live right down the street and have been able to watch the building take shape over the past year. There [...]
Written by S. Neil Larsen on April 23, 2013
Chasing Ice: A haunting visual record of the climate catastrophe
Glacial. This word is often used to describe an incredibly slow process. It is ironic then, I think, that glaciers and polar ice caps melting at such an incredible rate are providing the most visible and indisputable evidence that we are entering a new geologic epoch. We are in a unique position (for worse) to bear [...]
Written by S. Neil Larsen on November 20, 2012
Q & A with Stanford’s Green Grid Radio Show
Green Grid Radio is a new hour-long weekly radio show from Stanford radio. The show airs Tuesdays, 1-2pm PST on KZSU Stanford 90.1FM in the San Francisco Bay Area and online at kzsulive.stanford.edu. Recordings of the shows are also available at greengridradio.org and the podcast is available via iTunes here. Curious about the creation of Green Grid [...]
Written by Lakshmi Eassey on November 14, 2012
Photo Essay: Fair Trade and Social Entrepreneurship in Guatemala
On the shores of Guatemala’s Lake Atitlan, a local fair trade cooperative named JUSTA provides living wages for traditional Maya women artisans through social entrepreneurship and self-sustaining development. In Spanish, justa means just or fair, and lives up to its name by working directly with producers in long-term commitments to provide living wages for their traditional craft.
Written by Carrie Laing on September 24, 2012
Promoting Certified Wood Products from Agroforestry Systems
Agroforestry is a key strategy to improve on-farm productivity, increase nutrition, and help the environment – particularly in the developing world. Small landowners and community agroforestry systems in many cases would benefit from certification programs. Hot off the press is a new handbook to guide the development of FSC certification programs around the world.
Written by S. Neil Larsen on August 20, 2012
Seeds of Occupy: The Gill Tract Contested Land and Oakland’s Planting Justice
On Earth Day, activists, community members, students and local farmers reclaimed the Gill Tract, a five-acres of a 14-acre piece of land in Albany, near Berkeley, CA. After a three-week occupation, arrests, and a court case, as of Monday June 11, all charges have been dropped. I just happened to be interviewing about his work with [...]
Written by Lakshmi Eassey on June 19, 2012
Book Review: Rambunctious Garden by Emma Marris
What does “nature” mean? What is it supposed to look like? And what is the future of nature and biodiversity conservation? These are questions that Emma Marris tries to answer in her excellent book Rambunctious Garden. An aweful lot of money is spent around the world by non-profits, governments, and people on nature conservation projects. [...]
Written by S. Neil Larsen on June 14, 2012
Simplifying the Economics of Happiness with Helena Norberg-Hodge
In 1975, before India’s northern region of Ladakh became a popular tourist attraction; Helena Norberg-Hodge went with a film crew. It was here she first encountered a localized economy, planting the seed for her present work. Now, nearly 40 years later, she is the director of the International Society for Ecology and Culture, an organization [...]
Written by Lakshmi Eassey on April 19, 2012
What does it feel like to lose your home, your community, and your entire nation?
This is a cross-post from The Climate Reality Project. What does it feel like when you realize the place you call home may disappear forever? The people of the Central Pacific island nation of Kiribati can answer that question. They are grappling firsthand with the climate crisis we’ve inflicted on our planet, and now face [...]
Written by Shravya Reddy on March 9, 2012
A Vision for the Future: Founder of Earth Trust, Vanya Orr
The Nilgiri Hills consists of a heart-shaped region rising almost vertically from the lowlands of the Southern Indian states of Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Karnataka in Southern India. In order to protect its unique population of plants and animals, it was one of the earliest places in the world to be registered as a World [...]
Written by Lakshmi Eassey on February 3, 2012
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