environment

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7 Unlikely Threats to the Planet

 7 Unlikely Threats 
 to the Planet 
earth day
Apr 22, 2010 4:21 PM CDT

7 Unlikely Threats to the Planet

Mobile phones and concrete are on the list

(Newser) - Environmental hazards lurk everywhere, says LiveScience , which rounds up 7 "secret polluters." A sampling:
  • Cell phones: They use a rare mineral called coltan, which mainly comes from Congo via unsound mining methods. Plus, the phones have toxic chemicals that can pollute upon disposal.
  • Concrete: The way it's manufactured
...

Google Doodle Celebrates Earth Day

Search engine goes green for Ma Nature

(Newser) - The Google doodlers are at it again, this time with a vividly green Avatar-like image of a magical woodland to celebrate Earth Day. Clicking on the image on the Google search page calls up everything connected to Earth Day. The doodle marking the green day, founded in 1970 by a...

Oil Drilling Yields First Spat Between Gore, Obama

Former VP's alliance issues statement critical of plan

(Newser) - President Obama's decision to allow offshore drilling in the Atlantic has resulted in his first public disagreement with Al Gore. The former vice president's environmental group issued a statement critical of the policy, asserting that we "cannot simply drill our way to energy security." In the past, Gore...

Brazil Using Condoms to Protect Rainforest

Sustainable condom project to use Amazon rubber

(Newser) - Brazil has unrolled an ambitious plan to preserve vast areas of the Amazon rainforest by tapping its rubber trees to make sustainable condoms. Most "rubbers" are now made from cheaper synthetic materials, but officials of the Brazilian government—which buys 1 billion condoms a year—say the project will...

Inhofe: Hey, I'm the Planet's Worst Enemy!

Senator upset with No. 7 ranking

(Newser) - Sen. Jim Inhofe ranked No. 7 on Rolling Stone’s list of the “planet’s worst enemies,” and he’s hopping mad about it: He thinks he deserved to be first. “I should have been number one, not number 7,” the Oklahoma Republican tells the Tulsa ...

California OKs Nation's Greenest Building Code

New rules on plumbing, waste go into effect next year

(Newser) - A California commission has approved rules designed to make the state's new buildings some of the greenest in the country. The building code, known as Calgreen, requires among other things that builders use high-tech plumbing, recycle half their overall waste, and use low-pollutant paints and floorings. The rules go into...

Spoiled Wine Used to Generate Electricity

Scientists turn wine waste into energy

(Newser) - Scientists have found a way to turn bad wine into good energy, a step, they hope, toward a new, cost-effective way to treat wastewater generated by wineries. The process, currently being tested in Napa, uses a common bacteria to turn unwanted vinegar and sugars into electricity and hydrogen. This should...

Climate Talks Near Deal to Save Forests

Plan pays people to preserve carbon-reducing landscapes

(Newser) - Negotiators in Copenhagen are putting the final touches on a sweeping deal that would compensate countries for preserving forests. A final draft of the agreement will be given to ministers today, the New York Times reports. A signed agreement, which could be one of the most significant accomplishments of the...

Environmentalism Is the New Socialism

 Environmentalism Is 
 the New Socialism 
Charles Krauthammer
Dec 11, 2009 10:07 AM CST

Environmentalism Is the New Socialism

The left is using it as a new excuse to grab power

(Newser) - The left failed with socialism, so it's now turned to environmentalism to achieve its ends, writes Charles Krauthammer. Witness the EPA's recent decision on carbon emissions—which will give it control over just about every business in the country—as well as the Copenhagen talks, where developing nations think it's...

Green Buying Leads to Bad Behavior
 Green Buying Leads 
 to Bad Behavior 


STUDY SAYS
Dec 8, 2009 12:52 PM CST

Green Buying Leads to Bad Behavior

After earning 'moral credits,' subjects more likely to cheat, steal

(Newser) - The satisfaction people get from purchasing environmentally friendly products is apt to lead to other selfish, even morally repugnant decisions later, writes Rebecca Tuhus-Dubrow on Slate . It's not just the complacency that comes from thinking you've done your part for the planet, however insignificant. It's something researchers call "moral...

Team Counts on Birds to Sing Their Population

Recordings + math equations = accurate numbers

(Newser) - The intensity of birdsong can be used to accurately calculate bird populations, scientists have discovered. Researchers are using recordings from microphones placed in woods to count birds using mathematical equations. The method is expected to revolutionize the monitoring of other species. Counting animals is extremely time consuming, and many species,...

Carbon-Tax Foes Must Think the End Is Nigh
Carbon-Tax Foes Must Think the End Is Nigh
Thomas Friedman
Nov 18, 2009 8:25 AM CST

Carbon-Tax Foes Must Think the End Is Nigh

How else to explain them being OK with the exploding population?

(Newser) - Opponents of cap-and-trade legislation must believe that a massive plague will wipe out 2.5 billion people sometime between now and 2050. Otherwise, their stance makes no sense, writes Thomas Friedman of the New York Times . Even if you don’t believe climate change is real—and Friedman does—you...

Critics Lash Gore's Green 'Profiteering'

Investment profits go back into his nonprofit, counters ex-VP

(Newser) - Al Gore is going to become the world's first "carbon billionaire" thanks to investments in firms that will profit from policies he advocates, his critics say. The ex-VP is a partner in a venture capital firm that stands to make huge profits from investments in green technology, causing accusations...

In Eco-Terms, Dog = Hummer
 In Eco-Terms, 
 Dog = Hummer 
pop science
Nov 2, 2009 5:50 PM CST

In Eco-Terms, Dog = Hummer

(Newser) - A dog has about the same impact on the planet as an SUV, according to a study out of New Zealand. The authors of Time to Eat the Dog? The Real Guide to Sustainable Living claim the environmental footprint of a Toyota Land Cruiser is smaller than the ecological impact...

Dems Use Nukes to Lure GOP to Climate Bill

Plants, drilling offered as sweetener for cap-and-trade

(Newser) - The climate change bill up for Senate committee debate tomorrow doesn't stand a chance unless its Democratic backers can sweet talk some of their GOP colleagues, the Washington Post reports. The legislation focuses on a cap-and-trade system where companies could buy and sell emissions permits as needed. But Republican support...

Pets' Carbon Pawprint Cause for Alarm

Fido, Fluffy fetch bad news for environment

(Newser) - Forget the gas guzzler—it's Fluffy and Fido who are delivering a carbon blow to the global environment. That's the odd warning from a pair of New Zealand professors who claim the carbon pawprint of a large dog delivers twice the impact of a Toyota Land Cruiser driven 6,000...

Go Green: Move to NY
 Go Green: Move to NY 
DAVID OWEN
Oct 27, 2009 2:00 AM CDT

Go Green: Move to NY

Space-guzzling homeowners in countryside exact bigger toll

(Newser) - Vermont has been hailed as the greenest place in America but its residents need to look to Manhattan for some real low-impact living, argues David Owen. Vermonters might feel green with all that countryside around, but they lack the public transport and low energy use that makes New York City...

Biofuel Laws Make No Sense: Scientists

Kyoto Protocols actually encourage harming the environment

(Newser) - Biofuel laws around the world actually encourage harming the environment, prominent scientists argue in the latest issue of Science. Under the Kyoto Treaty, in laws throughout Europe, and in the bill that passed the US House, biofuels count as carbon-neutral, on the theory that the plants the fuel is made...

Coal Harms the Planet &mdash;and Owns the Senate
 Coal Harms the Planet 
 —and Owns the Senate 
Jeffrey Sachs
Oct 21, 2009 8:32 AM CDT

Coal Harms the Planet —and Owns the Senate

Blame industry as well as ideology if US shirks Copenhagen

(Newser) - As the world turns to Copenhagen this December, the US, which never ratified the Kyoto Protocol, may once again fail to sign up to save the world from serious climate change. Ideology plays a part, Jeffrey Sachs notes, as many Republican senators are "intent on derailing any Obama initiative....

5 Years Until Climate Disaster, Warns WWF
 5 Years Until Climate 
 Disaster, Warns WWF 
COPENHAGEN SUMMIT
Oct 19, 2009 5:46 AM CDT

5 Years Until Climate Disaster, Warns WWF

Checking global warming requires 'green revolution'

(Newser) - Disastrous climate change is inevitable unless the world begins cutting carbon emissions within the next five years, the World Wildlife Fund warns in a new report. Ahead of December's clutch Copenhagen summit, meant to forge a successor to the Kyoto Protocol, the fund repeats that global temperature rises could stay...

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