environmentalism – News Stories About environmentalism - Page 8

Nov 25, 2007 6:16 AM CST

Wal-Mart Shops for Green Cred

Critics skeptical as mammoth chain donates to eco groups, reduces energy use

(Newser) - Hoping to soften its image, Wal-Mart is going green, the Washington Post reports. The retail giant is now donating to environmental groups, improving its energy efficiency, and creating the first hybrid shipping truck. Yet some critics say it's a mere cover. "Wal-Mart is willing to spread its money wherever...

Rich Nations Break Climate Vow to Poor

Nov 24, 2007 7:45 PM CST

Rich Nations Break Climate Vow to Poor

$1.2B pledge to developing countries is mostly forgotten

(Newser) - Several of the world's richest nations have forgotten about a $1.2 billion pledge to help developed countries cope with climate change, the Guardian reports. The group has doled out less than $185 million so far to help them plan for global warming, defend against floods, and boost conservation. "...

Companies Go Green for Consumers— and Profit

Nov 15, 2007 12:12 PM CST

Companies Go Green for Consumers— and Profit

Frito-Lay works to turn a chip plant eco-friendly

(Newser) - As consumers look for more eco-friendly products, a Frito-Lay plant in Arizona is working toward ways to turn 500,00 pounds of spuds into environmentally friendly potato chips, the New York Times reports, changing an energy- and water-hogging process into one that uses renewable fuel, solar energy, and recycled water...

London About to Sack Plastic

Nov 14, 2007 5:30 AM CST

London About to Sack Plastic

House of Commons to vote on outlawing free plastic shopping bags

(Newser) - The ubiquitous free plastic bag will soon be more than London merchants can handle. That's because Council officials yesterday voted to ban London retailers from handing out the free sacks, sending the matter to the House of Commons for a final ruling. The London bill would require shoppers to use...

Tree-Hugging Bra Hits Japan

Nov 8, 2007 12:38 PM CST

Tree-Hugging Bra Hits Japan

Eco-friendly product features chopstick compartment

(Newser) - The latest weapon in the fight to save trees? The Chopstick Bra, which offers a handy pouch to slide chopsticks into. Each Japanese citizen goes through 200 pairs of disposable wooden chopsticks in a year—a grand total of 25 billion pairs nationwide. One lingerie company is responding with the...

China Getting Serious About Environment

Oct 6, 2007 4:34 PM CDT

China Getting Serious About Environment

Polluting businesses told to clean up or get lost in many provinces

(Newser) - When its lake turned green and sludge poured from taps, the longtime home of China’s chemical industry closed 1,340 polluting factories, becoming the standard-bearer for a green wave now sweeping China, the Washington Post says. For the first time, the central government has given its provinces weapons to...

Greenies Bank on Worm Poop

Sep 22, 2007 4:59 PM CDT

Greenies Bank on Worm Poop

All organic fertilizers changing the marketplace

(Newser) - One company wanting to "make millions while saving the world" is banking on worm poop, using it for eco-friendly fertilizer—though chemical compost still clogs the market, CNN reports. Greenies are boosting the organic fertilizer market by 10% per year, but most homeowners have "failed" the "environmentally...

21 Gadgets for the Green Home

Sep 20, 2007 10:46 AM CDT

21 Gadgets for the Green Home

Watch out evil polluters! These hot new devices are mean, lean and very, very green

(Newser) - Companies are zeroing in on the emerging eco-market with painfully cool items like a battery-powered scooter from Vectrix, wind-powered tiki torches from Demakersvan, and speakers made from recycled whiskey barrels by Pioneer Electronics. Popular Science's photo montage of the latest in green technology shows that hip and hippie need no...

Apocalypse Not Now: Saving the Earth Demands Positive Vision

Sep 18, 2007 3:48 AM CDT

Apocalypse Not Now: Saving the Earth Demands Positive Vision

The answer is funding innovations, say writers

(Newser) - Apocalyptic thinking and small solutions aren’t capable of saving the world in the Inconvenient Truth age; instead, we need optimism and innovation funding, say New Republic writers Ted Nordhaus and Michael Shellenberger. Reducing energy consumption, at the root of global warming, is not realistic, they argue.

Americans Hot for Hybrids

Sep 17, 2007 5:42 PM CDT

Americans Hot for Hybrids

Sales up 49% thanks to surge in Mid-West sales

(Newser) - Hybrid sales skyrocketed 49% in the first half of 2007, thanks to boom in the Midwest. Oklahoma’s 143% increase was the most of any state, but every state except Hawaii saw growth, the AP reports, with 215,997 vehicles registered this year, compared to 144,721 over the same...

Little Shop of Hybrids: Green Mechanic Opens

Sep 13, 2007 5:30 PM CDT

Little Shop of Hybrids: Green Mechanic Opens

San Francisco garage first devoted to hybrids-only service

(Newser) - While auto mechanics nationwide now service hybrid vehicles, San Francisco's Luscious Garage is the country's first shop to work exclusively on environment-friendly cars. "There's a critical mass of hybrids in the Bay Area," owner Carolyn Coquilette told Wired, which reports that nearly 10% of new hybrids registered in...

Japan Fights Heat Tooth
and Nail—But Not With A/C

Sep 11, 2007 4:08 PM CDT

Japan Fights Heat Tooth and Nail—But Not With A/C

Tokyo cooks up stigma against energy waste

(Newser) - The Japanese are waging a painful war against energy consumption, meeting summer needs not with air-conditioning but with business casual clothing and a good dose of grinning and bearing it. The 2-year-old Cool Biz movement, which aims to keep office temperatures at 82 degrees, took off in earnest this summer,...

Electric Car Nails 0 to 60 in 0:04

Sep 10, 2007 8:21 PM CDT

Electric Car Nails 0 to 60 in 0:04

Britain's Lightning GTS rips up the road with no gas pains

(Newser) - The Lightning GTS—a new all-electric sports car—will go from 0 to 60 in four seconds, the car's British manufacturer claims. Part of a coming boom in electric cars (in Europe anyway), the GTS will travel 250 miles on a 10-minute charge and max out at 130 mph. But...

Body Shop's Roddick Dies

Sep 10, 2007 6:28 PM CDT

Body Shop's Roddick Dies

(Newser) - Dame Anita Roddick, who as founder of the Body Shop championed socially and environmentally responsible business practices, died tonight of a massive brain hemorrhage at age 64. The plucky Brit saw her lone natural-ingredient shop grow into more than 2,000 stores worldwide, and she sold her share of the...

Solar Plane Beats World Record

Sep 10, 2007 11:23 AM CDT

Solar Plane Beats World Record

Aviation officials absent for the Zephyr's 54-hr flight

(Newser) - A lightweight, solar-powered plane has broken the world record for the longest unmanned flight by a whole day. The Zephyr, built by a British security firm, flew for 54 hours during a test flight, beating the US Air Force's record for a similar vehicle by 24 hours. But it's not...

Sunny Days Here for Green Homeowners

Sep 8, 2007 2:59 PM CDT

Sunny Days Here for Green Homeowners

Thanks to subsidies and surplus, going green is paying off

(Newser) - Sunny days are here to stay for solar homes with roof-top panels, Forbes reports. Such green abodes can cover electricity costs in warm months and store enough to sell solar power to the grid for profit. Installation is expensive but viable thanks to government subsidies, especially in California, New Jersey...

Bill Targets Reps' Gas Guzzlers

Sep 4, 2007 4:03 PM CDT

Bill Targets Reps' Gas Guzzlers

Bid to strip Congress of guzzlers by revoking leasing dollars

(Newser) - The environmental movement might just be trickling up: The House of Representatives has approved an energy bill amendment that would bar members from leasing gas guzzlers with taxpayer money. The proposal still faces some roadblocks, McClatchy reports, including its vague definition of emissions standards and the efforts of a top...

Indian Activists Seek 'Green' Funeral Pyres

Sep 3, 2007 12:49 PM CDT

Indian Activists Seek 'Green' Funeral Pyres

Hindu cremation rites consume 50 million trees a year

(Newser) - Indian environmental activists are taking aim at the traditional Hindu funeral pyre, which can burn over 800 pounds of wood while mourners watch the rite that is believed to free soul from body. Now a nonprofit group is peddling a "green cremation system," which uses a raised metal...

Fill 'Er Up With Algae, Please

Sep 3, 2007 6:55 AM CDT

Fill 'Er Up With Algae, Please

Way to be green: New generation of alternative energy innovators get creative

(Newser) - Move over, sun. Alternative energy innovators are turning to increasingly inventive power technologies—and sources, including algae (to make diesel fuel) and tires and "car fluff" from junked vehicles. Ocean and geothermal operations appear to be the next big wave of the green future. One company is developing a...

Famous, Eco-Friendly, and... Frauds?

Sep 1, 2007 6:33 PM CDT

Famous, Eco-Friendly, and... Frauds?

Press puts A-listers on the defensive about opulent, gas-guzzling lifestyles

(Newser) - Greenies are putting celebrities under the microscope to see if their eco-lifestyles really resemble what they preach, the Los Angeles Times reports. A-listers insist they're not perfect, but bloggers ask what value their message has when Leonardo zips around in a private jet and Madge owns 9 homes. One critic...