environment

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Palin Can't Keep Beluga Off Endangered List

Whale population just won't rebound

(Newser) - The beluga whales living in Alaska’s Cook Inlet were declared an endangered species yesterday over Sarah Palin’s vehement objections, the New York Times reports. The beluga population was cut almost in half during the late '90s, and hasn’t recovered despite a wave of new protections. But Palin...

How to Restore World's Trust in US
 How to Restore 
 World's Trust in US  
OPINION
Oct 13, 2008 1:50 PM CDT

How to Restore World's Trust in US

Next president must lead globe on disarmament, climate change

(Newser) - The Bush administration has done wide-ranging damage to the US’ international image, pulling out of key treaties and unilaterally invading Iraq. The next president has got some work to do to restore its reputation, particularly in two areas: making a commitment to nuclear nonproliferation and setting a worldwide example in...

Oysters May Clean East Coast Waters

Electrified reefs could help restore the population

(Newser) - Oysters can be shocked into repopulating and cleaning up America's waterways, the Christian Science Monitor reports. A project in New York's East River is using metal reefs, powered by solar panels, to build up limestone and help oysters grow. The upside is that they filter water—up to 50 gallons...

New Solar Tech Can Top This
 New Solar Tech Can Top This 
glossies
Oct 12, 2008 7:31 PM CDT

New Solar Tech Can Top This

Solyndra's designs can capture light from any angle

(Newser) - A California company's new, sun-sucking glass tubes aim to solve solar power's practical problems, the Economist reports. Chief among them are flat panels that miss the sun—by looking the wrong way—and cost more than $40,000 per household to install. Solyndra's new technology uses glass tubes that capture...

UK Press Grinds Starbucks for Wasting Water

Firm vows change after tabloid claims chain uses 6.2M gallons daily

(Newser) - Starbucks is abuzz as it tests new methods of spoon-cleaning, a reaction to a UK tabloid's report that the caffeine titan wastes 6.2 million gallons of water daily, the Seattle Post-Intelligencer reports. Every store leaves a tap running constantly, the Sun said; Starbucks confirmed the claim, explaining that the...

Green Venture Capitalists Need No Bailout
Green Venture Capitalists Need No Bailout
OPINION
Oct 4, 2008 4:34 PM CDT

Green Venture Capitalists Need No Bailout

Far from Wall Street, investors embrace eco-friendly ideas

(Newser) - The canyons of Wall Street have been swept clean of liquidity, but the valleys of northern California are still flush with environmentally and financially green ideas, Jon Gertner writes in the New York Times' Sunday magazine. Despite market madness, venture capitalists have seen little slowdown in their businesses, which are...

How to Keep Your PC Green
 How to Keep Your PC Green 
Oct 3, 2008 2:27 PM CDT

How to Keep Your PC Green

New York Times offers tips on cutting computer energy use

(Newser) - You’ve got the Prius and the reusable shopping bags, but did you know a PC and monitor perpetually left on use more than twice the kilowatt-hours per year consumed by a fridge? The New York Times reports what you can do to slow your computer’s energy drain:
  • Turn
...

Child 'Climate Cops' a Bit Too Green
 Child 'Climate Cops' 
 a Bit Too Green 
OPINION
Oct 2, 2008 7:30 PM CDT

Child 'Climate Cops' a Bit Too Green

British site encourages kids to spy on parents' energy habits

(Newser) - A new website from British energy company Npower is encouraging children to spy on their parents—to save the environment, Mark Ontkush writes on Treehugger. After completing a series of “missions” on the Climate Cops site, kids are kitted out with the necessities for keeping careful tabs on the...

Eat 'Roo, Save Planet, Aussies Told

Cutting back on traditional livestock in favor of native fare better for environment: report

(Newser) - The Australian government's chief climate-change adviser says emissions could be drastically reduced if farmers and consumers switch from beef and lamb to kangaroo meat, the Australian reports. The marsupials emit much less methane than sheep and cows, the professor argues, and, as Australia heats up, are much better able to...

Vertical Farming Puts Pigs High in the Sky

Urban planners take another look at raising animals, crops in skyscrapers

(Newser) - They're not the most traditional tenants, but pigs, poultry, and crops might be reared in city skyscrapers of the future, drastically reducing environmental damage caused by traditional farms, Scientific American reports. Engineering airflow inside glass towers remains tricky, but the potential for a year-round growing season in the face of...

Hefty Carbon Tax Raised Norway's Emissions
Hefty Carbon Tax Raised Norway's Emissions
ANALYSIS
Sep 30, 2008 4:07 PM CDT

Hefty Carbon Tax Raised Norway's Emissions

Greenhouse gases up 15% despite system aimed to curb them

(Newser) - In 1991, Norway enacted a punishing carbon tax, but things haven’t turned out quite as expected, the Wall Street Journal reports. Greenhouse-gas emissions have actually risen 15%, and industries deemed vital to the nation’s economy or image were spared the tax or given sweet deals. Though the oil...

Cloth or Plastic: Greenies Debate the Diaper

Cotton's footprint not that much better than disposables'

(Newser) - For green parents, the choice between disposables or cloth diapers may seem like a catch-22. Silvia Spring weighs the issue in the Boston Globe, but finds no easy answer. While disposables produce up to 70 times more waste than cloth, the latest study concluded that disposable diapers have the same...

Reusable Bags: A Tricky Shade of Green

Thicker plastic requires more energy to produce, decomposes slower

(Newser) - Reusable shopping bags are this year's “it” giveaway, but they may not be as green as their feel-good slogans—like “Save the world” and "I used to be a plastic bag"—claim. The problem is that old habits die hard—many people simply forget to reuse...

Oxford Revives Einstein's Greenie Fridge Design

Fridge cooled by pressure and vapor, not polluting freons

(Newser) - Oxford scientists are rebuilding one of Albert Einstein’s first inventions—a refrigerator cooled with pressurized gases—in a bid to replace today’s eco-unfriendly fridges, the Guardian reports. Modern fridges use freon, a greenhouse gas worse than carbon dioxide, and are increasingly in demand worldwide. But Einstein's design employs...

Volt's Looks Kill Some GM Buzz
 Volt's Looks Kill Some GM Buzz 
Sep 16, 2008 1:58 PM CDT

Volt's Looks Kill Some GM Buzz

Plug-in electric car finally unveiled today; production model too ordinary for some fans

(Newser) - GM offered its first official look today at the plug-in Chevrolet Volt, CNNMoney reports, the electric car slated to go on sale in 2010. Its tame appearance drew the ire of gearheads hoping it would look more like the futuristic concept version. "A lot of people are saying they're...

France's 'Picnic Tax' Making Foes Antsy

'Green' levy aims to cut down on use of plastic forks, paper plates

(Newser) - A picnic tax? “We are doing it,” France’s environment minister said today, apparently unabashed at such a villainous plan. Actually, the levy isn’t as dastardly as it sounds—it’s actually a tax on the plastic and paper plates and utensils commonly used in picnics, the...

4 in 10 North American Fish Species in Peril

(Newser) - About four out of 10 freshwater fish species in North America are in peril, says a major study by US, Canadian, and Mexican scientists. And the number of subspecies of fish populations in trouble has nearly doubled since 1989, the new report says. One biologist called it "silent extinctions"...

Berkeley Tree-Sitters Finally Climb Down

Last protesters climb down as university erects scaffold around redwood

(Newser) - The last four tree-sitters climbed down from their perches at UC Berkeley today, ending a 2-year vigil to protest the university's plans to cut down a grove of trees and build a sports facility, the San Francisco Chronicle reports. The university will build the facility, but it agreed to set...

Invasive Species Getting Bad Rap: Scientists

Exotics can cause extinctions, but spur diversity, evolution, too

(Newser) - Invasive species don’t always spell disaster for native ecosystems and animal life, scientists say after a study of the process and its effects on New Zealand. More than 22,000 non-native plants have been introduced to the islands, the New York Times reports, and only three native species have...

Overgrown LA Tract Turns to 'Scape Goats

Animals offer a green solution to clearing thick weeds

(Newser) - The sight of 100 goats feasting through a weedy tract in downtown Los Angeles yesterday had commuters guessing whether the caprine contingent was part of a movie, performance art—or perhaps lunch. In fact, the city hired the (land)scape goats in lieu of gas-powered weed whackers as a greener, cheaper...

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