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Global warming and water shortages

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Jan. 8, 2012   Leave a Comment  

One out of three counties across the contiguous U.S., says a recent study commissioned by the Natural Resources Defense Council, should brace for water shortages by mid-century as a result of human induced climate change. (Media credit/Comstock)

Water supplies would be hit especially hard

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About home energy audits

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Dec. 30, 2011   Leave a Comment  

EarthTalkEnergyAudits

Do-it-yourself or hire out?

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New standards for light bulb efficiency

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Dec. 22, 2011   Leave a Comment  

EarthTalkBulbPhase-Out

Bye bye incandescents

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A new study reveals new properties of the earth’s magnetic field

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Dec. 20, 2011   Leave a Comment  

Jordens_inre

Scientists found that Iron Oxide can conduct electricity

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Why should I recycle?

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Dec. 17, 2011   Leave a Comment  

Recycling and re-use have many environmental benefits, including reducing the amount of waste we bury in already overcrowded landfills and burn in polluting incinerators, like the one pictured here. (Thinkstock)

Do you really need an explanation?

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How does mercury get into fish?

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Dec. 10, 2011   Leave a Comment  

Once mercury gets into the marine food chain, mostly from human industrial sources such as coal-fired electricity generation, smelting and the incineration of waste, it “bioaccumulates” in the larger ocean predators. That’s why larger fish -- like the bluefin tuna pictured here -- are generally riskier to eat than smaller ones. (Thinkstock)

It’s a big problem

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Oil vs. natural gas for home heating

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Dec. 10, 2011   1 Comment  

Only eight percent of U.S. homes use oil heat today. Natural gas is both cheaper and has lower carbon emissions than oil, though it is still a fossil fuel and its green-friendliness is overstated. Most eco-advocates would rather see a shift to truly renewable heating sources like geothermal or solar. (Thinkstock)

Neither are great for the environment

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Meat and the environment

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Dec. 3, 2011   Leave a Comment  

David Pimentel of Cornell University’s College of Agriculture and Life Sciences says that the grain currently fed to some seven billion livestock in the United States could feed nearly 800 million people directly. (Thinkstock)

Shifting diets makes a big difference

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Are green walls the next big thing in environmental tech?

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Nov. 26, 2011   Leave a Comment  

Green walls, or "vertical gardens," are walls partly composed of or filled in with live plant matter. They filter air and water, soak up carbon dioxide and help lessen the “heat island” effect of urban areas while reducing air conditioning costs in their host buildings. Pictured: a vertical garden at the Anataeum Hotel in London. (Media credit/Niall Napier via Flickr)

Maybe eventually…

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Can using thorium instead of uranium make nuclear energy safer?

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Nov. 26, 2011   Leave a Comment  

Advocates of thorium to power nuclear plants say that the element is safer than uranium, and that its waste cannot -- like the plutonium waste of uranium fission -- be re-formulated for nuclear weapons. Thorium plants, they say, also wouldn't need containment domes like those pictured here because the reactors can't "melt down" and release radiation. (iStock)

Most likely

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Green holiday gifts

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Nov. 20, 2011   Leave a Comment  

A wide range of green gifts can be obtained from nonprofit organizations that use the proceeds to fund important work and from green companies, easily found online, that sell recycled, recyclable or otherwise sustainably sourced and produced merchandise. Pictured: Organic Bug's Tree of Life recycled metal folk art. (Media credit/Organic Bug)

Give the gift of environment!

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Species loss accelerating globally, more and more extinctions occurring

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Nov. 12, 2011   Leave a Comment  

Eminent Harvard biologist E.O. Wilson says that fully half of the planet's higher life forms could be gone within 100 years, joining the dodo bird, sketched here, which has been extinct since the 17th century and whose fate was directly attributable to human activity. (Thinkstock)

Overhunting, deforestation, pollution, extinction

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The nasty business of shark finning

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Nov. 5, 2011   Leave a Comment  

The practice of shark finning to make shark fin soup, a delicacy mostly in Asian cultures, has taken a serious toll on shark populations worldwide. Besides being inhumane to sharks, consumption of shark fin poses a serious threat to human health since they contain an extremely high concentration of mercury and other toxins now omnipresent in our oceans. (Media credit/Nicholas Wang via Flickr)

$1.2 billion business

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The environmental impact of gold mining with cyanide

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Oct. 30, 2011   Leave a Comment  

Some 90 percent of gold mines around the world employ "cyanidation," the use of a sodium cyanide compound to separate the gold from finely ground rock. At a gold mine in Romania in 2000, the accidental release of 100,000 cubic meters of cyanide-rich waste into the local watershed killed all aquatic life in nearby waters and cut off water supplies for 2.5 million people. (Media credit/Kacos2000 via Flickr)

Thankfully it’s becoming less common

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Why don’t more states offer bottle deposits?

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Oct. 30, 2011   Leave a Comment  

Only 10 U.S. states have "bottle bills" requiring deposits on some beverage containers so consumers will return them. Those states recycle 70 percent of their bottles and cans, 2.5 times more than states without bottle bills. The beverage industry has spent millions fighting bottle bill legislation, even though beverage containers make up 5.6 percent of the U.S. waste stream. (Media credit/Mr. T in DC via Flickr)

Does it make more people recycle?

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Which light bulbs are the greenest?

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Oct. 23, 2011   1 Comment  

As the future gets dimmer for traditional incandescent light bulbs, and compact fluorescents (CFLs) fall out of favor due to their toxic mercury component, light-emitting diodes, or LEDs, are beginning to come on strong. LEDs, which are clusters of small bulbs that come in many shapes and sizes, last five times longer than CFLs and 40 times longer than incandescents and use much less energy. (Media credit/Geoffrey Landis)

LED? CFL? ESL??

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“Wet cleaning” vs. dry cleaning

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Oct. 23, 2011   Leave a Comment  

Most of the nation's 34,000 dry cleaners still clean clothes using perchloroethylene, or “perc,” a hazardous air contaminant and a probable human carcinogen. But some cleaning professionals are moving to greener and safer methods, including the use of pressurized carbon dioxide, and "wet cleaning," which uses water, non-toxic detergents and conditioners inside specially designed machines. (Media credit/Simon Law)

An industry under attack

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Will the U.S. ever put limits on greenhouse gas emissions?

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Oct. 15, 2011   Leave a Comment  

Politics still stand in the way of efforts to limit U.S. greenhouse gas emissions. Two efforts, the American Clean Energy and Security Act (ACES) of 2009 and the American Power Act of 2010, got tabled or failed to make it to the Senate floor for a vote. ACES was, however, passed by a narrow margin in the House of Representatives, the first time the legislative branch has called for sweeping climate legislation. (Media credit/Rachel Johnson via Flickr)

Outlook gloomy

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What are effects of energy used from social networking sites and web surfing?

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Oct. 8, 2011   1 Comment  

The environmental impact of so much online time really boils down to energy usage, which in turn affects the amount of greenhouse gases we pump into our atmosphere. Google, which has been carbon neutral since 2007, has been a real leader in the building of green data centers, even powering them with renewable energy. (Media credit/Jurgen Plasser via Flickr)

Is tweating a green activity?

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Healthier cleaning products

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Oct. 8, 2011   Leave a Comment  

If you’re interested in cleaning greener, there are many sources of natural cleaning recipes online. Or check out the cleaning products aisle at your local natural food store, where you will find a wide range of cleaning formulations safe for your health and the environment. Pictured: Earth Friendly Products' “Safeguard Your Home” retail pack. (Media credit/Earth Friendly Products)

Easy on the bleach, folks

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