Business & Politics

Tar Sands Pipeline Protest Rocks White House (PHOTOS)

For a full-sized photo, check out the Tar Sands Action Flickr page It's now well into the fourth day of peaceful protest of the outside the White House, where a diverse array of concerned citizens are risking arrest to send the Obama administration a simple message: Do not approve the Keystone XL, a 1,700 mile pipeline that would inextricably link the nation's energy future to Canada's tar sands -- the dirties...Read the full story on TreeHugger

Big-Brand Clothing Found Laced with Toxic Chemicals

Image: Kick Photo via flickr Samples of clothing from 14 of the most popular brands in the U.S., including Adidas, Uniqlo, Calvin Klein, H&M, Abercrombie & Fitch, Lacoste, Converse and Ralph Lauren, have tested positive for toxic chemicals known as nonylphenol ethoxylates, according to a recent report by Greenpeace. NPEs are harmful to the environment and to human health—and the effects are not limited to where the clothes are manufactured. "Since residual levels of NPEs are released when clot...Read the full story on TreeHugger

Fox News Admits the Facts Back Man-Made Global Warming (Video)

Image: Screen Grab via Fox Well here's an interesting little catch, courtesy of Media Matters (whose unenviable job it is, evidently, to watch Fox News 24/7). In this segment on 'Fox and Friends', the hosts team up to bash Jon Huntsman. He's behind in the polls, and has been publicly criticizing his rivals for their extreme views, especially on science. But the interesting part comes around two and a half minutes in -- when the hosts say their fact-checkers have looked...Read the full story on TreeHugger

Solarcentury Donates Solar Panels for 50 Schools in Zambia

Image credit: Solar Aid Yesterday I posted 5 reasons why going solar is about more than money. Besides the obvious moral imperative of ensuring a clean, stable environment, I noted that solar can provide security and resilience. Nowhere is this more true than in regions with minimal centralized energy infrastructure. We already know that solar can boost school performance in Africa, and even Read the full story on TreeHugger

Solarcentury Donates Solar Panels for 50 Schools in Zambia

Image credit: Solar Aid Yesterday I posted 5 reasons why going solar is about more than money. Besides the obvious moral imperative of ensuring a clean, stable environment, I noted that solar can provide security and resilience. Nowhere is this more true than in regions with minimal centralized energy infrastructure. We already know that solar can boost school performance in Africa, and even Read the full story on TreeHugger

Does Economic Growth Undermine Prosperity?

Image credit: woodleywonderworks, used under Creative Commons license. While some folks argue that "sustainable growth" doesn't have to be an oxymoron, others are adamant that it is time to take the notion of a no growth economy seriously. With the dirty fi...Read the full story on TreeHugger

Denmark Preparing to Claim North Pole

photo: NASA Goddard Photo and Video/CC BY Anticipating greater access to natural resources in the Arctic due to climate change nations which border the region are increasingly trying to stake claims to greater territory. Den...Read the full story on TreeHugger

US Military’s Open Burn Pits in Afghanistan May Be Making People Sick

Photo by Ryan Lackey via Flickr CC - "This is the never-ending burn pit at Balad. It's a rather crude waste disposal method (burn off anything that burns, then sell the rest in bulk to Iraqis for metal recycling), but it works well enough -- except when the wind blows the smoke through the rest of the base. I lived about 300 meters away from this burn pit in q3/q4 2004, which was...sometimes unpleasant." J. Malcolm Garcia has written a piece on Guernica on the strange smell of burning plastic that comes from the American military base just outside of Bagram Vil...Read the full story on TreeHugger

The Environmental Impact of Cocaine

Whenever we talk about the production of cocaine fueling rainforest destruction, or the electricity consumption of indoor marijuana growing, many commenters decry that it is prohibition that causes these negative impacts, not the drug itself. There is, of course, some truth to that fact. We know, for example, that Read the full story on TreeHugger

Ask Pablo: Do $1 Coins Have A Smaller Footprint Than $1 Bills?

Image credit: US Mint, used under the United States Mint Circulating Coin Design Use Policy Dear Pablo: Do $1 Coins have a smaller footprint than $1 bills and what is the environmental impact of the $1 coins that the US Mint is supposedly stockpiling? On the one hand paper money is lighter and cheaper to make but, on the other hand, coins last a lot longer. Let'...Read the full story on TreeHugger

BP Under Investigation for Lying About Gulf Spill Size (Video)

The US Department of Justice is currently investigating the oil giant BP for charges that it repeatedly and deliberately sought to mislead both the public and the government about the size of the spill caused by the explosion on the Deepwa...Read the full story on TreeHugger

Sustainable Packaging Goes Beyond Size

Photo credit: FotoosVanRobin/Creative Commons This guest post was written by Ronald Sasine, senior director of packaging at Walmart. When you buy a product, your decision drives a series of environmental impacts. Imagine the benefits if everyone considered the impact of packaging as part of their buying decisions, benefits measured in the billions of pounds of packaging manufac...Read the full story on TreeHugger

Biggest Republican Problem Coming: Lack Of Climate Credibility.

Tip of Glacier Point, Yosemite. Image credit: Flickr, planetc1, Micheal Dorausch Immediately upon entering the GOP presidential primary contest, Jon Huntsman blurted the truth about his Party being at risk, having recently squandered its credibility on prospective solutions to one of the biggest problems facing the nation. (No...not the economy; the other, much bigger, problem.) For background see: For Solving Big Problems: Jon Huntsman Ci...Read the full story on TreeHugger

Greenpeace Misses the Boat with Grotesque Anti-Tuna Fishing Video

Image via screengrab. Greenpeace often plays the extremist of the environmental movement- the organization with goals that we green-minded folks appreciate, but with methods, often of dubious legality, that can make us cringe. Their latest stunt is no exception. Greenpeace USA released a video this week attacking the tuna industry for unsustainable fishing practices. But while the cause is right, the video is violent and gross, without actually telling us why tuna fishing is so bad. Watch the video after the jump....Read the full story on TreeHugger

162 Tar Sands Pipeline Protesters Have Now Been Arrested Outside White House

52 more protesters were just reported arrested at the ongoing civil disobedience outside of the White House, bringing the tally to 162 arrested over three days. A diverse group of activists are gathered there to protest the proposed Keystone XL pipeline that would inextricably hook the U.S. up to the dirtiest fuel source on the planet: Canada's tar sands. If the U.S. government approves the pipeline, preeminent climatologist James Hansen says that it will be "g...Read the full story on TreeHugger

New York Times Editorial Comes Out Against Keystone XL Pipeline

Some added encouragement for all those people protesting outside the White House against the proposed Keystone XL tar sands pipeline over the next couple weeks: The latest New York Times editorial comes out strongly against the pipeline, urging the State Department to block it. ...Read the full story on TreeHugger