A Green Zone

Elephants: India’s New "National Heritage Animal" To Receive Same Protection As Tigers

Fri, 03 Sep 2010 18:20:46 +0000

Photo: Elephant being bathed in a temple in Thrissur (K.C. Sowmish via The Hindu ) As long-standing icons of its unique cultural psyche, India’s threatened elephants are finally getting the protection — and well-deserved recognition — they need. In a bid for better conservation, earlier this week the Indian government formally declared the elephant its “national heritage animal”, elevating the legendary pachyderm alongside the likes of the majestic tiger, in the hopes of averting a future con… Read the full story on TreeHugger

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Elephants: India’s New "National Heritage Animal" To Receive Same Protection As Tigers

"Clean Coal" Positioned To Be The High End Energy Product No One Can Afford

Fri, 03 Sep 2010 16:55:26 +0000

Taylorville Illinois Energy Center, a proposed “clean coal” power plant. Image credit: Illinois Times Southern Illinois has vast, easily accessible coal reserves. That coal may be sulfurous and wet and salty; but ,Southern Illinois also has good geologic features for CO2 sequestration, plus Presidential root tendrils are there. These aspects explain, in a last-year kind of way, why Obama’s Energy Department supports this $3.5 billion fantasy. (Several major conceptual design changes have been made since the Bush Ad… Read the full story on TreeHugger

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"Clean Coal" Positioned To Be The High End Energy Product No One Can Afford

Paul McCartney Takes on NASA, Ewan McGregor Needs Your Help, and More

Fri, 03 Sep 2010 15:42:42 +0000

Photo via OneThirtyBPM.com Musician Paul McCartney isn’t shy about taking a stand for animal rights — the vegetarian superstar has talked about his journey to a meat-free diet and supported Meatless Mondays — and now he’s speaking up for another group: the monkeys that NASA uses to predict how space travel will affect humans. … Read the full story on TreeHugger

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Paul McCartney Takes on NASA, Ewan McGregor Needs Your Help, and More

Chimps Found Deactivating Snares Set By Human Bushmeat Hunters

Fri, 03 Sep 2010 13:05:00 +0000

photo: Graham Racher via flickr Go chimps, go! An interesting new paper in the journal Primates documents how a group of chimpanzees in Bossou, Guinea have been successfully deactivating snares set by human bushmeat hunters. Though not always successful, the scienti… Read the full story on TreeHugger

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Chimps Found Deactivating Snares Set By Human Bushmeat Hunters

Best of Inhabitots: 7 Toxic Dangers for Kids

Fri, 03 Sep 2010 12:57:51 +0000

Photo credit: on_ovington + Baby formula could contain unsettling amounts of aluminum &emdash;more than 40 times the amount found in breast milk, according to one recent study. + Another scary side-effect of tainted baby formula: Breasts in female infants . + 85 percent of so-called kid-friendly drinks and snacks could contain

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Best of Inhabitots: 7 Toxic Dangers for Kids

Marine Stewardship Council’s Marine Stewardship Questionable, Scientists Say

Fri, 03 Sep 2010 12:20:00 +0000

photo: Mr. T in DC via flickr A bit of a sustainable seafood smackdown is ongoing: In a new opinion piece in the journal Nature scientists from the University of British Columbia, Scripps Institution of Oceanography, and other institutions have called out the Marine Stewardship Council for not doing a good job at marine stewardship. As is to be expected, MSC strongly disagrees. … Read the full story on TreeHugger

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Marine Stewardship Council’s Marine Stewardship Questionable, Scientists Say

Banksy Turns Kiddie Ride Into Anti-BP Statement

Fri, 03 Sep 2010 12:10:16 +0000

Photo: Banksy.co.uk Poor Dolphin World-famous guerilla artist Banksy has made many environmental statements in the past, but we think this one is particularly clever, especially with the events of the past few months . Check out the video after the jump to see the coin-operated kiddie ride in action…. Read the full story on TreeHugger

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Banksy Turns Kiddie Ride Into Anti-BP Statement

The Strangest Sustainability Analogy Ever? Stop Watching Spongebob (Video)

Fri, 03 Sep 2010 11:22:19 +0000

Image credit: CosmicRevolutionKS When I interviewed my friend Tim Toben of Greenbridge and Pickards Mountain Ecoinstitute , he suggested it was important that we all “tell the story about the transformation from a world powered by fossil fuels to a world powered by renewable energy — in poetry, music, art, dance.” That’s easier said than done. But one young man has been doing just that—and the result is rather strange, but oddly compelling. Apparently we… Read the full story on TreeHugger

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The Strangest Sustainability Analogy Ever? Stop Watching Spongebob (Video)

50,000 Minks Loose In Greece After Fur Farm Raid (UPDATED)

Fri, 03 Sep 2010 10:56:00 +0000

Photo via qmnonic Nothing like a flood of minks loose in a country’s already fragile ecosystem to put environmentalists in a tough spot. Two fur farms in northern Greece were raided, the results of which saw 50,000 minks running for the hills. Fortunately for everyone (except the minks) the problem could solve itself in a short time. UPDATE: An animal rights group has claimed responsibility for the raids and a photo of the unfortunate outcome of the action, after the jump. … Read the full story on TreeHugger

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50,000 Minks Loose In Greece After Fur Farm Raid (UPDATED)

The Week in Animal Photos: Tiger Cubs in Luggage and More (Slideshow)

Fri, 03 Sep 2010 10:51:06 +0000

Photo via National Geographic We’ve got a new regular slideshow here on TreeHugger: The Week in Animal Photos. Catch a glimpse of what the animal kingdom has been up to this week, from a tiger cub disguised as a stuffed tiger rescued from an international smuggling deal to a newly discovered pea-sized frog perched on a pencil tip.

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The Week in Animal Photos: Tiger Cubs in Luggage and More (Slideshow)