TH Exclusives

From the 35-mile long volcanic rift in the Ethiopian desert that has been confirmed as the beginning of a new sea to the news that oil continues to gush into the Timor Sea--at an estimated rate of somewhere between 400 and 2,000 barrels per day--from an oil rig off the NW coast of Australia, a lot happened this week in green. We took a tour of Paris Hilton's $325,000 dog mansion--complete with air-conditioning and designer furniture--and saw spooky photos of Readers' Green Halloweens. Find out what else happened in the world of green this week in our photo roundup of most popular, most important, and most oddball stories.

Business & Politics

Americans Against Food Taxes

It didn't take long. Shortly after several leading health researchers published a paper in the New England Journal of Medicine calling for a tax on sugar sweetened beverages as a means of stemming American obesity, an immense lobbying effort to defeat the measure began in Washington and around the country. As is often the case, corporate speech is again being camouflaged as individual angst.

Business & Politics

The site of the London Olympics is just one example of a plan to improve a city through retrofitting and connecting. Artist's impression via London 2012.

Dense urban centers are good; sprawling suburbs are bad. Put in the simplest terms, that's what the conventional environmental wisdom tells us. But sometimes spreading out a little is just what a big city needs.

Culture & Celebrity

Image: TradeMe

Bullshit Bust Pokes Kiwi Minister
A manure sculpture of New Zealand agricultural minister Nick Smith has sold on the Kiwi auction site TradeMe. The sculpture by artist Sam Mahon, who traditionally works in bronze, immortalizes Mahon's opinion that Nick Smith has not taken sufficient action to protect New Zealand waters from pollution by agricultural run-off. How much would you pay for such a masterpiece?

Food & Health

Image credit: FOE

From Meatless Mondays to Weekday Vegetarianism to going raw food vegan to adopting the 100-Mile Diet, there are plenty of individual actions we can take to reduce the impact of our meals. But personal action is not enough, and with the complex, interrelated clusterf**k that our food system has become, individuals can feel powerless to make positive change on a systemic level. Luckily, a new campaign from Friends of the Ewrth UK is connecting the dots for you.

Science & Technology

Image: Japan USEF, SSPS project

Space Solar Power System Closer to Reality
Japan's space agency, USEF, is in the news again with their plans to build a space solar power station, equivalent to a medium sized nuclear plant, by 2030. Inspired by hope that such a sci-fi vision becomes reality, we have some advice for the Japanese space agency, some wisdom learned in the trenches of the fight against global warming. The nugget of knowledge that could make the difference between success and failure for the ambitious space-based solar station is this:

Take Action

Score at Score! Credit: Score

Flavorpill and Bust Magazine are hosting Score! a pop-up swap and fundraiser to benefit City Harvest. Attendees are invited to bring clothes, accessories, books, DVDs, and more. Everything is free--or as Kanye West would say '"free.99"--and Nylon Magazine's Senior Editor will be on hand to curate the clothing section. Click through for details.

Take Action

Credit: Airwalk

Airwalk recently launched Doing Your Part, an online fundraiser for Surfrider Foundation and Music for Relief. They are donating a dollar for every visitor to their site--until they reach $10,000--to the California-based environmental non-profits. Choose your favorite charity, after the fold.