Design & Architecture

Image from Ahmad Humeid

Recycled pallets, or skids, are becoming the basis for a whole new genre of architecture. And for good reason: they are sustainable, recycled, and make use of discarded packaging. The recently built pop-up Jellyfish Theatre in London, is made of old materials including 800 market pallets.

But everyone is doing it. This family home in Amman Jorday was designed with the outer wall made of industrial pallets. The architect wanted to create a "palette aesthetic" which would be environmental as well as good looking.

Food & Health

Photo via C.E. Bucephalus

They´re the insect that everyone loves to hate - but one day a cockroach just may save your life. Typically despised for being ugly, dirty, and icky, the hearty critters actually possess powerful antibiotic properties inside their little brains which could be used to help combat drug resistant bacterial infection in humans.

Science & Technology

This image shows an area of road building and development adjacent to primary forest in red tones, and secondary forest regrowth in green tones. Credit: Carnegie Institution.

You can see the effects of global warming in a new high-resolution map that shows carbon locked up in tropical forest vegetation and emitted by land-use practices in Peru's Amazon. The maps were created with satellite mapping, airborne-laser technology, and ground-based plot surveys. And the images may help pave the way for a new United Nations monitoring system to curb deforestation and forest degradation.

Business & Politics

image via Gasland

I lived in Wyoming for 8 years and it breaks my heart that the state's landscape is being so significantly altered by the oil, coal and gas industry. I never visited the town of Pavillion when I was in Wyoming, and now I don't have much of a desire to go there after federal officials told locals to avoid drinking their tap water and to make sure they have ventilation when showering. Pavillion is located close to several natural gas drilling sites.

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There is a price to pay for cheap energy and gas for our cars that goes beyond dollars, as we saw this year with the 29 dead miners in West Virginia and the 11 on the Deepwater Horizon platform in the Gulf. American labor used to make things and fix things, and used to be proud to do it, for a decent wage.

Food & Health

Image credit: Roddas

From the very beginning, TreeHugger has been a huge advocate for local food. Ever since Time Magazine declared that local food was going mainstream back in 2007, there's been a steady stream of retailers and restaurateurs getting in on the locavore bandwagon. Heck, we even have a locavore in the White House now. Nevertheless, it's a sad truth that local food isn't always what it's cracked up to be. In fact, many of the 'local' foods on our shelves may have traveled a ridiculously long way to get there.

Science & Technology

photo: Wikimedia Commons

A new study in the Journal of Archaeological Science shows there are exceptions to the conventional eco-wisdom that increased human activity always spells harm for animals: Researchers from North Carolina State University have discovered that the size of one mollusk, that's been a food source for Pacific Islanders for thousands of years, has increased in size in conjunction with human population growth.

Business & Politics

Image credit: Conservative Home

I've always found the assertion that all environmentalists are socialist a little hard to swallow. I know plenty of conservatives who love the natural world and abhor waste. And I know plenty of radical greens whose anti-authoritarian, DIY streak puts them in direct conflict with any "big government" solutions from the traditional left. This very debate is flourishing right now over in the UK, with the new Conservative/Liberal Democrat coalition Government backing a campaign called Big Society. It's a campaign that clearly hopes to engage the Transition movement and other grassroots citizen efforts—and it's got many people talking about what the real role of government should be.