Design & Architecture

Bonnie Alter

While out running in Sanibel Island, Florida, passing monster house after monster house, I came upon a small, lovely gem of modern architecture by the side of the road. It took about three seconds (google "small, modern, sanibel) to determine that it was the Walker Guest House by Paul Rudolph, a regular on TreeHugger. One of his first commissions, the 24' square house has lift-up panels connected to 77 pound round counterweights, giving it the nickname the "cannonball house." More to follow after I tour it on Friday, but it clearly shows all those things I love about Paul Rudolph and his Florida buildings- he understood the importance of natural ventilation, shading, working with the climate instead of throwing things at it.

Yet more than any other famous architect of the era, his buildings are either under threat or they are gone already. Why is this happening?

TH Exclusives

Do you know of a green person, product, company, event, or concept that deserves to be lauded for the positive environmental change it has enacted? Let us know! In TreeHugger's second annual Best of Green Awards, we're looking to bestow top honors on the people, places, and things that are helping move sustainability into the mainstream.

Last year, we awarded more than 170 prizes across eight general themes. This year, we're asking for your help making some of the selections. Let us know who you think should be nominated for a Best of Green Award. Then we'll ask for your help picking the cream of the crop in dozens of specific categories in our new-this-year Readers' Choice Awards. Click the link below for nomination instructions.

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Travel & Nature

Credit: Michigan State University.

Trees. They provide shade. They turn carbon dioxide into oxygen. They're the perfect shape for hugging. Unless they're riddled with disease. There are dozens of diseases that sicken or kill trees in the United States. There also are bugs that make trees more prone to disease, like the Emerald Ash Borer, first found in Detroit in 2002.

The bug, native to Asia, likely arrived here in shipping containers. It starts out as larvae that feed on the inner bark of ash trees, and has killed tens of millions of ash in Michigan, other states, and Canada since first being discovered, according to emeraldashborer.info, a clearinghouse site.

The borer is just one of a number of insects and afflictions that make trees less huggable. Climate change is likely to bring news diseases to new areas, according to U.S. Forest Service officials. Get ready to meet some of your new neighbors.

Science & Technology

Image credit: Good

Plastic trash, we know, is a serious problem. It's refreshing to know that some innovative people are working on solutions.

Business & Politics

Photo: Toyota

Ouch
We all knew it was coming, but now it's official. Toyota has formally filed a voluntary recall for 437,000 hybrid vehicles worldwide. Most of those are third generation Prius hybrids, but they're also recalling the few Prius PHEV out there (the plug-in hybrid version, more details here), the Lexus HS 250h, and the SAI in Japan. This breaks down to about 223,000 hybrids recalled in Japan, 150,000 in North-America, and about 63,000 in the rest of the world.

Science & Technology

Image via Bundle

Ahhh, keeping up with the Joneses - spending more so you can match up with your neighbors. But does it always have to be that way? When it comes to smart metering, experts have shown that knowing how much electricity your neighbors are using can spark up the competitive spirit, and you're likely to reduce your energy consumption just to "beat" your neighbor. But what about when it comes to buying stuff - if we knew just what our neighbors were doing, might we be encouraged to spend less than them? Gizmodo points us to Bundle, an interactive website that tells you what your neighbors are spending their hard earned dollars on. Could this put a twist on the old saying and turn it into, "Keeping below the Joneses"?

Fashion & Beauty

Mercedes-Benz New York Fashion Week may be bidding a final farewell to Bryant Park and for the last hurrah, IMG Fashion, Tetra Pak, and natural beverage supplier O.N.E. ™ Natural Experience, have announced that the entire production will be -- for the first time ever -- a carbon neutral event. Continue reading the full announcement, made at a press conference this morning, after the jump:

Food & Health

photo: Kirsten via flickr.

Genetically-modified cotton has been grown in India since 2002, but until today it appeared that the nation's first GM food crop would be introduced in 2010. BBC News and other outlets are reporting that the start of GM brinjal (eggplant or aubergine, call it what you like...) has been suspended, with environment minister Jairam Ramesh calling for more testing and essentially putting on indefinite hold the introduction of any GM food crops: