matt said:
"heres the deal. Being a pet is not natural. The animal was meant to live in the wild. But people have domesticated them over hundreds of years. The..." [read]
joe said:
"As dumb as it gets.
Instead of promoting the environment they are trying to promote the Fraud King Oumgabama.
Really Really Stupid.</..." [read]
grant said:
"Hum, interesting that they used a helicopter to film this stunt that comments on global warming. Correct me if I'm wrong, but I'm pretty confident ..." [read]
scott said:
"I sure am glad we gave $14 trillion dollars to bankers instead of using it to subsidize products like these.
Products that liberate rather..." [read]
said:
""And it is green because/"
Because bikes are pretty much the greenest mean of transportation ever devised. And well designed bikes are just..." [read]
Cancerman72 said:
"Hmmmm....I live in Toronto and I have never seen a sign like that....lol..." [read]
Rua XV de Novembro
We've already written about Curitiba's great Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) system, but that's not all the Brazilian city has to teach us. Our friends at StreetFilms write: "In 1972 under the direction of then Mayor Jaime Lerner, it became the first major pedestrian street in Brazil. The first phase of closing the street took place in only 72 hours. At first the project was unpopular, but today is seen as a success and spans 15 blocks." Check out the video below!
We Can't Limit Conservation Efforts to Cute & Cuddly Animals...
Here's a clever ad about "Re-Thinking the Shark" by the most excellent Save Our Seas Foundation (check out their projects here). With humans killing more than 100 million sharks each year, and with many species of sharks in dramatic decline, we definitely need to re-think our relationship with sharks, something that TreeHugger has written about frequently in the past (see links below).
Living off the land is often seen as the ideal for many aspiring greenies. Bucolic bliss. Healthy harvests. Cheery chickens. Milk making moo cows. Plentiful potatoes and a fresh figs. Sunsets sipping Sauvignon.
During a international sojourn multi-media producer, Amy York Rubin, washed up on a farm in the French Pyrenees, that was a three to four hour hike down the mountain to nearest town. She made this 12 minute video of her experiences. Warts and all.
The Bus-Only Lane is Maxed Out
Every day, 315,000 (!) people commute to New York City by bus via the Lincoln Tunnel, the Holland Tunnel, and the George Washington Bridge, reducing the number of cars on the road by about 200,000. Half of those go through the Lincoln tunnel, yet that tunnel hasn't had any increase in transit capacity since Richard Nixon was president. The video above by our friends at StreetFilms (hi Elizabeth!) argues very convincingly for that to change (at least during rush hour). Check it out, it's really well made (kudos to Hugh Gran and Carly Park for the animation and design).
ACT-Responsible organizes the work of advertisers promoting sustainable causes into three categories: Taking care of (1) the planet, (2) yourself, and (3) others. But ACT Responsible's own work, depicting the tragic consequences of our choices today on future generations, deserves to lead a slideshow on the coolest environmental advertising.
Jackson's "Earth Song," His Biggest UK Chart-Topper, Wasn't Released As a Single in America
Michael Jackson was famous for his socially-conscious music, but "Earth Song," his big, bold environmental call-to-arms, is often overlooked. Still, by sheer dint of his reach, the song might have made Jackson (who bears no relation to U.S. EPA chief Lisa Jackson) a kind of super-sized Al Gore, a decade before An Inconvenient Truth.
"Earth Song" is indisputably the most popular green-themed tune ever. It remains Jackson's best-selling song in the U.K. (yes, bigger than "Thriller" or "Billie Jean"), and beat out the Beatles' first single in 25 years for the top spot on the British charts. But the song, and its lavish globe-trotting video, barely registered in the U.S.
With 200 films from 30 countries, the Los Angeles Film Festival (June 18 to 28) in Westwood near UCLA, seems far from Hollywood. The non-profit that organizes the event “champions the cause of independent films,” and though Public Enemies with Johnny Depp and the new Transformers movie will be premiered, the rest of the schedule has little connection with show biz. Among the screenings, a few high-profile documentaries cover environmental issues. So now it’s time they leave the nest of fests and play in theaters for all of us to see:
Civil Disobedience to Fight Coal
Before Bruce Springsteen took the stage at Bonnaroo over the weekend, Bobby Kennedy, Jr. told a crowd of thousands that "coal is a crime," and called on festival-goers to get arrested with him (and James Hansen) on the 23rd of June at Coal River in West Virginia.
Beforehand, Jacob from TreeHugger Radio and I caught up with the attorney-activist, who heads the Waterkeeper Alliance. Yesterday I posted an interview with Kennedy in which he detailed his problems with Obama's policy on mountaintop coal mining and the "corruption" of his "family friends." The radio interview is here, but see after the jump for the full conversation.
Coal companies would not exist if not for the "corruption" of politicians, Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. told TreeHugger in an interview at Bonnaroo, singling out "family friends of ours forever," like West Virginia Democrats Jay Rockefeller and Robert Byrd.
"They're allowing and endorsing criminal behavior and destroying their state," he said.
The attorney-activist, who is president of the Waterkeeper Alliance, also said that President Obama's recent refusal to ban mountaintop mining is a "huge disappointment."
See the video after the jump....
Photo: SkySpark
New Speed Record for an Electric Airplane, That Is...
Flying is currently the fastest-growing source of CO2, and is expected to keep growing rapidly in the next 20 years. We're still at the early stage of finding greener alternatives to our current planes (other than not flying and ground transportation), but each new milestone is important. One of those was the new electric flight speed record set by the SkySpark 100% electric plane. More details and videos of the flight below....
At tonight's IREO Renewable Energy Awards at the United Nations, film director and author Josh Tickell will be named a United Nations Goodwill Ambassador and accept an award for his work. What work you say? Well, the trailer embedded above for his film FUEL for one thing. It won the Audience Award for Best Documentary at the Sundance Film Festival in 2008 and is currently making its rounds in theaters (show times). This is the story in a nutshell:...
Inventor-Entrepreneur John La Grou Plugs His Smart Power Outlets at TED
We at TreeHugger have been saying for a while that we need a smarter power grid. After all, most of it was designed too long ago to have anticipated many of our modern needs and problems, and we can't afford to keep this inelegant and wasteful design much longer. But upgrading electricity delivery isn't just about power plants, transmission lines and meters. Smaller things like wall power outlets could also benefit from an update, and that's what John La Grou talk about in the video above. It's really worth checking out. Via TED See also: Breakthrough: Regular Light Bulb Made Super-Efficient with Laser (!)...
Image via: Soul Majestic
"The Better World," the latest album by Soul Majestic, takes an often depressing subject - the state of the world - puts it to a reggae beat, blends in empowering lyrics and helps you get back on that horse to ride another day into battle. This 7-member band does more than talk the talk by bringing their green act to a green fest near you in their biodiesel bus....
"Stella walks the talk," says Cameron Diaz strutting along Kuktavi's eco-turf. Photos by RCruger
It was Friday night in Hollywood and the starlets were in full eco-friendly regalia for the paparazzi and press. Cameron Diaz donned sequins, Emily Deshanel sported an animal print, Liv Taylor carried off an organic peek-a-boo sheath, Rosario Dawson arrived in Stella’s little black dress – and the line-up of ladies all sang the praises of McCartney’s pleather shoes and bags. It was a Stella-Fest in honor of World Environment Day, June 5, and the parade of actresses attending a screening of Yann Arthus-Bertrand's “Home” in the garden of the host’s LA boutique shared some surprising eco-tips. ...
Photo Credit: Sergio Carratalá
Although we missed the actions Barcelona’s Summercase Festival took last year to green their music events (reusable cups, recycling schemes, LED lighting, etc.), two singers really got their message across at this year’s Primavera Sound Festival. On the Saturday, Neil Young performed Fork in the Road in front of 30.000 fans, telling the story of his journey in the converted energy-efficient 1959 Lincoln Continental. Read more about the Canadian musician’s ‘Make a Neil Young video’ project. On Sunday, Kimya Dawson, known as the one half of The Moldy Peaches, surprised Barcelona with a wonderful gig in the park, good-humouredly singing her socially-conscious songs for kids of all ages....
Image: Home-2009.com.
Next World Environment Day, this Friday, is also the date set for the world premiere of Yann Arthus Bertrand's Home Documentary. The movie is a collection of unique aerial footage from over 50 countries, which will try to show the state of the planet in natural and urban areas with the goal of inciting people to act.
Says the producer, Denis Carot, "Home is a film with a message that sets out to shift people's perceptions, make us aware of the tectonic movements at work and incite us to act. Although there is a general trend in our societies towards an awareness of ecological issues, concrete action is still too little, too slow—which constitutes in some ways the creed of the movie: It's too late to be a pessimist".
Find out more details on the movie and about the events around the world for the premiere in the extended....
Photo from Casual Mafia
Green isn’t always serious business. The newest video out by Casual Mafia called In My Prius makes fun of the Prius which is, well, really funny! With the looming GM bankruptcy, a few laughs, were cars are involved, is welcomed! ...
Photo: Wikipedia, CC
Build It and They Will Come...
There are many factors that can encourage more people to bike to work, from more bike-friendly employers, to changing the mainstream perception of bike commuters, to physically separated bike lanes. But even if you have all that, there's something that can make it all better, the cherry on top... A nice bike-center, a place where you can safely park, get maintenance done, take a shower, meet other cyclists, etc. Chicago's McDonald's Bike Center is a great example of how to do this right. Check out the video tour below....
He Opens the Cockpit and Everything
We've written a few times about the Sunseeker II solar airplane, and how it was the first solar plane to cross the Alps. We had some breathtaking photos, but now we have video! Check it out below, once they take off at about 45 seconds in, it's really amazing (well, I should manage expectations... Check it out, it's okay.)...
Photo: Google
It Took a Technology Company to Go This Low-Tech...Google Streetview is usually built from images captured by a car driving around with a special multi-directional camera (as you can see in this post about a Google Streetview Prius getting a ticket). But there are some roads where cars can't go, many of which are actually much better looking and more interesting than your average road (is there a correlation you think?), so Google devised a special Streetview Trike that only "specially trained super fit Google employees and contractors" can ride. Read on for more details....
The Duel that Wasn't
It all started when Tesla Motors CEO Elon Musk went on David Letterman to show the Tesla Model S electric car. During the conversation, the Chevy Volt was mentioned negatively, so of course Bob Lutz had to come on the show to defend GM's new halo car. That was last night, and we have the video of the interview below....
Photo: Aptera Motors
Green Until the Lear Jet Part
As you probably know, Aptera completed the first production units of the Aptera 2e (the all electric version) a few months ago. Now the car (well, legally a motorcycle because of the 3 wheels...) has been making the rounds, starting with the TED conference, and now Jay Leno's Garage. Check out the video of Jay test-driving the Aptera 2e at 70 MPH below....
Photo: StreetBlogs
NYC Saw a 35% Increase in Bike Commuting Between 2007 and 2008
New York City is in the middle of what our friends at StreetFilms call a bike "renaissance". These days there are about 185,000 daily riders on the streets of NYC, and "bike lanes, racks & other amenities are popping up everywhere" (including 200 miles of new bike routes over the past 3 years). As you know, last Friday was Bike to Work Day, an excellent occasion to recruit new riders. Below is a video that was shot on Friday in New York, check it out!...
Video via YouTube
Still haven't made the switch to organic food? Well Hammy the Hamster is here to tell you for the last time: Organic food is better. Hammy participated in a rigorous survey involving carrots, broccoli, and other fruits and vegetables, and definitively choose organic eight out of 12 times. This rising screen star with the most original name was stumbled upon while spending precious working hours watching Hammy's other claim to fame on Cute Overload: motorcycle stunts.
UPDATE: Hammy's organic food video was originally featured on CooksDen.com and his motorcycle stunt was on SpotMotorcycle.com....
We'll be working on better category archives soon. In the meantime, take a look at the weekly archive if you really want to dig around, or use the search box at the top of the page.
on 07. 7.09
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Coal companies would not exist if not for the "corruption" of politicians, Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. told TreeHugger in an interview at Bonnaroo, singling out "family friends of ours forever," like West Virginia Democrats Jay Rockefeller and Robert Byrd.
"They're allowing and endorsing criminal behavior and destroying their state," he said.
The attorney-activist, who is president of the Waterkeeper Alliance, also said that President Obama's recent 
Photo: SkySpark
New Speed Record for an Electric Airplane, That Is...
Flying is 
Calling 
Image via: 
"Stella walks the talk," says Cameron Diaz strutting along Kuktavi's eco-turf. Photos by RCruger
It was Friday night in Hollywood and the starlets were in full eco-friendly regalia for the paparazzi and press. 
Photo Credit: Sergio Carratalá
Although we missed the actions Barcelona’s 
Image: Home-2009.com.
Next World Environment Day, this Friday, is also the date set for the world premiere of Yann Arthus Bertrand's Home Documentary. The movie is a collection of unique aerial footage from over 50 countries, which will try to show the state of the planet in natural and urban areas with the goal of inciting people to act.
Says the producer, Denis Carot, "Home is a film with a message that sets out to shift people's perceptions, make us aware of the tectonic movements at work and incite us to act. Although there is a general trend in our societies towards an awareness of ecological issues, concrete action is still too little, too slow—which constitutes in some ways the creed of the movie: It's too late to be a pessimist".
Find out more details on the movie and about the events around the world for the premiere in the extended....
Photo from Casual Mafia
Green isn’t always serious business. The newest video out by 
Photo: 
He Opens the Cockpit and Everything
We've written a few times about the 
Photo: Google
It Took a Technology Company to Go This Low-Tech...
The Duel that Wasn't
It all started when Tesla Motors CEO 
Photo: Aptera Motors
Green Until the Lear Jet Part
As you probably know, Aptera completed the 
Photo: StreetBlogs
NYC Saw a 35% Increase in Bike Commuting Between 2007 and 2008
New York City is in the middle of what our friends at 
