Eat The Enemy: Invasive Squirrel Introduced As 'Ethical Food' In UK Butcher Shops
by John Laumer, Philadelphia on 05.12.08
The Eastern Gray Squirrel, native to the USA, but considered an invasive species in Western Europe, is driving out the native European Red Squirrel.
A prolific and adaptable species, the gray squirrel has been introduced to, and thrives, in several regions of the western United States. It has also been introduced to Britain, where it has spread across the country and has largely displaced the native red squirrel, Sciurus vulgaris. In Ireland, the red squirrel has been almost entirely displaced and there are concerns that the same might happen in Italy.In Europe, the reaction is strong and measured. They are eating the enemy (pictured). Yes, the critter we in the USA call Tree Rat, a profligate potential source of suburban "free-range" meat, is being market hunted for the consumer pot. The Guardian reports:- "The ultimate ethical meal: a grey squirrel...It tastes sweet, like a cross between lamb and duck. And it's selling as fast as butchers can get it."
In case you find your friends and relations among the legions who just can’t seem to get enough of Hannah Montana, consider the fact that a recent study indicates many of the items they’ve grown attached to have significant levels of lead. 
There is great appeal to the idea living in efficient small spaces and to not being tied down to real estate; that is why we like the 
In a twist that would make even the Easter Bunny turn a happy shade of green, artist Jeffrey Scott Holland has finally come to his senses and canceled his massive global Easter egg hunt that had been originally planned for this coming spring. And that means he won't be hiding another 10,000 plastic Easter eggs out there in the world for someone to "find" with a piece of his original artwork inside. But the fact that the previous two egg hunts left tens of thousands of these unrecovered plastic eggs out there somewhere in America doesn't exactly make me feel all warm and fuzzy inside either......
The plan to build new power lines from Western Pennsylvania and West Virginia to the Washington DC area looks like a good way to increase the carbon "footprint" of East Coast city dwellers.
According to testimony at a a formal public hearing, it was learned that an agency of the US Federal government encouraged construction of power transmission lines across state lines without examination of distributed power options closer to the customer base. And, of course, it is pure coincidence that the lines will be fed by coal fired power plants.
First you blow up the mountain tops and then you cross forested lowlands with transmission lines. No wait. 
While it's no surprise to Treehugger's everywhere that Julia Roberts 
For the several young people on my gift list, this year's must-have brand in outer wear was 
With all of the focus on China 
Always on the hunt for new ways to waste money and resources, we present the Power of Oxygen: Big Ox canned air. It is the answer to our environmental ills: "Because of increased pollution and the continued destruction of our forests, you might not always be getting the oxygen you need for your active lifestyle."...
With all of the concern over lead in toys, and the international attention that’s been focused on it, the folks at the Asbestos Disease Awareness Foundation have been quietly testing toys for asbestos. And, intriguingly, they’ve found it in a variety of products including the CSI Fingerprint Examination Kit and two brands of play clay including Art Skills’ Clay Bucket; along with home products such as cleanser, roof sealers and duct tape.
The CSI Fingerprinting Kit has a collection of plastic tools and three types of powders, two of which had high levels of asbestos, which is especially concerning because kids will be touching the powder as they search for fingerprints.
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On 1 January 2008, the Scarlet Letter effect will start shaming drivers of polluting vehicles in German cities which are implementing an eco-zone to reduce pollutants to below EU standards. Vehicles which pollute too much to rate at least a red sticker in the red-yellow-green system will be banned altogether. Auto clubs predicted chaos as German drivers delayed ordering their windshield stickers. But it is worse than they could have imagined: tens of thousands of German drivers are learning that their action to meet the law's requirements are in vain. They are victims of an astounding filter fraud....
Claiming that “We’re more worried about the intellectual climate…” a group headed by Steven Milloy is targeting school boards, parents, and teachers across the country demanding that “debate” be introduced into the academic environment about climate change.
Of course, they also believe that Al Gore is a fraud, the IPCC is a bunch of wacko scientists, and probably that even the moon is made of nothing less than the finest green cheese imaginable.
But regardless, I actually agree with them that we need to demand debate over climate change. Though not over what it is or why it’s happening, but rather a reasonable and vigorous debate over which are the best policies and strategies available to divert ourselves, our children, and our civilization away from a looming catastrophe and towards a sustainable future.
Fortunately, this lonely set of voices "demanding" non-sensical debate over the realities of climate change are being more than drowned out by 
The following news story excerpts need little added explanation. But, we do have a suggestion as to an especially suitable water source that Spiritual Brands might want to consider for its debut product line. The rain which is expected to fill Lake Lanier, just north of Atlanta, has been receiving 
We're going to play our hunches up front. Nylon tea bags are coming to market primarily to reduce cost of goods and hence increase profit for manufacturers. Due to nylon's high tear resistance, the number of bags torn and lost during assembly and filling, quality defects in other words, will be reduced. More profit. Plus, the fine mesh allows the use of tea dust, which ups process yield, and again more profit.
Possibly, the aromatic compounds that give a good tea a flavor and odor profile will be less prone to absorption on nylon than paper, allowing makers to get by with less tea per bag to reach the taste profile customers prefer. That's a WAG though. Can you think of any other rational reason for tea distributors to do this now, besides that consumers adore novelty and don't really think about composting and resource consumption when they are readying to titer-up the blood caffeine level?...
According to CNN, a 66 year-old man was beaten to death on his front lawn by his 36 year-old neighbor for watering it yesterday in Sydney, Australia. Apparently, the pair started arguing over his water usage, and the victim sprayed his neighbor with water from the garden hose. Then the 36 year-old beat him severely, punching and knocking him to the ground where he kicked him repeatedly. And ultimately an off-duty police officer arrested the attacker, but the victim was pronounced dead at the hospital soon after.
Now amazingly, the victim had actually been following the guidelines on water restrictions for the Sydney area when this happened. Those state that you can, in fact, water your lawn before 10a.m. and after 4p.m. on Wednesdays and Sundays.
So was this the case of an overly zealous environmental advocate or simply the maniac next door?
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I’ve got to be honest, there’s no end to the intrigue when marketing guru’s at big companies everywhere start sensing the opportunity to capitalize on the growing green movement.
So call me a skeptic, but I am really enjoying the process of observing the latest cooperation between the makers of “Bee Movie” and the people at McDonald’s, with Conservation International thrown in for good measure.
Apparently, they’re all cooperating to get kids to go outside, exercise, and “Bee Good to the Planet”. Well, that sounds just fine to me… Though I must confess to a certain bit of wonderment at the idea of pushing a cheeseburger and a movie as a part of going green.
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This pair of goggles, which promises no more tears when you chop onions, made us want to cry. The $18 glorified swim goggles have a seal foam seal to keep tear-inducing onion vapors from irritating your corneas.
Some easy alternatives that won't cost you a cent: Chill onions before peeling, or peel them under running water and then toss them into a food processor. You can also burn a candle next to the cutting board so the onion vapors are drawn to the heat source. Using a good, sharp knife also helps because it allows less of the tear-causing compounds to be released.
Plus, you won't end up looking like a space cadet. 
Its bigger than Versailles; as high as a sixty storey building (although with high ceilings, it is really only 27 floors). It is the new home of Mukesh Ambani, owner of India's largest private company, designed by the usually respectable Perkins+Will. It has six floors for parking, accommodation for six hundred servants, and a "refuge floor" that might well be needed come the revolution that such garish displays of excess might cause in such a poor country. According to the Guardian, last week India's prime minister, Manmohan Singh, called on business leaders to "eschew conspicuous consumption" and "be role models of moderation". Clearly he was a little bit late. 
Ever try walking backwards only for a day? Or visiting a country where they drive on the "wrong" side of the road? Reversals like these are sometimes just the thing to elicit fresh insights. A decade ago, this writer attended many Design for Environment (DfE) workshops which used a similar approach for inspiring apprentice designers. Before they could practice green design techniques "from scratch", students had first to outline the drawbacks of a seemingly "un-green" product, and propose improvements to resurrect it to "green" status. The novice's choice might be a battery charger, or maybe a cell phone, or an outboard motor. What ever interested them. The process was always similar, but the outcomes generally were a surprise. Let's imagine we're in the modern equivalent workshop - the present term is "green design" by the way - and we've decided to look at disposable spice mills or "grinders": typically clear plastic bottles full of peppercorns, spice blends, or flavored sea salt, incorporating a plastic top with a grinder built into it. The screw-tops are cemented onto common looking bottles. Because the bottles and tops may contain different kinds of plastic that can't be separated, and especially because food remnants would be stuck inside, recycling looks to be infeasible. We'll nominate team leaders to lead our class discussions. See below the fold for a fictional sampling of what very likely would come out of the workshop....
Germany is respected for leadership in the EU's bold 
We often write about how good they are in Japan about recycling and transit and saving energy, but they also are brilliant at making wonderful products like this (thank you Google for the wonderful translation: "Every clothes it cools! New conception! It just sprays from on the clothes instant cooling!"
It evidently is a mix of ethanol, a silicon surface agent and freon gas in an aerosol can. Of course the bacodo (salaryman) could just take off the jacket, I thought they were allowed to do that now. 
TreeHugger's window to the world makes it easy to focus on great new designs. But, it also makes it easy to ignore the extremely important role of state and local government in promoting or, as unfortunately has happened in a few recent cases, retarding the spread of green technologies. We recently posted on the example of the elderly Illinois 
