TreeHugger

Capturing a Nation on Film Before it Vanishes

Fri, 21 Nov 2008 15:33:00 -0500

Tuvalu, made up of four small coral-reef islands and five atolls off the coast of Australia, will be one of the first to go as sea levels continue to rise. Shuuichi Endou decided his response was to take 10,000 photographs, almost one for every person on the island to capture the spirit and essence of the people, reports the Japan Times Online. When the island is gone, and the population has dispersed and assimilated into area nations, will the photographs be the only thing keeping this nation together? ]]>...

Tourism Giveth and Taketh Away

Fri, 21 Nov 2008 10:56:00 -0500

A "blue cruise" near the Marmaris coast. Photo by Sarp Koknar via flickr. There's trouble in paradise, at least the part of it around the popular vacation town of Marmaris, on Turkey's western Mediterranean coast. Long struggling to keep development in check, residents have had up to here with new plans to expand the area's port and mining operations. A local environmental organization recently issued an SOS: "That’s enough. Do not let Marmaris fade away." ]]>...

Roomorama: Peer to Peer Rentals Beats Hotel In So Many Ways

Thu, 20 Nov 2008 08:00:47 -0500

CouchSurfing and since I was on a bike I considered Warm Showers, but in the end I am not THAT adventurous. Then I learned from Springwise about Roomorama.]]>...

Countries Falling Behind As World's Oceans Are Still "Vastly Under-Protected": Study

Wed, 19 Nov 2008 13:44:26 -0500

Image: Sam and Ian on Flickr
Though marine conservation is stepping up worldwide, a new study has found that countries still have a relatively long way to go before they meet their commitment to protect 10 percent of their respective waters. Whereas 12 percent of the world’s land is protected, only 4 percent of the world’s coasts are designated as “marine protected areas” (MPAs) – a term used to describe a holistic and well-connected global network of Mark Kobayashi-Hillary OK TreeHugger readers, confession time. How many of you bring your cellphone with you when you go hiking, or whatever you do when you want to get out into nature? I confess that I do it—if only because it was already in my bag and I don’t want to leave it behind to get stolen—but I don’t actually use it when I’m out in the woods, even if there is a signal. For me it’s part of getting away from pretty much anything that needs a battery and into the woods. But everyone is different and some people have to check the Crackberry no matter where they are... The es]]>...

Act Locally: Create A Blue Trail

Tue, 18 Nov 2008 07:37:46 -0500

Northern Forest Canoe Trail, Image credit: Flickr, American Rivers, Blue Trails Set, photo by Jamie Mierau At American Rivers, we not only want to protect and restore our nation’s rivers, we want to bring Americans back to their rivers. As more people learn to appreciate how great rivers are through paddling, fishing, swimming, hiking, biking, and camping, more people will want to protect them. But some communities need help making these types of recreational activities accessible. A great way to do this is by establishing a blue]]>...

Walking Across Britain as a Lifestyle

Tue, 18 Nov 2008 05:50:00 -0500

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WANTED: U.S. High School Students with Great Eco-Friendly Ideas!

Mon, 17 Nov 2008 20:49:08 -0500

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US Should Push for Bluefin Tuna Fishing Moratorium, Conservation Groups Say

Mon, 17 Nov 2008 11:11:00 -0500

photo: José Antonio Gil Martínez TreeHugger has covered the plight of the bluefin tuna on a number of occasions, and in short humans are eating them into extinction: The spawning population of the western Atlantic bluefin has declined 80% in the past 40 years. In an effort to do something about this sorry state of affairs, at this week’s biannual meeting of the International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas, held in Marrakech, Morocco, conservation groups Oceana, Greenpeace and the Terry Mass The critically endangered leatherback sea turtles are leaving California's relatively safe coast for their annual Pacific migration to nesting beaches—and they could find a veritable death trap of 5 million new longline hooks waiting for them when they return. This is the plight detailed in a new report, ominously titled "Death by a Thousand Hooks," which was released last week. The surplus in new hooks would come from a "Deadly Trio"—three new proposed swordfish fisheries slat]]>...

Artist/Adventurer Undertakes 2-Year Solo Kayaking Trek in Search of the Wild Image

Sat, 15 Nov 2008 10:00:00 -0500

Photo courtesy of Daniel Belanger There aren't too many good ol' artist/adventurer types around these days—ever notice that? Plenty of artist/graphic designer and artist/web consultants, but our generation could use a good solid artsy adventurer. You know, like Byron or Hemmingway or John Muir (okay, so he was more of an essayist/adventurer, but cut me some slack here). Perhaps with a little luck, we could find one in the intrepid photographer Daniel Belanger.]]>...

Not So Quietly Taking to Ship

Fri, 14 Nov 2008 14:20:44 -0500

Yacht Racing, Vendee Globe Competition, Vendee Globe website By George Grattan (with support from colleagues across the pond in Earthwatch’s UK office). I’m going to risk bad taste and begin this blog—about record-breaking yachtsmen Brian Thompson’s bid to win the Vendée Globe round-the-world solo ocean race and promote research at the same time—by invoking Melville’s Ishmael. ]]>...

MileMeter: Auto Insurance by the Mile is Greener

Thu, 13 Nov 2008 14:55:30 -0500

It's All About Incentives, Baby It's no big mystery: If you have a flat rate for water, people will waste more of it than if they pay in function of how much they use. The same thing also certainly applies to cars. If people paid less insurance if they drove less, that would be an incentive to put fewer miles on their vehicles, thus using less fuel and polluting less. This would also reduce road congestion and accidents. One company that has understood this is MileMeter from Texas. Read on for more details.]]>...

Organic Farmer Killed Mere Hours After Protesting Against Illegal Toxic Waste Dumping

Thu, 13 Nov 2008 14:16:46 -0500

It's Dangerous Being Green in India It can be dangerous to fight polluters. This story reminds me of many others that I've read in a book called "The War Against the Greens". It all started when Challa Krishnamurthy, a 60-year-old organic farmer from Gowribidanur, India, noticed that a local distillery and sugarcane factory was dumping toxic waste on his property. "He had alerted the Pollution Control Board and a dozen agencies including the government and police, but all came to naught." That's when he decided that the only way to fight back was to alert the media]]>...

Near Future for Green Movement: Speed Bump or Precipice?

Wed, 12 Nov 2008 14:11:46 -0500

We're All Living in Internet Time Now Things sure move fast these days. If we look at the environment, it wasn't so long ago that in the U.S. green wasn't on the mainstream's radar and opinions on global warming were extremely polarized. Then in the past couple years, everybody and their dogs were now into green. European governments were pledging to make huge cuts in greenhouse gas emissions, etc. But things are changing. Are we on the eve of a new 180 degrees? Read on for more.]]>...

First Mating in 36 Years For Island's Last Giant Tortoise

Wed, 12 Nov 2008 13:04:29 -0500

Image: "Lonesome George" - it's lonely to be the last (putneymark on Flickr)
Ninety years old and considered one of the world’s rarest organisms, the giant tortoise from the Galapagos Islands known as "Lonesome George" stunned conservationists when he mated with two females earlier this summer. To the dismay of scientists studying the eggs however, 80 percent of the eggs appear to be duds. Originating from Pinta Island, once home to thousands of saddleback tortoises, George (Geochelone nigra abingdoni) is the last of his kind to be found and was taken into captivity in 1971. The females we]]>...

8 Green Music Festivals That Rock

Wed, 12 Nov 2008 12:00:55 -0500

Image Credit: Getty Images

Festivals are not a modern day invention. The roots of the celebratory gathering go as far back as the Egyptians, who used to toast the annual overflow of the Nile, which irrigated crops. Whether it be religion (the most common theme in the past), the solar or lunar calendar, or music, food, and art, festivals continue to be fantastic socializing tools. Unfortunately, with so many pre-packaged products and high-voltage effects, festivals have become known for being relatively anti-environment these days. Luckily, there are at least eight music festivals out there really st]]>...

TH Interview - Kevin Hagen on Corporate Responsibility at REI

Wed, 12 Nov 2008 07:52:54 -0500

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Bristol is the UK's Greenest City

Wed, 12 Nov 2008 05:01:49 -0500

Modbury, and San Francisco and thought we should move to each of them. And today's winner is Bristol, a smallish town with a population of 410,000. According to a new report by Forum of the Future, Bristol is best for cycling, environmental performance, quality of life and readiness for challenges ahead. It has moved up on the list since last year due to its impressive increase in recycling and composting and top scores on water quality, waste collection and green spaces. The report is the second annual ...

Maldives Looking for New Home

Tue, 11 Nov 2008 05:19:41 -0500

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Bush Administration to Open Public Lands Near Utah's National Parks for Natural Gas and Oil Drilling

Sun, 09 Nov 2008 23:30:00 -0500

Image from jderuna There is no doubt that the Bushies will go down in history as the administration with the least environmentally-friendly record (among other dubious distinctions). Having already gutted the Endangered Species Act, denied the existence of climate change and vehemently resisted efforts to regulate greenhouse gas emissions, it is not as if the president has been trying especially hard to rehabilitate his dismal reputation. Last Friday, we learned of the Bush administration's latest environmental hit job, courtesy of It always amazes me to see how families in Istanbul will take any opportunity to enjoy a scrap of nature, no matter how patchy or trash-strewn the grass, or how close it is to a busy road. Many are undoubtedly some of the 43,000 new residents drawn to the city each month, often from rural areas and perhaps yearning for a small semblance of home. But green space can provide more than solace--according to a new report by the British medical journal The Lancet, it has quantifiabl]]>...

The Best Ecolodges on the Planet According to National Geographic Adventure

Thu, 06 Nov 2008 18:23:49 -0500

Photo credit: Daintree Eco Lodge & Spa The Global Travel Editor at National Geographic Adventure has put together a handy list and a nice graphic of the 50 Best Ecolodges in the world, color-coded according to ecosystem. The hotels were chosen because they support local communities, offer authentic cultural experiences, maintain strong conservation initiatives, and increasingly emphasize adventure at the center of the experience. If you fancy jungles, you can pou]]>...

Norwegian Lemmings Threatened by Climate Change

Wed, 05 Nov 2008 17:51:34 -0500

Balsamia on Flickr Norwegian Lemmings Suffer from "Wrong Type of Snow" Earlier today Michael reported that climate change is reaking havoc on the axolotl (aka the “Mexican walking fish”). But the freaky looking fish isn’t the only animal being driven to the brink of extinction. Given their reputation, it's amazing any are alive at all, but according to the BBC the lemming is now in serious trouble to]]>...

Ubercool "Mexican walking fish" Nearing Extinction

Wed, 05 Nov 2008 14:42:21 -0500

Most Adorable Endangered Creature Ever? We're saddened to learn that the alien-looking Axolotl salamander (Ambystoma mexicanum), aka Mexican walking fish or Mexican water monster, is seriously threatened with extinction because of habitat destruction and water pollution. One of the coolest things about Axolotl - apart from their appearance - is they ability to regenerate most body parts. Read on for more details and photos.]]>...

7 Hidden Eco-gems: Under-the-Radar Cities Worth a Visit

Wed, 05 Nov 2008 10:00:58 -0500

Scenes from Malmö, Sweden -- a hidden green city gem -- Björn Söderqvist @ flickr. Portland, San Francisco, and New York. These three cities consistently rise to the top of U.S. and even global lists of great green cities. And while these cities, through both some natural advantages and hard policy work, have earned their green cred, there's more out there taking sustainable city building seriously. Caveat: This is not a scientific list, nor is it a ranking. Instead, it's a list of current cities (thus we skip over the not-yet-real places such as A few months back, environmentalists cheered President Bush's proposed creation of a vast Pacific marine preserve that included the area of the Mariana Trench, the Rose Atoll in American Samoa and parts of a long, sprawling collection of reefs and atolls known as the Line Islands, designed to preserve "some of the world's most diverse underwater ecosystems." His memorandum described the area as

"isolated from population centers, mostly uninhabited" and supporting "endemic, depleted, migratory, endangered and threatened species o]]>...

A Green Retreat on a Greek Island

Sat, 01 Nov 2008 11:26:00 -0500

Photo: Hotel Americana When you live in a place where three-fourths of the population makes its living from tourism, it only makes sense to try to preserve what people come to enjoy. At the popular beach destination of Kos, one of Greece’s Dodecanese islands, "the concept of 'going green' is still fairly strange," says Hotel Americana proprietor Chris Kordistos, but she's been taking small, steady steps to reduce her business's impact on the island’s natural environment. ]]>...

Vice TV Tracks Down 2 of the Few Remaining “Gorillas in the Midst”

Sat, 01 Nov 2008 11:00:00 -0500

VICE TV’s brief f]]>...

Using Life Cycle Analysis to Reduce Emissions and Encourage Video Conferencing

Fri, 31 Oct 2008 10:25:20 -0500

EMPA We like to see life cycle assessment being used in everyday situations, especially when it comes to helping businesses reduce their environmental impacts (and even if it means looking at rather archaic looking graphs like the one above). The scientists at EMPA (Swiss Federal Laboratories for Materials Science & Technology) – the creators of Ecoinvent, one of the most important life cycle ]]>...

How Far Would You Go, Literally, For Sex?

Fri, 31 Oct 2008 07:25:43 -0500

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Video: Jared Diamond on Why Societies Collapse

Thu, 30 Oct 2008 16:35:53 -0500

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8 Halloween Costumes That Will Scare Environmentalists

Thu, 30 Oct 2008 14:05:53 -0500

You could always go as a CO2 molecule... Because being green doesn't mean losing your sense of humor, we thought this tongue in cheek (we hope) list of 8 Halloween Costumes That Will Scare Environmentalists was kind of funny. Okay, not very funny, but maybe our readers can do better? If you have ideas of Halloween costumes that would truly be scary to greenies, please share your ideas in the comments. The US News list can be found below.]]>...