Canada’s New Environment Minister’s Job: Shill The Tar Sands as "Ethical Oil"
January 7, 2011 No Comment
Peter Kent Official Portrait Most environment ministers’ job is to protect the environment; not in Canada. There, the environment minister is a shill for the tar stands industry. The new minister isn’t camera shy, either; he is Peter Kent, former TV anchor for Canada’s biggest news show. (He is the brother of Arthur Kent , the “Scud Stud” of the 1991 gulf war) His pitch on the tar sands: it’s not dirty oil, it’s ethical oil. … Read the full story on TreeHugger
Continue reading …Sanyo to Increase Automotive Li-Ion Battery Production by 150% at Kasai Plant
January 7, 2011 No Comment
Sanyo’s Kasai Plant in Japan. Photo: Sanyo Sanyo Bullish on Electric Cars Only a few months after completing its giant lithium-ion battery factory in Kasai city, Japan, Sanyo seems to think that it’s still not enough. The company is investing 15 billion yen (about 180 million U.S. dollars) to increase its annual output capacity for automotive lithium-ion batteries by 150 percent. The plant already has 2 production line, and 2 new ones will be added to produce “batteries with capacities of 20 ampere-hours or higher for use in plug-in hybrids and electric vehicles.”… Read the full story on TreeHugger
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Image: gibbsbridge.org The Gibbs Street Pedestrian Bridge The City of Portland is working to build a new bike and pedestrian bridge over I-5 to connect the historic Lair Hill neighborhood with the South Waterfront District. The bridge will span approximately 700 feet, and will have a landing on the west side near the intersection of SW Gibbs Street and SW Kelly Avenue and on the east side near the intersection of SW Gibbs Street and SW Moody Avenue (you can see the exact location of the bridge on this map (PDF)). It will… Read the full story on TreeHugger
Continue reading …Buildings & Pets Kill Far More Birds Each Year Than The Flockpocalypse Has
January 7, 2011 No Comment
photo: Andrew Currie / Creative Commons It may seem like all the recent mass bird deaths add up to catastrophic numbers of animals killed, but compared to how many birds are killed every year in ones and twos as they collide with buildings, towers, et cetera, it’s a drop in the bucket.
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image: Mass Animal Deaths – Google Map You’d have to have been sequestered in a cave for the past ten days or so to not have noticed all the coverage of mass bird deaths and fish kills going on right now. And you’ve perhaps already come across the
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Image credit: bandita , used under Creative Commons license. Food waste is a serious issue. And while schemes ranging from biojet fuel made from organic trash to mandatory food waste collection might help divert that waste to a good use, it would be much better if it was never thrown out in the first place. Now researc… Read the full story on TreeHugger
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Image: loveearthinfo.com Two years ago, Walmart launched Love, Earth, a jewelry line that would increase the transparency of the industry. Love, Earth would meet a new level of environmental and human rights standards—from mine to factory, it was supposed to be a more responsible and traceable product. An investigation in Bolivia, where some of the factories are located, reports that the reality on the ground doesn’t quite match up. … Read the full story on TreeHugger
Continue reading …UK Scientist Suggests Rebranding GM Crops As "Vaccinated" To Win Over Consumers
January 7, 2011 No Comment
photo: Fred / Creative Commons The latest face-palm absurdity concerning genetically modified crops : One of the UK’s top agricultural scientists has floated the idea that GM crops should be rebranded as “vaccinated” or “inoculated” so that the public would embrace them more willingly. Policy Director of the
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See the original post here: Planet 100: Empowering Women With Design and Micro Enterprise (Video)
Continue reading …The Week in Animal News: Vulture Accused of Espionage, Potty-Trained Pigs, and More (Slideshow)
January 7, 2011 No Comment
Photo: Jeremiah John McBride/CC In the cloak and dagger world of international espionage, it takes a cool head and nerves of steel to get the job done, though being a human isn’t necessarily a prerequisite — at least that’s according to authorities in Saudi Arabia who recently detained a wild vulture under the suspicion that the bird was a spy. Read on for details of the bird-world’s James Bond and for other human-and-animal interactions that made news this week, including potty-trained pigs, the first satellite tracking of leatherback turtles, the discovery of a secret monk seal hideaway, and what conservat… Read the full story on TreeHugger
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