Blogs & Ecology

Dhaka Dweller Shahnaz describes how the Muslim ritual Shab-E-Barat (night of forgiveness) is celebrated in Bangladesh and posts pictures and narratives of the traditional food culture it entails.

Image source: Metcalf Institute

This year's Metcalf Institute Diversity Fellowships in Environmental Reporting, were awarded this morning. The awards are given to minority journalists early in their careers to encourage diversity and excellence in environmental reporting. Environmental journalism is still a relatively new field and as climate change becomes a daily topic of conversation many newspapers and media outlets are scrambling to find reporters who can not only cover the issues but understand the science enough to translate what it means to the reader.

No Hybrid Fit for You
The people at ABG had a chance to ask Honda spokesperson Sage Marie about when the Honda Fit hybrid would be available in the US. The disappointing answer was that it wouldn't be sold in the US, at least not for a while.

The Business Case

Joe Biden on a bus in 1976 (love the hat and sportsjacket matchup) and in 2004 on a train

Shortly after he was elected to the senate in 1972, Joe Biden's wife and daughter were killed in a car crash. To take care of his two sons he commuted an hour and a half from Washington to Wilmington, Delaware by train and has continued to do so ever since.

Not surprisingly, he is a big supporter of Amtrak and rail transport. In 2002 he said:

August has been mild in New York City and a perfect time for another Night of Eco-Chic Entertaining, presented by Celia Chen and her online magazine Notesonaparty.com. As with the magazine’s inaugural party in the spring, Celia used the opportunity of throwing a big bash to show how partying on a grand scale can be environmentally conscious. She partnered with the venue The Xchange to hostess a green roof-top party that was as delicious as it was glamorous. Party-goers were fed by Sage Events, a company which promises to provide clients with sustainable catering by seeking out small, local farms and offers hormone-free chicken, grass-fed beef, organic milk and eggs, and fair trade coffee and tea.

Photo: Butch Martin/Getty Images

There’s little doubt that the basic fundamentals of supply and demand will dictate the long-term success of the renewable energy market.

As energy demand increases, and fossil fuel supplies decrease, it will be renewables that fill the void. And no amount of doublespeak, misinformation or market manipulation can change that.

This week is Carnival of the Green # 142 and it's being hosted by Life Goggles, a blog that incorporates green reviews, news and interviews. So head on over to this week's Carnival and check out a round up of green news and events from the past week, submitted by other bloggers and green sites.

To learn more about Carnival of the Green, where it will be and how to host, please click here to link to our previous post.

Photo credit: Getty Images

This is the most heartbreaking story we've read all week, and if the idea of a baby whale trailing after a yacht and trying to suckle from it doesn't make you go "awww," then that lump of muscle you call your ticker has been replaced by sheet rock. (And you should really get that checked out.)

Ever driven across North Dakota in August? North Dakota is the US State located top, center on the wind potential map (shown here). Step out of the car and the wind's fingers rip at your shirt buttons, threatening to tear them off. Day after day, wheat stems toss like waves in a storm.

Maternity garb might be considered the ultimate in disposable clothing. After all, they're not meant to last more than a few months.

Women who want to keep their pregnancy carbon footprints petite have a few options: Scrounge for hand-me-downs from their girlfriends, shop at consignment stores, or use belly bands, which are stretchy tubes of fabric that can extend the life of your "skinny" clothes and, more important, conceal unbuttoned pants.
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Really it's a bit hard to keep getting excited about the idea of another shoulder bag or cosmetics case made from recycled PET plastic bottles - though the first TreeHugger reviews of Patagonia rPET goods were basically gushing, and for good reason. Anything rPET is better than anything virgin polyester.

rPET is the new polyester

By Ben Block

Biofuels offer the promise of a low-carbon fuel that could power vehicles and stimulate the world's rural economies.

Yet biofuels are also among the most vilified of environmental technologies. Ethanol refineries are not always clean. The labor on biofuel farms is not always fair. The diversion of feedstocks from food to fuel may be driving up global commodity prices. And the forests, fields, and peat bogs cleared to make room for biofuel crops may release more carbon into the atmosphere than they would save from vehicles not burning fossil fuels.

Balmoral is the Queen's Scottish summer retreat and her favourite place to go for R and R. Now HRH has taken steps to make her cottage completely self-sufficient, energy wise. She has installed a small hydro-electric plant developed on a rushing stream in the estate forest. It generates enough to supply electricity to the 1,000 residents in the area with the excess sold to the national grid. The Queen has registered all the woodlands with the Forestry Stewardship Council which supports sustainable forestry worldwide. All farming practices are registered with the Soil Association, which promotes organic food and farming.

2008 was a good year for enviros in the boardroom. A record 57 climate related shareholder resolutions were filed this year—a figure that has doubled over the past 5 years. Support for these measures averaged more than 23% among shareholders-- another all time high. These figures come from Ceres, a leading coalition of investors and environmental groups. “Growing investor pressure is prompting more companies to see the value of making environmentally sound products,” said Mindy S. Lubber, president of Ceres.