Business & Politics

Food pantry. Image credit: St. Louis Post Dispatch, (Laurie Skrivan/P-D)

The era in which increasing numbers of people were willing to pay a premium for locally grown food or for 'organic' clothing appears to be ending. Poverty has become common in many US suburbs, triggered by 'the economy,' and in particular by the preceding fad of having a huge home with low property taxes in the far suburbs . For an example, see the emblematic story in the StarTribune, Poverty is hitting the suburbs with more sting. Here is the money quote: "People went out to get low land prices and new houses," he said. "Frankly, they were living on the edge on two incomes. When suddenly somebody loses a job, they're in trouble."

Travel & Nature

Photos: Projeto Tamanduá

Very little is know about Silky anteaters, which make their home in the Amazon rainforest, other than the fact that they're tiny, nocturnal, ant-loving, and of course, incredibly cute. But, in hopes of learning more about these fascinating little creatures, soon scientists will be venturing out into the jungles of Brazil to observe them in the wild--where they hope to find its population strong and stable, unlike those of the diminutive anteater's larger cousins, and so many other species that call the region home.

Business & Politics

Watch the full size video on Planet Green

According to a new study published in Science Magazine, methane, a greenhouse gas 30 times more potent than carbon dioxide, may be seeping out of the Arctic Ocean at unprecedented—and alarming—rates.

Design & Architecture

Images from Sanctuary Magazine, Rachel Pilgrim & Andrew Lecky

So many of the green houses we see are single family, alone in the country, but there are more and more developers and builders trying to build green communities. On Munro court in the mining town of Castlemaine, outside of Victoria, Australia, eight lovely little modern houses have been designed by Robyn Gibson of Lifehouse design. None are over 1500 square feet, and it is sort of a cooperative, sharing responsibility for the communal vegetable gardens, emptying the compost and feeding the "chooks" [sic]

Food & Health

Image credit: Grist

Pig business is not an easy documentary to watch. First of all, the images of the inner workings of pig farms and slaughterhouses can turn the stomach of even the most steadfast meat-eater. Second, and more significantly, the film has not been—and likely never will be—released in the United States. This means that American viewers are relegated to ingesting the film in 10-minute segments via YouTube.

Travel & Nature

Photos via the BBC

It's one of the (if not the) rarest flower in the world: the Middlemist's Red exists in only two known locations: a greenhouse in the UK, and a garden in New Zealand. Imported to Britain two hundred years ago from China, back when flowers where a luxury item, it has since been exterminated in its original homeland. And now the Middlemist is blooming again--nice looking flower, right?

Culture & Celebrity

"Nobody used to ride a bike in New York, but now it's becoming mainstream"
Our friend Clarence at Streetfilms rode around NYC with Village Voice entertainment columnist Michael Musto. They did a video interview about cycling in NYC and using the good old bicycle as primary transportation. Michael has been riding around NYC for 25 years and he's seen things change quite a bit, from a time when nobody rode to now, with lots of new riders and a growing number of bike lanes. It's a great interview, very inspirational. Makes me want to go out and ride my bike! Via StreetFilms. See also: Crunching the Numbers ($$$) on Bike Commuting

Design & Architecture

NoMix Toilet. Photo: Flickr

Technological Innovations in the Bathroom? You Bet!
Being green is all about solving problems and grabbing overlooked opportunities. It turns out that there's such a double-win in most bathrooms around the world; if we had "NoMix" toilets that separate urine from solid waste, municipal wastewater plants would have a significantly easier task (and produce more methane to generate electricity), and we could much more easily extract precious nutrients like phosphorus and nitrogen for use as fertilizer (instead of using fossil fuels). So what's stopping us from going NoMix?