A public school in Flushing, NY that was the first in the nation to offer a 100 percent vegetarian lunch menu reported recently that students have improved attendance, test scores and energy in the wake of the change. Students are still allowed to brown-bag, but the overwhelming majority—about 90 percent—of students are choosing the veggie-based cafeteria […]
If you’ve always wanted to compost but think it’s impossible because you live in an apartment or a house with a small yard, consider composting with worms. Using worms in composting is called vermiculture. It involves keeping special red worms—either Red Wigglers and Red Earthworms—in bins with organic matter in order to break it down […]
The growing number of people pedaling along the sidewalks and streets aren’t just biking in urban areas. The League of American Bicyclists released its latest ranking of Bicycle Friendly Communities (BFC) today, including 32 communities that are new to the list, many of which are suburbs. There are now 291 BFCs in 48 states. The League […]
By Beth Wallace This past July, National Wildlife Federation (NWF) conducted a diving expedition to obtain footage of aging oil pipelines strung across one of the most sensitive locations in the Great Lakes, and possibly the world: the Straits of Mackinac. Footage of these pipelines has never been released to the public until now. This NWF map simulates […]
With more than $750 billion of holdings in its sovereign wealth fund, Norway is on the brink of potentially making renewable energy investments around the world. Erna Solberg, who will be named Norway’s second female prime minister, has already heard proposals from her government to use sovereign wealth fund money to invest in sustainable companies […]
Phil Radford On Sept. 29, Steve Jensen, a farmer in northwest North Dakota, discovered crude oil “spewing and bubbling six inches high” out on his field while he was harvesting wheat. The spewing oil came from a break in Tesoro Corporation’s underground pipeline which carries crude oil from Bakken shale formation—fracking for oil—to Columbus, ND. By […]
People who work to save rainforests and protect wildlife are urging consumers to refrain from buying Halloween candy made with palm oil. Why? For one thing, palm oil producers in Indonesia and Malaysia rely on forced and child labor and Indonesia’s palm oil industry is rife with human-rights abuses. For another, companies clear tropical rainforests to plant their oil palm trees, which […]
Power Past Coal Concerned Southwest Washington and Oregon residents gathered yesterday at the official scoping hearing for the proposed coal export terminal in Longview, WA. A vast majority of the almost 600 attendees at the hearing opposed the proposed coal terminal; 111 of 157 speakers at the hearing spoke about their concerns about the project. […]
A recent investigation into the death of thousands of bees last month in Minnesota revealed that fipronil, a widely used insecticide, was to blame. In mid-September, three colonies of bees in Minneapolis were found twitching and dying on the ground. Local apiarist Mark Lucas paints a grim picture of the poisoning event, which he witnessed, […]