TreeHugger

The Fourth Plinth Goes Live in London

Fri, 10 Jul 2009 05:19:36 -0500

Image from the Guardian It's plinth madness in London, starting this week. That's plinth as in the fourth, empty column in Trafalgar Square that has been statue-less since 1841. Artist Anthony Gormley won the competition to put something on it and his "something" is a person, one per hour, for the next 100 days. So who has been up there and what have they done? This cyclist is making an environmental statement during his hour. Another dressed as a toilet in support of sanitation and WaterAid. Others have promoted their favourite charities; diabetes, Childline, and causes: Morris danc]]>...

Guerilla Gardening Goes Nano

Thu, 09 Jul 2009 08:12:00 -0500

Spacing Toronto The City of Toronto is home to many flying squads of Guerilla Gardeners, usually attacking neglected planters, traffic medians and forlorn strips of dirt. Some, finding those too few and far between, commandeered empty flower boxes. Now they have hit a new low, at urban intersections where there is not a patch of soil to be seen: nano-planting on poles. Spacing Toronto describes it.]]>...

Hey Kids, Unplug, Get Outside, Because Nature Rocks

Thu, 09 Jul 2009 08:11:13 -0500

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5 Ridiculously Over-the-Top, Extravagant Celebrity Weddings

Wed, 08 Jul 2009 11:46:30 -0500

Photo via Madeline's Weddings and Events/ Cakella

All you really need to get married is love--and maybe a ring, and a marriage license. But that doesn't stop celebrities from going overboard when they're ready to tie the knot, hosting parties decorated with thousands of exotic flowers, serving food flown in from all ]]>...

Wool, Organic Cotton Coffins Encase You in Downy Softness For All Eternity

Wed, 08 Jul 2009 11:21:26 -0500

Photo credit: Getty Images In today's Department of We Can't Make This Stuff Up (by way of the Beeb): A U.K. textile firm better known for making military uniforms has launched a range of woolen and organic cotton caskets made locally in West Yorkshire. ]]>...

Yann Arthus Bertrand's 'Home' Through Images and Facts (Slideshow)

Wed, 08 Jul 2009 07:45:49 -0500

Photos: ©Film “Home” - A coproduction Elzevir Films/Europacorp. It's been little more than a month since its worldwide premiere, and Home continues to amaze people around the world. A collection of unique aerial footage from over 50 countries, the movie tells and shows the evolution of the Earth and analyses its current state, to make us understand the great challenges sustainability is facing. In this slideshow we revisit some of]]>...

Green Vision for a Place With a Grim Past

Wed, 08 Jul 2009 07:30:00 -0500

Artist Joyce van den Berg's vision for the former No Man's Land in Berlin includes walking paths, composting areas, and plenty of greenery. An area once called a "death strip" wouldn't seem to harbor much in the way of recreational potential, but when Dutch landscape artist Joyce van den Berg looks at the former No Man's Land that once separated East and West Berlin, that's exactly what she envisions. And by presenting her artistic interpretations of what that might look like at the German Center for Architecture (DAZ), she hopes to get Berliners to see the same thing.]]>...

Beginnings Nursery School Wants What You Don’t

Wed, 08 Jul 2009 07:21:20 -0500

Beginnings, a Toddler Program and Nursery School in New York strives, as they say, “to create a nurturing and stimulating environment grounded in respect for children and the ways that they learn.” As part of this premise they work with the Reggio Emilia philosophy that evolved for children’s education in Italy after the Second World War. One of the key principles of which is that, “children have a relationship with other children and with material items in the world.” As the Ne]]>...

Video: The Making of a Pedestrian-Only Street in Curitiba, Brazil

Tue, 07 Jul 2009 16:09:23 -0500

Rua XV de Novembro We've already written about Curitiba's great Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) system, but that's not all the Brazilian city has to teach us. Our friends at StreetFilms write: "In 1972 under the direction of then Mayor Jaime Lerner, it became the first major pedestrian street in Brazil. The first phase of closing the street took place in only 72 hours. At first the project was unpopular, but today is seen as a success and spans 15 blocks." Check out ]]>...

Green Eyes On: Local Schools Go Beyond Green

Mon, 06 Jul 2009 12:50:50 -0500

my green eyes on. My last piece was about exciting recommendations coming out of the American Medical Association's annual meeting to eat more local and organic food. Sometimes it’s about places I’ve been and people I’ve met who are doing incredible things to promote health and protect our en]]>...

Cartoonist Shows Sardonic Eco-Humor is Alive and Well

Sat, 04 Jul 2009 14:43:00 -0500

Seppo Leinonen Ecopreneurist is highlighting some art from Seppo Leinonen, a cartoonist out of Finland, who perfectly captures that tongue-in-cheek tone that makes acknowledging the environmental destruction we're imposing on the planet nearly digestible. ]]>...

Sex, Trams n Rock n Roll: Super Furry Animals Celebrate Mass Transit

Sat, 04 Jul 2009 09:36:07 -0500

Image credit: Super Furry Animals Rock n roll meets integrated transport hubs Who'd have thought that one of the best songs I've heard all year would be about sustainable urban transportation systems? I've said it before, but I owe a huge debt of gratitude to Rob Hopkins of the Transition Towns Movement - not just for inspiring one of the most important community-led responses to environmental crisis there is - but also for giving me stuff to write about. His We Can't Limit Conservation Efforts to Cute & Cuddly Animals... Here's a clever ad about "Re-Thinking the Shark" by the most excellent Save Our Seas Foundation (check out their proje]]>...

Oh No Mommy! Will the Greenies Take Fireworks Away From Us?

Thu, 02 Jul 2009 13:35:09 -0500

Photo: Flickr, CC Obligatory Post About Green Fireworks for the 4th of July Fireworks are fun - who doesn't like explosions? - and a good excuse to get together with family and friends, but they're also not very clean. In Beijing, China, the smoke from fireworks during the new year celebrations tripled pollution levels overnight, and the toxic metals used to get the bright colorful sparks fall back to Earth, contaminating soil an]]>...

Realities of a Low Emission Life in the French Pyrenees

Thu, 02 Jul 2009 07:43:08 -0500

Living off the land is often seen as the ideal for many aspiring greenies. Bucolic bliss. Healthy harvests. Cheery chickens. Milk making moo cows. Plentiful potatoes and a fresh figs. Sunsets sipping Sauvignon. During a international sojourn multi-media producer, Sebastiao Salgado is a Brazilian photographer who has been working on his photo-documentary "Genesis" for more than 4 years. It is a story in photos about the effect of modern development on the environment. He is searching for landscapes that represent a pure, untouched state of nature. So far he has travelled to 20 different spots across 5 continents to photograph the most pristine, untouched pockets of nature in the world. Since he is a master photographer, the results are spectacular. ]]>...

Is Brooks Running the Best Green Source for Runners?

Wed, 01 Jul 2009 13:36:08 -0500

Photo: PRNewsFoto/Brooks Sports, Inc You a runner? Or an exercise-oholic? And you want your workouts to reflect your green lifestyle? Well, the race is ON…or at least for me and a few friends to find the best performing green running equipment. Since February of this year (2009), I’ve made it my personal mission to seek out the most excellent green products in the running world as I train for my first marathon in No]]>...

NYC's Holland Tunnel Hasn't Had New Bus-Only Lanes Since Richard Nixon was President

Tue, 30 Jun 2009 15:37:00 -0500

Good Magazine Do Social Networks Mark a Fundamental Shift in Consumption? Kristin has already written about planet-savingFacebook applications, and sustainable iPhone apps are mushrooming - from easy green shopping databases to Earth911's iRecycle app. ]]>...

Zoo Installation Shows Trouble In Wildlife Paradise

Mon, 29 Jun 2009 15:27:05 -0500

Photo courtesy of Steinbrener-Dempf Trouble in Paradise--an art installation at Vienna's Schönbrunn Zoo--shows the troubling impact of modern civilization on wildlife habitat. The installation is the work of Austrian artists Christoph Steinbrener a]]>...

Book Review: Slow Death by Rubber Duck

Mon, 29 Jun 2009 08:32:06 -0500

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Coolest Environmental Advertising (Slideshow)

Mon, 29 Jun 2009 06:36:12 -0500

Image: ACT-Responsible ACT-Responsible organizes the work of advertisers promoting sustainable causes into three categories: Taking care of (1) the planet, (2) yourself, and (3) others. But ACT Responsible's own work, depicting the tragic consequences of our choices today on future generations, deserves to lead a slideshow on the coolest environmental advertising. IdeaPaint. Photos by RCruger. Gorgeous green homewares, scintillating sustainability forums, abfab prefab displays, green designs and architecture are the focus at "dwell on design," dwell magazine's fourth festival of modern design and it’s second in LA (where its biggest chunk of subscribers dwell). With lots of exhibitions, panels, interviews, home tours, films, innovative environmental ideas, and enticing events, the first jam-packed day]]>...

Was Michael Jackson the World's Biggest Environmentalist?

Fri, 26 Jun 2009 16:35:10 -0500

Jackson's "Earth Song," His Biggest UK Chart-Topper, Wasn't Released As a Single in America Michael Jackson was famous for his socially-conscious music, but "Earth Song," his big, bold environmental call-to-arms, is often overlooked. Still, by sh]]>...

Artists Turn Water Into Masterpieces (Slideshow)

Fri, 26 Jun 2009 07:01:00 -0500

Image credit: David Carlson, Betsy Stewart, and Ashraf Fouad, video still from "Watering" (2008) The myriad and sometimes contradictory qualities of water -- both life-giving and destructive, powerful and serene, a barrier and a bond between people -- make it a fertile subject for fine art, as you'll see in the work of these painters, sculptors, photographers, and other artists, many part of the "Take Me To The River" project, an international artis]]>...

Free Pianos All Around Town: Play Me I'm Yours

Thu, 25 Jun 2009 05:05:48 -0500

Image from Play me I'm Yours Never mind downloading free music, get out there and play it for free. This month there are 30 "street pianos" strewn around London as part of the Play Me I'm Yours and Sing London festival. All over town people are sitting down and playing a tune. People have been jumping from their bus just to take a look. Others are dancing, or watching, and talking to strangers about this wondrous spontaneous event. ]]>...

Bonnaroo 2009: How Green Was Your Festival?

Wed, 24 Jun 2009 09:45:44 -0500

Flickr user joshunter Solar Array Planned for Next Year "Responsibility" and "cleanliness" might not be synonymous with the world's biggest music and culture festival, which turns a Tennessee farm into a four-day party for 80,000 hippies, hipsters, baby-boomers and even the occasional baby. Sure -- and forgive the stereotype -- peace, love, caring are baked right in. But amidst all the good vibes, what of Bonnaroo's massive carbon fo]]>...

7 Fabulously Green Celebrity Homes

Wed, 24 Jun 2009 06:34:42 -0500

Credit: Eamonn McCormack/Wireimage Most celebrities use their fortune to buy outrageously extravagant homes--think multi-car garages, huge pools, more bedrooms than a hotel, state-of-the-art kitchens, and massive grounds--without giving much thought to the increase in their carbon footprint. (Note to these offenders: Your hybrid isn’t exactly canceling out your home energy use.) But we found seven celebrities whose homes]]>...

Thoreau's Legacy Lives On in Interactive Anthology on Climate Change

Tue, 23 Jun 2009 16:47:00 -0500

Image via: Thoreau's Legacy Thoreau's Legacy: American Stories on Global Warming is the new, interactive ebook available now, which chronicles stories from 67 Americans across the United States and their personal reflections, in word and image, of how climate change is affecting the landscape they love. The best part is that it's free and available to anyone.]]>...

Pimp Your Eco-Ride: Win a Strida SX Folding Bike

Tue, 23 Jun 2009 12:56:06 -0500

Inhabitat's Pimp My Eco-Ride Contest to win a cutting edge, top-of-the-line bike--but hurry on up, tomorrow's your last chance. ]]>...

Ecoholic by Adria Vasil

Mon, 22 Jun 2009 16:27:00 -0500

Image via: Getty Images The "how to go green" book, Ecoholic by Adria Vasil, gives you a quick and dirty yes/no list for all green aspects of your life. But does it offer anything "new"?]]>...

Preview: Rhodes Ecofilms Festival Begins This Week

Sun, 21 Jun 2009 13:41:00 -0500

Image via Rodos International Films + Visual Arts Festival Ecofilms. New films about Canada's tar sands, the damage caused by extractive industries in the Amazon rainforest, and Aristotle's philosophy on nature will be among the opening-day fare Tuesday at the Rodos International Films + Visual Arts Festival Ecofilms, held annually on the Greek island of Rhodes.]]>...

LA Film Festival Abuzz with Green Documentaries

Sun, 21 Jun 2009 12:30:35 -0500

Los Angeles Film Festival (June 18 to 28) in Westwood near UCLA, seems far from Hollywood. The non-profit that organizes the event “champions the cause of independent films,” and though Public Enemies with Johnny Depp and the new Transformers movie will be premiered, the rest of the schedule has little connection with show biz. Among the screenings, a few high-profile documentaries cover environmental issues. So now it’s time they leave the nest of fests and play in theaters for all of us to see: ]]>...

Dartmouth U Students Spend Summer Vacation on Green Road Trip

Sat, 20 Jun 2009 14:31:49 -0500

Dartmouth College grads and students “dedicated to diminishing environmental and economic issues through education,” clamored aboard the Big Green Bus to drive 12,000 miles across the US. On June 17, they stopped off at the Timberland store in Manhattan to unveil the newly retrofit 1989 MCI bus’s eco-features. Where are they headed next and what are they up to? ]]>...

No Impact Man Documentary Film Is Low on Carbon, High on Awareness

Sat, 20 Jun 2009 08:53:49 -0500

No Impact Man, a documentary made about Colin Beavan (aka No Impact Man) and his family’s yearlong experiment to live a zero waste lifestyle in New York City. We were happy to see that the movie treated its premise with a great deal of self-awareness, addressing the fact that the no impact conceit could easily be labeled as gimmickry rather than an earnest experiment to see what one can and cannot live without. ]]>...