By John DeFore
An item in the New York Times last week served as a good wrap-up of recent developments on the LED front, finding places (beyond traffic lights) where light emitting diodes are getting a toehold as replacements for less energy-efficient lights.
But does it, in newspaper terms, “bury the lead”?

[Read more →]

By Lynette Holloway
The other day, at the swank Blue Water Grill in downtown Chicago, chef Eric Kendrick held a treasure trove of

Photo by Terri O’Hara
Chef Eric Kendrick and a bumper crop of locally grown food.
vegetables in a huge amber bowl. The haul, plucked fresh from a local farmer’s market, included deep purple torpedo onions, colorful [...]

[Read more →]

First branch banking, then online banking, now for act three: Keeping your green in a vault known for its green.
Two Philadelphia bankers with notable environmental experience have announced the formation of e3bank, believed to be the first green “triple bottom line” bank on the East Coast. Everything from the organization’s infrastructure to its product and [...]

[Read more →]

By John DeFore

The collection of world leaders known as G8 may be taking baby steps on cutting greenhouse emissions (the Union of Concerned Scientists called their recent meeting a “sideshow”) with its goal of a 50 percent reduction by 2050 instead of the 80 percent most scientists agreed is needed.
This week Exelon, an electric-energy [...]

[Read more →]

By Barbara Kessler
Wal-Mart Stores is joining the Global Forest & Trade Network (GFTN), World Wildlife Fund’s initiative to save the world’s most valuable and threatened forests. The giant retailer also announced this week that it is moving toward making some of the jewelry it sells meet standards for sustainability and social responsibility.

[Read more →]

By Barbara Kessler
Green pest control might sound like an oxymoron to some green devotees who believe in the “live and let live” mantra, or organic gardeners who appreciate that good pests and bad pests balance each other in nature.
Still, there’s the pest you can live with and the one you can’t. Some pests, like weeds, [...]

[Read more →]

By Catherine Colbert

Photo: Veruska 1960 | Dreamstime.com
Backyard barbecues and Shakespeare in the Park picnics are the perfect opportunities to whet one’s whistle. But before you pack your cooler or portable wine or tea party, consider ways you can enjoy your favorite beverages – during the holidays and yearlong – while also caring for the [...]

[Read more →]

By Catherine Colbert
You sent out your Evite and now you’re working hard to make sure your house is ready for the crowd. Before you put pen to paper to create the menu for your next get-together, pour yourself a tall one, sip some Syrah, or have a spot of tea and relax. Beverage manufacturers [...]

[Read more →]

By Nima Kapadia
Creating an alternative to the conventional, gasoline-powered lawn mower is “work of art” that has gotten the Neuton recognition at museums this summer.

[Read more →]

By Barbara Kessler
It’s not often you get a warm and fuzzy feeling about your utility provider – unless perhaps a brown out zaps your air conditioning and the summer sweat blurs your vision. But New Mexico residents can think happy thoughts about their power companies.

[Read more →]

By John DeFore
Solid-wood furniture is pricey and obviously involves harvesting trees, but the alternatives aren’t necessarily much more appealing: Particle board, while transforming waste materials into something useful, is usually glued together with resin containing the carcinogen formaldehyde. A newer innovation, the “zBoard,” hopes to supplant particle board and MDF in a wholly eco-friendly [...]

[Read more →]

By John DeFore
Migrating from coal- or gas-produced electricity to solar power is a dream for most of us, but we’ve always been told that equipment costs make it an option only in the distant future. That’s about to change, according to some solar boosters who think with the right steps the United States could [...]

[Read more →]