When last we left them, the kids of Sun Valley Elementary in San Rafael, Calif., had petitioned Crayola to take back their used markers.

It just got really easy to decide which art markers are the greenest.

It was a straightforward ask by people in the single-digit age range who’d noticed that other companies were taking back goods and probably also that their parents were slinging recyclables to the curb every week. So they spoke candidly to Crayola about the corporation’s markers, which they worried end up in the land fill after they are used.

[Read more →]

Last February, when Raymond Orbach, director of the Energy Institute at the University of Texas at Austin, announced the release of a major study by UT researchers on the effects of hydraulic fracturing, he noted that public policy should be based on “the very best science.”

[Read more →]

The U.S. Navy this week held military exercises in the Pacific Ocean that used an expensive blend of biofuels and conventional fuels to power 71 aircraft and three warships, part of an ongoing effort by the Navy to develop alternative fuels for its glo…

[Read more →]

Maya Lin, known for creating the aesthetically spare and inspiring Vietnam Veterans’ Memorial in Washington D.C., has produced another powerful tribute designed to prompt a reaction of awe and sober reflection.

[Read more →]

Rachel Carson once warned the world that the pesticides we were using to kill weeds were devastating birds, threatening to bring on a ‘Silent Spring’. People woke up and banned the potent herbicide DDT, saving the American Bald Eagle and countless song birds (and fish, farm animals, trees and more). They began to control pollution and clean up rivers and lakes, answering Carson’s clarion call.

[Read more →]

For the first time, scientists have discovered extensive blooms of phytoplankton under Arctic Ocean ice, contradicting the widely held conviction that such blooms could not occur under sea ice that blocked the sun’s rays from triggering the blooms. Sci…

[Read more →]

Two California scientists have been honored for their research into air pollution, outdoor and indoor. This year’s winners of the $200,000 Tyler Prize for Environmental Achievement, John Seinfeld and Kirk Smith, have shown the far-reaching nature of the problem.

[Read more →]

From Green Right Now Reports Thousands of climate activists and concerned citizens rallied all over the world on Saturday for Climate Impacts Day (May 5) to show that climate change is already degrading their communities and to call for solutions. Groups around the world, in Canada, Israel, Germany, Australia, South Africa, Thailand, India and dozens [...]

[Read more →]

Speaking to a group of citizens two years ago in the tiny town of Dish, Texas, where extensive gas fracking operations had flared into a major issue, then-newly appointed EPA Region 6 chief Dr. Al Armendariz made remarks about the EPA’s enforcement “philosophy” that have now cost him his job.
Dr. Armendariz’ comments came to light last week when Sen. James Inhofe (R-Okla.) highlighted them in a speech on the Senate floor and called for an investigation.

[Read more →]

College students looking for ways to make the world more sustainable found ways to use manure, coal byproducts, rice hulls and even spinach to save energy or create needed products from waste materials.

[Read more →]

The American College of Occupational and Environmental Medicine has joined the American Heart Association, the American Lung Association, and other leading organizations to formally oppose S.J. Res. 37, a resolution by Senator James Inhofe (R-Okla) that employs the Congressional Review Act to reverse the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) Mercury and Air Toxics Standards for power plants.

[Read more →]

Leading US environmentalist Bill McKibben has announced the latest action by 350.org to try to show the public that climate change is rapidly destabilizing the planet, and threatening the future of humanity.
The new worldwide action, called Connect the Dots, will take place on May 5, across the planet, with local groups expressing the urgency of climate change with demonstrations specific to their region.

[Read more →]