By John DeFore

Conservation minded farmers might naturally assume it’s wise to get the most out of what’s available; if post-harvest waste material can be used in biofuel production, it seems to make financial and ecological use to sell it.
Not necessarily, according to a scientist at Washington State University who is urging farmers in her [...]

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By Catherine Girardeau
Eleven-year-old Colin Carlson of Coventry, Conn., took his cue from the penguins. The recent winner of the sixth annual Action for Nature International Young Eco-Hero Awards in the 8-to-13 age group was nine when he visited the Galapagos Islands as a member of the National Geographic Kids Expedition Team.
“I was snorkeling near a [...]

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By Paula Minahan
Peter Pfeiffer doesn’t mince words. His passion for green building takes an almost proselytizing tone at times. And it’s no wonder. The straight-shooting architect has spent the past 30 years at the forefront of the

Photo: Barley & Pfeiffer Architects
 
Peter Pfeiffer’s green house in Austin
green building movement. The award-winning work of his Austin-based firm, [...]

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By Harriet Blake
In Columbus, Ohio, yesterday Mayor Michael Coleman and his staff biked from their homes to the Ohio Statehouse, jacking up their heart rates and kicking-off the city’s 20-year Bicentennial Bikeways Plan.

Photo: City of Columbus
 
Columbus Mayor Michael Coleman
In Boston, Mayor Thomas Menino fought a stiff wind cycling a half mile from City [...]

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By John DeFore
Those of us who have had office coworkers hit us up for contributions to walk-a-thons promoting various charities will appreciate the modesty of Jordan Price and Carlie Roberts, who are asking strangers to contribute just a penny per mile on their current outing for Keep America Beautiful. Sure, they’re hiking over two [...]

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By John DeFore
Standing out in the current wave of books about the environment — dire jeremiads, thoughtful analyses, and green-leaning coffee-table books — is a compact but weighty tome that is largely uninterested in conveying to readers any kind of “the time is now!” urgency. Rather, American Earth: Environmental Writing Since Thoreau released April [...]

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By John DeFore
Last week, students around the nation were busy working on suntans and sleeping off hangovers. Not Martin Schubert, though, who spent Spring Break in the lab — despite having just landed a $30,000 prize that would have bought an awful lot of daiquiris.
Schubert, a doctoral student at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, was awarded the [...]

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With Earth Day coming next month, we want to hear what you’re doing to go green right now. Share success stories, offer tips or just words of encouragement for others. Just click the link below for instructions on how to post your voice comment using your wireless phone. And check back to listen to what [...]

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By Bill Marvel
Once upon a time in American cities, if you didn’t have a car you could still go almost anywhere. A network of steel rails and trolley wires laced together downtowns and neighborhoods, and ran far out into the countryside to connect with suburbs.

Photo by Geoffrey Marvel
 
DART trains pull into downtown Plano.
Electric interurbans [...]

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By Shermakaye Bass
So far this winter, things are looking fair-to-middlin’ for David Ellingson’s honeybees, but the Minnesotan is holding his breath until later this month, when he learns how two-thirds of his commercial hives have fared during their wintering season down south.
Ellingson has 1,200 hives in Southeast Texas (normally 20,000 to 30,000 bees inhabit [...]

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By Barbara Kessler
When shopping for stuff for around your house, here’s one great green option: Don’t get anything.
But that’s not always feasible. Even Thoreau needed writing parchment and candles. So let’s review the next best alternative, which is buying old things that have already been in service, preferably for years and years and re-purposing [...]

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By Bill Marvel
It’s always been down the road somewhere, just around the corner — the car that doesn’t pollute. The car that doesn’t burn gasoline, that runs on electricity or natural gas or hydrogen or whatever.
But it never quite gets here. There some hybrids out there — the Prius, the Camry and Malibu hybrids, [...]

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