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Leanne Sarco, a ranger at Grand Isle State Park located on a barrier island off the coast of Louisiana, remembers the day she discovered oil in her lagoons, after the April 20 explosion of a BP oil rig. While countless government, university and wildlife organizations drew up plans to solve the litany of complex problems created by the huge spill, Ms. Sarco thought small. She decided her best con... posted on Dec 02 2010, 3,367 reads

The Starbucks Cup Dilemma
Eighty percent of drinks walk out of Starbucks stores. An astonishing 3 billion of the 200 billion-plus paper cups thrown into US dumps each year bear its familiar green logo. In October 2008, Starbucks CEO Howard Shultz pledged to make 100 percept of Starbucks cups recyclable by 2012. This lofty-yet-laudable goal has led Starbucks to move from solo redesign efforts to enlisting paper mills, NGOs,... posted on Nov 28 2010, 2,971 reads

Los Angeles Bans Plastic Bags
Enacting one of the nation's most aggressive environmental measures, the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors voted yesterday to ban plastic grocery bags in unincorporated areas of the county. The ban, which will cover nearly 1.1 million residents countywide, is to the point: "No store shall provide to any customer a plastic carryout bag." Grocers who choose to offer bags will sell them for 10 ... posted on Nov 17 2010, 3,091 reads

A Garden For Everybody
Alan Toy's carrots don't come out of the ground. Instead, you can find them sprouting out of fiberglass bins filled with compost and potting soil. They're propped on metal legs and have a cantilevered design that allows Toy to roll up his wheelchair and tend to plants more easily. With the success of his container plots, which are specifically designed for gardeners on crutches or in a wheelchair,... posted on Nov 07 2010, 2,072 reads

Scientist Discover 200 New Species
For thousands of years, steep mountain ranges and dense forests have limited interaction between many of Papua New Guinea's indigenous groups, creating one of the most culturally and linguistically diverse countries in the world. Geographic barriers also have limited scientific exploration in the country, which is known to harbor many undiscovered species. Trekking by foot, canoe, and helicopter, ... posted on Nov 03 2010, 2,462 reads

Inspiring a Community of Hope
When Nancy Sieglar was diagnosed with breast cancer, sunflowers saved her life. With no reason other than, "they make me feel good and give me inner strength," Sieglar began growing the regal flowers with love, an act that helped her get through some very scary times. Now, her garden - brimming with 26 species of sunflowers, some as tall as 16 feet - is burgeoning into a vibrant sanctuary of hope.... posted on Oct 02 2010, 2,913 reads

The Green Guerrillas
India has developed its own version of guerrilla gardening - the greening of spaces without asking for the owner's permission. It seeks to thwart the builders' grasping reach by buying plots of land before the builders, in order to preserve green spaces that are still not swamped with concrete. Actor Atul Kulkarni teamed up with four cousins to build a forest on 24 acres of barren land in Maharash... posted on Oct 01 2010, 3,250 reads

Sharing Bikes Across Washington DC
These days, the city streets of Montreal, Paris, and Lyon are blooming with bicycles and bikers. Take one step out your door, and you'll spot a man in a suit riding with groceries from the corner market. German tourists yakking away while riding along the banks of the Rhone River. Students zipping by on their way to class, or to meet friends at a cafe. Cities in the U.S. are quickly following suit... posted on Sep 23 2010, 2,363 reads

Fueled by Landfills
In a dry, windy canyon not far from San Francisco, California one landfill is curbing greenhouse gases by transforming its waste into fuel. "We own this big pile of trash, and we need to look at it and think, 'what can we do to get something out of it?'" said Ken Lewis, Director of Altamont Landfill Operations. With special technology, natural gas produced by decaying organic waste gets captured a... posted on Sep 20 2010, 2,020 reads

Faith, the Two-Legged Dog
There are some things you have to see to believe, and Faith is one of those. She's a labrador-chow mix born without one front leg and another that was severely deformed and then removed. What's truly amazing about Faith is that, despite having only her two hind legs, she can still walk! In fact, she's lived almost her entire life on those two legs. Something of a celebrity, Faith appeared on Oprah... posted on Sep 06 2010, 7,588 reads