Can Twitter Help Us Save Energy?
There's a house that tweets all of its energy usage. And that's just the beginning of the information it dumps onto Twitter every day. Even the mousetraps are plugged in! Real-time monitoring of energy usage, subsidizing more efficient energy consumption, personal conservation, and automation are four trends that are addressing the 20% of residential energy consumption in the US.... posted on Oct 17 2009, 2,700 reads

Lost Dog Gathers Clues to Find its Family
After the car had flipped over and landed on the side of the road, rescue workers never figured a dog was among those in the car. So, Ella, a Rottweiler, was left to the streets -- for two weeks, emaciated and drinking from a drainage ditch along an empty stretch of highway. Ella, though, gathered broken glass and tail lights from the crash and returned to it every night. And it was those clue... posted on Oct 02 2009, 7,848 reads

India's Tree Planting Guru
An Indian civil servant, SM Raju, has come up with a novel way of providing employment to millions of poor in the eastern state of Bihar. His campaign to encourage people to plant trees effectively addresses two burning issues of the world: global warming and shrinking job opportunities. Evidence of Mr Raju's success could clearly be seen on 30 August, when he organised 300,000 villagers from over... posted on Sep 19 2009, 4,214 reads

A Teenager's Plea for Clean Air
Among her many accomplishments, Otana Jakpor, 15, has managed to break up the monotonous atmosphere of air-quality hearings. It's no easy task. Typically, environmentalists spout acronyms and percentages, while industry lobbyists predict the economy will collapse under new rules. Then the 5-foot-6 African American high school senior steps forward in defense of clean air. Since her first appearance... posted on Sep 06 2009, 2,504 reads

An 8-Year-Old's Compassion
It's no "Harry Potter," but 8-year-old Joshua Bayer's book about monsters is getting much attention around his hometown of La Plata. Joshua wrote and illustrated "M-M-M-Monster!!!" to raise money for animal rescue efforts. Two stores are selling the self-published book (courtesy of his mother) to help his cause, and his parents have set up a Web site to assist with the aspiring author's debut. "He... posted on Aug 25 2009, 4,373 reads

Summer Night Lights
In 16 parks of Los Angeles, families have started to have fun after dark as crime rates are retreating. It's part of the city's Summer Night Lights program, with the simple idea of lighting up the parks after dark and keeping the youth engaged with wholesome activities like basketball, outdoor movies and a well-lighted field. The bright glow of families and running children seems to naturally re... posted on Aug 22 2009, 2,063 reads

The Efficiency Trap
"A central pillar of our society is the drive for efficiency. Extracting the most in the shortest period of time is the motivation behind the vast majority of actions in the modern world. As a concept, efficiency is so ingrained in our consciousness that to call it into question can seem counter-intuitive, if not completely ridiculous." So starts this Resurgence Magazine review of 'Slow-tech: Mani... posted on Aug 19 2009, 3,087 reads

Teenager Finds Solution to Plastic
Getting ordinary plastic bags to rot away like banana peels would be an environmental dream come true. After all, we produce 500 billion a year worldwide and they take up to 1,000 years to decompose. They take up space in landfills, litter our streets and parks, pollute the oceans and kill the animals that eat them. Now a Canadian teenager has found a way to make plastic bags degrade faster -- in ... posted on Aug 05 2009, 6,956 reads

The Healing Opportunity of Art
"I think raising consciousness, helping people see and understand how they're connected to these larger systems in the world around us, is an incredibly important thing. I think art can do this in ways that are provocative, meaningful and inspirational, deeply moving, beautiful, connected with history and culture and resonant. I think that's a big part of it. There's another part of it where I thi... posted on Jul 27 2009, 2,283 reads

From Bush to Bike: A Bamboo Revolution
"We planted this bamboo last year," he says, "and now the stems are taller than me. When it's ready we'll cut it, cure it and then turn it into frames." Mr Banda, is the caretaker for Zambikes, a company set up by two Californians and two Zambians which aimed to build bikes tough enough to handle the local terrain. Co-founder Vaughn Spethmann, 24, recalls how it all started with a game of football... posted on Jul 26 2009, 3,663 reads