The Healing Power of Dogs
Dogs have long had special standing in the medical world. Trained to see for the blind, hear for the deaf and move for the immobilized, dogs have become indispensable companions for people with disabilities. But dogs appear to be far more than four-legged health care workers. Over the years, data on the larger role dogs play in health has trickled out from various corners of the world. ... posted on Jan 25 2008, 4,749 reads

Changing the Margins
The website changethemargins.com is calling for printer owners everywhere to take the simple step of, well, changing their margins from the current luxurious standard 1.25 inches to a the more modest .75 inches. It may sound like a small change, but if everyone in the nation did it, we’d save a little less than a Rhode Island’s worth of trees every year.... posted on Jan 03 2008, 3,418 reads

Innovation of the Year: Nano Solar
Imagine a solar panel without the panel. Just a coating, thin as a layer of paint, that takes light and converts it to electricity. From there, you can picture roof shingles with solar cells built inside and window coatings that seem to suck power from the air. Consider solar-powered buildings stretching not just across sunny Southern California, but through China and India and Kenya as well, beca... posted on Dec 29 2007, 2,846 reads

The Story of Stuff
From its extraction through sale, use and disposal, all the stuff in our lives affects communities at home and abroad, yet most of this is hidden from view. The Story of Stuff is a fast-paced, fact-filled video that looks at the underside of our production and consumption patterns. It intelligently exposes the connections between a huge number of environmental and social issues, and brings people ... posted on Dec 19 2007, 4,661 reads

Organic Inventiveness
A group of volunteers is cleaning oil from San Francisco's beaches using an unorthodox, albeit totally organic, method: human hair and mushrooms. Using mats made of hair, they are absorbing the droplets of oil that have washed ashore since a cargo ship rammed the base of a San Francisco Bay Bridge tower last week, spilling 58,000 gallons of fuel. Hair, which naturally absorbs oil from air and wate... posted on Dec 14 2007, 2,383 reads

Sunlight Without Windows
A handful of buildings in California are beginning to try a new kind of indoor lighting: sunlight without windows! It's called Hybrid Solar Lighting -- half solar and half electric. During the day, sunlight pours out of the light fixture; at night, a conventional light bulb takes over. On the roof is a large dish that points at the sun and concentrates the sun into the end of the fiber bundle. T... posted on Dec 07 2007, 2,584 reads

Green the Ghetto
Sustainability is often the privilege of the already privileged: earth-friendly office towers and hybrid cars don't come cheap. By that measure, the South Bronx, one of the poorest and most polluted areas in the U.S., should be among the last to embrace environmental stewardship. Thanks to Majora Carter, it might be one of the first. Carter is founder of Sustainable South Bronx, a community organi... posted on Nov 20 2007, 1,672 reads

Most Valuable Pollution Prevention Award
Every year IBM deposits 3 million semiconductor wafers, used in computers, into Earth-clogging landfills. This year, though, they have figured out a way to repurpose scrap silicon wafers from its chip manufacturing process to make solar panels! The solar panel industry faces a severe shortage of silicon, and this innovative process just might increase supply and make solar panels more affordable... posted on Nov 06 2007, 1,985 reads

Golden Retriever Adopts Kitten
A stray kitten has found a new mother in a golden retriever, who began producing milk for the gray tabby after hearing its cries. The hungry kitten, found in an old tire at a concrete plant, refused to drink from a bottle and her rescuers feared she would die. That's when Honey, the family dog who hadn't given birth in 18 months, stepped in with her motherly instincts. “She started licking her a... posted on Oct 12 2007, 5,482 reads

The Clothesline Makes A Comeback
At last count, in 2005, there were 88 million dryers in the US. Annually, each dryer consumes 1,079 kilowatt hours of energy per household, creating 2,224 pounds of carbon-dioxide emissions. Concerned about global warming and her family's energy consumption, Michelle Baker wanted to hang her wash outside. She scoured stores for a clothesline durable enough to withstand Vermont winters and came bac... posted on Aug 30 2007, 2,878 reads