Eco-Cities For 400 Million People
Can China move 400 million people to its cities without wreaking environmental havoc? Eco-urban designer William McDonough says yes, that industrial cities could be far more ecologically balanced than they are now if they were designed from the ground up with sustainable principles -- and Beijing is listening. In Huangbaiyu, for instance, McDonough's team is allowed to spend only $3,500 per house.... posted on May 28 2006, 1,755 reads

Temporary Urban PARK(ing)
Feed your parking meter and that space is yours for a certain period of time. While most will park their cars in that public space, a group of activists known as Rebar had a different idea -- convert it into a park! Yes, a park. Last November 16 was the first PARK(ing) project, from noon to 2PM in San Francisco. While 70% of the city's downtown outdoor space is for private vehicles and only a ... posted on May 22 2006, 1,810 reads

100 Mile Diet
When the average North American sits down to eat, each ingredient has typically travelled at least 1,500 miles ... thereby increasing the use of petroleum products and carbon emission by more than 17 times! On the first day of spring, 2005, Alisa and James chose to confront this unsettling statistic with a simple experiment. For one year, they would buy or gather their food and drink from within... posted on May 18 2006, 2,838 reads

Farming Without A Trace
Can farming and wildlife co-exist? That has been the aim of England’s eighty-some Conservation Grade Farms, farms that grow wildlife as well as crops. Some 10% of the land is set aside to provide natural habitat and food for animals and birds that were once widespread in the British landscape. Currently the demand for the brand is providing these farmers a premium for their crops, enabling them ... posted on May 11 2006, 1,517 reads

Hummingbirds Move to Stay Still
If you're lucky, you've seen them in all their jewel-like splendor hovering over your garden flowers. But did you know that the hummingbird is the only bird known to fly backwards, forwards and upside down, in addition to being able to hover? Their extremely rapid wing beat that goes as high as 200 beats per second, coupled with their unique ability to rotate their wings in a half circle are what ... posted on Apr 29 2006, 1,948 reads

Elephant Orphanage
Stories about an orphanage are bound to yank at your heartstrings. The one 60 Minutes recently told is no exception. All these orphans are from East Africa, they were all abandoned when they were very young -- and they're all elephants! A couple of decades ago, there were about 100,000 elephants in Kenya. Now there are about a quarter as many, largely due to poachers. The orphanage gets distress c... posted on Apr 12 2006, 1,874 reads

The World as an Organization
Will there be a bee hive on the cover of the next issue of The Economist? Likely not. But new research does show that bumble bees and other insects provide $57 billion in pollination services as well as other free labor in the U.S. alone. Unfortunately, several bee species are on the verge of extinction. By putting a dollar value on the work done by insects, the researchers hope to raise interest ... posted on Apr 07 2006, 2,668 reads

Firefighters Go Vegan
The image of big brawny firefighters devouring platters of four-alarm chili, sizzling steaks and double cheeseburgers is as much a part of firehouse lore as brass fire poles and heroic Dalmatians. But not in Austin. The five firefighters of Team C at Firehouse 2 just went vegan! It happened not for their love of sprouts, but because of high cholesterol.... posted on Mar 30 2006, 1,733 reads

Hopi Runners
Relying on their own feet and centuries of tradition, Hopi Native American runners 12 to 75 years of age will run from their desert mesa homelands of Arizona some 1,500 miles south to Mexico starting March 2. Although they don't have an official invitation, the Hopi will carry an ancient message about water to Mexico City's 4th World Water Forum: a spiritual ceremony to place water as a living sen... posted on Mar 15 2006, 1,467 reads

Can Cell-Phone Recycling Help African Gorillas?
Can Cell-Phone Recycling Help African Gorillas? Cell phones contain Coltan, a mineral extracted in the deep forests of Congo in central Africa, home to the world's endangered lowland gorillas. Fueled by the worldwide cell phone boom, Congo's out-of-control coltan mining business has in recent years led to a dramatic reduction of animal habitat and the rampant slaughter of great apes for the illega... posted on Mar 07 2006, 1,511 reads