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Via Puget Sound Business Journal, May 10, 2013

When it rains hard, a stream of water gushes through a Seattle elementary classroom.

Teachers don’t mind. Nor do the students, who had a hand in designing the classroom, which is in the West Coast’s first certified “Living Building” at Bertschi School on Capitol Hill.

Read more: How a Seattle school became the region's first 'Living Building'

I just had to publish that in order to be able to share it.
(it came in via email)

If you would like to change the world and make it a better place, join AVAAZ today. It's free and simple. I have done it. They don't send you spam, only important petitions.


Dear amazing Avaaz community,

We did it -- Europe just banned bee-killing pesticides!! Mega-corporations like Bayer threw everything they had at this, but people-power, science and good governance came out on top!!

Vanessa Amaral-Rogers from the specialist conservation organisation Buglife, says:

“It was a close vote, but thanks to a massive mobilisation by Avaaz members, beekeepers, and others, we won! I have no doubt that the floods of phonecalls and emails to ministers, the actions in London, Brussels and Cologne, and the giant petition with 2.6 million signers made this result possible. Thank you Avaaz, and everyone who worked so hard to save bees!”

Bees pollinate two thirds of all our food -- so when scientists noticed that silently, they were dying at a terrifying rate, Avaaz swung in to action, and we kept on swinging until we won. This week’s victory is the result of two years of flooding ministers with messages, organizing media-grabbing protests with beekeepers, funding opinion polls and much, much more. Here’s how we did it, together:

Read more: Europe just banned bee-killing pesticides

Via ecowatch, 2012-12-21

Today, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) released its final environmental assessment on the so-called “frankenfish,” a salmon that has been genetically engineered by Massachusetts-based AquaBountyTechnologies Inc. (ABTX:LSE). This would be the first-ever genetically engineered animal intended for human consumption to enter the marketplace despite widespread public outcry and a faulty assessment based on incomplete company data.

Read more: GE Salmon Headed to Your Dinner Plate

Via Questpoint Solar Solutions, 03-07-2012

The University of Utah has placed an order for a 40-foot, all-electric transit bus with BYD Company Limited (BYD) the largest manufacture of all-electric buses in the world. BYD’s long-range, all-electric, “GreenCity” buses have been running worldwide in commercial fleet service for the last two years. BYD’s GreenCity fleets  have accumulated over 14 million miles using BYD’s internally developed electric drive technologies and Iron-Phosphate battery systems.

Read more: Electric Bus To Loop University of Utah

Via Treehugger, 2012-08-15

Canucks seem to have a sharper grasp of climate science than their southern neighbors. Here's the Globe and Mail, the nation's top, conservative-leaning paper:

Only 2 per cent of Canadians who responded to a new opinion poll believe climate change is not occurring ...

“Our survey indicates that Canadians from coast to coast overwhelmingly believe climate change is real and is occurring, at least in part due to human activity,” said centre CEO Carmen Dybwad.

Read more: Only 2% of Canadians Now Deny Climate Change

On July 17th, Annie Leonard will be releasing her new movie, The Story of Change.
She sent me an email about what to expect with the release of a 30-second teaser for the movie.

Annie was inspired to make The Story of Change by the thousands of people who've asked her what they can do to change the system she described in The Story of Stuff.

Read more: A sneak peek at The Story of Change

Despite a sharp drop in public concern over global warming, Americans—regardless of political affiliation—support the passage of federal climate and energy policies, according to the results of a national survey released today by researchers at Yale and George Mason universities.

Read more: Poll: Americans Support Strong Climate, Energy Policies

 has a new home page!

We are excited. After several years of good service, we have retired the Joomla CMS 1.5 and have upgraded to Joomla 2.5 with a new template system and some new features.

While some minor items need refinement, the overall site is working quite nicely. If you come across anything that does not work, please drop us an email.

Via Yale University, 2012-08-08

Diseased trees in forests may be a significant new source of methane that causes climate change, according to researchers at the Yale School of Forestry & Environmental Studies in Geophysical Research Letters.
 
Sixty trees sampled at Yale Myers Forest in northeastern Connecticut contained concentrations of methane that were as high as 80,000 times ambient levels. Normal air concentrations are less than 2 parts per million, but the Yale researchers found average levels of 15,000 parts per million inside trees.

Read more: Diseased Trees New Source of Climate Gas

Via Los Angeles Times, 23/05/2012

Los Angeles became the largest city in the nation Wednesday to approve a ban on plastic bags at supermarket checkout lines, handing a major victory to clean-water advocates who sought to reduce the amount of trash clogging landfills, the region’s waterways and the ocean.

Egged on by actress Julia Louis-Dreyfus and an array of environmental groups, the City Council voted 13 to 1 to phase out plastic bags over the next 12 months at an estimated 7,500 stores. Councilman Bernard Parks cast the lone no vote.

Read more: Ban on plastic bags at L.A. markets is approved