The Plasticine Garden Returns to the Countryside

Image from National Trust Purists sneered at this garden made out of plasticine when it was first exhibited at the Chelsea Flower Show. Designed by the star of Top Gear, James May, it offended the sensibilities of the traditionalists who believe only real flowers and gardens belong in the show. But the last laugh is for car-loving May: not only did the "garden" win a gold (plasticine) medal at Chelsea, but it is now on display at a stately home in the E...

Kids Discover Nature Hosts Carnival of the Green

This week is Carnival of the Green #188 and it's being hosted by Kids Discover Nature, the place to find great outdoor activities for your children. No matter where you live, you can help your little ones learn about and experience nature by following tips at Kids Discover Nature to get them interested in being outside. And best of all...it doesn't cost a penny. Check out our recent interview with Kids Discover Nature founder and Change Maker Jodi Valenta over at Planet Green, as she tal...

AAA to Launch Eco Icon in TourBook Guides

TourBook image via AAA.com. Photo via Dawn Ashley/Flickr.com. You're on a road trip when you take a detour and decide to make an unexpected stop for the night. Do you think about whether there's a green hotel, motel, B&B or other eco-friendly lodging in the area? Would you even know where to look for one? Enter the Ame...

Is Cycling Drunk as Bad as Drink Driving?

Image credit: Pedal Pub LLC Cycling Drunk: Lesser of Two Evils, or Completely Irresponsible? As a recent import to the US, I am often amazed at how relaxed people are about drinking and driving here. Yet thinking back, I must admit I was more relaxed about other forms of transportation back home - often riding my bike to an evening in the pub, and taking a somewhat more wobbly route back home. But is that any better? Unless you are a passenger on the Minnesota-based Pedal Pub or the Fietscafe bike bar i...

Amazon Sends 1984 Down the Memory Hole

I once read a bit of graffiti over the urinal in a low end pub in Oxford that said "they don't sell the beer here, they rent it." Jaymi and I have both been gaga over the idea of e-books, that it is the words that are important, not the medium that transports them to you. That electronic delivery was greener and better. But we just got a very rude awakening; you can stick a book under your mattress and as long as Oskar Werner and the Fahrenheit 451 police are not on to you, you are pretty secure in thinking that you own it. Not with a Kindle; it is much like that crappy Oxford pub, you don't own anything. David Pog...

Rowers Convert Old Sailboat For Row From Cleveland to Key West

all images from Habitat Crew website Tom Kotula and John Hauserman are nuts, plain and simple. But a lot of rowers are nuts; you have to be to get up at 4:30 in the morning to get out on often freezing water just to be screamed at by some 100 pound snotty kid with an attitude and a megaphone. A boat that carries eight strong rowers and the objectionable coxie might weigh 212 pounds dry and empty. Those of us who don't like taking orders might scull in a single or double, with lighter oars in a boat that tops out at 50 pounds. a long row might be 10K. But Tom and John have converted what was a tub of a sailboat in 1972 into a monster double weighing a ton, and are...

Sarah Palin Slams Cap and Trade in Op-Ed, Completely Misses the Point

Photo via SMH Golly. Mrs. Palin has a couple problems with the cap and trade plans, dontcha know. Seems it'll be awful expensive, and a little risky--and why bother when there's a big natural gas pipeline we can build, and this Arctic National Wilderness Refuge that's got a whole lot of oil we can use? Plus, coal's getting a whole lot cleaner these days, so we should just burn more of that, too--otherwise, everybody's going to lose their jobs. See, we just need to drill more, get more gas and oil from the US of A, and keep on keep...

Moon Trees Grow Across the U.S.

Image of Alabama Moon Tree With a name like TreeHugger, how can we not write about moon trees? Don't run for the plant dictionary yet because they won't be in it. Moon trees is the name given to the trees grown from seeds that were taken to the moon on the Apollo 14 mission in 1971. Astronaut Stuart Roosa had worked for the U.S. Forest Service and was passionately interested in trees. Each astronaut was allowed to take something personal, so he took 500 tree seeds. If Alan Shepard could play golf on the moon, what's a few hundred seeds by comparison? Roosa wanted to see what would happen to them in a zero-...

Living on the Edge: Is Humanity Running Out of Space?

Image: Tainá de Miranda Soares/VC no G1 Are humans running out of living space? Or just a species that is at home where we find ourselves? These are questions provoked by an exhibit at the Gallery A Gentil Carioca in Rio de Janeiro. Two artists, the brothers Tiago and Gabriel Primo, are living up to 14 hours a day in a "house" mounted high on the wall on the outside of the gallery building. Tiago and Gabriel use mountain climbing equipment and training grips to move bet...

The Milk Police---Smuggling Raw Milk across State Lines

Photo gwire @ flickr I first heard of raw milk from my yoga teacher in Asheville. She swore by the stuff claiming that not one of her three kids had ever even had a cavity and she was sure it was a result of the milk. I have to admit I was a bit skeptical at first. The raw food diet is one thing, but raw milk? But the fact of the matter is that it is rightfully gaining popularity. People are even breaking the law for it, trucking in raw milk in states where it’s still illegal. ...