Marina Rikhvanova, Co-chairwoman of the NGO Baikal Environmental Wave, was awarded the Goldman Environmental Prize for Asia for her on-going achievements in the protection of Lake Baikal, the "pearl of Siberia," in Russia. Founded in 1990, the prize is given annually to six grassroots environmentalists working for change around the globe. The pristine lake is the largest and deepest fresh water body in the world. Because of its age and isolated location in Siberia, it contains unusual collections of freshwater flora and fauna and 1,700 plant and...

Green Search Engines, or search engines that help charitable causes, are one of the newest trends online. These sites are similar to – and are actually powered by - other search engines, such as Google.com or Yahoo.com, however they divert advertising dollars back into charitable causes. But with 8 billion ad dollars changing hands in 2007, this is clearly an area open to abuse. To help you use your search clicks to the best advantage, TreeHugger has rounded up many of the Green Search Engines. Our review and recommendations are broken into three categories:

• Best Do-good Green Search Engine: the best of green search engines which donate a per...

  

  
  

• Beijing's Latest Olympic Crackdown: Recyclers

  Video by Martin Connolly The other day, as my friend and I were on our way to sell a load of plastic bottles and paper boxes to our local recycling man, we were stopped by one of our vigilant neighbors. "Whoa, he's not there! He won't be back for two months!" The ...

  

  
  

• Airlines To Be Included in EU Emission Trading Scheme from 2012

  photo by Craig Forrester In the ongoing effort to decrease greenhouse gas emissions from the transport sector, the airline industry has been the focus of a good deal of criticism. Some airlines themselves have announced plans to reduce their environmental impact—Lufthansa, JAL, and Virgin Atlantic have all taken steps in this direction. Now comes word from the EU that...

  

  
  

• People-Powered Hair Salon in Paris, 1945

  The electricity supply in Paris was pretty intermittent in the spring of '45, so an "ingenious beautician hires unemployed 6-day bicycle racers to peddle away on a bike, the back wheel of which is attached to a small generator! The current runs 6 driers." Charlie at Modern Mechanix doesn't buy it- "Hair dryers use a LOT of electricity." Having tried to keep a lightbulb going at the Ontario Science Centre as a kid was a lot of work; the Eco-Geek says that "the maximum output for a toned adult...

  

  
  

• General Motors Factory to Host World’s Largest Rooftop Solar Array

  photo courtesy of General Motors Yet another “world’s largest” in solar power: General Motors has partnered with Clairvoyant Energy, Veolia Environmental and the Government of Aragon to install what will be the world’s largest rooftop solar array on its Zaragosa, Spain assembly plant. According to GM the array will be 12 MW in size and cover two million square feet and consist of approximately 85,000 panels. Installation is expected to be completed this fall. The space for the project will be leased from General Motors by Veolia Environment and Clairvoyant Energy, who will operate and maintain the installation. According to GM the project will help the corporation reduce cost...

  

  
  

• Tasty Rice & Beans, PCs With a Purpose and Eco-Vacation Tips

  :: Live happily on this flavorful rice & beans lunch. :: Transform your old desktop computer into something useful. :: Book a greener vacation with help from the Sierra Club. :: Seek out grill-friendly veggies at your farmers' market. :: Resolve to de-clutter your living space with tips from the show,

  
  

• Exposing Stores With Open Doors

  Every summer we rant about the retailers who leave the doors of their air conditioned stores open to attract customers in, while the units work overtime to cool the sidewalk. We might just rant, but over at Racked, they are doing something about it; they have started a section of their website called This Store Blows, where readers are invited to send in submissions of photos of stores egregiously wasting energy and creating greenhouse gases for no purpose at all. These are all in New York, but if you have any examples from where you live, put them up on Flickr tagged treehuggerstorefront and let us know in comments, or <...

  

  
  

• Copper Nanorods Increase Boiling Water Bubbles 3,000%!

  Copper Nanorods Reduce Energy Needed by an Order of Magnitude After super-efficient solar panels that are "hairy" on the nanoscale, here come "hairy" pots & pans, as well as computer chip heatsinks and other heat-transferring devices. Researchers at the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute made the "unexpected" discovery: "by adding an invisible layer of the nanomaterials to the bottom of a metal vessel, an order of magnitude increase in efficiency is achieved in bringing water to boil. [...] The potential applications for this discovery are vast and exci...

  

  
  

• NOAA Report Finds Half of U.S. Corals Are in Poor or Fair Condition

  Image from Wikimedia There really is no respite for our battered coral reefs. As much as I'd like to say that there has been some good news on this front, the latest headlines have been growing bleaker by the week. Now a new report released by NOAA, hardly your alarmist types, has revealed that close to half of all U.S. coral reefs are in "poor" or "fair" condition -- a direct result of anthropogenic activities such as coastal development and overfishing and climate-influenced ef...

  

  
  

• Wanted: Green Electronics Blogger to Write for TreeHugger ($1000 Referral Reward!)

  Image via Sparking Tech We're looking for a full-time blogger who can cover the latest, hippest, greenest gadgets and electronics. We are looking for someone who has in-depth knowledge and passion about this topic, can identify and explore current and emerging trends, un...

  

  
  

• Paper Bags or Plastic Bags? Everything You Need to Know

  Paper or plastic bags: which is better? It's an age old question, when it comes time to check out when grocery shopping: paper bag or plastic bag? It seems like it should be an easy choice, but there's an incredible number of details and inputs hidden in each bag. From durability and reusability to life cycle costs, there's a lot more to each bag than meet the eye. Let's take a look behind the bags. Where do brown paper bags come from? Paper comes from trees -- lots and lots of trees. The logging industry, influenced by companies like

  
  

• TreeHugger Tip: Tomm Stanley on Refrigerator Efficiency

  Tomm Stanley is the author of The Big Tree at George and Charlotte's House and Going Solar and we are happy he has submitted yet another green tip for our TreeHugger Tips project. Tomm's tip helps your refrigerator mainta...

  

  
  

• Hot Summer Nights? Sleep Cool And Cut Electric Bills With a Bedfan

  Home air conditioning accounts for about 5 percent of U.S. electricity usage. In the winter, snuggling under the comforter and turning the thermostat down is a time-honored tradition, but what about in the hot and sweaty mid-summer season? Texan Ken Tompkins wanted to cut his high summer electric bill by turning his thermostat up, so he designed a small fan cooling system that attaches to a bed. The fans nestling next to the floor underneath the bed blow cooler air up into the sheets, moving body heat out of the bed. Sounds kinky but Bedfan claims it can cut an electric bill by up to 20 percent in summer if the user turns a home's thermostat up aro...

  

  
  

• Why Do Republicans Hate Bicycles So Much?

  "A major component of the Democrats' energy legislation is, and the Democrats' answer to the energy crisis is, hold on, wait one minute, I'm not making this up, it is"promoting the use of the bicycle! Watch this extraordinary two minute video of Rep Patrick McHenry decrying "19th century technology for a 21st century problem." In Colorado more recently, Sen. Josh Penry says <...

  

  
  

• How to Save Fuel Costs with a Wood-Powered Pickup Truck

  Robert "Chip" Beam built his own wood-powered pickup truck. The wood-burning, or rather wood-gas burning truck is now a sort of mascot for Beaver Energy, the Williamsport, Pennsylvania based startup company Beam and partners Larry Shilling and Aron Lantz have formed. If he did it, you could too. Read on for tips and links to learn how to make your own Wood-powered Pickup Truck, with videos of the wood-powered pickup truck in action and a video guide to building your own wood-gas generator....

  

  
  

• Wall Street Journal on The New World Order Climate Change

  Rupert Murdoch's first speech to the Wall Street Journal Staff A year ago Justin wrote "Rupert Murdoch, owner of News Corporation, has announced that he is becoming a green campaigner. He is making the whole of his worldwide operations carbon neutral and setting out to "educate and engage" his readers and viewers about global warming". According to Mark Bowden in this month's Atlantic, Murdoch "has announced his intention for the remade Journal not just to supplant The New York Times as the nation’s preemine...

  

  
  

• Prefab Trybo Cottage Was a Hit in 1969

  It is a problem that continues to this day: the depopulation of the harsher regions of northern countries, the conversion of jobs from resource extraction, farming and making things to scooping ice cream for tourists or building cottages. In Norway, The Trybocottage was "designed in response to two needs. The first was to create more work in an area of depopulation. The other was to produce a holiday house which was easy to erect and would fit into the landscape, as part of a plan to develop tourism in the region."...

  

  
  

• Redesign for Sustainability: Recycled and Recyclable Hangers

  Here is a small reminder that we really need to redesign everything about modern life, from the smallest, least noticed items on up. Who thinks about 8 - 10 billion polystyrene or polycarbonate hangers manufactured per year, of which only about 15% are recycled? Green Heart Global, the parent company and designer of Ditto Hangers, that's who. Green Heart Global offers two options, both made from recyclable materials....

  

  
  

• Free Gas Becoming a Prize in State Lotteries

  Free Gas Instead of Cash? In yet another sign of how gas prices are affecting the economy, several states, including Florida, Georgia and Oklahoma, have begun offering free gas for life instead of the usual cash prizes in lotteries. Of course, there's a catch: in Florida, for instance, free gas for life means that "each winner will be awarded 26 prepaid gas cards, each worth $100, every year until death." Interestingly, in Florida the free gas will go to the second-prize winner, while the first pr...

  

  
  

• New Garbage Management Plans for Buenos Aires to Involve Cartoneros

  (Picture: Cartoneros in Buenos Aires. Credit: dandeluca.) After trying two different garbage separation and recycling plans that didn't work, the Buenos Aires government is finally launching a new plan that involves cartoneros: a group of people that have learnt to live out of waste collection during the crisis years in Argentina. The new plan seeks to install new rules for the garbage management companies that work with the government, and leave the collection of recyclable waste to cartoneros, first in big malls and hotels and t...

  

  
  

• New York City to Cut Emissions From Public Buildings by 30%

  photo by Stig Nygaard New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg announced Monday that the city would spend $2.3 billion to cut greenhouse gas emissions from municipal buildings and operations. The goal is to reduce CO2 emissions 1.68 million tonnes a year from 2006 levels by 2017. These reductions will be accomplished through improvements to the heating, cooling and ventilation systems of municipal buildings. Repairs to firehouses, police precincts, city offices and courthouses, along with purchases of more fuel efficient vehicles will also help reduce emissions ...

  

  
  

• Ethanol Was Proposed for Farm Relief, 1933

  Larger version at Modern Mechanix There is nothing new under the sun, including corn for ethanol. Farm relief advocates apparently proposed it in the depression as a way of reducing the crop surplus and getting more money for farmers. ::Modern Mechanix...

  

  
  

• George Clooney's Electric Dream:

  Julia Roberts, Sheryl Crow, and Cindy Crawford are also rocking a green attitude. He's on the market again and ready to cruise in the sexiest bachelor wheels – a Tesla Roadster. George is expected to get his electric dream machine next month. Meanwhile, the newly single George now rides in an electric car built (appropriately) for one – the Tango one-seater. And, he’s committed to his eco-driving, adding, “We are going to have to find a way to get away from oil. It has start with someone, somewhere, changing policy. I try and be photographed in the Tango and hope someone thinks it’s a good idea.” ...

  

  
  

• City of London Withdraws free Electric Vehicle Parking

  London Borough to Reverses Free Parking for EVs No sooner do I report on the virus-like spread of electric vehicle charging points in London, that I hear from our friends at GoinGreen that at least one London borough is preparing to withdraw some of the privileges enjoyed by EV drivers: Today saw the announcement of changes in the City of London's parking concessions for electric vehicles. Existing users of the borough's electric vehicle scheme will see an increase in on-street parking from zero to £50 per year wh...

  

  
  

• Review: King Corn- You Are What You Eat

  Blame Earl Butz. That is how we started our post on Peak Corn, noting that Richard Nixon's Secretary of Agriculture told farmers to "get big or get out," and to plant crops like corn "from fence row to fence row." Almost forty years later, Director Aaron Woolf interviews an unrepentant Butz (just prior to his death), but unlike a Michael Moore or Morgan Spurlock, does it with grace, dignity and humor. That's what separates King Corn (now out on DVD, previously covered by Jasmin for its theatrical ...

  

  
  

• Shed of the Year Announced: The Rugby Pub

  I had the honour of serving as a juror on the prestigious Shed of the Year competition held during National Shed Week in the UK. Since in the US jurors are allowed to talk about what went on in the jury room, I can say that Tim in Suffolk did a wonderful job with his pub shed, with complex framing and difficult trapezoidal skylights (and a long description of the troubles he had building it.) Considering that Tim had never built anything before, and he had all that beer, it is surprisingly well done. "No phone, no TV ,no...

  

  
  

• BURST*008: More Prefab at MoMA's Home Delivery Exhibition

  We look at the five prefabs being installed at the MOMA for Home Delivery. Douglas Gauthier and Jeremy Edmiston of SYSTEMarchitects in New York are building the BURST*008 which they consider to be more of a kit home than a prefab. Like Lawrence Sass's New Orleans home, it is cut out of plywood with a CNC machine, but there the similarity ends. They describe it as " a tension-based structure. The ribs provide the sub-structure but are not complete without the skin to lock them down. The skin—the floors, the walls, and the roof—is...

  

  
  

• Children's Book "Planet Earth Gets Well"

  CHILDREN'S BOOK Planet Earth Gets Well, author Madeline Kaplan, illustrated by Taillefer Long

  
  

• Kids Have Fun Exploring Trees Inside and Out

  There’s a great new exhibit sponsored by Doubletree Hotels and created by the Arbor Day Foundation that hopes to encourage kids from 2 to 10 to explore the beauty of the great outdoors by giving them an incredible learning experience with trees. Titled “Exploring Trees Inside and Out”, the traveling museum exhibit is expected to reach kids in a number of cities across the U.S. by the end of 2010, but there’s a good chance it’s coming soon to a museum near you....

  

  
  

• France To Complete European Pressurised Water Reactor (EPR) By 2012

  Much is made in the US of the fact that nuclear power accounts for 87 percent of France's electricity. What is seldom pointed out, however, is that France is about as big as the US state of Texas, and that France's 58 existing reactors have far less combined capacity than the US does from its nuclear fleet. As in the US, however, France's reactors are soon to reach the end of their respective design lives. Look past the one-plant headline, then, to see how many existing plants can be upgraded or replaced, and with what technology. If it's the EPR which proves most cost effective, the export of its design will bring large licensing fees,...

  

  
  

• Victory Gardens Come to San Francisco Again

  Victory gardens originated during World Wars 1 and 2, when citizens were urged to grow their own food, in fact 40% of America's food was produced in them. San Francisco’s victory programme was one of the best; there were over 250 garden plots in Golden Gate Park. In recognition of this history, and the need to become more ecologically self-sufficient, the front lawn of San Francisco City Hall has been dug up and over the summer will be turned into a mass of vegetables. Calling it "a living quilt of plants and people, a garden of communities", it will feature a wide range of heritage organic vegetables native to the Bay Area climate. A host of ...

  

  
  

• How to Start Swishing: Get Fabulous Free Clothes

  Face it: you love that chorus of "Oh that is so darling! Where did you get it?" But if you want to live the eco-chic lifestyle, consumerism is out. What to do? Start swapping instead of shopping with a new trend called Swishing. Swishing started in London. Now the push is on to bring Swishing to American shores. Why "Swishing?"

  The dictionary definition: To rustle, as silk.

  Swishing has been redefined by London's Futerra Sustainability Communications.

  Swishing: To rustle clothes from friends.

  

  

• Orangutan Could be First Great Ape to Become Extinct

  photo: Getty Images According to new research published in the conservation journal Oryx, due to rapid declines in population because of habitat loss the orangutan could be the first of the great apes to become extinct. New data decreases Orangutan populations On the Indonesian island of Sumatra, the orangutan population has been revised downwards from 7,501 to 6,600 in 2004. The new figure is the result of the discovery that a large area of Aceh which was thought to contain orangutans, did not in fact have contain any. Researchers also state that the 2004 estimated population on the island of Borneo of 54,000 orangutans has probably declined due a 10% l...