Business & Politics

photo via flickr

For over ten years, General Electric has sought to strip the EPA of its authority to order corporations to cover the costs of Superfund sites, locations deemed extremely toxic and uninhabitable. But today the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia said no way to GE, which has argued that the EPA's authority deprives corporations of due process under the law.

Cars & Transportation

Credit: Wildebeast1 via Flickr.

Get on your bad motor scooter and ride. This motorcycle runs on compressed air, rather than polluting gas (like the one shown above). It's been designed, conceptually, by two India scientists, and uses compressed air to turn a small air turbine, generating enough power to let a rider get wild for up to 40 minutes.

Culture & Celebrity

Photo via Patricia Preiss

When police arrived to a tunnel in downtown Porto Alegre, Brazil, having received word that some youths were tagging its walls with graffiti, it must have seemed like a pretty clear case of vandalism. But after a few of the culprits were handcuffed, ready to be taken to the station, the officers realized that the group was armed not with paint, but with simple cleaning supplies so the police allowed them to finish up. Turns out, so much soot from passing cars had collected on the tunnel walls that a selective cleaning could spell out a simple message: For a clean Porto Alegre. A short while later, they got a response.

Travel & Nature

Competition is a driving force in nature, but can it be a driving force to save nature? Image credit: mikebaird/Flickr

Among birders, the desire to identify as many species as possible in a day, month, or year is what separates the interested from the obsessed. In The Big Year, Rick Obamscik tells the story of a group of competitors racing across the country to secure the coveted American Birding Association championship.

Now, some conservationists are using this passion to aid protection efforts.

Food & Health

Image courtesy of B Spector / Museum of Science and Industry

One of my very favorite green products on the market is the Earthbox. The Earthbox doubles the yield of a conventional garden, with less water, less fertilizer, virtually no effort. They are great for adding to your courtyard, roof deck, balcony or backyard. Earthbox is also wonderful for countries short on water, healthy food and financial resources. They along with The Growing Connection have been doing a lot of work in places like Africa and Haiti, providing much needed healthy food in impoverished communities. Google even has Earthboxes in their HQ courtyards for growing food for their infamous organic and vegan employee cafeterias.

In addition, Earthboxes are a great educational tool.

Science & Technology

File image of Gulf areas affected by hypoxia, NOAA

No, it has nothing directly to do with the BP oil spill, but it won't help things... Scientists supported by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration have just announced that the northern Gulf of Mexico hypoxic zone--that's the Gulf Dead Zone to you and me, where there's so little oxygen that it doesn't really support life--is likely to be of above average size this summer, though it won't set a new record (phew).

Business & Politics

Photo via MLive

After the passing of the nation's longest-serving senator, the obituaries have been generally focusing on a similar narrative: That Robert Byrd (D-WV) was a man of transformations. From Ku Klux Klansmen to a supporter of Barack Obama. But most of these obits are omitting another important transformation the late senator underwent; from a longtime supporter of all things coal to a man who recognized the importance of beginning a transition to a clean energy economy. Indeed, one of the last votes Byrd cast was against the infamous Murkowski Amendment, which would have stripped the EPA of the ability to regulate greenhouse gases.

Business & Politics

Watch the full size video on Planet Green

Today, on Planet 100, BP sends a reporter to the Gulf, California releases a new batch of grants for electric car chargers, and Australia's Sydney Theatre Company opens a solar powered theater.