Travel & Nature

It's easy to liken Washington DC to a jungle, full of donkeys and elephants, hawks and doves, and more than enough pork to feed them all -- but when they head home for recess, that's when the real wildlife comes out to play. On the grounds of Capitol Hill yesterday, folks were treated to an unusual sight: a red fox on the hunt -- and his ambitions were refreshingly unpolitical.

Food & Health

Photo: Sambazon

A while back, I interviewed brothers Jeremy and Ryan Black, founders of Sambazon on Planet Green. A few weeks ago I got to meet the duo behind the delicious acai drink, in person, over a cup of coffee in NYC's Waverly Diner. The Cali-cool entrepreneurs were so refreshingly un-New York in that same youthful, business-as-unusual way that our very own Graham Hill exudes. They showed up in hip, casual clothes, sporting sun-kissed glows and complete with giant, genuine smiles.

As an acai junky, I was psyched to hear about their thoughts on the media's misgivings of the superfood and new things up Sambazon's sleeve-- including their current Warrior of Change contest.

Culture & Celebrity

A screenshot of the Building Dashboard for a residence hall at University of Missouri.

Another conservation contest on college campuses is nothing new. How they're showing off the results makes this one notable. About 40 colleges in the U.S. and Canada are competing for "biggest loser" status by cutting energy and water use in the Campus Conservation Nationals. The competitors are using an online app called Building Dashboard, which makes energy and water use visible in real time on the web.

Design & Architecture

Photos: Bureau Spectacular

Transformer spaces never cease to amaze with their ability to morph and adapt to the user's needs of the moment. Jimenez Lai of Bureau Spectacular offers another take on the genre with this intriguing residential loft addition; though it's not a true transformer space, it's envisioned as a "briefcase house", ie. a house within a house -- which he explains dramatically with comics.

Business & Politics

The empty lot in the 16th arrondissement of Paris that is the proposed site for a subsidized housing development. Photo: Alex Davies

In the 16th arrondissement of Paris, around the corner from the Villa Montmorency, the super-chic gated community home to both Carla Bruni and Céline Dion, stands an empty lot. 14,000 square meters large, the space, empty since 1985, is on of four proposed sites for subsidized housing apartment buildings. The problem? Many of the area's residents have rallied against the plans of the Paris city council, armed with arguments ranging from rational to xenophobic, and some even ecological.

Food & Health

Photo: Foxtongue

Rickets is a disease that had for the most part vanished in most parts of the world, but now doctors are warning that it may be seeing a resurgence within some ethnic groups. The culprit is a lack of Vitamin D, which doctors warn is caused by kids not spending enough time outside.

Fashion & Beauty

Photo: Haute Goat

There's nothing better than long-lasting, warm and cozy cashmere--than, of course, reclaimed or recycled cashmere--to keep you warm during winter months. Enter Haute Goat Cashmere. Thanks to their tweet tip we found out about their too-cute-for-school owls, comfy scarves and arm-warmers, and other winter accessories made with recycled cashmere from old sweaters.

Food & Health

Panoramic view of Fraser River, BC Canada. Image credit:Wikipedia (excerpted)

It's probably true, as Sami observed in today's post, that some, perhaps many, self-identified greens simply "don't want to believe" that technological solutions can be a net benefit for people and the environment. Ironically, these are the same folks who'll readily criticize others who disbelieve climate change is a clear and present danger and who don't think humans need to manage the risk. As I have argued previously, vocal representatives on both sides the climate debate act as if they can't wait for the total defeat of science and humanism. I realize that many of you will find this argument disturbing and judge it inappropriate content.

Before you scroll away, however, consider how a volcano-fertilized North Pacific Ocean phenomenally restored Pacific salmon runs in 2010 - to levels not seen since the early 1930's - and how this restoration squares with conventional wisdom about 'iron seeding' being too hazardous to experiment with as a potential geo-engineering method.