Climate Change
Keeping the Air Clean for Our Health
Pollution knows no bounds. Carried by wind or water, pollutants can end up thousands of miles from the source. So the idea that only urban dwellers experience smog is a myth.Due to the alarming rise in respiratory disease, air quality is a primary health concern. Ind...
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Dealing with Mold After a Flood
Much of New York and New Jersey are under water after Hurricane Sandy. Millions of homes have been flooded, and many of those homes likely werent insured for flooding. Even for those that were, money cant replace the lost family heirlooms and beloved personal items that are go...
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Reducing Carbon Footprint
Is it possible to minimize your carbon footprint further when you have done everything you can think of? This was the question that Jörn and I asked ourselves after living for seven years in the green oasis we called home in Brooklyn, NY. Renovated using every re-cycled ...
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2 More Glaciers Gone From Glacier National Park
We all know warmer temperatures have led to shrinking glaciers, and now two more of Glacier National Parks ice fields are too small to be classified as glaciers, according to a recent article on msnbc.com. The Shepard Glacier and Miche Wabun Glacier have shrunk to less th...
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Changing Our Relationship with the Planet
I cannot decide if I should consider myself lucky or unlucky to bear witness to an ecological catastrophe. Lake Atitlán in Guatemala is being overwhelmed by cyanobacteria. This problem is not new in the world of aquatic ecosystems. It has been seen in other places in the Unite...
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Retailers Avoid Fuels from Alberta Tar Sands
The Alberta tar sands is taking another hit as two major retailers—Whole Foods and Bed Bath & Beyond—announced on Wednesday that they are moving to avoid using the petroleum products sourced from the tar sands for transporting product, according to a ForestEthics press releas...
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7 Tips for Gifting Green
Standing in a store surrounded by dozens of other shoppers, that claustrophobic, panicked feeling that washes over many of us at some point in December can have even the greenest tree-hugger blindly grabbing for the closest toy and a roll of wrapping paper.At home, well n...
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Cap-and-Trade Allows for Business As Usual
The "grandfather of climate change" has decided to boycott next week's climate change summit in Copenhagen—and he even hopes it fails. It might seem like an antithetical position for James Hansen, the director of NASA's Goddard Institute for Space Studies, but...
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Are We Running Out of Uranium? Let's Hope So
Can a nuclear weary TreeHugger really believe what she's hearing? Could uranium mines be facing shortages? Earlier this week, New Scientist reported that nuclear power may be faced with a double blow: Uranium mine owners are talking shortages, and estimates for the amount of...
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Global Warming's Impact on Animal Populations
We all know global warming is generally changing the planet for the worse, but the specifics aren't always on our minds. You'd have to be living under a rock not to know glaciers and ice caps are melting, and water levels are rising, but did you know trees are dying, a...
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Green Glossary: Global Warming Potential
If youve read an article or two about climate change and greenhouse gas emissions, you may have seen the term Global Warming Potential. Youve probably deduced that it has to do with the degree to which greenhouse gases cause global warming, but most people are in the dark on h...
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Climate Change Puts Bird Migration on Ice
It seems every time we turn around, climate change is throwing away the rule book. This time, the problem is with a species of bird that is staying put in the winter months instead of migrating south. A new report from the U.S. Geological Survey published in Arctic reveals the P...
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Temperatures To Soar in Some U.S. Cities by 2100
The heat is on. We all know climate change is a very real and very dangerous fact of life, and many people are changing their lives in an attempt to stop it. But just how hot could things get? The Nature Conservancy has developed a new online tool called the ClimateWizard, which ...
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The Meat and Bones Of Climate Change
Americans may love meat, but their love is taking a toll on the planet. Americans eat about 200 pounds of meat per capita each year, and a survey conducted by Cultivate Research shows that while red meat consumption is down in the U.S., 61 percent of those surveyed said they eat ...
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Caribbean Coral Reefs 'Flattened' in Past 40 Years
You know those underwater pictures of pretty branched coral rising up from reefs in the Caribbean? Well that lovely coral is all but gone. Not disappearing, gone—on more than 75 percent of coral reefs in the Caribbean. Recent research suggests branched coral, which looks like u...
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Yosemite's Big Trees Disappearing
There's no denying the splendor of the giant trees that grace the west coast. But even giants aren't impervious to climate change, it seems. Just as Yosemite's glaciers are disappearing, so too are the trees. An examination of data collected from the 1930s to 199...
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Environmental Concerns: The Texas Coast
If you've ever wanted to explore a volatile ecosystem, to discover the ways humans are reshaping the landscape, then Naturally Savvy has unearthed a blog you're sure to follow faithfully. Journalist Colin McDonald of the San Antonia Express-News has set out to kayak the...
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A Push For A Sustainable Future
Environmental sustainability is all about making sure there is a healthy environment for future generations. The David Suzuki Foundation describes sustainability as "living within the Earth’s limits—improving our health and well-being by reducing and eliminating pollution an...
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Eating Your Way To A Healthy Planet
Ever think about the environmental impact of the food on your plate? If you want to be more eco-conscious, your food is the first place to look. Believe it or not, the production, processing, and delivery of food create the largest strain on our environment than any other indust...
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4 Steps to Reduce Your Ecological Footprint
“Go Green” is the hottest tag line today. Corporations are making it easier for the consumer to feel good about their purchases. Even Wal-Mart has hopped on the green train, announcing a plan to curb plastic bag use in their stores to eliminate more than 135 million pounds of pla...
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Car Guide: Green Fuel Technology
Whether it’s an obsession, a symbol of your lifestyle, or simply a way to carry all your stuff from one place to the next, one thing is for certain: Americans are addicted to vehicles. In 2006 there were 250,851,833 highway vehicles registered with the United States Depar...
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How Our Earth Responds
According to the National Academy of Sciences, the Earth’s surface temperature has risen by about one degree Fahrenheit in the past century, with accelerated warming during the past two decades. There is new and stronger evidence that most of the warming over the last 50 years is...
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How Much of Climate Change is our Fault?
In the past 150,000 years there have been many significant fluctuations in the atmospheric CO2 concentrations. CO2 is the predominant greenhouse gas, and accounts for about two thirds of the human induced warming effect. Nitrous oxide and other gases account for the rest. Up unt...
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What is Carbon Neutral?
Most scientists agree that human activities have been responsible for increased levels of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. Activities such as using carbon-based fuels (gas, oil, coal), land use changes (deforestation) and industrial smokestacks have led to increased variation...
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What is Global Warming?
Our environment is in trouble. Ice caps are melting, catastrophic drought, flooding and mudslides threaten huge areas, and the world's glaciers are rapidly melting. Global warming, carbon dioxide, emissions and greenhouse gases are common buzz words, but what do they reall...
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