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Greece Rolls Out Eco-Friendly Bus Fleet
All 162 school buses in Greece (That's the Greece Central School District in New York State) have been retrofitted with diesel oxidation catalysts and crankcase spiracle filters to reduce air pollution to which children are exposed. In the final installment of this Greek Trilogy, we just couldn't resist the punning. A project like this cost hundreds of thousands of dollars but the best part for the Greece Central School District and the taxpayers is that it was done at no cost to them. That's because this project was paid ...

Backfire: Constitutional Forest Protection in Greece May Promote Arson to Abet Land Developers (or "Forests Don't Vote")
While the Greek Church may be home to one of the greenest religious leaders, forest conservation measures provided for in the Greek Constitution may be backfiring. Earlier this month, before last weekend's fires in Greece threatened to engulf the ancient stadium of Olympia (birthplace of the Olympic Games), a senior researcher with Greece's Forest Research Institute explained to Spiegel Online that forest management policies in the country may actuall...

September 1: Eastern Orthodox Earth Day and The Green Patriarch
Since 1989, every September 1st (the beginning of the ecclesiastical calendar) has been designated as a day of prayer for "the protection of the environment" throughout the Eastern Orthodox Church consisting of some 300 million Christians worldwide. Instituted by the late Patriarch Dimitrios of the Greek Orthodox Church, the tradition has since been shepherded by his successor Patriarch Bartholomew I of Constantinople who has been dubbed "The Green Patriarch." Some attribute the moniker to the European press, but my sources in the church credit the epithet to Al Gore during his tenure as Vice President. Bartholomew was the first major religious leader to have ini...

Green In Vestments
This writer did a double-take on news that:- "Pope Benedict XVI (pictured) is taking a new step in the Vatican's environmental campaign, leading a youth festival this weekend where participants will use recycled prayer books, biodegradable plates and backpacks made from reused nylon. About 300,000 young Roman Catholics are expected to attend the festival in Loreto, home of Italy's most famous Marian shrine, in a run-up to next year's World Youth Day in Sydney, Australia." But then again, the Vatican already had it's carbon footprint reduction

Should the Government Green your Refrigerator?
The ko-Institut (Eco-institute) reports that it would cost only 43 euros (57 US dollars) per ton of CO2 emissions saved if the government would pitch in to encourage Germans to replace refrigerators more than ten years old with the newest high efficiency appliances. The ko-Institut proposes that a subsidy of 150 per purchase of a new high-efficiency appliance would reduce emissions by two main effects: better replacement and early replacement. Consumers will decide for the more efficient refrigerator over cheaper but less efficient models. And they will move to replace their older power-pigs more quickly.The study was commissioned by the industry association for produc...

Ditch the Cubicle with Japan's "Chair/Desk"
From the "idea is better than the actual product" department, this chair answers the question, "Why get a desk and a chair when you can just get a chair-desk?" Even though it's not the sleekest implementation we've ever seen, we really like the concept; less stuff is better than more stuff, right? Conceived in Japan, where living space is at a premium, it might make sense for us bloggers, too; rather than hunching over our laptops on the couch or lounging in bed in our pajamas, this could be a major upgrade to the "home office." Looks like it's only available in Japan for now; we'll have to settle for the flexible

EPA Bans Most Toxic Chemical Ever Released into World's Oceans - Forty Years Later
You'd think that a substance the EPA itself deems one of the most toxic ever released into the world's waters would've been outlawed a long time ago, right? Well, you'd be wrong: only now, several decades after its harmful effects had already been well established, is tributyltin (TBT) expected to be banned. Once the White House Office of Budget and Management clears it, the treaty will go to the United Nations, where it will be ratified by the full U.N. International Maritime Organization. Tributyltin, a type of biocide, is a cheap and powerful barnacle and alga...

Putting the Sex Back in Climate Change
Call it a lascivious attempt to get more hits: we call it a more titillating take on an otherwise dour topic. Courtesy of New Scientist, we have two new studies that connect the dots between global warming, pollution and sex exploring their effects on the size of polar bear penis bones and on the potential for Australian central bearded dragons to "switch" their sex. Christian Sonne of the University of Aarhus, Denmark, and his colleagues found that polar bear penis bones in Eastern Greenland were shrinking, most likely due to the high prevalence of pollutants s...

Al Gore Coming To Victoria for High Tea
Now everyone dress properly, mind your manners, hold your pinky finger high and join Al Gore for high tea at the Empress Hotel in Victoria. According to the Globe and Mail, It's going to be a green tea' of sorts, chuckled Justin Yorke, 20, who still can't believe their good fortune in securing the former U.S. vice-president for the Sept. 29 event. Six hundred guests will listen to Gore, participate in a question and answer session and enjoy tea and watercress sandwiches.While they were given the option of having Gore present his popular Inconvenient Truth slideshow, they decided on a more conversational approach. Something (where) he can really just let loose...

The Green Route Back to School
The start of the school year is almost always preceded with a shopping trip. Uniforms have invariably been grown out of, or worn out, stationary is stocked up on, books are bought (and rarely read) and the current list of fads and fashions add to the burden as well. Matt Gribble, a student in biology and environmental economics at Stanford University, has written an interesting piece for the Guardian on how to stock up for school in a sustainable way. ...

The World's Smallest Cars
Dark Roasted has compiled a gallery of some of the world's smallest cars. Some of them are cute, economical commuters, but some are a bit of joke - there is definitely a point where economical becomes just plain unsafe and scary. I'd love a bubble car for city driving, as the site says, "soccer moms will still need vans and macho fathers will still need a Hummer statement, but if you live in the urban area, where parking space could cost you as much as $250,000 - these little critters may be just for you. They certainly speak to our sense of esthetic and evoke a strong desire to hug them and pat them on the back."

How to Grow Your Own Loofah
Photo credit: lauracchia80Also spelled luffa, loufa, or loofa, the cylindrical sponge many of us use to slough off dead skin cells in the shower or bath doesn't come from the ocean, as some might assume, but can actually be grown in your own backyard.The luffa is a member of the gourd family, grown not for eating, but for its dense and fibrous internal skeleton. When the fruit has matured and dried in about 6 months, you peel off the skin and remove the seeds, leaving behind the familiar sponge-like fibers. Personal hygiene isn't the luffa's sole domain; you can also use it for scrubbing dishes, household chores, and washing ...

Downgrading Your iPhone's Video Playback Quality to Save Power
A quick word of caution: the tech-savvy in the audience who demand the absolute best in performance from their video-playing gadgets namely, the highest number of frames per second may just want to skip over this next story. The rest of you (yes, even the non-iPhone crowd) may be interested in a relatively simple way researchers at the University of Maryland have found to conserve power (by as much as two-thirds) in these gadgets: reduce said frame rate by about 20%. According to Gang Qu, one of the lead scientists on the study, people are generally willing to accept some level of "execution failure." Most contemporary digital video, he estimates, plays at a rate of about 3...

Update on Toronto Garden Destruction
The destruction of Deborah Dale's garden has drawn a lot of attention. She wrote to TreeHugger:"Thank you for all your kind wishes! As for the "lazy gardener" comment...who ever said propagating, planting, rescuing, purchasing from ethical local sources was easy? I still had almost 50% of the front yard maintained as turf grass to allow access to the beds for weeding. The City is now threatening my backyard woodland garden...which was in the midst of having a stream/pond installed. It too contains a range of native plants..although confined to areas away from the ha...

Quote of the Day: Paul Roberts on Gas Guzzlers
Photo credit: Rob Watkins Americans were never content with the trend toward smaller, fuel-sipping cars. Many felt the smaller cars unsafe; others simply pined for the Camaros, Mustangs, and other muscular chariots from the automobile's glory days. ...Originally designed for work crews, residents of the snow country, and other folks who might actually have need for a vehicle that could travel off-road, SUVs have since become the car of choice for executives, sports stars, and gangster rappers, as well as house husbands, soccer moms, and tens of millions of others who ...

The Pine Beetle's Deadly March
Wendy Stueck of The Globe and Mail write about the swathe of destruction through British Columbia by the mountain pine beetle:At night, you can hear them moving in the trees.They've swept through parks and golf courses and ranchland and caught thermal currents to fly on the jet stream. They've colonized an area 1,200 kilometres long and 575 kilometres wide, nearly the size of Sweden. They're about the same size as a grain of rice but can kill a tree 10 storeys high.And perhaps scariest of all, they're stealthy. One day, a tree looks fine. The next, it's been hit by nature's version of a drive-by shooting, left with tiny drifts of sawdust at its base or looking as though it's be...

Margie Zeidler: Building Green Incubators
Buildings in Toronto were cheap in the 90's; not only was there a recession, but much of downtown's wonderful old buildings had very restrictive zoning, designed to keep office and residential uses out to preserve industrial jobs which were fleeing offshore and to the suburbs. However artists' studios were considered industrial so Margie Zeidler bought 401 Richmond and filled it with artists. Since then she has gone on to demonstrate that social action, green design and creative restoration can go together profitably. She tells John Bentley Mays: The required reading in my first year included Jane Jacobs' Death and Life of Great...

Eco-Boutique Opens in San Diego
Just walking through the front doors of Migrate Home, you already feel better. Owner Lindy Boynton wants customers to know that you dont have to sacrifice style to be green and therefore designed her studio to be comfortable and also environmental. Recently I sat down with Lindy to talk about the opening of her new store and all things fashionably green.The idea for an eco-boutique originally began when Lindy was working for several large fashion companies. I was always the one asking more about the clothes we were purchasing and after awhile it became frustrating. Fashion is what Im good at and so I decided that if this i...

Is Adrian Grenier playing Professor Higgins to Paris Hiltons Eco-Eliza?
We certainly hope so. These pals have about as much in common as Al Gore and Donald Trump, though lately theyve been spotted spending a good deal of time together. The green celeb-blog Ecorazzi is tracking the pairs activities and has spotted them in some rather un-compromising positions: cruising in a Prius, attending ForestEthics premier of the 11th Hour, and scoping out a new eco-friendly home for Paris.The star of the hit HBO series Entourage, Adrian Grenier agrees with ...

Death Becomes Her: Dr G. to Get Green Morgue
TreeHugger is no stranger to posts on greener ways to deal with death. Weve looked at the recent decision by a UK crematorium to delay burning bodies in an effort to reduce CO2 emissions, weve covered more environmentally friendly funeral pyres in India, and weve written about efforts to set up a national standard for green burial. Heck, weve even covered the BBCs Ethical Mans ruminations on

One Year Ago in TH: What We Read, Al Gore: MTV Superstar + More
Oh, the fun we were having one year ago at TreeHugger. We made a list of what we were reading to prove that we weren't super eco-nerds all of the time, covering topics from green to business and cops and criminals to permaculture. When we weren't reading, we passed along another great video from MIT about the science and technology for a clean energy future.Speaking of clean energy, a certain company reported that solar costs would be cut in half by 2...

For China's Environment, Technology Transfer and International Diplomacy May Never Be Good Enough
"A UN climate change conference began yesterday with a call from the most vulnerable developing nations for large and rapidly developing countries such as China and India to do more to tackle global warming. The group of the 48 least-developed countries plus a group of small island states has previously maintained a united front against what it perceives to be the lack of action from industrial nations which are responsible for the bulk of carbon dioxide emissions...But its call stopped short of demanding mandatory targets for developing nations." This bit of introductory news is Via::