Archive for the ‘global warming’ Category

Are dogs worse for the environment than SUVs?

You'll find a number of sources trumpeting the widely publicized results from New Zealand researchers, concluding that yes, dogs are worse for the planet than SUVs. But don't kick out the hound quite yet and head for the Hummer dealership; according to the Seattle-based Sightline Institute, the research is very flawed in many respects.

Robert and Brenda Vale, of Victoria University in Wellington, have claimed that a mid-size dog has a larger eco-footprint than a large luxury SUV (in their calculations, a Toyota Land Cruiser V-8).

They argue that a medium-size dog consumes 90 grams of meat and...

Global warming's a hot topic these days (no pun intended), but there's another that's even hotter: geoengineering, or using technology to decrease atmospheric temperatures rather than forcing changes in human behavior. Most geoengineering plans are a little wacky (e.g. floating 16 trillion mirrors in space), but Toyota's attempt isn't nearly so out there. In fact, it's as natural as can be: the company has engineered two new species of flower that absorb nitrogen oxide and cool surface temps, and they're being planted to counter emissions at the Prius facility in Toyota City, Japan. That sounds great to us, but might not sit as well with...

Tender U.S. backsides are, so say environmentalists, wreaking more environmental devastation than their owners' thirsty gas-guzzling cars, sprawling McMansions, or penchant for fast food. But why - and how - are American derrieres causing more destruction than foreign fannies? The U.K.'s Guardian explains that Greenpeace Activists fault Americans' insistence on quilted, ultra-soft, multi-ply toilet tissue.

Said Allen Hershkowitz, a Natural Resources Defense Council senior scientist: "This is a product that we use for less than three seconds and the ecological consequences of manufacturing it from trees is enormous." He goes on to state that...