In New York City, Clothing Recycling Program Could Spur Nationwide Movement

Image via Ecouterre . Come September, one of the largest textile recycling initiatives in the nation will launch in New York City, the Associated Press reports (via Ecouterre ).

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In New York City, Clothing Recycling Program Could Spur Nationwide Movement

Starbucks’ Farmers Discuss the Impact of Fairtrade

Images by B. Alter It’s been Fairtrade Fortnight , and in celebration Starbucks has released a special new Fairtrade coffee from Rwanda.

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Starbucks’ Farmers Discuss the Impact of Fairtrade

Book Review: Designing for Re-use, The Life of Consumer Packaging

A coffee cup as a plant pot, coke cans for Halloween cape, a detergent bottle as worm harvester or washing tablet net bags for toy storage; these are all things people have done with the packaging they found in their daily lives. Reuse is often better than recycling, so when the consumer gives a packaging a second life before eventually recycling it wherever possible, he saves resources. The object he or she reused has gained the value of the item he or she would have had to buy otherwise

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Book Review: Designing for Re-use, The Life of Consumer Packaging

Huge Parking-Lot Solar Array Powers Grid With Over a Million Annual Kilowatt-hours

Alpha Energy, a Bellingham, Washington-based photovoltaic power systems provider, has installed one of the largest parking structure solar arrays in the US; a 1 MW system on the parking lot of an auto auction facility in New Jersey.

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Huge Parking-Lot Solar Array Powers Grid With Over a Million Annual Kilowatt-hours

DOE Grants $187 Million To Improve Fuel Efficiency Of Long Haul Trucks

Pretty much everything in America, at some point (and often multiple points) hitches a ride on a tractor trailer of some sort. It doesn’t matter if it is locally grown organic produce or the latest and greatest Chinese-built computer.

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DOE Grants $187 Million To Improve Fuel Efficiency Of Long Haul Trucks

Eating Vegan: The Cheese Problem

Probably 80% of the time, when I tell someone that I’m vegan, the first words out of that person’s mouth are, “I could not live without cheese!” The other 20% are usually a comments about steak or bacon, sometimes in a mean-spirited way and sometimes not. Today, though, I wanted to talk a little about the cheese thing, since it seems to be what gets folks the most. Read more of this story »

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Eating Vegan: The Cheese Problem

Mayon Volcano Ready to Erupt, May Cause a Little Climate Cooling

Mayon is the largest of the Philippines’ 22 active volcanoes, at 8,070 feet. The plumes of smoke and flows of lava make it seem like it is already erupting, yet scientists say the big fireworks could be still to come, and more than 40,000 people have been evacuated

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Mayon Volcano Ready to Erupt, May Cause a Little Climate Cooling

Massive Producer Promiseland Livestock Has Organic Certification Suspended for 4 Years

photo: J. Novak After a lengthy investigation into the matter, the USDA has decertified Promiseland Livestock’s organic certification for the next four years. Promiseland is one of the largest organic livestock producers in the nation with over 13,000 acres of crop lands and 22,000 head of cattle.

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Massive Producer Promiseland Livestock Has Organic Certification Suspended for 4 Years

A 10-Ton Japanese Fishing Trawler Sunk By Giant Jellyfish

Photo via nurpax You could say it was the jellyfish , or you could say it was the overzealous fishermen on board. While trying to haul in a catch of several dozen giant Nomura’s jellyfish – one of the largest in the world – a Japanese fishing trawler tipped right over. ..

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A 10-Ton Japanese Fishing Trawler Sunk By Giant Jellyfish

EcoFactor pings thermostats to save energy

Start-up EcoFactor is looking at home energy management as a big math problem. The Silicon Valley-based company on Tuesday is formally launching and is announcing that the largest utilty in Texas, Oncor, has signed on with EcoFactor’s residential energy-management service for three years. There are several companies developing Web-based software ..

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EcoFactor pings thermostats to save energy