When It Comes to Wetlands, It’s Hard to Improve on the Original
Ecologists have found that restored wetlands are not as ecologically valuable as the originals—a new analysis of 621 wetland sites shows that, on average, restored wetlands regained only about three-quarters of their original biological performance.
Find out why on GOOD→
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#environment #ecology #wetlands
This is one of the most interesting online interactive campaigns we’ve seen that aims to protect our planet Earth. Check out how The Climate Reality Project is creatively engaging people to sign petitions on whatilove.org.
Posted by GOOD community member, Jeff Oeth in Environment, Nature and Food
How an Idaho Couple Wound Up Defending the Nation’s Biggest Polluters
The Supreme Court heard arguments yesterday morning in a case that could make it easier for huge corporations to pollute the country’s wetlands, rivers, and lakes—and harder for the Environmental Protection Agency do anything about that. Surprisingly, the party bringing the suit against the EPA is not a big corporation or an industry group. Instead, the case centers instead on an Idaho couple, Chantell and Mike Sackett, who are arguing the EPA has denied them their right to build a house and a shop on their land, which is a protected wetland.
Why Cities Must Allow Us to Love and Leave our Cars
- Jeff Speck wrote in Health, Environment and Living
I love cars. As a teenager, I had twin subscriptions to Car & Driver and Road & Track. My chief school-bus skill was the ability to name the make and model of every vehicle that passed. Until recently, I have always owned the best-handling car I could reasonably afford. I especially love high-revving Japanese sports cars like the one I drove from Miami to Washington, D.C. when I moved here in 2003. I remember the trip lasting about six hours, assisted by a tailwind and a top-of-the-line radar detector.
But an interesting thing happened when I arrived in Washington. I found myself driving less and less, and paying more and more per mile. Aside from trips to Home Depot and the occasional country jaunt, I had no reason to break my car out of its garage. Between walking, biking, and our extensive Metro transit system, driving was rarely the most convenient choice. And the parking lot beneath my apartment building charged a small fortune in fees. Add to that the availability of ZipCar car-sharing in my neighborhood, and it soon became apparent that going car-free was the most convenient option.
Host a ‘Secret Sandy’ to Help Those Affected by the Hurricane this Holiday Season
- GOOD HQ wrote in Environment and Living
Really, do you need another scented candle when there are thousands of people still trying to rebuild their lives after Hurricane Sandy? In lieu of a traditional gift exchange, host your own “Secret Sandy” gift swap in your office or with your family this year. Just download this DIY Secret Sandy Guide to get started, and choose from these different “gift” options:
Illustrations by Corinna Loo
Peru Will Give Free Solar Power to 2 Million Poorest Citizens
- Adele Peters wrote in Solar Power, Global Citizenship and Environment
Peruvians who don’t have access to the power grid today will soon be getting their own free home solar panels, thanks to the national government. A new program will start by giving solar power to 500,000 of the lowest-income households in the country. By 2016, 95 percent of Peru should have electricity and all of the benefits that come with it, from saving money, to more chances to study, to better health and safety.
Dear Tumblr,
We are writing to ask you to consider adding a ‘Conservation’ or ‘Environment’ featured tag.
We’re not outright asking. We know that featured tags are those that have a certain amount of traffic, but please consider the following:
1. The field of conservation is wide-ranging. As a result related content is tagged under a mix of terms. Combining the traffic for the following (and related) tags could amount to enough traffic for a featured tag. Like Science, with it’s different fields, combined under one umbrella term.
- Conservation
- Environment
- Sustainability (already featured in your directory)
- Eco-friendly
- Nature
- Climate Change
- Global Warming
- Wildlife Trade
- Recycling
- Renewable energy
- Endangered Species
Followers, please feel free to add to this list any tags that may have missed out.
2. It’s the right thing to do. Conservation issues are as pertinent to modern society as Science, Politics, Film, Fashion…….even Nail Art which has it’s own featured tag.
3. Tumblr is opening up as a platform for high profile conservation organizations, much as Facebook and Twitter are now the most used platforms for sharing conservation news.
- WWF
- ARKive
- National Resources Defence Council
- Jane Goodall’s Roots and Shoot programme
- Scubazoo
[Edit] Forgot Earth Hour. How silly!
Social media is a powerful tool in conservation, and can make a difference in the “real world”. We’d hate to see Tumblr left out of the excitement. Especially with it’s viral powers.
4. Tumblr has been an essential part of publicizing social and political changes in several countries during protests and revolutions last year. The content that would be featured in this tag involve changes that affect us globally, and deserve a share of the spotlight.
We hope you will consider looking at the combined content of the above tags to see if they merit a featured tag.
As there is no central email to contact Tumblr on, please reblog and spread the word if you agree!
I totally agree and have suggested this to tumblr staff as well. In its absence, I’ve often felt a responsibility to post environmental and conservation issues in the science tag - cause, without its own category, where else would it go? And while I think it does OK there, I think “environment” is broad enough and important enough a topic to deserve its own category.
I mean, it’s gotta be at least as worthy as Robots. (And I do love me some robots!)
We are so in agreement here and we also tag much of our environment content in science. (Also, some fine Tumblrs here to follow.)
Co-signed. (Energy and/or Climate would be nice buckets as well.)
Make it so, Tumblr!
Solar Panels and Schoolyard Chickens: A Net-Positive Campus
- Jenni Schneiderman and Katherine Elmer-DeWitt wrote in Environment, Education and Sustainability
When Seattle’s Bulitt Center—the “greenest office building ever"—opens on Earth Day it will symbolize a shift in 21st century priorities towards intentionality, stewardship, and service. It will soon be followed by a net-zero energy hotel in the Fall of 2013. But businesses aren’t the only entities striving to meet the parameters of the Living Building Challenge by implementing the most ecologically conscious design and technologies available. A net-zero energy public school in New York City will open in 2014, and at our school on the southwest side of Chicago, the Academy for Global Citizenship, we are building a net-positive campus to house our net-positive community.
A Community Effort to Be the First Climate-Resilient Block in Baltimore
- Jonathan Erwin wrote in Environment, Climate Change and Social Design
Ten years ago, the 2400 block of Jefferson Street was one of the deadliest in East Baltimore. Today, thanks to enormous efforts from neighbors, community groups, and local nonprofits, this block has become a positive model of grassroots urban renewal. Street and violent crimes have stabilized, drug markets have either shut down or moved elsewhere, and residents have taken back their block and a sense of community with it. But for these neighbors, improving the safety of their community isn’t enough, so the 2400 block of Jefferson Street is evolving again.
This time, this East Baltimore block is working to become the first climate resilient block in Baltimore.
Let’s Preserve The Most Biodiverse Floral Kingdom on Earth
- Evan Eifler wrote in Push For Good, Environment and Science
By area, the Cape Floristic Province of South Africa is the most biodiverse floristic kingdom on the planet. To give you an idea, there are 30 percent more plant species in the Cape Floristic Province than in the entire United States, yet the area it covers is less than that of Alaska. An amazing 69 percent of that biodiversity occurs nowhere else on earth. Only four to six percent of the renosterveld vegetation type remains, and it is in danger of being lost forever to modern agricultural technology and indifferent, uninformed land use decisions. In fact, all regional varieties of the renosterveld are now listed as “critically endangered” by the South African government.
Floral kingdoms across the world
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