What’s more unsightly: a backyard clothesline or a dangerously warming world driven to the tipping point by greenhouse gas emissions? Ontario officials have decided on their answer, which is why they’ll be banning local bans on outdoor clotheslines this summer.
Honeybees and songbirds might be getting harder to find, but not redback spiders. In fact, so many of the poisonous arachnids are swarming the tiny Baralaba Multi Purpose Health Service hospital in Australia’s Queensland state that officials are closing the facility for one day so they can fumigate. Authorities blame the infestation on warm temperatures that have encouraged the hatching of more spiders than usual.
While filming the new Bond movie, Quantum of Solace, the stunt driver of Bond’s $200,000 Aston Martin, misjudged and drove off a cliff into 150 feet of water, knocking him out. 29 year old Fraser Dunn came to and managed to swim to shore with only minor injuries. Police weren’t amused, he was fined about $800 for dangerous driving.
Source: Ananova
As part of their Earth Day coverage, NPR’s All Things Considered took a look at a LEED Platinum home renovation in Washington DC. Peter Yost from the green building resource BuildingGreen helped to explain some of the possibly unfamiliar green building terms and explained how the elements of this renovation contributed to its being one of the greenest homes in the country.
While building tours on the radio can’t show pictures, the NPR website has several accompanying pictures along with the story and an interactive kitchen tour with more information about the project.
image: NPR
In yet another ludicrous example of people being punished for conserving (see a previous instance here), water-strapped Atlanta and Fulton County are mulling a 15-percent water rate hike to offset revenue losses caused by residents trying to reduce their consumption.
Among the many other ill effects it is causing, global climate change may also be contributing to failures of hops and barley crops. Without these two essential ingredients, the supply of beer will be reduced, and prices for what remains will rise dramatically.
According to Jim Salinger, a climate scientist at New Zealand’s National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research, the warming globe will likely cause a decline in the production of malting barley, which, when combined with the scarcity of hops right now, stands to have a profound and negative impact on the world’s beer supply starting now, and for decades to come.
More information at Treehugger.
Image Source: Tnarik - via Flickr CC photo
An exclusive investigative report in this week’s Mother Jones provides yet another compelling reason to shred and recycle your office paper: revelations about a now-defunct private security firm that searched through Greenpeace’s trash for documents and targeted other environmental groups such as the Center for Food Safety and the Environmental Working Group.
The Chinese plan to use cloud seeding to prevent rain during the Beijing Summer Olympics opening ceremonies. The chances of rain on Aug. 8 are close to 50%.
Source: LA Times
Hybrid cars and other vehicles with silent engines could pose a threat to visually impaired people who rely on traffic noises to judge when it’s safe to cross the street, according to the National Federation of the Blind. To address that concern, two U.S. House representatives have introduced a bill that would require the Secretary of Transportation to study ways to protect the blind and others from quiet cars.
Brazil’s health ministry has announced a plan aimed at reducing its dependence on imported goods, fighting AIDS, providing contraception and … preserving the Amazon rainforest. The highlight of the plan? Natex, a condom to be made from latex from Brazil’s rubber trees.
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