trees
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Critical List: Selenium dumping gives fish two heads; Germany to cut solar subsidies
A mining company in Idaho wants to keep dumping selenium into local creeks, even after its scientific study turned up these two-headed trout and other deformed fish. A judge found BP liable for civil damages in the 2010 Deepwater Horizon spill, meaning the company could pay billions in penalties. Germany is cutting solar subsidies … […]
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Critical List: Heartland documents obtained using deception; killer whales OK with climate change
Peter Gleick, a water expert and climate scientist, says he obtained documents that revealed the inner workings of the Heartland Institute by soliciting them from the group under someone else’s name. A new study says that exploiting Canada’s tar sands might not exacerbate climate change as much as environmental groups fear. Mexico and the U.S. […]
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Critical List: Big trees suffer more from deforestation; Japan’s version of Al Gore
Deforestation is disproportionately killing off the world’s largest trees. Rep. Henry Waxman (D-Calif., a.k.a. the Mustache of Justice) wants to subpoena Koch Industries executives to force them to testify about the company’s connection to Keystone XL. The National Academy of Sciences wants to find out more about nanomaterials and their effects on humans, since the […]
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Here’s what the inside of a tree sounds like
Installation artist Bartholomäus Traubeck’s new work, “Years,” uses some kind of optical dealie to translate a tree’s age rings into piano music.
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The world’s tallest treehouse
The Minister's House in Crossville, Tenn., is 10 STORIES HIGH, over 97 feet tall, and supported by six full-grown oak trees. If you're a total purist about your treehouses and believe they need to be entirely off the ground and supported only by limbs, then this doesn't qualify, but screw you because it's awesome.
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Goths are the darkest treehuggers ever
Goths have been communing with nature since way before all you hippies. They commune with nature in much the same way as they commune with gravestones, i.e. by draping themselves over it in corsets and taking pictures. Maybe I just love the Goths Up Trees Tumblr because I've committed a goth-in-a-tree photo or two in my time, but also it's hilarious.
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Maine bans LEED in state buildings at timber industry’s behest
The pristine wilderness of Maine would make anyone feel more in touch with the environment … unless you're a politician and vested interests with tons of money put pressure on you to undermine green programs like LEED and you cave. That's the short version of what happened earlier this month. For a while, Maine was […]
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Critical List: Seattle bans plastic bags; at least 100 million trees died in Texas this year
Seattle is banning retail stores from giving out single-use plastic bags. Paper bags will cost a nickel. Google is investing $94 million in solar projects. As many as 500 million trees died in the Texas drought this year. India could join the U.S. in officially complaining that China's been selling solar panels at too low […]
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The best sustainable Christmas tree ever
Book lovers can sidestep the eternal question of farmed versus PVC (they both suck) and opt for a holiday display that's a monument to reading … or bibliophilia, anyway, since trying to actually read any of the books in this display would be a holiday Jenga nightmare. You don't even have to celebrate Christmas to […]