A new study of land use in the Brazilian state of Mato Grosso shows that deforestation rates decreased significantly from 2006 to 2010 even as agricultural production in the region reached an all-time high. (more…)

Cornell University is located in the upstate New York town of Ithaca. Surrounded by lush wooded areas and beautiful gorges, the university has taken a number of steps to ensure the sustainability of the campus as well as the surrounding environment. Cornell University has taken on a (more…)

Using NASA-Patented technology, designer Francesco Codicè has designed a new concept for purifying air on trains.

Trains provide a greener alternative to transportation than driving or flying, but US trains could definitely use a design update. Codicè’s AirTrain is a modern and elegant solution to the often stuffy and stale air of the indoors. AirTrain purifies air with live plants and recycled rain water. (more…)

There is a looming battle over the cost of energy between the ‘green at any cost’ versus the ‘green enough at a reasonable cost’ where wind/solar forces will battle natural gas—you can sense the fog of war ahead as the battle is being set up. The graphic above from a recent GTM Research report shows the reality in clear focus. (more…)

One of my very first posts in 2010 was about what I called the triple crisis. As I noted back then “our economies are crumbling, our climate is warming and our energy supplies are getting scarcer.”

You would think that after two years, we would have started to do something about them. Well, (more…)

Here’s environmentalist Bill McKibben at his best, pointing out that we should shelve the resentment and cynicism that we feel for corruption in Congress, and start to show how we truly feel: Angry. He writes, “We’ve reached the point where we’re unfazed by things that should shake us to the core.” (more…)

It must be pretty damaging for any industry’s reputation to be labeled Dinosaur of the Year. And that’s what the Nature and Biodiversity Conservation Union (NABU) has called the cruise ship industry. NABU, which is based in Germany, singled out cruise lines AIDA and TUI to get their yearly trophy, which goes to people or companies with “the most ridiculous statement or (more…)

This is the second part of my blog on produced water (you can read the first part here) which will look at the market – the players and technologies – in some more detail.

Produced water is a term used to describe the wastewater that’s brought to the surface during the (more…)

When we say at DOT that safety is our number one priority, we are not kidding around. And today, as part of that important goal, President Obama signed into law the Pipeline Safety, Regulatory Certainty, and Job Creation Act. 

Last April, following several fatal pipeline accidents, (more…)

We all remember sights of people lined up for clean water in Haiti after the devastating earthquake in 2010, or in Japan last year after the great tsunami hit with horrific consequences. Large scale natural disasters will unfortunately continue to be a global threat. Beyond the initial loss of life and home, they also wreak (more…)