Last year, for the very first Earth Hour, we bundled ourselves up a picnic supper and drove off to the parking nightmare that is the north shore of Sydney Harbour. Sitting in the gloaming of a nature reserve, with hundreds of other Earth Hour devotees.

It's a safe bet that few, if any, of Sydney's bicycle commuters go with penny farthings as their two-wheeler of choice. The outdated ride (popular in the 1870s) is most used these days for its retro value and the

Among the more high risk methods of geoengineering, methods that reflect sunlight away from the Earth to counteract temperature rise are right up there in terms of potential unintended consequences. Well, a new piece of

Reducing CO2 emissions at the source, or better yet, not emitting them in the first place, is the better option.

Rules really matter, and the city uses them to encourage the right kind of building.

What's the point of protecting the environment if bad luck brings a big space rock on a trajectory that crosses Earth's path?

The Greatest Outdoor Gear How do you make the greatest outdoor gear? We went to Empire Canvas Works' Kevin Kinney to find out. If the quality of Kevin's work is any indication, the recipe is clear. Start with a passion seeded by stitching together a

After reports last year of "raccoon dog" fur being used and labeled as faux fur, the Humane Society came out with a few quick tests you can use to test whether any animals were hurt in production. First, look at the

For most people, there's something particularly sad and gory about seeing wildlife killed on the side of the road--but for one British clothing designer, such critter-carnage is fodder for fashion. In an upcoming fashion show,

It is now 2011 which means Fashion Week in New York is just around the corner. Making news abroad, Norway has banned fur from the biannual Oslo Fashion Week, Ecouterre reports (via Huffington Post) making them the first country to

One woman shows us how easy it is to make useful yarn from her cat's long fur.

Sad Anniversary digg_url = 'http://www.treehugger.com/files/2009/12/one-year-later-tva-toxic-coal-ash-spill-tennessee.php';A year ago, a massive coal ash spill took place in Tennessee. About 5.4 million cubic yards of ash ended up in a river and

After a storm hit Tennessee last Sunday and Nashville saw record-shattering rainfall, the Cumberland River swelled to overflowing and the city experienced an epic flood. As soon as it was safe, residents were out

Late last month, when officer Shelley Hammonds of the Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency received word of an animal in distress, it might have sounded like a routine rescue operation. Witnesses described

The delicately hued petals and striking brown florets of Tennessee's purple coneflower once seemed fated to live on only in description, or as a ghostly sketch yellowing on the page of some dusty botanical volume, yet today it's

It was actually introduced to save fuel, but there have been unintended consequences.

We still have to reduce our carbon emissions.

You can see these magnificent photo portraits of Londoners on a wall or on the web.

I'm hunkered down in Brooklyn waiting for Hurricane Sandy to pass. Curious about what is happening nearby, I'm looking for photos of the flooding. Here's what I've found so far.

Step 1: The idea of a car that runs on compost. Step 2: Implementation of a car that runs on compost. We're half done.

In “fishing” for plastic to create new things, Plastic Whale Circular Furniture tackles a number of problems at once.

Considered too fragile to ever be played again, the recordings have been newly reconstructed ... and they are wonderfully creepy.

Veggie-burger skeptic? Why not meat us halfway?

The fuel cell generates electricity from living plants and could turn green roofs and marshes into power plants.

The tiny fuel cell is long-lasting, low-cost and could power our tablets and smartphones with clean energy.

Virginia Tech researchers figure out how to extract large quantities of hydrogen from any plant which could drive down fuel cell costs.

The groundbreaking technology has gotten even better with the ability to self-heal and produce hydrogen from dirty water.

This small hydrogen fuel cell charger promises a week of clean power for your gadgets. But is it ready for prime time?

Just one more reason for Big Oil and Big Coal to worry.

Oh, the wonderful things that poo can do.

I've seen way too many friendships destroyed over this simple mistake.

We go through this ridiculous change for no good reason at all, yet it is unhealthy and dangerous.

Retro Report revisits the Flavr Savr, the first genetically engineered food to hit American grocery stores.

While banana farmers watch their plantations get ravaged by a fungal disease, scientists think they may have found a solution.

Alex Weber, 18, has just published a study that analyzes how these balls enter and degrade in the water.

Architects usually keep their proprietary research locked up and closely held. Perkins + Will has done the opposite and made it a public service. Launched at Greenbuild the Precautionary List is a compilation of available data on chemicals and

Just days ago, 19 Asiatic black bears were rescued from an illegal bile farming operation in Vietnam. For six to seven years, the animals were kept

This long, deep house has a wonderful low tech vertical garden that anyone could maintain.

Cities and towns with good public-transit options offer more convenience for residents and are, of course, more environmentally friendly places to live. Now it

The future is mobile as businesses dematerialize and hit the road

In its latest issue, GOOD Magazine has a great feature up on the doings of MIT's D-Lab - they call it "an elite unit of low-tech mercenaries" - which seeks to find simple solutions to drastically improve the quality of

The Statue of Liberty may be a welcome sight to see for many entering the U.S. from around the world, but according to a recent NYC Health Department study, immigrant children are five times as likely as those born in the U.S. to suffer from lead

We know that illegal logging contributed to the devastation caused by last summer's flooding in Pakistan, when up to 20% of the nation was underwater. New research now sheds light on how so much rain fell: A rogue

Energy policy and energy use are not forces of nature beyond our control. It's all about choices; different choices set us off on different paths, but don't prevent us from switching course.

This integrative technology keeps CO2 out of the atmosphere and makes geothermal energy widely available

Still unknown: are the effects due to women drinking more tea than men?

Watch these beautiful Japanese macaques at Wild Snow Monkey Park who have truly mastered the fine art of relaxation.

The map above is the first illustration of worldwide imbalances in the use of phosphorus, a key component of fertilizers and an essential plant nutrient. "Typically, people either worry

Could human urine be used on a commercial scale to fertilize the food we eat?

These delicately formed hand-crank and motor-activated art installations blossom and grow perpetually.