Down To Earth archive for Jan. 1, 2011
WEDNESDAY, JULY 13, 2011
More questions than answers at Yellowstone River oil spill
It feels like we've been here before. The Yellowstone River oil spill is beginning to look very familiar, like a not-so-distant relative to the Gulf Of Mexico spill. There's an underestimation of how much oil was released, false reassurances to residents about their health and…
TUESDAY, JULY 12, 2011
Tuesday Video: Stephen Colbert hilariously attacks fracking in the "anti-frack attack"
Stephen Colbert takes on fracking, covering the debate in New York, as Governor Cuomo wants to lift the ban on hydro-fracking in order to use more natural gas and less foreign oil. Scary news indeed. Fracking can cause huge chemical contamination in water sources- it…
Call for Entries for the 2011 Mayor's Urban Design Awards Program
The City Of Spokane is seeking applications for the 2011 Mayor’s Urban Design Awards. The program began in 2007 and is intended to recognize and thank people who contribute to Spokane’s quality of life and help implement the City’s Comprehensive Plan through good urban design.…
MONDAY, JULY 11, 2011
Summer Parkways returns July 24th in the North Hill neighborhood
Looking for an opportunity this summer to join your friends and neighbors and enjoy walking, running, cycling, and other forms of active transportation on city streets…all in a car-free environment? Well, you’re in luck, because Summer Parkways is back! (Check out the photo page from…
Feminist trailblazer Gloria Steinem talks about population and climate change in ABC interview
Gloria Steinem is an amazing journalist and political activist and it's too bad she has to field such awful questions from an interviewer at ABC News' Nature's Edge. Still, she's able to make it worth watching, talking about how climate is connected to women's rights…
Another Green Monday: Meet Me At The River 3
“I was - enchanted—overwhelmed—with the beauty and grandeur of everything I saw. It lay just as nature had made it, with nothing to mar its virgin glory.” That was from James Glover in 1873, upon first seeing the Spokane River. Things are a bit different…
FRIDAY, JULY 8, 2011
Friday Quote II: Robert F. Kennedy Jr on the "assault on clean water and democracy"
Like the 104th Congress when Republicans controlled the House of Representatives, the House today is swinging a sledgehammer at a cornerstone of contemporary American democracy and undermining the most extraordinary body of environmental law in the world. Chief among the attacks is HR 2018, known…
Insane time-lapse video of dust storm in Phoenix 1
These pictures were shot by two photographers - Mike Olbinski and Blaine Coury - in Arizona. As you can see, a wall of dust is moving through the city of Phoenix in Arizona. According to the makers, "sandstorms like this happen during the region's monsoon…
Friday Quote: "The Environment Strikes Back" on Senator Inhofe 1
Irony can be so ironic. A day after cancelling his keynote address at the Heartland climate denial conference because he felt “under the weather,” Republican Senator Jim Inhofe today insisted his sickness was due to a toxic algae bloom on the Grand Lake in Oklahoma…
THURSDAY, JULY 7, 2011
Action alert: Help block the Dirty Water Act of 2011 (HR 2018)
You may have heard about the Clean Water Cooperative Federalism Act that would slice and dice the Clean Water Act by giving the states, rather than the EPA, the ultimate decision-making authority over our nation’s water quality standards. Please ACT NOW and call your Congressperson…
Investing in clean energy versus the amount spent on war
David Roberts appeared yesterday on The Alonya Show to discuss a U.N. report that says $1.9 trillion a year in incremental investment in clean energy will be necessary to avoid serious climate damage and comparing that total with the amount spent on war.
Follow the trash with the director of "Waste Land"
One of the best films last year: The Oscar-nominated documentary Waste Land. The central figures are Brazilian-born, Brooklyn-based artist Vik Muniz and the crew of catadores — garbage pickers — at the world's largest landfill, Rio de Janeiro's Jardim Gramacho. Director Lucy Walker spent months…
WEDNESDAY, JULY 6, 2011
Best. Spoke. Card. Ever.
An oldie but goodie: Jake the snake.
Stickman Knows Arrives in Spokane 1
Did you know an average of twenty pedestrians and bicyclists are hit in Spokane County every month. Here's how you can help: Spread the word about Stickman Knows. The goal of this campaign is to reduce the number of crashes, injuries, and fatalities by educating…
Take notice Spokane: July is Smart Irrigation Month 1
You might've seen the "Slow the Flow" advertisement on the Spokesman-Review and thought, huh? What does that mean? With a new water rate structure in effect for 2011, Spokane water customers are encouraged to conserve- especially in dry months like July which is Smart Irrigation…
TUESDAY, JULY 5, 2011
Spokane Valley has bike and ped public hearing on July 7th
The Spokane Valley Planning Commission is inviting you to participate in a public hearing on the Bike & Pedestrian Master Program (BPMP). The BPMP will guide planning, development and management of existing and future bicycle, pedestrian and multi-modal connections throughout Spokane Valley. You can view…
The Top Ten Greenest Cities in North America
I heart lists and I can't help it. I love a good argument and lists are always a fun reference point. When it comes to climate change, I read many lists about cities that feature the most prepared, sustainable, what have you. This list is…
Tuesday Video: Wind farms could blow Earth off orbit, coal lobbyists say
Is wind power too dangerous for America? This video is proof. It shows a new advertisement from the American Coal Lobby warning that wind farms may blow the Earth off orbit. "We like this planet. Let's not blow it... away," the advertisement says. The video…
FRIDAY, JULY 1, 2011
Friday Quote: "Would a Washington state coal port mean a damn thing to the environment?"
People who back the idea of a coal port in Whatcom County have added a sophisticated new argument to their arsenal: They're not just saying "jobs." And they're not just saying, "If we don't ship coal to China, someone else will." They're also saying, "If…
THURSDAY, JUNE 30, 2011
What America could've bought with the $4 trillion we spent on wars
I always view the Wall Street Journal with a certain measure of skepticism when it comes to reporting on the U.S. budget. But a new article highlights the hole wars in Iraq and Afghanistan have left on the economy. The price tag: $4 trillion. Christopher…
In the last 40 years, Western and Central African elephant populations have declined 50% 6
According to a new survey, elephants have declined by 50 percent or more in the last 40 years despite protection in the savannas in West and Central Africa. More alarming is that populations have become highly fragmented, with several far below the limit of what…
WEDNESDAY, JUNE 29, 2011
This is what a solar powered 3D printer looks like
Markus Kayser - Solar Sinter Project from Markus Kayser on Vimeo. The Solar Sinter is a cool art project by Markus Kayser. Yeah, it's not going to replace energy alternatives- but it shows the power of the sun, using the Sahara for this project. If…
Did you know more radioactive water is leaking at Fukushima? 1
This story just won't quit. Japan's damaged Fukushima plant is now holding oceans of contaminated, radioactive water in its storage tanks. Bigger shocker: This water keeps leaking out. Yesterday, the country's Nuclear Industrial Safety Agency said fifteen tons or so of water leaked. Yes, the…
TUESDAY, JUNE 28, 2011
City of Spokane Wins EPA PISCES Award for Innovative Stormwater Project 1
Good news: Today, the City of Spokane received the prestigious PISCES Award from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency for successfully demonstrating innovative stormwater control strategies on West Broadway Avenue. Polluted stormwater now is considered the leading cause of urban water pollution and the largest source…
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