When communism crumbled in 1989 it created an opportunity for wildlife. The Iron Curtain that divided communist Eastern Europe from the capitalist West had created a no-man's-land protected by barbed wire and minefields - a last haven for many rare animals and plants.
posted by nam3d on Mar 14, 2009 - 19 comments

The locavore movement arose in recognition of the high environmental costs associated with imported food, particularly with respect to global warming (previously). This article from The Guardian (London) suggests that the carbon cost-benefit equation may be very hard to calculate, and that local (at least, without organic) may not always be better. As a planet we seem to be boxing ourselves into a very tight little environmental corner.
posted by cogneuro on Mar 23, 2008 - 43 comments

Aerial building heat loss maps. Haringey Council has contracted with Hot Mapping and Horton Levi to put a searchable heat loss map online for every building in the London Borough of Haringey. The thermal images were collected using overflights with a military style imager. The council's hope is that residents with hot buildings will take steps to reduce the amount of energy being leaked to the environment.
posted by Mitheral on Sep 15, 2007 - 19 comments

Satellite images reveal shrimp trawlers' turbulent trails. Vessels turn firm sea bottoms into ooze, destroying habitats. [Via Gristmill.]
posted by homunculus on May 12, 2007 - 11 comments

Is "Green" Al Gore Back? In a NY Times Op-ed he slams the Bush "energy policy": "Under the presidency of George W. Bush, the environmental and energy policies of our government are completely dominated by a group of current and former oil and chemical company executives who are trying to dismantle America's ability to force them to reduce the extremely dangerous levels of pollution in the earth's atmosphere."
posted by owillis on Apr 21, 2002 - 21 comments