Community

Minnesota State Fair will showcase green living at Eco Experience

If you are headed to the Minnesota State Fair from Aug. 26th through Sept. 6th, you can learn about our environment and how to make it better at the Eco Experience building. The fair will feature interactive exhibits to teach you about green building, local food, recycling, composting, waste prevention, water quality, transportation, energy efficiency and renewable energy.

More >>>

Minnesota State Fair will showcase green living at Eco Experience

If you are headed to the Minnesota State Fair from Aug. 26th through Sept. 6th, you can learn about our environment and how to make it better at the Eco Experience building. The fair will feature interactive exhibits to teach you about green building, local food, recycling, composting, waste prevention, water quality, transportation, energy efficiency and renewable energy.

More >>>

Five years after Katrina, New Orleans still in recovery mode

Five years ago this Sunday (Aug 29) Hurricane Katrina struck the Gulf coast area and caused massive flooding in New Orleans after levees there failed to protect the low-lying city. New Orleans had a population of about half a million people before Katrina, but the population is now about a third smaller. Much of the “Big Easy’s” culture and lifestyle has returned, but, as VOA’s Greg Flakus reports from New Orleans, it is still a city struggling to recover:

More >>>

Green living festival set for Pennsylvania

Hundreds of ideas and techniques for creating an environmentally sound future will be the focus of the 6th annual Pennsylvania Renewable Energy & Sustainable Living Festival in Kempton, Penn., Sept. 17 through 19. The Mid-Atlantic Renewable Energy Association, a non-profit dedicated to informing and educating the public on renewable energy production, energy efficiency and sustainable living, hosts the annual event.

More >>>

Zipcar, Harvard and Zimride partner for Boston-area car sharing program

Zipcar Inc., Harvard University Transportation Services and Zimride today announced Greater Boston’s first campus car sharing program for drivers under 21. The partnership will make it even easier for parents to send students to school without a car and further reduce the number of cars in Cambridge neighborhoods, already a city with one of the highest concentrations of car sharers in the country.

More >>>

New software speeds detection of contaminants in drinking water

Scientists from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the Department of Energy have collaborated in developing new water quality software that enhances a water system’s ability to detect when there has been intentional or unintentional contamination. Officials said the software, called Canary, can help detect a wide variety of chemical and biological contaminants, including pesticides, metals, and pathogens. Once contamination is detected quickly, a water utility could issue a “Do Not Drink” order to prevent customers from ingesting the water.

More >>>

University of Texas H2Orange bottled water raises green group’s ire

What’s orange, clear and not very green? The University of Texas’ at Austin’s newest brainchild – water in a plastic bottle that is a replica of the university’s iconic 307-foot-tall clock tower – is called H2Orange.
For the first time, the university has licensed the use of the tower for a consumable product.

More >>>

$44 million in grants will promote livable communities in Bay Area

The Bay Area’s Metropolitan Transportation Commission has approved 22 new capital grants worth $44 million to finance pedestrian, bicycle and streetscape improvements near public transit in cities around the Bay Area.

The projects approved for funding are being developed by community groups and local authorities throughout the region, including the three largest cities of San Jose, San Francisco, Oakland and 14 other cities.

More >>>

Pepsi will fund ideas to help Gulf states

From Green Right Now Reports

Pepsi said it plans to award more than $20 million this year to fund good ideas — big and small — that help refresh our world. Beginning this week, it is accepting idea submissions from individuals and organizations to make a positive impact on communities in the Gulf states. Idea submissions for The Pepsi Refresh Project: Do Good for the Gulf will close on Friday, July 16, at 11:59 a.m. or when Pepsi receives 1,000 submissions, whichever occurs first, the company said.

More >>>

EPA proposes tighter rules for pesticides that could make mosquito control safer

In a move that could limit overspraying for mosquitoes in U.S. towns and cities and reduce human and wildlife exposure to harmful pesticides, the EPA has proposed new rules that would require companies and municipalities to get special permits before dumping pesticides into waterways. The agency hopes that these rules will reduce pesticide contamination of U.S. surface waters and improve the health of all living beings, including people.

More >>>