Dig Into Food-Upcycling Apps
Sierra: Digital solutions that save money and resources while slashing food waste’s massive emissions
All about meadowscaping
The Seattle Times: The low-maintenance ecolawn with ancient allure
Small, by choice: These radical downsizers find freedom in the tiny house life
Seattle Times, photos and text: Three-quarters of us greet spring by purging and polishing our homes, according to a 2022 American Cleaning Institute report. But for families like mine that have downsized into tinier dwellings, that process is more of a lifestyle choice than an annual end-of-winter event.
The quietest place in the US
BBC Travel: (Photos and text) Natural noises flow undisturbed by humans for quarter-hour stretches here. In fact, the park ranks first among the last dozen places like this in the continental United States. Nowhere in Europe does quiet – the undisturbed heartbeat of the land and its animals – still reign to such an extent. Activists are now pushing to make the Hoh the world’s first quiet zone, the sonic equivalent of a Dark Sky Reserve, by the park system’s centennial in 2016.
Step Inside The World’s First Sunflower Sea Star Nursery
Scuba Diving Magazine: Washington scientists hope to help these oversized beauties fight rampant wasting disease.
Richmond grows greener using hyperlocal data
American Forests: (pages 4-5)
The Seattle Times: Green tips for keeping your patio pavers weed-free
Policymakers Race to Curb Edible Waste
Sierra: Striving for 2030 sustainability goals amid the climate crisis
Berlin Food Truck Dishes Up Invasive-Species Delights
Scuba Diving Magazine: Craving carp, swamp crayfish or Chinese mitten crab? Holycarp! has your back.
The Lion’s Share: Can travelers, herdsmen and big cats coexist in the Maasai Mara?
Travelgirl Magazine, text and photos: Suddenly a bald tribesman rises up from the seemingly flat earth in front of our vehicle. His long limbs unfold from a three-inch depression… Then I notice the short spear and the other dozen warriors, clad in the scarlet-and-royal-blueplaid togas of the Maasai, who materialize from invisible crannies in the grassland. We had interrupted a lion hunt.
This $10 Accessory Will Stop Your Cat Killing Wild Birds
Good Housekeeping: It works better than bells and will give you a good laugh, too.
Eyeball to eyeball with Canada’s migrating salmon
BBC Travel: My brain froze as I submerged into the cold water of British Columbia’s Shuswap Lake. But the discomfort paled as I watched sockeye salmon – hundreds of cherry-tinted fish with moss-green heads – swirl overhead like a kaleidoscope. At the end of an epic 4,000km journey, they were waiting to swim the final leg upstream to spawn and die.
Marine Conservation: Save the Puffins
Sport Diver: Graceful in water, puffins tend to trip over their safety-cone-orange feet while waddling on land. Worse, their chicks can be pulled off-course by artificial lighting while making their first journey to open ocean. Lost pufflings often circle until they grow dehydrated, which inhibits their ability to fly — and then many fall prey to gulls, cats and cars. Enter the Puffin Patrol, a conservation group on the southern shore of Newfoundland, Canada.
Vanishing Barns On The Backroads
Travelgirl Magazine (text and photos): This marriage of art and Americana may be headed for hard times. The Palouse’s beloved, historic barns are succumbing to age, weather and upgrades such as metal siding: practical, but not so picturesque. Expensive renovations can cause farmers to flinch — a new roof can cost $50,000. So when up-cycling companies bid on the distressed timbers for bars and restaurants, it’s hard not to sell out.
Bagging Crowns
Sport Diver: Spanning an area the size of the continental US, Micronesia encompasses 5 percent of the Pacific Ocean and contains 61 percent of the world’s coral species. Yet some are under threat. Each Crown of Thorns sea star (COT) can devour a square yard of reef every day.
Recycling Rock
Bridgewater Lifestyle: The Green Planet Band believes change begins local and grows global
Guyana: Running Naked in Paradise
Travelgirl Magazine, photos and text: From baby-cradle water lilies to stretch-limo river otters, South America’s only English-speaking country surprises. But can it push further – protecting its tropical rainforest and indigenous culture – with a clever carbon-offsetting plan?
If you go down to the woods today… you can be sure of an aerobic workout?
Oxford Times: Green gyms: Conservation tasks prove more efficient and amusing than treadmills
Earth & Elegance
Travelgirl Magazine, photos and text: Willamette Valley has been giving California a run for its money on many fronts, from soft adventures to gourmet, locavore dining and award-sweeping wines that balance fruit with foresty flavors. The Allison Inn & Spa, opened five years ago, brought the area its first destination hotel, which has now been paired with a landmark tasting room at Sokol Blosser.
5 Hotels That Pamper And Pay It Forward
Travelgirl Magazine: Text and images: Pack your bags in the name of philanthropy, and book a getaway to somewhere generous this holiday season.
Even flowers can’t sweeten GM’s smell
Italy Daily Comment: Let’s just hope Uncle Sam doesn’t administer a force feeding. Washington is angry at the loss of exports to Europe worth around $4.5bn every year – and may run squealing to the World Trade Organisation.