• Oh the irony… Iran Says to Go Green as Oil Sanctions Tighten – reuters
• Sharks aren’t getting any hungrier – people are just getting in the way… Shark Attack Deaths See Spike in 2011 – livescience
• Headline of the day… Bahama’s Blue Holes Harbor Strange Lifeforms – enn
• (video) Company aims to convert solar energy into new fuels and remove greenhouse gas from the atmosphere… Converting Solar Energy into New Fuels -bbc
• Methane leaks may offset climate benefits of natural gas… Air Sampling Reveals High Emissions From Natural Gas Field – nature.com
• Vulture Restaurants Cater to Endangered Birds – msnbc

Related: more eco news on The Alternative Consumer

• Prince Charles Optimistic for Global Fisheries’ Future – bbc
• I’m not much of a tea drinker… Green Tea Drinkers Show Less Disability With Age: Study – yahoo! news
• How Dinosaurs Grew So Huge – livescience
• Rare caribou face off against the Tea Party… Protest Over Plans to Protect Northwest Caribou – msnbc
• Stretching the shrinking health budget… Combined Approach to Global Health has Benefits – sciencedaily
• There’s now a price to be paid for ignoring health and environmental issues… China’s Short Term Environmental Future is Bright – cs monitor

New plans for the protection of the country’s National Forests have finally been drafted. Many conservationists say that fresh ideas are long overdue considering the fact that the same mitigation and maintenance plans have been in effect since 1982. Creating sustainable methods for guarding the resources and wildlife of the National Forests should be a constant process because the areas under protection are always evolving. Changes in global climate, species number, water quality and availability are among the many factors to be considered when protection plans are being altered or created.

Bearing this in mind, the Obama Administration released their new design for the maintenance of the United States National Forests. The plan focuses mainly on the sustainability of the water found in the wilderness. National parks and forests are a very important source of drinking water foe a large number of Americans. Thia is only one reason why the guidelines for protecting the wilderness should be improved. Unfortunately, the new plan doesn’t provide equal protection of wildlife.

The previous plan of the Reagan era was more specific when mentioning the protection of species of wildlife. Rene Schoof, environmental writer, explains that the new plan “requires forest managers to maintain habitats. It leaves it up to the official in charge of a region’s forests to decide whether any individual species needs extra protection to ensure that it will continue to exist over the long term with ‘sufficient distribution.” This shift in language and gross generalization could be detrimental to the overall biodiversity of each National Forest. Without monitoring species populations, it is extremely difficult to get an accurate idea of the health of the biological community. The maintenance of habitat is crucial and can provide some insight into the rest of the forests’ biodiversity, but it is not a sufficient monitoring system. Without a more specific monitoring system, the wildlife of National Forests could be endangered.

The ocean going cargo ships that deliver many of our consumer products – from cars to electronics – consume millions of gallons of dirty fuel and emit a frightening array of emissions and toxic chemicals into the atmosphere. Eco Marine Power, a Japan-based technology company, has designed a propulsion system for ocean going vessels that reduces the consumption of dirty fossil fuels. The Aquarius Eco Ship concept incorporates solar and wind power into vessel design to reduce emissions and increase fuel efficiency.

The center piece of the design is the Aquarius MRE System - an innovative fuel saving and emission reduction technology that utilizes a variety of technologies including: solar panels, energy storage modules, a computer control system and an advanced rigid sail design that can rotate with the prevailing winds to provide optimum energy returns.

The systems is designed to be highly flexible and configurable so that it can installed on variety of ship sizes and types. Applications for the system include bulk carriers, oil tankers, survey ships and passenger ferries.

Future designs could be fitted with other fuel saving technology, including advanced electrical propulsion systems, optimized hull designs, waste heat recovery systems and fuel cell technology.

The company estimates that this combination of technologies could lead to fuel savings of 40% or more, while simultaneously reducing the emission of noxious gases such as Sulphur Oxides (SOx) and Nitrogen Oxides (NOx).

An Aquarius Eco Ship could include enough solar panels for a 1MWp solar system and enough energy storage modules to eliminate the need to use auxiliary diesel generators whilst in port.

Note: About 50,000 cargo ships carry 90 percent of world trade; most of the ships are powered by heavily polluting oil known as bunker fuels. The International Maritime Organization says shipping was responsible for 2.7 percent of global carbon emissions in 2007, but that would double or even triple by mid-century if no action is taken.

Make your way to Santa Monica for some musically enhanced exercise this Earth Day. Exercise isn’t always regarded as fun and can often be thought of as a burden in our fast-paced lives. However, a wonderful cultural opportunity to unite yoga, fresh air and international music has arrived. On April 20-22nd 2012, Earth Day weekend, the Tadasana Festival will be taking place in Santa Monica, California. The festival will showcase the collaboration of some of the World’s most experienced and renowned yoga instructors with a diverse group of talented international musicians. The festival will feature renowned yoga instructors as Shiva Rea, Elena Brower, Seane Corn, and Kathyrn Budig, paired with the musical talents of Vishal Vaid, Idan Raichel, Cheb I Sabbah, Vieux Farka Toure’, Karsh Kale and Hassan Hakmoun. Not only does the festival offer a wealth of world-recognized artists, but it is being organized by one of the most well-known concert producers, Kevin Wall. Wall’s previous accolades include an Emmy as well as the producing of past concert events such as Live Earth and the opening music ensemble for the 2010 FIFA World Cup, not to mention Bob Dylan’s 30th Anniversary Concert Celebration and over 300 other widely-attended musical events.

Largely inspired by Al Gore’s Documentary An Inconvenient Truth, Wall is as well-known for his activist movements in politics and environmentalism as he is for his impressive concert production resume. With such a great team, the Tadasana Festival is sure to be a healthy, informative and exciting day of environmentally friendly exercise and jams. So grab your yoga mat and dancing shoes and head to 2600 Barnard Way Santa Monica, CA 90405 beachfront.

yoga photo via shutterstock.com

Related: more eco news on The Alternative Consumer

• Could Cheap Natural Gas Slow Growth of Renewable Energy? – npr
• Giant Crack in Antarctica About to Spawn New York-Size Iceberg – natgeo
• US: Mid-Atlantic Wind Farms Take Step Forward – msnbc
• NASA Report: Greenhouse Gases, Not Sun, Driving Global Warming – livescience
• Texas Region Emerges From Brutal, Record Drought – huffpost

wind turbine photo via shutterstock.com

Yesterday Schick introduced its new Schick Xtreme3 Eco disposable razor. The new razor uses 100 percent recycled plastic in the production of its handle and 100 percent post-consumer paper in its packaging. Manufactured and shipped out of the company’s 99.9 percent landfill-free facility in Milford, CT, Schick estimates they’ll be saving over 103,000 pounds of virgin plastic material and 15,500 pounds of virgin paper from going into landfills each year by using recycled materials in the new razor.

In order to have a more immediate impact on the environment, Schick chose to use post-consumer recycled plastic instead of other biodegradable or recycled materials. Among the items retrieved and recreated in the Eco razor handle are common household items like hangers, buckets, and pails.

Schick Xtreme3 Eco is currently available for both men and women (the women’s razor is pink) at Wal-Mart with wider, national distribution in April.

Note: Though it’s a step in the right direction, it would be more impressive if this product were totally recyclable and/or biodegradable.

via: Schick press release

Related: more health & beauty products featured on The Alternative Consumer

• Busted!! Mozambican Rhino Poachers Get 25 Years in South Africa Court – bbc
• Importation and ownership of these critters should be totally illegal… Escaped Pet Pythons Putting Squeeze on Everglades Wildlife – enn/mongabay.com
• Separation anxiety…Spider’s Detachable Penis Finishes Without Him – livescience
• As the invasive Asian carp threatens fisheries and ecosystems this seems like a ‘no-brainer’… Separate Great Lakes From the Mississippi River? – msnbc
• Consumers can prove them wrong. Oil Industry Sees No Threat From Electric Cars – reuters
• Just add some caffeine to it and call it ‘Energy Juice’… Reclaimed Wastewater for Drinking – Safe But Still a Tough Sell – natgeo

Related: more eco news on The Alternative Consumer

rhino photo via shutterstock.com

This sounds interesting and fun – save the date: Monday, February 6, 2012. Public lecture begins at 7pm. The Explorers Club, 46 East 70th Street, NYC 10021.

What would happen if the world’s greatest source of oxygen became depleted and eventually disappeared? You’re probably thinking, great, another news story about deforestation. What is widely unknown is that the world’s greatest source of oxygen is plankton, not terrestrial trees.  This common misconception can easily be remedied: The crew of the Tara Oceans schooner will be presenting a public lecture on their recent research concerning the health of the world’s oceans. The 15-member crew crisscrossed the high seas for the past two and half years while on their latest global scientific cruise.

An impressive one hundred eighteen feet in length, the Tara Ocean has sailed both arctic and tropical waters and will docked in the East River (Battery Park, North Cove Marina) from February 5 to 11.

The team conducts their research mainly through the study of plankton and the relationship between plankton abundance and the health of the oceans. The lecture will include presentations not only from the head scientist of the ship, Eric Karsenti, but also from other crew members as well as prominent leaders of the Tara Foundation for Marine Research USA.
The program will focus on the wide scale oceanic issues that directly affect the health of our planet as a whole.

In addition, Explorers Club Member Mara G. Haseltine, an artist and environmentalist, will unveil La Boheme: A Portrait of Today’s Oceans in Peril, her latest sculpture based on her discoveries on board Tara Oceans.

This space-limited public lecture will be put on by the Explorers Club headquartered in New York City. The event will take place at the club’s address: 46 East 70th Street, New York, NY 10021. Tickets will be sold for $20 or $5 with valid student identification. Call 212 628 8383 to reserve tickets early because seating is limited.

• For more information about the mission of the Tara Oceans schooner: www.taraexpeditions.org
• You can also learn more about the Explorers Club @ www.explorers.org

I’m old enough to remember when most street food vendors sold their chow out of carts with limited menus consisting primarily of fetid delicacies like over-boiled hotdogs aged to perfection in a caldron of used bath water, or pretzels coated with enough salt to cause instantaneous cardiac arrest. Well, how times have changed. Today’s street food movement/fad is lead by state-of-the-art food trucks selling all manner of morsels: from delicious crepes to countless varieties of burgers, tacos and confections.

Many food trucks use only locally grown produce, meats and breads and are run by individuals that revel in the independence and creativity that their mobile restaurants afford them. One shining and successful outfit is L.A.’s Green Truck, which has been doing their ‘green’ thing for a few years now. Their menu is totally organic, featuring all locally produced food items and produce.

Some of Green Truck’s earth-friendly endeavors: the vegetable oil used to cook today’s food ends up in the Green Truck’s fuel tank tomorrow, the company’s commissary is solar-powered and their trucks feature rooftop solar panels; all their food is organic and all the packaging and utensils used to serve and sell their food is either recyclable and/or compostable.

Green Truck’s menu features a bunch of organic, vegan and meatless food items.

Green Truck is now also in San Diego. Check out where their trucks will be today on twitter @greentruck and @greentruck_SD

Related: organic food & health on The Alternative Consumer