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If we keep burning coal and petroleum to power our society, we’re cooked — and a lot faster than we thought. The United Nations scientific panel on climate change issued a terrifying new warning on Monday that continued emissions of greenhouse gases from power plants and vehicles will bring dire and irreversible changes by 2040, years earlier than previously forecast. The......read more
It's always good to see companies using makers and artists to promote their products. Patron of the arts take on a modern meaning with Uniqlo's Heattech range. The line has been specially developed with leading textile manufacturer Toray, the clothing brand is showcasing creative types who take on the urban outdoors come rain or shine, from foodies and cyclists to graffiti......read more
Vancouver's Union Wood Company finds inspiration -- and materials -- in the docks, foundries, mills, and factories of the city's past. This handcrafted Serving Tray, made from fir rafters reclaimed from an old stable near the Union Wood studio, has a rich and weathered patina only age can provide. Distressed steel handles and rubber feet are complemented by knots, nail holes, and cracks that add......read more
In 1984, a small town in India experienced the deadliest environmental disaster in history, when an explosion at a Union Carbide chemical factory in Bhopal sent 27 tons of methyl isocyanate gas into the slums. 22,000 people died as a result. Twenty-six years later, locals are still affected by birth defects and disease. On Monday, Indian courts sentenced eight Union Carbide officials – all from......read more
The Cancun climate talks are a wrap, and to no one's surprise, negotiators failed to agree to a successor to the Kyoto Protocol. So that's crap. But! At the nth hour, an agreement was hammered out to save the UN climate negotiation progress. Which may not sound like much, but compared to the debacle of the Copenhagen talks, when it looked like future cooperation was in jeopardy,......read more
Brandon Wu of ActionAid USA for The Huffington Post: As UN climate talks kick off in Poland this week, arguments about money are likely to take center stage. That's nothing new, as the annual conference enters its nineteenth year. But this year's twist to a familiar tale -- concerns about a lack of money to assist developing countries in dealing with the climate crisis -- is a strategic shift by......read more
Most of us are probably familiar with China's karst region, the spectacular UNESCO World Heritage Site featuring limestone topography replete with sinkholes, vertical shafts, streams, springs, and underground caves. But as we learned from My Modern Met, the karst region isn't the only stunning natural wonder in southern China. The Danxia landform, pictured here in China's Gansu province, is a......read more
In some of the biggest environmental news of the year, the Kenyan government announced the discovery of a huge underground water reserve in Turkana, an arid region in the northern part of the country. It's so big, they say, that it could meet the arid country's water needs for the next 70 years. Scientists from UNESCO and the Kenyan government teamed up on the water-searching project. Using......read more
If there was ever a consumer product that was ripe for a sustainable shift, it's conventional paint. Standard latex house paints are not only energy-intensive to produce, but also come loaded with toxic chemicals that make disposal a nightmare. Enter Unearthed Paints, a company producing biodegradable, natural paints using ancient recipes. Unearthed Clay Paints come in six options that are......read more
Jason de Caires Taylor's underwater sculptures serve a dual purpose. Not only do the figures and busts attract human admirers, but they also serve as habitat for marine life. Constructed from concrete and steel, the sculptures are bolted to the ocean floor where they act as artifical reefs that offer "an ideal habitat for filter feeding organisms." The British artist's various......read more
