I love going fast, and I make no apologies for it.
Ok that’s a lie. Sometimes, I feel guilty about going fast, guzzling gas, drooling over 5 mile per gallon muscle cars. I know the world is in a bad way, mostly because of cars. Yet I still love them, especially fast ones, because in my opinion life is too short for a 0-60 mph time of 7 seconds or more.
Still though, the easiest way to increase fuel efficiency is to make everyone go a lot slower. Instead of pursuing billions of dollars in new technologies, if everyone would just let off the accelerator, we would save a lot of gas every year. One such way would be to (again) lower the interstate speed limit 55 mph. Yet that didn’t work too well the first time around. What if we went even further, what if new cars were capped at 200 horsepower, and had a top speed of only 60 mph?
By Rhishja Larson •
January 5, 2010
More than 70,000 square miles of habitat has been proposed for critically endangered leatherback turtles in U.S. waters off California, Oregon, and Washington.
Endangered species protection finally advances in favor of leatherback turtles: The National Oceanographic Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) issued a proposal today for 70,000 square miles of critical habitat in the waters off the U.S. Pacific Coast.
By Rhishja Larson •
January 5, 2010
Good news from Uganda: Ziwa Rhino Sanctuary has welcomed a third baby rhino!
2010 is off to a promising start at Ziwa Rhino Sanctuary, where a white rhino calf was born on January 2 - the third baby rhino following more than 25 years of regional extinction.
It’s the time of year when people are making resolutions to lose weight, better manage their finances, better manage their anger, and myriad other things. Is increasing your commitment to environmental sustainability on that list?
As I wrote in my very first post for The Inspired Economist in the fall of 2008, the neat thing about committing to environmental sustainability is that you don’t have to make extreme changes to make a difference. You don’t have to install hemp carpet in the office or replace your roof with solar panels.
If we all make small incremental changes, the difference will be exponential. It’s a lot easier to get a lot of people to make small changes than to rely on a few people to carry the entire load.
What small, incremental changes can you pledge to make this year? Here are a few ideas.
By Rhishja Larson •
December 21, 2009
Two greater one-horned rhinos were found murdered with their horns missing inside India’s Kaziranga National Park - and authorities believe it was the work of poachers posing as park visitors.
Forest guards covering the Agartoli range of Kaziranga National Park have discovered the bodies of a male and female rhino - both with their horns removed.
Officials say the killers simply entered the park posing as visitors.
By Rhishja Larson •
December 20, 2009
Four of the world’s only known eight Northern white rhinos have arrived in Kenya to begin new lives at Ol Pejeta Conservancy - the last hope to save this critically endangered rhino subspecies.
Good news - and a sigh of relief! Sudan, Suni, Najin and Fatu have landed safely in Kenya after being flown from ZOO Dvůr Králové to their new home. The return of the rhinos to Africa is considered the last chance at preserving the genetic material of the Northern white rhino (Ceratotherium simum cottoni), a rhino subspecies poached to extinction in the wild.
Do you like to play with online tools? I do. I like environmental calculators. It’s fun to plug in a bunch of numbers and see what you come up with.
Take environmental calculators offered by paper companies. Want to know how much you can green your print marketing just by making a simple switch? They’ll tell you. With a few clicks, they’ll tell you how much you can save in water, trees, landfill waste, BTUs of energy, and more simply by switching from virgin to a variety of other stocks with postconsumer waste (PCW) content.
What’s incredible is how little it takes to make a huge difference. Simply by increasing your PCW content from, say, 10% to 25%, you can actually decrease your carbon footprint by thousands of percent. For example, using the environmental calculator from Wausau Paper (500 sheets of 8.5 x 11″ with 10% PCW content), I could save the following:
By Rhishja Larson •
December 17, 2009
Four of the world’s eight surviving Northern white rhinos are about to be flown from ZOO Dvůr Králové in the Czech Republic to Kenya’s Ol Pejeta Conservancy.
This weekend, Northern white rhinos Sudan, Suni, Najin, and Fatu will begin the journey of a lifetime: A new life in Kenya - and the last hope for one of earth’s rarest creatures.
By Rhishja Larson •
December 15, 2009
After losing about 26 percent of its rhino population to poachers, Zimbabwe now faces expulsion from the Convention on International Trade of Endangered Species (CITES).
As a consequence of losing nearly 200 rhinos to rampant poaching over the last three years, Zimbabwe reportedly has six months to comply with CITES - or face expulsion.
By Rhishja Larson •
December 10, 2009
Rhino experts are divided in potential plans to salvage the genes of the world’s last eight Northern white rhinos.
Now believed extinct in the wild, the world’s only surviving Northern white rhinos are currently in captivity in just two locations: ZOO Dvůr Králové in the Czech Republic and San Diego Zoo’s Wild Animal Park.
By Rhishja Larson •
December 2, 2009
The National Marine Fisheries Service has proposed to designate over 3,000 square miles of critical habitat for endangered Cook Inlet beluga whales.
Good news for critically endangered Cook Inlet beluga whales: The Center for Biological Diversity announced today that over 3,000 square miles of critical habitat has been proposed by the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS).
