Foragers coming in loaded with pollen on the hive landing board.

In 2007, large commercial beekeepers started reporting big drop-offs in their bee colony populations. By 2008, estimated colony losses of between 30 and 70% were being reported, as a flurry of bad news about bees made the media rounds.

The loss since then of over 40% of the nation’s commercial honey bee (Apis mellifera) colonies–most seemingly due to so-called Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD; caused most likely by the IAPV virus)–ushered in predictions of dire consequences for valuable crops around the world due to a lack of pollinators.

But a recent analysis of global honey bee populations (by Aizen and Harder*) shows a 45% increase in total numbers since 1961. The data for this analysis came from a global database of managed honeybees. The same researchers note, however, that the global stock of honey bees is growing slower than the global demand for them–which comes primarily from the cultivation of “luxury” crops like fruits and nuts. The the year round demand for items like cherries, mangoes, almonds and pistachios is far out-pacing world-wide production, leading to the perception of a shortage of pollinators.

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As much as I love the coming onslaught of electric cars, they use lots of materials that currently have almost no recycling infrastructure — especially when it comes to their batteries. The numbers vary by the type of lithium-ion battery used, but on average, for every 100 miles of pure-electric range, a lithium-ion battery needs to contain about 15 pounds of lithium.

Although the developed world has had robust systems in place for a long time to deal with the recycling of lead-acid batteries (in the U.S. more than 95% of battery lead gets recycled), the lithium-ion battery has a long way to go to catch up. Granted, lithium-ion batteries are not nearly as toxic as lead-acid batteries and so the urgency of developing a recycling infrastructure is virtually non-existent. In fact, lithium-ion batteries are classified by the U.S. government as non-toxic and “safe” to throw away in the regular trash.

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The Toyota Prius is among the most popular cars under the Cash For Clunkers program right now. But many people who want one will have to wait, as production of the popular hybrid has slowed because of a battery shortage. The supplier of Prius batteries, Panasonic EV Energy, can not keep up with Toyota’s 500,000  annual Prius capacity. While Panasonic EV says it should have its production capacity ramped up to a million units annually by mid-2010, this begs the bigger question;

Will battery packs hold back hybrid production and development?

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A UK company has launched a new device that allows users to cut-off their water supply at the flick of a switch, drastically reducing wasteage and giving a significant boost to water conservation efforts.

Instead of scrabbling around looking for the stopcock, the new Surestop device allows users cut supply instantly, saving water loss, and consequent damage, whilst giving householders direct control over water consumption.

Now the company hopes to expand into areas crippled by drought, where water conservation is a pressing priority.

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A Swedish inventor has unveiled a solar-powered water purifier that could provide billions of the world’s poorest people with access to clean and disease-free drinking water [video].

The device, called the Solvatten, (Swedish for ’sun water’), looks much the same as a standard jerrycan and can be filled with up to ten liters of water, opened out, and left in the sun. A simple indicator shows either a red or green face to let users know when the water is safe to drink (typically after 3-4 hours), thus avoiding the risk of contracting water-borne diseases.

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The United States has overtaken Germany to become the largest producer of wind energy in the world, generating enough capacity to eliminate the burning of 91 million barrels of oil per year.

According to the American Wind Energy Association (AWEA), US wind producers enjoyed another record year of growth in 2008—the third in a row. The country now has an installed wind power capacity well in excess of 21,000 megawatts (MW), enough to supply electricity to over 5.5 million American homes.

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US Scientists have figured out a way to mass produce the nanomaterial graphene, opening the door to significant advances in the storage of hydrogen, as well as the electricity produced by solar and wind energy.

Graphene, produced by reducing graphite down to a sheet only one atom thick, is one of the strongest materials known to man. It has been shown to have huge potential for hydrogen and renewable energy storage, but up until now has been held back by a lack of supply. Now the team, based at the California NanoSystems Institute (CNSI) at UCLA, have discovered a method of producing graphene sheets in large quantities.

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Back? Ok, good.

What is the one thing that they probably have in common? Does it say somewhere “use in well ventilated area” or some similar warning? Well, that warning often accompanies many of the glue and adhesive products found on the shelf at the crafting supply store and in crafters’ homes. That warning is there because of the chemicals used in the adhesives. Chemicals that, if inhaled in concentrated amounts, can be bad for you, hence the “well ventilated” part.

EcoGlue is a new white craft glue that claims eco-friendly properties. It contains less than 1% of volatile organic compounds or VOCs, has virtually no hazardous air pollutants, contains no animal derivatives and does not carry a “well ventilated” warning on its label. In fact its packaging is made from 100% recycled content and carries a “non-toxic” stamp.

I got the chance to try out this new glue and ran it through some simple and highly unscientific tests to see if it the eco-friendly label still meant quality adhesive or if it was just some watered down glue.

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There are many excellent resources available online to help you organize and start an effort to educate the retailers in your community. Coffee shops and grocery stores are great places to start. Here are four actions you can take to start planting the seeds of Fair Trade in your community and then grow those seeds into a healthy Fair-Trade-supporting community.

1. Ask. Start planting the seeds by simply ask your local coffee shop and grocery store if they carry any Fair Trade products. With the rising popularity of Fair Trade, the chances that you can find Fair Trade coffee or bananas at the shops you frequent are getting better and better, especially if you live in the UK or Europe.

2. Send a letter to the manager. Global Exchange provides a good template for a letter about Fair Trade coffee to send to the manager of a store you frequent. Oke Bananas will send you request cards that friends, family and other interested consumers can sign and deliver to your grocery store to educate and encourage management to carry their Fair Trade bananas from Central America. Catholic Relief Services and Divine chocolate has a good one-sheet of talking points (PDF) that could form a good letter on why your grocer should carry Fair Trade chocolate.

3. Start a campaign to educate your supermarket. Co-op America and Ox-Fam America have teamed up to put together a great Super Market Campaign Kit. The Kit provides materials, information and practical tips to help you organize a campaign to pressure your supermarket to carry Fair Trade products whereever possible.

4. Nourish your town into a Fair Trade community. Gather a group to help you get your town or city council to pass a purchasing restriction that legally requires local government to use Fair Trade coffee. If you belong to a faith community, encourage the community to incorporate Fair Trade into the official budget (PDF). Finally, TransFair Canada has put together a great document to guide you through the Fair Trade Town (PDF) certification process.

Good luck, and keep us updated on any efforts you might take to help make Fair Trade products more easily accessible in the market!