Lifestyle Magazine

Garden vegetables such as tomatoes and potatoes have been found to be deadly insect killers on a par with Venus fly traps, according to research.

In a podcast interview with GreenBiz.com Senior Writer Marc Gunther, Scott Vitters, the Coca-Cola Company’s global head of sustainable packaging, takes the wraps off the company’s new PlantBottle, a recyclable PET plastic container made partially from plants. (Gunther’s blog on the PlantBottle’s development is available at GreenBiz.com.)

Imagine a full-scale farm right in the heart of New York City, in the deserts of Darfur or on the moon. While you might have to wait some time for your lunar lettuce, vertical farming technologies are increasing the possibilities of cultivating crops much more efficiently here on earth.

The widespread use of genetically modified (GM) crops engineered to tolerate herbicides has led to a sharp increase in the use of agricultural chemicals in the U.S. This practice is creating herbicide-resistant “super weeds” and an increase in chemical residues in U.S. food, according to a new report released today by The Organic Center, the Union for Concerned Scientists, and the Center for Food Safety.

The US will not pass a cap-and-trade law in time for the global climate-change summit in Copenhagen next month. To understand why, it helps to ask a farmer. Take Bruce Wright, for example, who grows wheat and other crops on a couple of thousand acres near Bozeman, Montana. His family has tilled these fields for four generations. He loves his job and the rural way of life. But he fears that higher energy prices will endanger both.

On farm anaerobic digesters can transform noxious polluting waste streams of farming operations into useful products like biogas and high quality fertilizer, promoting sustainable agricultural practices and helping to combat global warming.

Ken Salazar, Secretary of the Interior, Assistant Secretary for Fish and Wildlife and Parks Tom Strickland, and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Director Sam Hamilton announced that the brown pelican, a species once decimated by the pesticide DDT, has recovered and is being removed from the list of threatened and endangered species under the Endangered Species Act.

The horrific conditions that many pigs and piglets are forced to live in; is enough to put many people off the thought of eating pork. MPs are now demanding that all pork products should be labelled to inform people of where the pork came from and thereby what conditions that they lived in.

For many years, Britain has had a ban in place, ensuring that the living conditions of pigs are decent, and that they are not allowed to be stored away in cramped conditions. Almost seventy percent of all pork products however are imported every year, meaning that most of the pork that we eat is from pigs that have had a horrific existence. For many of these poor creatures, their existence consists of being locked in a cramped room being fattened up for slaughter and never once seeing any daylight. For many people this thought will be enough to ensure that they only buy British pork products, where you can safely know that the pigs have had a decent life leading up to their slaughter. The new food labels would include information such as the country where the pork originated, and how they were reared.

For many of us, the thoughts of Pandas conjure up images of a cute and cuddly animal. Although they may look cute, Giant Pandas are not always known for their looks but instead for their often aggressive temperament. Giant Panda Gu Gu lives in the Beijing Zoo, and although he is an absolute favourite with visitors, it is recommended to keep away and avoid touching this large animal. Since 2006, Gu Gu has attacked three people, although why they insist on entering his pen is another question.

Gu Gu weighs 108 kilos and is from the rare family of giant pandas. It is believed that there are only approximately 2000 of these pandas living in China’s wild at present day. Gu Gu’s latest attack was on a man who climbed into the pen to rescue his son’s toy. The Giant Panda clamped himself around the man’s leg, who is now said to be recovering from surgery in the hospital. As yet, police have not announced whether the man will face charges. Previous attacks included a fifteen year old boy and a drunken tourist who only wanted to hug Gu Gu. With signs up around the enclosure and high walls surrounding it; a no entrance policy is clear and visitors should avoid aggravating this beautiful animal.

Barack Obama and his legislators are preparing to take action against global warming by cutting emissions and pollution. The elected American president is preparing two new bills that will encourage the use of renewable energies in the country. The two bills will be introduced as soon as Obama takes office in January, in the hope to kick-start his position on the environment.

The first bill will provide over ten billion pounds to encourage the advance in renewable energy in place of the polluting energy sources used today. The second bill will begin the set-up of a system of tradable emission permits used to fight against global warming. Barack Obama has already started on his green campaign by planning the creation of future green jobs. The elected president hopes to create 2.5 million new jobs by building wind farms, making new green vehicles, manufacturing solar panels and modernising much of the country’s infrastructure.

The two new energy bills are expected to get passed very quickly, as the need for action is now immense. Plans to develop carbon capture and storage facilities to remove emissions are also in order. Obama wishes to reduce carbon emissions to the same levels as were present in the 90′s, and he wishes to do this by 2020.