Joseph Mikrut, a graphic designer and one of the owners of Anamaya Yoga Resort in Montezuma, Costa Rica, has finished constructing what may very well be the world’s first treehouse shaped in the form of an icosahedron. The treehouse is suspended from cables strung between four melina trees, around 20 feet off the ground, and it moves slightly in the wind, making it feel similar to a being on a boat. And the treehouse is situated just high enough that it enhots spectacular views of the mountains to the north. Read the rest of This Unique Icosahedron-Shaped Treehouse in Costa Rica Cost Just $5,000 to Build Permalink | Add to del.icio.us | digg Post tags: Anamaya Yoga Resort, Costa Rica, Icosahedron Treehouse, Joseph Mikrut, Latin America, Rancho Delicioso, tree house, treehouse, treehouse design, Treehouses, yoga retreats

Come join Forage Farm to celebrate what’s great about our community! Live music geared toward kids from great local bands, local food, arts and crafts, nature walks, food and garden workshops, kids activities, and more! All proceeds from event benefit Forage outreach programs and the Gainesville Seed Library!  Tickets sold at the door $15.  Kids under 5 are free.  For more information, email anna@foragefarm.org. via School’s Out Farm Festival June 8 | Forage Farm.

The U.K.’s two largest water companies warned today that sewer flooding would worsen should people flush wet wipes in toilets and wash grease down sinks. United Utilities Plc (UU/), the biggest publicly traded water utility in Britain, spends 20 million pounds ($31 million) a year on 53,000 blockages, it said in a website statement. Thames Water Utilities Ltd., with 14 million customers in London and parts of the Home Counties, said half of its 7,000 blockages a month are due to items that shouldn’t be flushed. Sewers aren’t designed to take more than toilet paper, water and human waste, Rob Smith, Thames Water’s chief sewer flusher, said in the statement. “We’re seeing more and more fat and wet wipes, which should never be flushed even if the packaging says ‘flushable,’ ending up in our sewers.” via Water Firms Warn of Sewer Flooding From Grease, Wipes – Bloomberg.

The Panama Canal is taking preventive measures to reduce water use as a drought prompts electricity rationing in Central America’s fastest-growing economy. Hydraulic assistance to lift boats as they exit canal locks has been temporarily suspended and two boats will be permitted in a lock at once rather than just one, the Panama Canal Authority said in an e-mailed statement. The Canal Authority has also limited electricity use at its Atlantic and Pacific facilities, according to the statement. No restrictions on ship transit have been adopted. “The decrease in rainfall will continue a few more days,” Presidential Minister Roberto Henriquez said in a statement. “For that reason, it is necessary for the government to implement measures to ration as much as possible and urge all citizens of the country to reduce energy consumption to overcome the current situation.” via Panama Canal Cuts Water Use as Drought Prompts Energy Rationing – Bloomberg.

Exporting natural gas just got easier. This afternoon, the Department of Energy approved the second application for a facility to export liquefied natural gas (LNG) worldwide. Today’s approval to export up to 1.4 billion cubic feet of natural gas per day goes to Freeport LNG Expansion, on Quintana Island in Texas, for 25 years. The approval process now moves to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commissions (FERC), so the company is not in the clear yet. Several companies have received nearly two dozen permits from DoE to export LNG to countries with which the U.S. has a free trade agreement (FTA), but the approval process has been much slower for permits to export to non-FTA countries. 19 facilities that want to export LNG to non-FTA countries are still under review by the Energy Department — including a joint project between ExxonMobil and Qatar Petroleum. The natural gas industry is booming in the United States, largely due to the practice of fracking, which opened up large parts of the country to extraction previously thought uneconomical to drill. Natural gas can be transported via pipeline across land, but when companies want to export the fuel overseas, they have to use ships. Since natural gas (mostly methane) in gas form would require a large ship to transport, it must be cooled and liquefied before it can be exported across an ocean. In the last decade, companies built facilities to import natural gas because the U.S. expected lower production than what fracking actually allowed. Once the shale gas boom sharply increased domestic production, they have tried to turn those import terminals into export terminals. Cheniere Energy’s Sabine Pass terminal, the first facility to receive DoE approval to export to non-FTA countries, is one example of this. The reason for the delay of such applications is due to opposition largely from the chemical industry, which fears that exports will lead to an increase in the price of natural gas (which it uses for industrial purposes), and those who care about carbon emissions and the environment, who point out that the U.S. still does not know the consequences that exports will have on carbon emissions. Congressman Ed Markey, running for John Kerry’s old senate seat in Massachusetts, said today that “The Department of Energy still doesn’t even know what the impact of natural gas exports will be on domestic businesses and consumers, but they are approving more exports anyway.” If the U.S. is increasing exports, it becomes even more critical to ensure that the natural gas obtained through hydraulic fracturing is as safe as possible, with zero fugitive emissions. Yesterday the Interior Department released draft fracking rules, and there are some easy ways (5 in fact) to make the rules adequately protect Americans and reduce greenhouse gas emissions. It is one thing to argue for weak safeguards to give Americans access to “cheap energy” — it is another to argue for weak rules that poison the air and water to export the energy to other countries. The net climate effects of LNG exports depend largely on the energy currently used by the importing country — what the gas will replace. Coal-heavy economies that replace their coal with natural gas should see lower emissions, but this transition could threaten more valuable transitions to renewable energy. The Energy Department said in today’s approval that “the exports proposed in this Application are likely to yield net economic benefits to the United States.” Left unsaid is the fact that the more fossil fuels left in the ground, the easier it is to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, which would benefit the economy in myriad ways.

Read the rest of Visiondivision’s Stunning Concept for Miami’s Bayfront Park Looks a Lot Like the Rising Sun! Permalink | Add to del.icio.us | digg Post tags: bayfront park, caribbean, Casino, everglades, florida, half sphere, hotel, landmark, Miami, monofrequency light, moon, observation deck, solar panel, sunshine state, tropical, visiondivision, water park

In the developing world, mortality rates for expectant mothers total over 300,000 deaths each year. The WE CARE Solar Suitcase is a brilliant new device that aims to reduce this figure by providing hospitals in off-grid areas with access to a steady source of energy and light. Designed by Dr. Laura Stachel and her husband Hal Aronson, the system includes high-efficiency LED lights, a universal cellphone charger, 12V DC outlets, a set of 40 or 80 watt solar panels, and a 12 amp-hour sealed lead-acid battery. READ MORE > Permalink | Add to del.icio.us | digg Post tags: birth, clean tech, Design for Health, developing nations, dr. laura stachel, green design, hal aronson, health technology, Light, photovoltaic light, renewable energy, Solar Power, solar suitcase, solar-powered light, sustainable design, wecare solar

It’s Friday, which means many of us are just counting the minutes until happy hour. After enjoying a bottle of wine, it’s always a bit sad to dump the bottle in the recycling bin. Although there are plenty of upcycling options for wine bottles, many require a fairly large dose of creativity. Protea (PROH-tee-uh) is a new brand of wine that aims to unleash your inner upcycling genius while complementing your favorite dinner. Each Protea bottle is specifically made to be reused – for floral displays, to hold olive oil, or as a beverage container. The possibilities are practically endless! Read the rest of Protea Debuts a Fetching New Wine Bottle that’s Designed to Be Upcycled Permalink | Add to del.icio.us | digg Post tags: alcohol, Creative Reuse, Fashion, fashion designer, happy hour, Mark Eisen, Protea, recycling, South Africa, upcycling, wine, Wine Bottles

Anh Phan is Manager of the Anti-Hate Table in Immigration Policy and Mari Hernandez is a Research Associate in Energy Policy at the Center for American Progress. Special thanks to former American Progress staffer Jorge Madrid for his help. Since last November’s Presidential election, immigration reform with a road map to citizenship for the 11 million unauthorized immigrants living in the country has been gaining momentum. On April 16 the bipartisan Senate “Gang of 8″ introduced their immigration bill, and diverse groups such as organized labor, evangelical Christians, and business leaders have lent their support for reform. Just last month, the board of the Sierra Club, the oldest environmental organization in the United States voted to add their voice to the movement, officially supporting immigration reform, including a pathway to citizenship. In doing so they joined other well-known environmental leaders like Bill McKibben and Van Jones. Immigration reform and environmental protection are progressive issues that are in alignment, as the Sierra Club’s support illustrates: immigrants are affected by climate change and care about the environment, and the environmental movement is in turn strengthened by the inclusion of immigrant voices. Here are the top five things you need to know about immigrants and the environment: Immigrants are already a part of the environmental movement. Immigrants and people of color have long been key players in the environmental justice movement, which has been fighting back against environmental injustice that has disproportionately affected communities of color and low-income communities. Environmental justice organizations, for example, often speak out against polluting and toxic businesses, like power plants and fuel tank facilities that are sited in or near communities of color. But while immigrants have been active in the more localized environmental justice movement, they need to have a larger role in the overall environmental movement which has all too often been criticized for a lack of diversity. In a recent Grist post, One America board member Sudha Nandagopal wrote, “… we don’t just need to add diverse faces to the crowds at environmental protests. We need inclusive strategies and a diversity of ideas. Communities of color must be equitable partners in identifying problems, crafting solutions, and pushing for change.” Immigrants have a big stake in the health of the planet. Historically, immigrants and people of color have borne a greater share of environmental burdens in their communities and at their jobs. According to the Sierra Club, 43 percent of Latino voters either live or work near a toxic site (such as a power plant, refinery, highway or factory.) This figure has increased by close to 10 percent since 2008, showing a dangerous uptick in the number of Latinos potentially exposed to dangerous environmental conditions, and the need among this community for a cleaner, healthier planet. Immigrants tend to lead low-carbon lifestyles. More than half of all immigrants live in large metropolitan areas, which have some of the lowest per capita emissions in the U.S. In fact, CAP analysis has found that cities with the lowest carbon footprint had an average immigrant population of 26 percent, while the 10 highest per-capita carbon emitting cities have an average immigrant population below 5 percent. In addition to living in big cities, immigrants are almost three times more likely to take public transportation and nearly two times more likely to carpool than native-born residents. Immigrants are helping to drive the green economy. Immigrants are leading new businesses in the green and high-tech industries, having launched 40 percent of publicly traded, venture-backed companies and nearly half of private, venture-backed startups. Additionally, immigrants occupy many “green-collar” jobs (blue-collar jobs in the green goods and services industry) and use their skills

Human constructions can take many awe-inspiring forms – from kids’ playgrounds to university clock towers. These and other fascinating titbits... This is just a brief summary, please visit Environmental Graffiti to see the full, formatted version of the article