On a clear night a century ago, thousands of stars would have been visible to most people on the planet. Today, that’s only true for a minority — those living in rural areas far from urban settings. For the rest of us, the sky is relatively empty. Folks in the suburbs might see a few [...]
See the Milky Way Rising (video)
Once a familiar fixture of the night sky, the Milky Way is now invisible to most of the world’s people. The reason is light pollution from the artificial lights that keep our modern cities and suburbs ablaze at night. The Milky Way is a barred spiral galaxy, which has arms spiraling off a center piece. [...]
Coley the Osprey’s Migration
The development of lightweight solar-powered GPS transmitters in recent years has enabled scientists — and the bird-loving public — to discover where ospreys go when the weather turns cool and how they get there. One migrating osprey being tracked right now is “Coley,” who was equipped with a GPS backpack in May. After a summer [...]
Microbes R Us
Recent research has established that 90% of the cells in our bodies are not our own. They belong to microbes — bacteria and other microscopic creatures, collectively known as our microbiome. Like good guests who help with cooking and clean-up, many of these microbes perform valuable, not to say, essential services, providing enzymes for digestion, [...]
A New, Improved This Green Life
I am very excited to announce that there is a new, bigger, better, more attractive This Green Life on the NRDC website. Eight years after launching the original, I have finally organized the nearly 100 columns into useful categories like Animals, Health, Waste (Not!) and Spirit and Meaning. Now you can easily find what you’re [...]
Vegetarian Grilling Comes to America
The all American barbecue is changing. No longer is meat or chicken the only thing on the grill. At some barbecues, it’s not even on the menu. I’m not referring to the fish taco fad, but something more surprising: the growing popularity of purely vegetarian grilling — as in grilled eggplant parmesan sandwiches, grilled tofu [...]
12 Most Important Foods to Buy Organic (2012)
Fact: You cannot get rid of all the pesticides on conventionally grown fruits and vegetables simply by washing them. In the latest government tests analyzed by the Environmental Working Group (EWG), pesticides were found on 68 percent of food samples after peeling and washing. This is of concern because small doses of pesticides and other [...]
Sugar Snap Peas, Squash, Scapes and Rice — a June Farmer’s Market Recipe
This delicious, healthy recipe is creamy like risotto, but easier to make, and uses seasonal ingredients for June in the Northeast. The first night I served it with roasted slices of golden beets (also seasonal)– a perfect accompaniment. By day 2, the beets were gone, so we made do with local greenhouse tomatoes. The fresh-baked [...]
Repair and Reuse — Recycle Later
The act of repairing things (or having them repaired by others) has gone woefully out of fashion. It just doesn’t seem to pay anymore. Planned obsolescence and the changed economics brought about by globalization have made buying replacements too cheap and easy. The result? A throwaway culture that dumps perfectly good resources only to mine [...]
Young People Driving Less
For the first time since World War II, Americans are driving less—and young people most of all. In a comparison of the transportation habits of 16-34 year olds in 2009 to those in 2001, a new report by U.S. PIRG and the Frontier Group finds that young people in 2009: Traveled 23% fewer “vehicle miles”; [...]
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This Green Blog is the companion blog to NRDC's This Green Life, a green living column written by Sheryl Eisenberg for the Natural Resources Defense Council. (Subscribe to get it for FREE each month.)
Sheryl has also written "Greentips" for the Union of Concerned Scientists and designs websites for environmental groups and others with her firm, Mixit Productions.
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