Bottled water has contaminants too

As if you needed yet another reason for why you shouldn’t buy bottled water, here’s one more: tests on leading brands of bottled water turned up a variety of contaminants often found in tap water, according to a study released this week by the Washington-based Environmental Working Group, an advocacy group. Even worst, despite this reality, all the brands met federal health standards for drinking water, and two violated a California state standard.

Farming in the Concrete Jungle

When most people think of farms, they envision flat, seemingly never-ending fields of corn in the heartland of America. But when former profession basketball player Will Allen thinks of farms, he sees something completely different, and fifteen years ago, he brought this vision to fruition when he built a farm right in the middle of a low-income neighborhood residential neighborhood in Milwaukee.

Eco-kids keeping parents on their toes

Immersed in environmentalism at school, in houses of worship and even via popular culture, a growing army of “eco-kids” are holding their parents accountable at home, reports the New York Times.

“I have very, very environmentally conscious children — more so than me, I’m embarrassed to say,” said Ms. Ross, a social worker in Dobbs Ferry, N.Y. “They’re on my case about getting a hybrid car. They want me to replace all the light bulbs in the house with energy-saving bulbs.”

Ten greenest colleges in the nation

America’s institutions of higher learning are doing more than just molding and inspiring the bright minds of students. Many are also setting admirable examples of sustainable solutions to myriad problems.

Pressure is on to recycle water filters

Brita’s “Responsible Water” campaign shows a woman on a treadmill with a disposable water bottle by her side, with the tagline, “30 minutes on the treadmill, forever in a landfill.” The problem is that water filters cannot be recycled.

One in three mammals face extinction

Half the world's mammals are declining in population and more than a third probably face extinction, said an update Monday of the "Red List," the most respected inventory of biodiversity.

ARCTIC UPDATE: This is what a ton of Carbon Dioxide looks like

It's pretty much common knowledge that those of us living in industrialized nations are guilty of releasing way too much carbon dioxide into the atmosphere -- a crime of humankind that most agree is speeding up the warming of our planet.

But since carbon dioxide, or CO2, is invisible, it's hard to visualize a ton of the stuff, or roughly the amount of the gas each American is responsible for emitting over the course of 18 days.