Over the century after it was first launched, the British-built steamship, the SS Ayrfield, hosted a variety of different sailors and cargo. During World War II, it was used by the Australian government to transport food and supplies to soldiers in the Pacific theatre, and afterwards, sold to a shipping company to transport coal.But although the vessel was wrecked and decommissioned in the early 1970s, left to rust in Sydney's Homebush Bay, it has since been slowly commandeered by a new type of ...

Fleet Composite Squadron 6 conducts boat operations off coast of Naval Station Norfolk, VA. (Credit: U.S. Navy) Yesterday Terry McAuliffe, Virginia’s Democratic gubernatorial candidate, revealed newfound support for oil and gas exploration off the Commonwealth’s coast. The Washington Post reported that he now backs legislation sponsored by Virginia’s Democratic U.S. Senators Mark Warner and Tim Kaine that would open offshore areas to oil and gas exploration. Offshore oil drilling is viewed by Vi...

Following CAP’s piece yesterday that details exactly what it means to use gasoline to travel this Memorial Day weekend, here is an infographic that shows the cost of Big Oil. Gas prices are rising in the Midwest and spot crude oil prices for the West Texas Intermediate benchmark is nearly $5 per barrel higher than last year at this time. The oil industry uses high prices to make big profits, spends them to keep their tax breaks, and then pushes for more dirty, unconventional oil like Canadian ta...

Allison Arieff literally wrote the book on modern prefab and knows the subject better than just about anyone. She writes in the New York Times about the trend towards multifamily housing, calling it " the killer app for the modular industry."In 2004, Allison was proselytizing prefab for single family house, and I was selling them. We both dreamed of a revolution in the homebuilding business where architect designed, elegant, green and affordable homes would be available to anyone. In the end it ...

Claesson Koivisto Rune are TreeHugger favorites, designing best-of-show lamps, air purifiers, prefab houses and chairs. Now they are trying to address a serious problem in Africa: the wasteful, dangerous and inefficient way people cook. The traditional way, sitting a pot on three stones and building a fire under, uses a lot of wood and puts out a lot of smoke and particulate.Top Third Ventures went to Claesson Koivisto Rune to design a stove that "looks good, feels good and makes them proud." T...

Like the mice of New York, cockroaches are being shaped by urban environments. Scientists have found that a particular strain has evolved in such a way that it can outsmart human traps.In the first part of the experiment, the researchers offered the hungry cockroaches a choice of two foods - peanut butter or glucose-rich jam [known as jelly is the US]."The jelly contains lots of glucose and the peanut butter has a much smaller amount," explained Dr Schal."You can see the mutant cockroaches taste...

From Chipotle to high-end eateries like Le Bernardin, 100 New York City restaurants have agreed to cut the amount of food waste they send to the landfill in half through composting and recycling.Bloomberg announced the restaurants would participate in the New York's first Food Waste Challenge, as part of the city's goal to divert 75 percent of solid waste from landfills by 2030. Reducing the amount of food waste that ends up in landfills will also cut down on greenhouse gas emissions.According t...

We can do all the fancy stuff in New York's Design Week, but on TreeHugger the tiny house rules. The two most popular posts of the week were Kim's looks at living with less. I should learn from this and stay home next year. First up is Carrie and Shane Caverly of of Santa Fe, New Mexico's Clothesline Tiny Homes. More: Eco-minded 204 sq. ft. tiny home packs in tons of thoughtful details (Video) Original linkOriginal author: Lloyd Alter

The week in transportation: Plug-in milestones, Teslas, 3d-printed bikes, Sparks, stupid tweets, etc : TreeHugger credit: Tesla Motors Events Please enable JavaScript to view the comments. ...

Riding a bike has so much going for it, from being an emissions-free mode of transportation to keeping riders fit and healthy to just being a fun activity, that it's hard to see why so more people aren't doing it.One big stumbling block for the bike-curious is the risk factor, especially after dark, considering you're balanced on top of a relatively fragile vehicle as you navigate through automobile traffic, where even the smallest car is huge in comparison.So being visible while riding at night...

Beer purity law of 1516 German brewers have sent a letter to various officials in Berlin to voice their concern that shale gas exploitation via fracking could endanger the water supply on which they depend, and thus violate the venerable "Beer Purity Law" (Reinheitsgebot) of 1516, the world's first food purity law. They ask the German government for guarantees that their high-quality water supply will be protected, something that the government has not done so far, they say.Flickr/CC BY 2.0On th...

The sun, to many of us, is like water to a fish. Very important, but we kind of forget about it because it's always been there. But the great nuclear fusion reactor in the sky is a fascinating astral body that deserves our attention, not only because it powers almost all life on Earth (exceptions are some chemotrophs and such) and bathes us in enough energy to easily meet all the needs of our human civilization, but also because it is beautiful in its own right and a great playground for scienti...

by Brad Johnson, campaign manager for Forecast the Facts The nearly $300 million climate-resiliency initiative established by New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg using Sandy relief funds will not address climate pollution, according to a city official. The New York City Special Initiative for Rebuilding and Resiliency (SIRR), formed in November 2012, will release a report this month indicating how $294 million in federal funding from the Superstorm Sandy relief act should be spent to increase ...

The Yale Project on Climate Change Communication and George Mason University released their most recent survey this week: The Yale survey, “Public Support for Climate and Energy Policies in April 2013,” dates back to 2008 and is an important barometer for public opinion on clean energy and climate issues. In general, the year’s survey finds that support for prioritizing clean energy remains high, albeit with a recent dip, due in part to the increasing polarization of the American electorate. St...

Watching a diverse, powerful coalition of groups in North Omaha, Nebraska, come together against a coal plant has been inspiring in the past few months. Residents are working with members of the local NAACP, the Malcolm X Foundation, the Sierra Club, and many others to call for clean energy and the retirement of Omaha Public Power District's North Omaha coal plant.They are tired of the health effects that air pollution is having on their neighborhoods. According to the Clean Air Task Force, poll...

(Credit: Andreas Gebert/EPA/Corbis) German brewers are sounding the alarm that allowing fracking could pollute water and ruin German beer. [Telegraph] German brewers have warned Chancellor Angela Merkel that any law allowing the controversial drilling technique known as fracking could damage the country’s cherished beer industry. The Brauer-Bund beer association is worried that fracking for shale gas, which involves pumping water and chemicals at high pressure into the ground, could pollute wate...

Just as we saw following Hurricane Sandy, the devastating tornado that hit Moore, Oklahoma raised the question of whether the storm could be attributed to climate change. As noted earlier, while global warming is making many weather events more extreme, tornados are harder to attribute to climate change. Andrew Revkin asked a number of climate scientists to share their thoughts on the connection (or lack thereof). Revkin notes that the question of whether this storm is related to climate change ...

The UK-based grocery store chain announced in its intentions to help consumers reduce wasteful shopping habits.The Guardian reports that marketing and deals lead consumers to buy more food than they will eat:After criticism of the prevalence of supermarket "bogofs" (buy one get one frees) and other deals which help to create an annual mountain of food waste, the UK's largest retailer said its food promotions would, in the future, not be designed to encourage people to buy large amounts of food w...

Jaymi's Notes:I can't pass up a grilled portobello mushroom, especially when it is stuffed full with sauteed leeks and spinach. Talk about a hearty summer main dish. This recipe is extra flavorful thanks to the balsamic vinegar mixed in with the leeks and spinach. The melted cheese on top is a delicious addition. I added roasted red peppers with the cheese topping for a little extra flavor.Of course, this is a vegan dish if you leave the cheese off, or if you use a vegan cheese alternative.More ...

With gyres of it swirling in our oceans, to landfills packed to overflowing with it, plastics are a true, non-biodegradable modern day bane. To tackle this pervasive problem, we've found various ways to recycle, upcycle and transform plastics into clothing, architecture and art, often with surprising results. Using 1,500 recycled bottles, this new parking canopy in Lincoln, Nebraska, shows that old plastic bottles can still impart a fresh aesthetic.© Garth Britzman© Garth Britzman© Garth Britzma...