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elephant-national-heritage-animal-india.jpgPhoto: Elephant being bathed in a temple in Thrissur (K.C. Sowmish via The Hindu) As long-standing icons of its unique cultural psyche, India's threatened elephants are finally getting the protection -- and well-deserved recognition -- they need. In a bid for better conservation, earlier this week the Indian government formally declared the elephant its "national heritage animal", elevating the legendary pachyderm alongside the likes of the majestic tiger, in the hopes of averting a future con...Read the full story on TreeHugger
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proposed taylorville energy center image Taylorville Illinois Energy Center, a proposed "clean coal" power plant. Image credit:Illinois Times Southern Illinois has vast, easily accessible coal reserves. That coal may be sulfurous and wet and salty; but ,Southern Illinois also has good geologic features for CO2 sequestration, plus Presidential root tendrils are there. These aspects explain, in a last-year kind of way, why Obama's Energy Department supports this $3.5 billion fantasy. (Several major conceptual design changes have been made since the Bush Ad...Read the full story on TreeHugger
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paul mccartney nasa photo Photo via OneThirtyBPM.com Musician Paul McCartney isn't shy about taking a stand for animal rights -- the vegetarian superstar has talked about his journey to a meat-free diet and supported Meatless Mondays -- and now he's speaking up for another group: the monkeys that NASA uses to predict how space travel will affect humans. ...Read the full story on TreeHugger
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chimpanzee photo photo: Graham Racher via flickr Go chimps, go! An interesting new paper in the journal Primates documents how a group of chimpanzees in Bossou, Guinea have been successfully deactivating snares set by human bushmeat hunters. Though not always successful, the scienti...Read the full story on TreeHugger
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Best of Inhabitots: 7 Toxic Dangers for Kids

On September 3, 2010, in Treehugger, by TreeHugger
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Shocked baby photo Photo credit: on_ovington + Baby formula could contain unsettling amounts of aluminum&emdash;more than 40 times the amount found in breast milk, according to one recent study. + Another scary side-effect of tainted baby formula: Breasts in female infants. + 85 percent of so-called kid-friendly drinks and snacks could contain Read the full story on TreeHugger
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fish market photo photo: Mr. T in DC via flickr A bit of a sustainable seafood smackdown is ongoing: In a new opinion piece in the journal Nature scientists from the University of British Columbia, Scripps Institution of Oceanography, and other institutions have called out the Marine Stewardship Council for not doing a good job at marine stewardship. As is to be expected, MSC strongly disagrees. ...Read the full story on TreeHugger

Banksy Turns Kiddie Ride Into Anti-BP Statement

On September 3, 2010, in Treehugger, by TreeHugger
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banksy kiddie ride dolphin bp oil photo Photo: Banksy.co.uk Poor Dolphin World-famous guerilla artist Banksy has made many environmental statements in the past, but we think this one is particularly clever, especially with the events of the past few months. Check out the video after the jump to see the coin-operated kiddie ride in action....Read the full story on TreeHugger
permaculture and spongebob squarepants video photo Image credit: CosmicRevolutionKS When I interviewed my friend Tim Toben of Greenbridge and Pickards Mountain Ecoinstitute, he suggested it was important that we all "tell the story about the transformation from a world powered by fossil fuels to a world powered by renewable energy -- in poetry, music, art, dance." That's easier said than done. But one young man has been doing just that—and the result is rather strange, but oddly compelling. Apparently we...Read the full story on TreeHugger
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american mink photo Photo via qmnonic Nothing like a flood of minks loose in a country's already fragile ecosystem to put environmentalists in a tough spot. Two fur farms in northern Greece were raided, the results of which saw 50,000 minks running for the hills. Fortunately for everyone (except the minks) the problem could solve itself in a short time. UPDATE: An animal rights group has claimed responsibility for the raids and a photo of the unfortunate outcome of the action, after the jump. ...Read the full story on TreeHugger
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tiger cub in luggage photo Photo via National Geographic We've got a new regular slideshow here on TreeHugger: The Week in Animal Photos. Catch a glimpse of what the animal kingdom has been up to this week, from a tiger cub disguised as a stuffed tiger rescued from an international smuggling deal to a newly discovered pea-sized frog perched on a pencil tip. The Week in Ani...<a href=Read the full story on TreeHugger