12 SIMPLE NEW YEAR’S RESOLUTIONS FOR SUSTAINABLE LIVING

  From Local Harvest: Most of us start the New Year with good intentions of sticking to our ‘resolutions', but few of us actually ever do. Typically it seems that New Year's Resolutions center around large nebulous topics such as losing weight, getting healthy or increasing our net worth. This year try making some simple,…

That’s One Way to Halt BLM Gas Leases

From the Salt Lake Tribune: "He didn't pour sugar into a bulldozer's gas tank. He didn't spike a tree or set a billboard on fire. But wielding only a bidder's paddle, a University of Utah student just as surely monkey-wrenched a federal oil- and gas-lease sale Friday, ensuring that thousands of acres near two southern…

Obama Chooses Sen. Salazar as Interior Secretary

President-elect Barack Obama nominated Colorado Senator Ken Salazar to serve as his Interior Secretary. This appointment will have the greatest impact on the land and water conservation efforts over the next four years. The only other position that rivals the Interior Secretary's importance to conservation is Forest Service Chief. The Interior Secretary oversees the National…

Obama Closing in on Key Environmental Cabinet Picks

President-elect Barack Obama will soon announce key appointments including Lisa Jackson as EPA Administrator, Steven Chu as Energy Secretary, Nancy Sutley as head of the White House Council on Environmental Quality, and Carol Browner as his "Energy Czar". Click here for more information on these choices. Still up in the air is the key Interior…

Eating less meat to reduce your carbon footprint

Here is a great article that discusses the impact eating meat has on our carbon footprint.  I noticed a lot of Nexters have pledged to eat less meat this year to help reduce their negative impact on the environment, so I hope this article helps to strengthen your resolve! As More Eat Meat, a Bid…

EPA Eases Restrictions on Mountaintop Removal Mining

From the New York Times: "The White House on Tuesday approved a final rule that will make it easier for coal companies to dump rock and dirt from mountaintop mining operations into nearby streams and valleys." Check out the full article. Mountaintop removal is one of those issues that sounds like science fiction. But it…

How to Go Green: Gift Giving

[by Team TreeHugger]    Is anything more wonderful than finding the perfect gift for someone, or receiving the present that's just what you needed? How about gift-giving accompanied by the knowledge that your gift is also a gift for the planet? There's more to green giving than just switching to the stuff with the "green"…

Hope for NW Salmon Recovery

The Idaho Statesman — the paper of record for the state's largest city — just published an upbeat editorial that offers a vision of hope for salmon recovery in the Columbia/Snake river systems of Idaho and Oregon. It's a good read, and shows how new leadership in Washington, with a commitment to salmon, new energy…

Congress Pushes Big Public Lands Package to 2009

  Congress will not vote this year on a package of legislation that includes more than 15 provisions to protect Wilderness and wild rivers on public lands in the US. Conservation Alliance grantees worked hard to build public support to protect places including Mount Hood in Oregon, Idaho's Owyhee Canyonlands, California's White Mountains, and rivers in…