No, you didn't read that headline incorrectly. A new study suggests that ancient Earth may have been warmed by gaseous emissions from dinosaurs. 

According to National Geographic, "Like modern-day ruminants, giant plant-eating dinosaurs likely had microbes in their guts that gave off large amounts of methane—a potent greenhouse gas even more effective at trapping heat than carbon dioxide."  Currently, ruminants like cows and giraffes release as much as 100 million metric tons of methane every year--a major piece of the up to 600 million metric tons emitted per year.

Because these animals have large forestomachs filled with microbes to break down plant material, the byproduct called methane is created.

Scientists estimate, based on their size and the amount of land available at the time, that each dinosaur emitted approximately 4.2 pounds of methane every day. "A U.S. cow, by comparison, might give off a daily average of 0.4 to 0.7 pound (0.2 to 0.3 kilogram)," reports National Geographic.  Combined, dinosaurs could have produced an extraordinary 520 million metric tons of the gas annually.

Could all the extra gas explain why dinosaurs lived in a warmer world than we do?

A few months ago I discussed the rapid decrease of the Sumatran elephant population in Indonesia.  Deforestation and agriculture have driven away and/or killed approximately half of this elephant population in just one generation.

It's bad news not only for the species, but for our world's environment in general.  A recent study featured in "Nature" compares the effects of animal extinction to human-caused global warming, highlighting the fact that governments need to work harder to protect biodiversity and its benefits.  But even this information won't get people to change their ways and live eco-friendly lifestyles.

Today I was reading an article that enticed me to do something to protect our earth's precious animals. Did you know that elephants may be just as smart as humans? 

According to Yahoo! Voices, elephants use tools found in their natural environment, mourn their dead, communicate verbally and nonverbally, and can even share cultural memories.  Most importantly, elephants are self-aware: "...elephants recognize themselves in mirrors, indicating they have a high sense of self-awareness. An elephant with a smudge on its face will try to rub it off when it sees the smudge in the mirror."

When I stumbled upon this piece, it really made me think:  Why do humans see the lives of animals as inferior to or not as important as their own?  If we only knew how complex different creatures around the world are, we might realize how awful extinction really is.

To help protect our environment and our earth's biodiversity, I vow to do two things in the coming weeks.  First, I will start buying more eco-friendly promotional products. And second, I plan on adopting a Pygmy elephant from the World Wildlife Foundation!  I'll keep you posted!

You probably haven't heard of Moyenne Island. It's a tiny piece of land just off the coast of Mahé, Seychelles, and until now had been mostly uninhabitable. 

When Brendan Grimshaw purchased the island for a mere £8,000 in the 1960s, he made it his goal to restore it back to its natural state.  According to the Huffington Post, "It took nine years for him to take the jump but finally, in 1973, the journalist from Dewsbury, England, moved to his new island with nothing but a dream. Grimshaw has lived there ever since."

At first, the plant life was so overgrown that coconuts couldn't even fall to the ground.  But Grimshaw and his friend Rene Lafortune worked to convert the island into a livable place.  Radio Times reports that 86-year-old Grimshaw and Lafortune planted more than 15,000 trees by hand and carved out almost 5 kilometers of nature paths.

While Grimshaw is the island's only human inhabitant, its transformation has attracted new life.  Approximately 2,000 new birds and 120 giant tortoises now live on the island.  Grimshaw helps to care for these animals.

Grimshaw was offered $50 million for the island several years back, but he would not accept the money: "...he did not want the island to become a holiday destination for millionaires, but rather a national park for everyone to enjoy," reports the Huffington Post.  And Grimshaw's perseverance paid off; since June 2008, Moyenne Island has been a Seychelles National Park.

News publications worldwide are abuzz over the continuing ash and rock spewing out of Mexico's Popocatepetl Volcano.  As dust and debris settle in the volcano's surrounding towns and cities, the Mexican government has enacted a new law to reduce carbon dioxide emissions.  

And concerns about the unstable Popocatepetl Volcano are not Mexico's only worries; Reuters reports that the country is currently suffering a difficult drought "that officials say is the type of weather that can be expected to occur as climate change takes hold."  The tough conditions have driven the Mexican government to pass climate change laws.

According to Discovery News, the Mexican legislature vows to "reduce emissions of carbon dioxide by 30 percent below business-as-usual levels by 2020, and by 50 percent below 2000 levels by 2050." To accomplish this, by 2024 Mexico must obtain 35 percent of energy from alternative sources.

While Mexico is home to the world's 11th biggest economy, it's also the earth's 11th largest greenhouse gas emitter.  Therefore, enforcing the new law will not be easy. "We’re very good at making laws. And then the problem is enforcing them," Juan Bezaury, a leader in Mexican public policy, told Nature.com.

Still, the bill is a step in the right direction.  Will the US soon follow suit?

It's April 22, 2012 which means it's Earth Day.  It's almost hard to believe how many people are getting involved!  Let's take a look at some of the various ways people around the world chose to make a difference:

Companies are making it easier and less expensive for consumers to go green today.  For example, MSNBC reports that Phillips is offering a 25 dollar rebate on its super-long-lasting 60 dollar LED bulbs.  That's a great price for an energy-efficient bulb that has a 20-year lifespan.  Still, the cost is much more expensive than the standard incandescent bulb.

But according to Philips North America executive Ed Crawford, "We are looking at a wholesale change in buying lighting technology, going from a disposable good to a durable good. Consumers are no longer looking at a product that will last just six months to a year, they are looking at a product that is much more efficient and will be with them for decades."

In Washington D.C., performing artist Dave Mason and pop act Kicking Daisies put on shows in support of an Earth Day rally put together by the Earth Day Network.  MSNBC reports that the organization's theme for this year's global event is to achieve one billion "acts of green."

Earth Day became a global effort in 1990. Environmentalists marched in Malang, Indonesia for an awareness-building parade. According to the Washington Post, they held "plastic bottles in protest of environmentally unsound practices."

Google's Earth Day Doodle is a perfect demonstration of how an initiative can blossom from something small into something great.  Check out the Internet search giant's Earth Day-inspired Google Doodle.  As you can see, the image depicts a garden, which spells out G-O-O-G-L-E, growing and flourishing.  According to the Washington Post, "Today, perhaps more directly than with any Earth Day Doodle previous, Google reflects the splendor that can grow, over time, out of grassroots."

For a look at more Earth Day events worldwide, check out Samantha Grossman's "Earth Day 2012: How the World Celebrates."

Asking your employees to help 'green' the office may not go over to well at first.  Let's face it:  Some people just don't want to put in the time and effort.  You can pull out all the stats and figures surrounding the negative impact of pollution and waste, but it's still hard to get people to change.

But even small steps make a difference.  Let's take a look at some easy ways to make your office green by Earth Day, courtesy of LiveScience.com:

1. Add a few plants
   
   Real plants (not the waxy plastic ones) make the workplace more attractive and also help absorb indoor air pollution.  The cleaner office air is, the healthier your employees will be.
   
   
2. Consider the environment before printing
   
   One organization, the Sierra Club, asserts that just one office employee uses 10,000 pieces of copy paper every year.  If you don't have to print something, don't!
   
   
3. Let your computer sleep
   
   Most people have a screen saver set up.  But did you know that a screen saver uses extra energy when you step away from your desk?  You can fix this by changing your settings; choose to let your computer 'hibernate' or 'sleep' when you've walked away for 10 or more minutes.
   
   
4. Turn off the lights
   
   Of course it's not healthy to be working in the dark, but if you've got a meeting or are leaving for your lunch break, dim the lights before you leave.  Conserving when possible is very important.
   
   
5. Use an electronic to-do list
   
   I'm definitely someone who loves to write out my tasks on paper and cross each out as I accomplish it.  However, there are plenty of ways to electronically achieve the same thing so that no paper is wasted.  Smartphones and computers can be set up with digitized to-do lists.  If that's not an option for you, consider investing in a dry-erase board!

Tiny changes in behavior can add up to one big, green office.  Hopefully your employees' behavioral changes will translate into new, greener habits.  To read all of LiveScience's tips, click here.

Back in January, Reuters published an article about the quickly disappearing Sumatran elephant in Indonesia.  Now fires burning in Indonesia are threatening another rare animal:  The Sumatran orangutans.

According to CBS News, "Fires raging in an Indonesian swamp forest may have killed a third of the rare Sumatran orangutans living there and all of them may be lost this year."  The fires have ravaged more than two-thirds of the Tripa swamp forest in which orangutans, tigers, and sun bears live.

But how did the fires start?  Time reports that area palm oil companies have been setting the fires themselves in an attempt to clear land, despite the fact that the Tripa forest is officially protected.  The fires are negatively affecting the orangutan population in a big way: "Land clearing fires, several set inside the perimeters, have sent orangutans fleeing. Some risk being captured or killed by residents, Singleton said. Others will simply die, either directly in the fires or of gradual starvation and malnutrition as their food resources disappear," reports Time.

Ian Singleton, Conservation Director of the Sumatran Orangutan Conservation Program, told Time that even before the fires orangutans were just barely holding on. "It is no longer several years away, but just a few months or even weeks before this iconic creature disappears," Singleton said.

By the year 1900, foreign insects were already being brought over to America from Europe.  Balsam woolly adelgids, which feast on trees like the Balsam Fir and the Fraser Fir, have since destroyed approximately 95 percent of Fraser Firs located in Great Smoky Mountains National Park.  And that's just one example of how bug imports are affecting the U.S. environment, according to a recent study by researchers at University of California.

Futurity.org reports that "almost 70 percent of the most damaging non-native forest insects and diseases currently afflicting U.S. forests arrived via imported live plants."  The study reveals that throughout the past 43 years, over 500 percent more plant imports have made their way into the U.S., usually destined for Florida or California.

But the problem is that insects come along for the ride, and a fraction of these bugs become serious economic pests.

However, imports of live plants from outside America are not likely to slow.  According to Andrew Liebhold, a researcher for the U.S. Department of Agriculture, "As global trade expands, our knowledge of pest pathways must be improved to ensure trade is accomplished with minimal environmental degradation."

Should there be an increase in bio security (greater efforts at plant inspection sites, for example) to help protect America's environment?

Did you know that coal power plants emit, on average, 1,768 pounds of carbon dioxide per megawatt?  That's in contrast to the mere 850 pounds of CO2 per megawatt cast out by a natural gas plant.  As you can see, there's a huge discrepancy in the amount of greenhouse gas emissions each power plant produces. 

That's why, according to the Washington Post, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) issued "the first-ever limits on greenhouse gas emissions from new power plants" today.  And while the rule won't affect existing coal power plants, it will likely prevent many new coal-fired plants from being erected.  The Washington Post reports: "The rule ... dooms any proposal to build a coal-fired plant that does not have costly carbon controls."

America's job market is not expected to be affected because much of the market has already shifted.  That is, many utilities are already opting to build natural gas plants due to low natural gas prices. "It’s simply a shift from a dirtier fuel to a cleaner fuel," President of the Center for Clean Air Policy Ned Helme said.

But Republicans in both the Senate and House of Representatives plan to fight the rule, claiming that it's part of a larger, job-killing agenda.

What do you think?  Is the new rule too harsh on coal-burning power plants?

California's always been at the forefront of the eco-friendly movement.  And as the state continues to take climate change threats very seriously, it begs the question:  Could an America that followed suit become a leading nation in the fight against global warming?

From San Francisco's ban on plastic bags to state-wide advancements in hydrogen fuel, it's obvious that California is concerned about the impact of climate change.  And it's with good reason -- ThinkProgress.org reports that "California will be hit hard by climate change, losing a great deal of its snow pack (a vital source of freshwater), and experiencing at least one meter of sea level rise by 2100." Those estimates do not apply nationwide, which is probably why the rest of America isn't as concerned.

But if we all made the same lifestyle changes that Californians are making, the U.S. could have a huge impact on slowing the rate of global warming. One author, Mark Hertsgaard, recently told Yale Environment 360 that

...if the rest of the United States had done what California has over the past 40 years, the world might be well on the way to slowing climate change. For in that case, the U.S. today, like California, might be consuming the same amount of energy as it did 40 years ago ... What’s more, the international community might have had a better chance of reaching a deal at the Copenhagen climate conference in 2009, because the U.S. might have embraced rather than shunned the goal of 80 percent emissions reductions by 2050.

I applaud California's bold efforts, but I remain concerned about the rest of the country.  After all, as ThinkProgress.org puts it, "Even if the state continues on this path, the lack of action elsewhere will continue to make the problem worse. If we want to truly combat the problem, we need to follow California’s lead on a broader scale."