It's an unfortunate reality that we don't hear much positive news about the environment these days.  So when I came across an uplifting article about the return of a special species to the San Francisco Bay, I knew I had to share it.  After missing for 60 years, harbor porpoises are beginning to reappear in large numbers.

According to NPR, what drove the porpoises away in the first place was probably the quality of the water.  Bill Keener from Golden Gate Cetacean Research told NPR that at one point, "raw sewage used to flow right into the bay.

Since the passing of the Clean Water Act in 1972, however, the water's quality has improved.  Researcher Jonathan Stern with San Francisco State University told NPR that it's taken some time for the porpoises to rediscover the bay.  "Over 60 years, we're talking about a number of generations of porpoises," Stern says. "So it's quite likely that San Francisco Bay as a habitat was out of the institutional memory."

That's clearly all changed, though, as 250 individual porpoises have been identified in the area.  The positive change proves that humans can work to reverse damage done to the Earth and its ecosystems.  As Stern told NPR, "It's one of those very few good-news environmental stories. And it's in our backyard. It gives one hope."

Back in August, I shared an article about how one state in Nigeria is using excess plastic to build homes and other structures.  I certainly applaud Kaduna State for making use out of the excess trash and pollution in an attempt to prevent the Pacific "garbage patch" from growing any bigger.  Now, one company is actually gathering plastic directly from the North Pacific Gyre to recycle and turn into new products.

According to Sunrise Packaging, Method, a company which produces natural products and cleaning supplies, "has unveiled its latest innovation in sustainable packaging- a bottle that is made out of plastic collected from the North Pacific Gyre, also referred to as the Great Pacific Garbage Patch."  Twenty-five percent of the plastic used for the new bottle is taken from the Gyre in an attempt to shrink the massive mountain of plastic. 

However, the real goal here is to raise awareness.  Sunrise Packaging reports that "the real solution to plastic pollution lies in reusing and recycling the plastic that’s already on the planet."  Indeed, remanufacturing unwanted contaminants will not only remove the garbage from our oceans, but will also reduce the need for the creation of new plastic.

This is a brilliant idea that definitely has our support!  Great job, Method.

In late July, Long Island teacher Daniel Bobis traveled to Indonesia on a surfing vacation.  The high school teacher, according to the Surfrider Foundation Central Long Island Chapter, was also "head coach of the surf team, loving husband, surfer, musician, environmental activist, martial arts master, and friend to all."  But Bobis never returned from his Indonesian excursion; he was killed while surfing a 10-foot wave.

Bobis, a dedicated environmentalist, was a member of the Sludge Stoppers Task Force, "a group that advocates for clean beaches in Long Beach," reports SeattlePI.com.  That's why approximately a dozen people came together at the Laurelton Boulevard boardwalk in Long Beach, NY for an organized beach clean-up on Sunday.  Together, participants not only cleaned up Long Beach, but also commemorated Bobis' life and contribution to keeping Long Island beaches safe and sanitary.

The event was sponsored by the Surfrider Foundation's Central Long Island Chapter.  If you share Bobis' passion for keeping the coast clean and would like to celebrate his life, find your local chapter today and get involved today! 

Earlier this week, Adweek Magazine's Web site featured an article about a new eco-friendly billboard. According to the article by Tim Nudd, "Coca-Cola and the World Wildlife Fund have unveiled a new 60-by-60 foot billboard in the Philippines that's covered in Fukien tea plants, which absorb air pollution."  This exceptional ad does not only promote environmental friendliness, but helps to actually clean our Earth's air. 

Each of these plants, as reported by Nudd, will absorb up to 13 pounds of carbon dioxide every year. Nudd reports that the billboard can therefore absorb a total of 46,800 pounds of CO2 from the Earth's atmosphere, according to botanist Anthony Gao.

However, the billboard's designers didn't stop there. According to Nudd, the rest of the billboard is equally as eco-friendly. "The plants are contained in 3,600 pots made from old Coke bottles and designed to help the plants grow sideways. The potting mixture was made from industrial byproducts and organic fertilizers. And a drip irrigation system was installed, which saves water and fertilizer by allowing water to drip slowly to the roots of the plants, through a network of valves, pipes, tubing, and emitters," said Nudd.

According to Nudd's article, the goal of the billboard is to inspire Filipinos to incorporate sustainability into all that they do. Hopefully the message will be well-received, and Filipinos as rest as the rest of the world's citizens will begin to display an increase in environmental responsibility.

Head to your kitchen sink, turn on the tap and fill a glass with water. Now drink it. Did you have any reservations before taking that first sip? If you worry about water, you might find yourself wondering if you need a whole-house filtration system, or will a Brita filter suffice? Or will you end up going through so many Brita filters that a whole-house system is justified? Which is the greener choice? If you're concerned about the quality of your tap water, but are also concerned about the eco-impact of filtration systems, we have some answers for you.

For years, advocacy groups have been raising concerns about bottled water: Not only do bottles end up littering the landscape, and not only are those plastic bottles derived from fossil fuels, but they also may leach chemicals into water and the quality of the water is not stringently monitored.

But many Americans have a healthy distrust of advocacy groups. If you're one of them, then consider this. The Government Accountability Office, the well-respected and nonpartisan research organization that serves Congress, has concluded a yearlong investigation, and come up with basically the same conclusions.

Here's a summary:

Water quality

Surveys have shown that perceived health benefits are behind the staggering increase in the consumption of bottled water -- from 13.4 gallons per person in 1997 to 29.3 gallons per person in 2007.

While on paper, the Food and Drug Administration limits on contaminants in bottled water mirror the Environmental Protection Agency's strict limits on contaminants in tap water supplied by community water systems, that doesn't mean bottled water is as closely watched or as safe as tap water. Here's why:

• Phthalates
  Unlike the EPA, which has set limits on phthalates in water, the FDA has stalled for more than 15 years in publishing a limit on the phthalate DEHP in bottled water. DEHP is an ingredient in plastic, and (the GAO report does not detail the chemical's potential health effects as we do here) laboratory studies have linked some phthalates to problems with male fertility -- including decreased sperm counts and penis and testes sizes -- with obesity, and with other health problems related to hormonal imbalances. Several phthalates have been banned in children's products for this same reason: They inhibit the normal function of testosterone, the male hormone.

• Testing
  While the EPA requires drinking water suppliers to use certified labs to test their water, the FDA does not have this authority. Further, test results don't have to be reported to the FDA -- even if the test results show violations of drinking water quality standards. Even those states that have rules that exceed FDA requirements typically don't match EPA requirements.

• Labeling
  While the EPA requires public drinking water systems to annually publish the results of water quality testing, along with information about the drinking water source and known threats, the FDA does not require this of bottled water companies. The GAO reports: "In 2000, the FDA concluded that it was feasible for the bottled water industry to provide the same types of information to consumers that public water systems must provide. However, the agency was not required to conduct a rule-making requiring that manufacturers provide such information to consumers, and has yet to do so."

• "High risk" regulation
  The GAO has repeatedly warned that the FDA is not up to the task -- lacking staff, funding, and regulatory authority (while seeing staffing drop 19%, the facilities it was charged with inspecting increased 28% between about 2001 and 2007) -- to adequately police the nation's food supply. In January 2007, the GAO noted that the nation's food safety is a "high risk" area, in great part because it is policed by 15 separate agencies. Drinking water is only one more example.

Environmental impact

• Waste
  While recycling of carbonated beverages, like soda and beer, is encouraged in many states with deposit laws, these bottle bills are much less common for bottled water. As a result, about 75% of plastic water bottles are thrown in the trash, rather than recycled.

• Energy
  "Regarding the impact on U.S. energy demands, a recent peer-reviewed article noted that while the production and consumption of bottled water comprises a small share of total U.S. energy demand, it is much more energy-intensive than the production of public drinking water."

There are reasons to keep bottled water around: It's handy in case of an emergency, for instance. In most everyday cases, however, it's better for you and the environment to use a reusable water bottle and tap water (filtered if you think it improves the taste).

Many of the issues with bottled water that the GAO identified can be solved with changes in regulation: Water quality could be assured if it matches EPA standards; labeling could provide full disclosure of source and testing contaminants detected; the nation's food safety regulatory structure could be totally overhauled; and recycling rates could be improved with new bottled deposit laws.

However, bottled water will remain an item that lacks commonsense as long as U.S. tap water remains among the safest and most rigorously tested in the world.

The Daily Green previously summarized the problems with the bottled water industry like this:

The seven sins of bottled water

1. Plastic bottles are made from petroleum.

2. The bottles often go into the trash, rather than the recycle bin (in part because many states don't offer five-cent deposits to encourage recycling, as they do on soda and beer cans and bottles).

3. The water is pumped far from where it is sold, creating needless pollution as trucks and barges transport it across the country or around the world.

4. Some local communities have objected to the sale of their water, arguing that the water underground or flowing from natural springs is publicly owned and should not be exploited for profit.

5. Bottled water is rarely as closely monitored as tap water.

6. Tap water in the United States, when provided by a municipal system, is the most highly monitored and safe supply in the world.

7. Some of the water sold in little plastic bottles is tap water, but it costs an awful lot more per gallon.

 Via: http://green.yahoo.com/blog/daily_green_news/98/six-indictments-against-bottled-water.html

As a dedicated Treehugger you knew it, but…in case you needed more proof:

"A direct comparison of drinking water from the tap with unrefrigerated bottled water shows an environmental impact of tap water which is less than one percent of that of bottled water. Even when refrigerated and carbonated, the environmental impact of tap water is approximately only one fourth of that of bottled water. Thus, from an environmental point of view, tap water is preferable to bottled water as a beverage."

The general consensus is that tap water is a safe, healthy, and economical choice for most Americans. What's more, experts say it's preferable to bottled water.

Why? "There is no reason to think that bottled water is any cleaner or safer since it doesn't have to meet the same stringent requirements as tap," says Jenny Powers of the Natural Resources Defense Council.

In fact, current FDA regulations don't require bottled water to be tested as frequently as the EPA requires for tap water.

A four-year intensive study of the bottled-water industry by the NRDC revealed that approximately 25 percent or more of bottled water simply comes from the tap; sometimes further treated and sometimes not. The Environmental Working Group discovered 38 pollutants, from caffeine to Tylenol to heavy metals, in the 10 brands of bottled water it tested.

Given those kinds of reports it's hard to justify the hefty price tag that bottled water commands (about 1,900 times the cost of public water according to EWG). There are also several environmental costs associated with producing and shipping bottled water across the globe and then disposing of all the empty bottles.

That said, the quality of your tap water depends on where you live. "There are certainly situations where tap water is not up to standard," says Powers, "but if you do have concerns, there are ways to check on and improve the quality of it."

Start by finding out what's in your tap water. Here's how:  

• Read the annual Consumer Confidence Report from your water supplier to learn where your water comes from and what's in it. It should arrive in your mailbox each year by July 1. Or, check to see if it's available on the EPA's website. To learn how to interpret info and for other useful tips: Download Making Sense of Drinking Water "Right to Know" Reports or read Deciphering Your Water Report.


• Check out EWG's National Tap Water Quality Database to see their analysis of your water and how it compares to other towns and cities in the U.S.


• If you have well water, click here for the EPA's guidelines on keeping your water safe and healthy. 


• The only way to know what's coming out of your tap is to test it. Lead, for example, might not be in your municipal supply, but it can leach from your pipes. You can buy a simple test online or at your local hardware store. Or, visit your state or municipal government website to find out if your city or town provides free lead-testing kits. Click here for links to certified labs in each state.  

Use water filters to get rid of contaminants or improve the taste of your water. There are many brands and models, but here are the basics:   

• Buy filters that are certified by NSF International. Look for the stamp of approval on packaging or click here for a searchable list.  


• Choose a filter that gets rid of the contaminants present in your water. A carbon filter is a relatively inexpensive and common solution for many water contaminants, but check the label to make sure it's filtering what you want it to. Reverse osmosis and whole house systems are more complicated options, but in some cases may be necessary. Click here for a brief description of your different options or here for Consumer Reports' ratings on specific brands.


• Don't forget to change your filters regularly.  

Via:http://green.yahoo.com/blog/the_conscious_consumer/49/is-your-tap-water-safe.html

What trees to plant and where to plant them to reduce runoff.

You should plant trees as often as you can. You can go carbon neutral by planting twenty trees a year. If that's not a good enough reason, you can plant them to increase the energy-efficiency of your home or use them to reduce runoff.

Runoff pollution is a major contributor to the decrease of water quality and is an often overlooked environmental problem. A single medium-sized tree can filter over 2000 gallons of water a year. The water is then put back into the water cycle via evapotranspiration. Planting a tree can keep our water clean and drinkable.

How to Plant Trees to Reduce Runoff

Evergreen or Deciduous?
Evergreens are better at preventing runoff pollution that deciduous trees. Evergreens never lose their green and, therefore, they never stop transpiring. If you are planting a tree for shear runoff prevention, then an evergreen is definitely for you.

However, one of the best ways to keep runoff pollution from running off of things like cement and buildings is by covering it with a tree canopy. Deciduous trees are better at creating an overhead canopy on cement areas, but always plant trees at least two feet away from cement and five feet from buildings. Vines might be a better option in some cases.

And if you are planting trees to save energy in your home. Deciduous should go on the south and east side and evergreens should go on the north and east side.

Another case for deciduous trees is that it creates more tree litter. Leaves and branches are great at impeding the flow of runoff. Roots (present in evergreens as well) also help to break up the soil and further retard runoff.

Things to Remember About Planting a Tree
Trees are not rain gardens. They are not as hardy. If you use a water catchment system to divert water to a tree, the tree may die.

Check for overhead wires before planting a tree and remember to check with your neighbor if the tree is close to his or her property line. And if you do plant a deciduous tree near cement, you risk inciting a tree root-cement conflict in the future.

More on Trees:
How Green is Your Garden?
How to Go Green: Gardening
4 Ways to Plant Trees for Under Ten Bucks
How to Plant a Young Tree
Low tech Tips: Be Cool and Plant A Tree

Via: Planet Green

If you thought throwing your sandwich wrapper in a stream while camping was most common form of water pollution, think again: from agricultural runoff to waste treatment, pollution affects more and more of the Earth’s water supply every minute. Check out five of the most invasive and damaging types of pollution (but please: still throw that sandwich wrapper in the trashcan).