Why do so many fisherman enjoy Alabama's Gulf Coast? Well even though the state only has 2% of America's Gulf coastline, it produces over one-third of the Gulf's Red Snapper catch, and the reason is primarily the state's allowance of private artificial reefs. According to ABetterEarth.org, fish congregate around these reefs made out of scrap metal and old tires that can be purchased for as little as $1,000. The fisherman, in turn, take good care of their private little spots, and one company has dropped over 14,000 reefs into Alabama's Gulf waters. With talk of allowing old oil rigs [...]

You probably don't need a study to tell you that traffic in America's cities continues to get worse. But that's just what the annual Urban Mobility Report from Texas A & M University recently announced. According to USA Today, the average urban commuter spent a whopping 47 hours in traffic per year which totaled more than three and a half billion hours of travel delay, 2.3 billion gallons of wasted fuel, and a total cost of more than 60 billion dollars. On the positive side, techniques including entrance ramp meters, and efforts to more quickly clear accidents and disabled [...]

Some people can't get enough of Star Wars. And that's just what the Organic food industry is counting on, having released a cute but factually questionable parody of the movie classic entitled Store Wars. In the short flick, vegetable puppets Obi-Wan Cannoli and Cuke Skywalker try to rescue Princess Lettuce from Darth Tater with the help of Ham Solo and Chewbroccoli. The premise is that supermarkets have been taken over by the Dark side of pesticides and pollution. But with little scientific evidence to back up the claim that modern agriculture poses any danger at all, it looks like [...]

Just south of Africa's Sahara desert is a region called the Sahel that was once prosperous with agriculture, but now has stark poverty and barren land. Why the change? Well according to a fascinating new paper by Citizens for a Sound Economy, this "desertification" resulted from policies brought in by France in the late 1800's that upset the traditional property-oriented culture of the inhabitants. Previously, water wells were controlled by the clan that dug them, so the number of cattle was limited by their use of the well. But when the French dug new wells with no clear ownership [...]

Everyone knows if you want to live a good long life, it is important that you keep thin and fit, right? Well, according to an astonishing new study conducted by the National Institutes of Health and CDC, finding such a link may be more fiction than fact. As published in the Journal of the AMA, researchers at these prestigious institutes found absolutely no link between obesity, defined as a BMI of 25 and 30 percent, and an increased risk of early death. Indeed, the research revealed that being slightly overweight may actually be safer than being of normal weight, [...]

"The answer my friend, is blowing in the wind." Such were the sentiments of singer Bob Dylan in the 1960's, and they are being echoed today, albeit in a somewhat different manner, by Australian engineer Bryan Roberts. Roberts, you see, has developed plans to build a novel wind power station in the sky -- a cluster of flying windmills soaring 15,000 feet in the air. At this high altitude, winds are strong and consistent, unlike down on earth, and just 600 of these flying windmills can supply more than three times the power of a conventional nuclear power plant. [...]

Everyone wants gasoline prices to come back down from their record highs, right? Well, not everyone. According to Accuracy in Media, writer Greg Easterbrook said in the New York Times he would like to see the government implement a 50-cent increase in the federal gas tax, which could then be used to reduce taxes for the poor and lower middle class. Of course, they would be the very people most harmed by the increased tax – but that's another story. And in The Washington Post, writer David Ignatius claimed only a total price of $5 per gallon, such as [...]

Will nuclear power make a comeback?  Well the answer is "yes" according to participants at a recent international conference in Paris.  According to CNS News, the delegates from more than 70 nations affirmed that nuclear power can, quote "make a major contribution to meeting the energy needs and sustaining the world's development in the 21st century."  The International Atomic Energy Agency, which partially funded the conference, notes that nuclear energy use is on the rise, especially in Asia where 22 of the world's last 31 new nuclear plants were constructed.  Indeed, without nuclear power, 600 million tons of carbon [...]

In the 1970's show, "The Six Million Dollar Man," a human was largely recreated using advanced technology to make him "better, faster, and stronger."  Today, new technology is being applied, albeit in a somewhat different manner, to trees.  And the reason?  To make them advanced, powerful instruments to help clean our environment.  In Danbury, Connecticut, for example, 160 bioengineered cottonwoods have been planted to help clean up mercury from a hat factory. At Oregon State University, scientists are developing a new tree that will soak up carbon dioxide in its roots more efficiently.  And recently, a new research team [...]

Are school children being taught more science or politics when it comes to their environmental education?  Well according to former Southern California public school teacher Ari Kaufman, sadly it seems to be more of the latter than the former.  Comments Kaufman: "As a public school teacher, I have witnessed everything from school plays which dramatize how mankind is destroying the earth, to field trips to beaches designed to politicize children into becoming environmental activists. Essentially these agenda- driven efforts by environmental groups use scare tactics to implore kids to chastise their parents for destroying the earth. It was very [...]

If you heard there were people in Oregon fighting to have more logging on federal lands, you would probably assume they were representing logging companies, not environmental groups.  But according to an article in Eugene's Register-Guard, a number of local environmental groups including the Oregon Natural Resources Council have become convinced that more cutting would simply be better for the forests.  This is because without thinning, human- planted fir trees often become dense clusters of spindly trees with dark and relatively barren land underneath, hardly the richness and complexity of an old growth forest.  They don't support clear- cutting, [...]

It would probably surprise you to learn that after agriculture, the water needed to cool power plants is the second biggest user of water in America, consuming nearly 40% of our nation's total.  But now, two scientists at the University of Florida are now working on a way to turn that wastewater into millions of gallons of fresh H2O.  According to the Christian Science Monitor, the idea is to take the water heated by the power plants and flow it through a tower structure to force evaporation. Ultimately, the captured, condensed water would be salt-free, and with one 100 [...]

What kind of energy will the world be using in 100 years?  Well it's hard to know exactly, but according to Australian free- lance writer Chris Prunty, there are plenty of areas ripe for innovation.  One is geothermal power, which uses the natural heat of the earth that at its center, is around 6,000 degrees Celsius, and hot enough to melt rock.  Another is wave energy that could harness the power of ocean waves by channeling them through a power station chamber and past a turbine.  And a third is tidal power that could build dams across certain river [...]

While American forests lose revenue and are often poorly managed, such is not the case in Canada where clearly defined property rights coupled with market economics are making a difference.  Comments Alison Berry of PERC, who authored a report examining the two systems: "The major difference between U.S. and Canadian public forest management is that in the United States, federal agencies bear full responsibility for most land management.  In Canada, private companies are often responsible for many aspects of forest management on public lands.  This is possible through long-term agreements between the government and the private sector, which can [...]