Good housekeeping beats insecticides...and rids allergens

Research shows good housekeeping is more effective than insecticides. When a building supervisor notified tenants in Brooklyn that one of the apartments had a bedbug infestation, Eddie Rosenthal feared that it was only a matter of time until they spread to his home. But it wasn't just the bugs that gave Rosenthal the creeps. So did the prospect of using pesticides. So Rosenthal decided to try a few tricks that might keep his home bug-free without spraying chemicals. He raised his bed off the ground, filled some cracks and applied some nontoxic powder to spaces between walls.

Now new research shows that such good housekeeping techniques not only minimize chemical use, but they are even more effective at controlling pests than hiring an exterminator to spray powerful, toxic pesticides. A single use of such techniques in 13 New York City apartment buildings eliminated substantially more cockroaches and mice than repeated professional applications of pesticides. Another plus: asthma-triggering allergens related to bugs were up to 70 percent lower in residences using preventive techniques than those using insecticides. Details here.

Animal cams: Inside the nest...out in wild

Views from animal-cams...laughing Kookaburra, hummingbird, owl, armadillo. Check out Sam Eaterson's Museum of Animal Perspectives here. Bear back-scratching against a tree here.

Meat industry creates half of all greenhouse gases

New study: meat creates half of all greenhouse gases. Read it in The Independent.

Environmental impact photography

Artful photographers documenting mankind's impact on the Earth and nature - Robin's article here.

Nashville rocks

Robin's latest travel piece in various editions of the Examiner.

Nature's good for kids...Pictured Rocks park

Robin's piece in the San Fran and DC Examiner newspapers. One edition here.

Bicycle thieving in Paris

80 percent of the initial 20,600 bicycles of the Paris bicycle rental system have been stolen or damaged...And along with the dent in the city-subsidized budget has been a blow to the Parisian psyche. “The symbol of a fixed-up, eco-friendly city has become a new source for criminality,” Le Monde mourned in an editorial over the summer. “The Vélib’ was aimed at civilizing city travel. It has increased incivilities.” Read on...

Today's reason for why we don't eat animals

Treatment of downed cows. Yeah, it matters. Article at

Video accessible here.

And: why many humans are absolutely the most inhumane, stupid and perverse creatures created by God. Enough to make me support the death penalty except for the commandment against killing. You want these people walking your streets or near your kids?

Chimp funeral

The November National Geographic Magazine features a moving photograph of chimpanzees watching the burial of one of their own. ... A maternal and beloved figure, Dorothy spent eight years at Cameroon's Sanaga-Yong Chimpanzee Rescue Center, which houses and rehabilitates chimps victimized by habitat loss and the illegal African bushmeat trade.... After a hunter killed her mother, Dorothy was sold as a "mascot" to an amusement park in Cameroon. For the next 25 years, she was tethered to the ground by a chain around her neck, taunted, teased, and taught to drink beer and smoke cigarettes for sport. In May 2000,
Read the story at: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/10/29/the-story-behind-national_n_338120.htmlRead the story here. Worth the time.

Green chemistry: copying Nature

Robin's green chemistry piece in today's Examiner newspapers. One edition here. And with photo here.

Bacon, cheese, junk snacks create addictions

Mammalian brain chemistry altered by junk foods... Bacon, cheesecake and Ho Hos alter pleasure centers in rats' brain. Story here.

Santa Fe: Animals in Modern Art, and Food Spotting

http://prime.peta.org/2009/10/santa-fe-animal-friendly-art-vegan-friendly-cuisine