For well over two years we have been wondering why they still allow chemicals like triclosan in products like soap, creams and even toothpaste. We know people are crazed about using antibacterial products, even though they do more harm than good. They are possibly gender-benders and may be responsible for killing amphibians. So why are they still so ubiquitous? Because the EPA continues to think that they are just fine.

Raised beds at the local primary school image from Incredible Edible Todmorden

What happens when two women in a small town realise that vegetables could be planted in the flowerbeds of the local parks and along the edges of the town's cemetery. A revolution, of a planting kind, is born. That's what happened in Todmorden, in Yorkshire. The women started planting rhubarb and chard and other vegetables in municipal tubs by the bus stop, on the railway platform, at the school, in the cemetery, outside the doctors' office. Their goal was to inspire others to start growing vegetables wherever they could: in their own back gardens, on balconies, outside their offices...

They launched their organisation "Incredible Edible Todmorden", with the goal of increasing the amount of local food grown and eaten in the town. Their aim is to have the town self-sufficient in food by 2018. The response has been overwhelming. The local council, to its credit, has given permission to plant 500 fruit trees around the local playing fields and is looking for plots to turn into new allotments. The town used to have 44 allotment sites and now it has only four.

Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall is a national treasure--a writer, organic farmer, chef, t.v. personality and passionate believer in local communities. His latest venture is "Landshare"--a scheme which puts people with large unused gardens in touch with gardeners wanting space. He calls it a "food revolution destined to be the next great thing." With more people wanting to grow their own food and allotments being harder and harder to come by, he just may be right.

It is a simple and optimistic idea. People register their interest as a grower, a spotter --someone who has seen land in their area that may be suitable for growing--or an owner. The register, once it is up and running, will put these people in touch with each other.

Clean Coal Fans, Take Note
As reported here on TreeHugger and on Discovery News last week: "Monday night 2.6 million cubic yards (the equivalent of 525.2 million gallons, 48 times more than the Exxon Valdez spill by volume) of coal ash sludge broke through a dike of a 40-acre holding pond at TVA's Kingston coal-fired power plant covering 400 acres up to six feet deep, damaging 12 homes and wrecking a train." Read on for more.

Photo via Brave New Films

Earlier this month we reported that ozone-friendly HFA inhalers are to be the norm as CFC-based inhalers are banned. Two chief complaints about this move are that the prices for HFA are much higher and that dose counters aren't usually included - dose counters help users know when the inhaler is empty of medication.

Well, Wal-Mart of all companies has solved those two problems by putting out the cheapest HFA inhaler on the market, and it includes a dose counter.

Credit Crunch Drives Increase in Backyard Flocks
Jeff said it before – urban chicken keeping just makes sense, even if we’ve previously referred to backyard chickens as a ‘weird ecohabit’. But if you could have a pet that not only gives you entertainment and companionship, but eggs (and great compost) too, then why the heck wouldn’t you? OK, I must admit I’m biased - I’m a chicken keeper. And despite a recent case of weasel/raccoon attacks, I can say without a doubt that chickens make wonderful pets. It seems I’m not alone either. According to The Guardian, the number of small scale chicken keepers has mushroomed in the UK in the past year. Kirsten Halley, of seed manufacturer Allen and Page, says the phone has been ringing off the hook:

Photo via prince_tigereye

We know that shade-grown coffee is much easier on the environment than sunny coffee plantations. They require less fertilizer, prevent soil erosion, require fewer or zero pesticides, the list goes on. NPR's Science Friday has a cool podcast up about how shade-grown coffee farms also help with the upkeep of biodiversity of the areas, with a higher number of native tree species flourishing in the areas.

This lovely tree has been sheltering the square in the town of Pareja Spain for almost 500 years. It was so famous that it was mentioned in a 1946 travel book: "They call it lady oak because it is rounded, full-bodied, matriarchal, an elm as old perhaps as the oldest stone in the town."

Then in the 1980's, the "Lady Elm Tree of Pareja", known in spanish as "La Olma de Pareja" developed the fungus that had wiped out almost all of the country's elms. The townspeople treated it with fungicide and pruned it and saved it. For that they received the prize for Tree of the Year: 3,000 euros towards its continuing care.