In this week’s Treehugger Thursday Simran Sethi reminds us that record-breaking holiday travel means unbelievable amounts of waste which, for whatever reason, airlines can’t be bothered to recycle. Prince Charles, on the other hand, strives to live an efficient, sensible, and sustainable life, and even much-maligned GM has set targets of its own, with its eye on the earth and, yes, that pesky little bottom line.
LISTEN (7 min)
Carbon Neutral was 2006’s word of the year (no seriously, it was), and Joel Makower explains why carbon offsets are a good idea, and why simply reducing consumption probably trumps trading sins for halos. LISTEN (12 min)
We can’t imagine life without cellphones, but we don’t imagine our cellphone’s life beyond us. Linda Gabor of Call2Recycle and the Rechargeable Battery Recycling Corporation (RBRC) tells us how to recycle that potentially harmful cellphone battery, and why it might even be the law, depending on where you live. LISTEN (8 min)
Correspondent Frank O’Donnell talks about the 13 states who filed a suit to force the EPA to strengthen particle soot standards and safeguard public health. You’d think we wouldn’t have to ask them to do their jobs.
ALSO: What is the White House giving their friends for the Holidays? Frank tells us here.
PART 1 (11 min) PART 2 (7 min)
EcoTalk is often so busy in the studio cranking out shows full of the politics, science, and lifestyle news that even we some times lose touch with the natural world that keeps us grounded and spiritually guided. Mark Coleman’s illuminating new book is called Awake in the Wild: Mindfulness in Nature as a Path of Self-Discovery. Coleman believes that acknowledgement of oneself as a part of nature is crucial to understanding onself, and facing up to the challenges we all face. LISTEN (12 min)