Image credit: Good We have all seen "buy local" campaigns, but what about taking it to the next level: Investing locally?...Read the full story on TreeHugger

Ponoko CEO David Ten Have by Williams + Hirakawa, via Inc We have written so much about downloadable designs, about shipping ideas all over the world instead of stuff. It just keeps getting better, with more products and more options. That is why I love Ponoko so much; it is the first real demonstration of the concept. Now that they have added a hub in Europe, you can see the fir...Read the full story on TreeHugger

Image credit: flickrfavorites/Flickr Researchers monitoring three-toed sloths in the jungles of Panama came upon a shocking discovery after one of their radio-collared animals stopped moving. The sloth had been killed, its organs eaten, and left on the forest floor. Upon closer inspection, researchers determined the sloth to be a victim of a surprising killer: The tiny spectacled owl....Read the full story on TreeHugger

Photo: Flickr, CC I Feel a Great Disturbance in the Force Finding new uses for equipment that you already have is always satisfying (at least to engineers). One very cool example of this is the use of cell phone towers to measure rainfall in real-time; the rain interferes with the radio signals, and this interference can be measured with "greater spatial resolution than traditional point measurements provided by rain gauges." How is this green? Well, in general it could provide better data about our planet and cha...Read the full story on TreeHugger

NOAA responds to millions of annual requests for climate data vital to planning and operations. In vulnerable areas, infrastructure can be designed with a better understanding of projected sea-level rise, flooding and/or changes in hurricane frequency and intensity. Photo and caption: NOAA The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has announced that it will be unifying all its climate change research capabilities into a single office, the NOAA Climate Service. Agency head Read the full story on TreeHugger