Photo: CarFree.us "I knew I was benefiting myself and the environment by commuting without a car, but to see the real impact is very amazing." If you want to get around faster than your feet can take you while doing as little harm as possible, the bicycle is your best option. An unnamed author has recently started documenting his experience with becoming a bicycle commuter, and the results are interesting (and hopefully encouraging enough that others will do the same!). In a recent post, he does a little math to see how much money his new green commuting habits are saving h...Read the full story on TreeHugger

The 2010 Chile tsunami (above) and the 1960 one (below). Images: NOAA Yale Environment 360 has some pretty crazy maps, just released by the National Atmospheric and Oceanographic Administration's Center for Tsunami Research, comparing the size of the tsunami generated by the recent Chile earthquake and by one in 1960. That quake, measuring 9.5 on the Richter Scale, created a tsunami that killed 61 peopl...Read the full story on TreeHugger

Credit: Ch'ien Lee Pitcher plants are carnivorous and usually eat insects for nutrients and nitrogen. But in the highlands of Borneo there are not enough for it to survive on insects alone, so the pitcher plant evolved into a toilet plant, complete with standing lid that serves an unusual purpose. Dr. Jonathan Moran, Assistant Professor at the School of Environment and Sustainability at Royal Road University in Victoria, described it to Bob McDonald of Quirks and Quarks, a Canadian science radio show. It is really quite amazing. ...Read the full story on TreeHugger

Image Source: mmmcrafts Dear Pablo: I have been hanging my clothes on a clothesline, but this means some things need ironing. Which uses less energy - using the dryer to get out wrinkles or the iron? Despite concerns that clotheslines may lower your property value more and more treehuggers have been switching over to line drying. The line doesn't leave your clothes smelling "spring fresh" (whatever that means) but at least you can avoid using Read the full story on TreeHugger

Image Source: Sifu Renka Dear Pablo: I eat a lot of tofu as part of my vegetarian diet but it seems to me that this may conflict with my concerns for the environment. What is the carbon footprint of tofu? Tofu is made from soybeans by curdling soy milk much like cheese is made from cow milk. The soybeans require very little, if any, irrigation and the "fix" about 1 pound of nitrogen in the soil per plant because they are legumes. The nitrogen put into the soil by the soybean plants reduces the amount of synthetic nitrogen fertilizer required for the crops, usually corn, that follow in the field'...Read the full story on TreeHugger