AP - On the same day that the Deepwater Horizon sank in the Gulf of Mexico, BP officials were warning in an internal email conversation that if the well was not protected by the blow-out preventer at the drill site crude oil could burst into the Gulf of Mexico at a rate of 3.4 million gallons a day.

Reuters - Oil giant BP has lost its attempt to shift over $15 billion of costs related to the Gulf of Mexico oil spill onto contractor Transocean, increasing the possibility BP may have to foot the entire $42 billion clean up bill.

Reuters - Abandoned Israeli army bunkers along the Jordan River are providing a lifeline for bats on the endangered species list, researchers say.

Reuters - A cancer-causing cadmium discharge from a mining company has polluted a long stretch of two rivers in southern China, and officials warned some 3.7 million people of Liuzhou in the Guangxi region to avoid drinking water from the river, state media reported on Friday.

Today a leaked internal email from Apple CEO Tim Cook expressed outrage over the New York Times‘ scathing exposé revealing the harsh working conditions of Apple’s many Chinese suppliers. Cook insisted that Apple has done and will continue to do everything they can to improve worker conditions, and he even questioned the validity of the [...]

Read the rest of Villa Escudero’s Waterfall Restaurant Serves Philippine Cuisine at the Foot of the Falls Permalink | Add to del.icio.us | digg Post tags: eco restaurant, eco vacation, eco-resorts, Environment, environmental, environmental resort, green resorts, green restaurant, green vacation, labasin falls, Nature, nature restaurant, Philippines, philippines resort, sustainable resorts, sustainable restaurant, sustainable vacation, [...]

Read the rest of PHOTOS: San Francisco’s Southern Pacific Brewing is a Tree-Filled Beer Sanctuary in a Renovated Warehouse Permalink | Add to del.icio.us | digg Post tags: adaptive reuse, boor bridges architecture, green architecture, green bar, green brewing company, Green Building, green design, green renovation, industrial renovation, Mission District, San Francisco, Southern Pacific Brewing, [...]

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What makes a home worth a million dollars? How about a billion dollars? Irish artist Frank Buckley has taken this question to its logical extreme by building his very own home made from 1.4 billion Euro notes! Graced with very strict permission from the Central Bank of Ireland, Buckley has constructed and now lives in [...]

Fast before surgery. That's a common recommendation doctors give patients to ensure a safe procedure. Now a new study in mice suggests that the advice may have benefits beyond the operation itself: Extensive presurgical fasting appears to protect organs from postsurgical damage. Although preliminary, the finding builds on evidence that short-term starvation helps the body guard against stress and may be a useful medical tool.

Scientists have discovered that all sorts of females – from birds to reptiles to insects – have a nifty trick to prolong the lifespan of sperm, letting them store it for weeks, months or even years on end. They found that females do this by lowering the metabolic rate of sperm, so it can survive in their bodies almost indefinitely.

Fructose, or fruit sugar, is a simple monosaccharide found in many plants. It is one of the three dietary monosaccharides, along with glucose and galactose, that are absorbed directly into the bloodstream during digestion. Fructose is generally regarded as being 1.73 times as sweet as sucrose. Fructose is a common sweetener used in many products such as soda as a result. There is now some new research evidence of cardiovascular disease and diabetes risk is present in the blood of adolescents who consume a lot of fructose, a scenario that worsens in the face of excess belly fat.

Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu Limited (DTTL) today launched the Water Tight 2012 report, which explores the future of the global water sector in the year ahead. The report examines how major global trends such as population growth, increasing economic development, and urbanization, coupled with the changes in climate patterns, underscore the importance of effective public policy and private sector water stewardship in managing this finite and shared resource. The growing demand for water is making conservation and efficient use central issues, particularly as governments, utilities, and the private sector come under increasing pressure to be stewards of this precious and shared resource. The report states that a clearer water pricing will play an important role in how customers better manage their water usage. "There is a compelling case for utilities either to increase water prices or create a better pricing system that addresses scarcity issues, allows them to invest in the replacement of ageing infrastructure, and provides them with a satisfactory financial return," says James Leigh, Global Leader for Water, DTTL. "Increasing water prices, however, is a difficult political decision, as domestic water usage is considered a basic human right. As such, raising awareness of water related issues and educating the public about the necessity of more effective water pricing is crucial."

According to a report released by the National Research Council (NRC), human and environmental safeties of nanomaterials remain uncertain despite the spending of billions of dollars in nanotechnology research and development over the past ten years.