Green Man Blog

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by Jason Burke. Indians have reacted with fury to President Barack Obama's tough stance against BP, accusing the US of double standards over industrial accidents after the failure to convict Americans involved in the Bhopal disaster of 1984 or to obtain what many view as adequate compensation for victims.

The anger goes beyond that of campaigners or activists with some of India's best-known writers and journalists weighing in.

"It looks like Indian children's lives are cheaper than [those of] fish," Chetan Bhagat, the country's best-selling writer, said. "Obama should bang his fist on the table. If he can do that for fish, how about our kids? Or are they only Indians?"

Continue reading "India fury over US 'double standards' on BP and..." »

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by Martin Wainwright. Warm as bathwater, the first gusher from Britain's new "underground central heating system" showered over a Pennine field today, while scientists and engineers applauded.

Tapped a kilometre down, hot reservoirs in granite fissures below Weardale are set to service a new "eco-village" in the valley, and provide the country's first naturally warm spa since the Romans at Bath.

Continue reading "Natural hot reservoirs harnessed by scientists..." »

Everyone knows about Monster.com, especially these days when so many are looking for jobs. As part of the annual Society of Human Resource Management (SHRM) convention, held in San Diego this year, Monster hosted a mixer at the downtown, eclectic, underground Vin De Syrah wine bar.

We give Monster high marks for the party and their overall greenness of the event. Vin De Syrah is an unusual bar by itself, with walls covered in ivy, organic foods, and reachable only by a stair-cased descent under the street to a disguised door sheathed entirely in ivy. It takes a minute to find the door, but once inside the place is great.

The Greenman, pictured here on the right, is drinking an italian red and holding one of the "plantable coasters" Monster provided. These special coasters, if planted in a pot of soil, sprout wildflowers. Pretty cool, eh?

At the SHRM Convention itself the noted speaker was Al Gore. The irony of Mr. Gore speaking at a lecture hall filled with Human Resource people as he battles allegations of sexual harassment from a masseuse was not lost on too many. But people who attended his speech said it was interesting.

Monster provided two free drink tickets to each attendee, good for either wine or the vodka Tweetup special, but this wasn't a problem. By bullying the non-drinkers into giving up their tickets and scouring the floor for other tickets carelessly dropped, the Greenman was able to carry on in his usual fashion.

For those here in San Diego, or those thinking of visiting, the Vin De Syrah is an awful lot of fun. We posted their promotional video below if you'd like to see more. If anybody cares what a barful of inebriated HR professionals looks like, here is the link to the Monster pictures of the event

Note: Today's guest article is from Jay Chua:

People are always talking about living green. From the food they eat, the clothes they wear, and now even in the decors they have at home. There’s really something about going green that makes everybody interested and willing to change their old home decors to those which can be labeled as green. It all starts from using naturally made furniture like wood and bamboo. Proper installation, landscaping, and the choice of decors and furniture are also put into consideration. So why is everybody into green home decors? What can you gain from them? Here are 10 things you can get from having them at home:

Continue reading "10 Things You Can Get From Going Natural At Home" »

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by Marion Tanguy. For the past 10 years, colonies of bees have decreased at an alarming rate. A phenomenon called colony collapse disorder has been killing them off en masse, and beekeepers have been quick to alert the public about their high hive mortality. The bees are threatened by new and intensive farming practices (heavy usage of technologies such as pesticides and chemical fertilisers, plant growth regulators, and methods such as mono-cropping and organised irrigation), climate change and the arrival of the Asian hornet. In recent years, the mortality rate of bees has quadrupled.

Continue reading "Can cities save our bees?" »

If you have anything made in China around your house, you better be worried. If you have children in your house, you better be petrified.

China routinely exports lead contaminated products all around the world. In 2007, for example, over 20 million lead contaminated toys were recalled worldwide. Nearly 1 million lead contaminated Chinese products were recalled in the U.S.


Continue reading "Why Does China Continue to Poison The World..." »