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Good environmental news - Read some more, positive news stories on the environment

Beekeepers Benefit From Community Apiaries

Community Apiaries

"Beekeeping in a community setting is less threatening, because you have support". So says Marca Engman about a community beekeeping effort at Hudson Gardens, a nonprofit garden near Littleton, CO.

Community apiaries like the one at Hudson Gardens are generating a buzz. Modeled after community gardens, the sweet setups allow beekeepers to maintain hives in public spaces. Beekeepers generally pay a small fee to rent the space but own the equipment and manage the hives, keeping all of the harvested honey..

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Oregano, Cow Burbs and Climate Change

Jean-Francois Monier/AFP/Getty Images

More than one third of methane generated by human activity comes from livestock farming, and a significant portion of the methane comes from cow burps. This is a serious problem, given that methane is 25 times more powerful than carbon dioxide at trapping heat.

A Danish research team that is testing out one potential solution to the problems in the form of feeding cows oregano.

"Oregano has essential oils with a mild antimicrobial called carvacrol, which can kill some of the bacteria in the cow's rumen that produce methane..."

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Doing Something About It - Healing The Ocean With A Garden of Coral

Coral reefs are an essential component in insuring the health of our oceans. Reef degeneration is becoming very widespread, primarily due to over fishing and global warming.

Ten percent of the world's reefs have already been completely destroyed. Ken Nedimyer of the Coral Restoration Foundation is a "coral farmer" who transplants coral from an offshore nursery near the Florida Keys to the wild reefs

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NY Times: Scientists Warn of Perilous Climate Shift Within Decades, Not Centuries

Massive boulder in the Bahamas deposited by a killer storm

Charles Ommanney/The Washington Post, via Getty Images

According to an article in the NY Times, an European science journal, Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics, has published an article purporting that by burning fossil fuels at a prodigious pace and pouring heat-trapping gases into the atmosphere, humanity is about to provoke an abrupt climate shift in the next few decades. This will lead to not only rising sea levels, but the disintegration of large parts of the polar ice sheets and the creation of killer storms stronger than any in 120,000 years.

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How A Great Teacher Cultivates Veggies (And Kids) In The Bronx

Stephen Ritz is one of National Public Radio's (NPR) '50 Great Teachers. His Bronx classroom, a refurbished school library, has more plants than desks. He calls the room his National Health, Wellness and Learning Center. It's got tower gardens, gleaming cabinets and counters, an industrial sink and a new, mobile cooking station.

"In this class, we go from seed to tower to table to plate in 20 feet," Ritz says. "What we're seeing is kids coming in here, getting excited about healthy food — about vegetables. About beans. Who knew beans could be so exciting, but they are!"

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Why Organic Food Might Be Worth the High Price

A new study shows the benefits of organic farming. The review study, published in Nature Plants, shows that while crops grown organically normally yield 10 to 20 percent less food than conventional farming, during drought they actually produce more food than conventionally-grown crops.

Organic farming uses less energy than conventional farming and is significantly more profitable for farmers.

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Regrowing Rain Forests May Help Curb Climate Change More Than We Thought

Newly grown tropical forests can capture harmful carbon from the atmosphere at a rate up to 11 times faster than older forests, according to a study published in the journal Nature.

The researchers say their findings provide support for policies that minimize forest loss and promote forest restoration.

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More Pollinator Species In Jeopardy, Threatening World Food Supply

A U.N.-sponsored report drawing on about 3,000 scientific papers concludes that about 40 percent of invertebrate pollinator species (such as bees and butterflies) are facing extinction.

About 75 percent of the world's food crops, the report notes, depend at least partly on pollination.

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Bill Nye Says a Single Scientific Fact Refutes Climate Change Deniers

In a video from Business Insiders, "Unstoppable" author Bill Nye explains the clear science around climate change, and how the 2016 presidential election will impact Earth's future.

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Planting for Pollinators

Over 90 Brownies and Girl Scouts helped build a butterfly habitat at Yazoo National Wildlife Refuge

US Fish and Wildlife Service - There is increasing evidence that many pollinators are in decline. However, there are some simple things you can do at home to encourage pollinator diversity and abundance. Read this amazingly simple and helpful guide to encouraging pollinators to you home and garden. Simple directions on how to plant a pollinator garden, build a bee box, reduce pesticide use and more...

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