Your genes don't lie: you can't buy true happiness
The happiness you feel in a shopping spree may feel as good as the happiness from helping someone, but gene expression reveals a dangerous difference: could shopping cause disease?
Meditation Flash Mob Sits in Middle of Mall on "Black Friday" (Video)
A surprise gathering organized over the Internet gathers to meditate in a mall on one of the busiest shopping days of the year.
Black Friday and Buy Nothing Day Roundup, Or Why It Should Be Jdimytai Damour Day
Is shopping so important that people have to die or get pepper sprayed?
Why Is Black Friday Coming to Canada?
We don't have a holiday Friday and Thanksgiving was weeks ago here. What's this all about?
Will Hooping Green Your Exercise Routine?
Bill Nye was the guy that said driving your car to the gym is literally insane - why not reclaim a piece of childhood through hooping?
Today Is Boxing Day, A Great Idea That Turned into Wretched Excess
Celebrated outside of the United States, the holiday used to have a real meaning.
One In Five Canadians Crossing the Border To Get Into the Black Friday/ Cyber Monday Madness
It's one thing to drive to the mall, but one fifth of Canadian shoppers are driving to another country. That's crazy.
Andy Revkin on Buy Nothing Day
The Dot Earth Blogger on The Ad Man Behind Occupy Wall Street, and ‘Buy Nothing Day"
Woman Pepper-Sprays 20 In "Competitive Shopping" Spree on Black Friday
She claims it's not a problem, "It's just a food product, essentially."
Three Options For Black Friday
Not up for camping at the Best Buy? We have three less costly and more comfortable options.
This Black Friday, Occupy Main Street; Shop At A Local, Small Independent Merchant
Lets declare a day of non-action, of unoccupying the big box stores. Instead, let's support our local, green neighborhood shops that need our custom.
Black Friday Starts At Midnight This Year; It's Time For A Buy Nothing Night
Families should be able to have Thanksgiving Dinner instead of having to go to work. This stinks.
<em>The Mesh</em> Explains Why the Present <em>and</em> Future of Business is Sharing (Book Review)
Lisa Gansky sees a new emerging business model emerging. One she has dubbed, The Mesh. "... one in which consumers have more choices, more tools, more information, and more power to guide those choices." A model
ShopNothing Helps You Buy Nothing
How was your "buy nothing" day? Did you really buy nothing? Did you miss that rush, the unmistakable high of exchanging your musty old cash for something you can brag to your friends about, or for the gift that will simply take the
Forever Frugal? Survey Confirms Persistent Frugality
50% of Americans had reduced their electronics and apparel expenditures in the past 12 months, according to a survey conducted by management consulting firm, Booz & Company. They sum up their findings saying that "the impact
The Death of the Yoga Mat?
Authentic Hatha yoga is already pretty minimalist. Spotted in The New York Times style section, a small group of yogins is taking it further--opting to sun salute on straight up floor rather than on their sticky
Seriously Living With Less: Your Life On A Hard Drive
Chris Yurista lives out of his backpack. He tells the BBC that "It's always nice to have a personal sense of home, but that aside - the internet has replaced my need for an address." He's got a job and moonlights as a DJ, couch-surfing in friends'
Building a Home With Zero Money: Impossible?
A seasoned dumpster diver who lived without cash for a year, Mark Boyle—aka the Moneyless Man—knows more than most about getting by without money. Having explored how to travel without cash, he's
Libraries as the Next Big Pop Culture Phenomenon
We just noted the rising popularity of e-books as Amazon announced sales of digital books have consistently surpassed sales of hardcover books. However, don't think libraries will turn to ancient ruins quite yet. Pop
Historic bank transformed into modern library & community hub
In rural Alabama, an existing landmark building is converted into a new community gathering spot, instead of being torn down.
Half a million American homes don't have proper plumbing
They have toilets but they just dump the sewage out the back. This is nuts.
Broken iPhones recycled for stylish home decor
There is a new use for your smashed iPhone: a clock.
Alabama Teen Fights Pollution in her Community
Cece Durden, a 17-year-old from Uniontown, Alabama, fights coal ash pollution in her hometown
Matthew Mazzotta replaces blighted wreck with a theater in a box
In York, Alabama they now have public space where before they had a collapsing house.
Alabama man feeds the homeless by teaching them to grow their own food
Even in the dark pit of poverty, where rays of hope shine their dimmest, there's often still light enough for a new life to take hold.
Alabama Becomes First State To Officially Adopt Anti-Agenda 21 Legislation
Environmentalists and Urban Planners on the run as smart growth and sustainability become illegal in the State.
Survival Skills Are Still Sustainable, Even If You'll Never Need Them
A beautiful film celebrates doing things, like starting a fire entirely by hand, that are no longer necessary. There are lessons for us all.
100-1000 And Restore Coastal Alabama Partnership's Inaugural Massive Oyster Reef Restoration
Last weekend, January 22nd - 23rd , over 500 volunteers from Alabama and across the country came together in Mobile Bay to lay the beginnings of oyster reefs. The volunteers strapped on boots
Much Of US South Experiencing Extreme Drought - Let The Water Wars Begin
Large swaths of US southern states are experiencing severe drought
Mississippi Governor Barbour Opposes Widespread Beach Berm Building In Louisiana
"People are visible Wednesday, June 6, 2007, on the beach in Dauphin Island, Ala., where a section of the $4 million protective sand berm was washed away by higher-than-usual tides over the weekend. An intact section of the berm can be seen in the
BP Goes For Extra Hurricane Point: 22 Mile Long Plume Moving Toward Alabama
British Petroleum has created a 22 mile long undersea oil plume, measured as "dispersed" beneath the ocean's surface, stretching from the wellhead, toward Mobile Alabama. Via the Chron: "The thick plume was detected
Southern US Apple Growers Lose 2010 Crop Due to High Temperatures
I'm not saying you can directly attribute this one to climate change, but coming on the heals of NOAA saying the past April was the warmest on record, it's likely at least a sign of things to come: The Alabama Cooperative
Mobile Bay Alabama's First Line Of Oil Defense Is Bigger Boom On 2,000 Pound Anchors
A most painful demonstration of Murphy's Law - that
BP's Blowout Could Be 'The Three Mile Island of Offshore Drilling'
I'm a big fan of scenario thinking. Although no one can predict "the future," several plausible scenarios can be constructed, informing decisions made difficult by many unknowns. A good decision works in
Is The BP Spill Big Enough To Resuscitate The Environmental Movement?
Floating residues from the ongoing BP oil 'blowout' in the Gulf are expansive enough to be easily visible from space. Satellite photos of oil on salt water
The Anatomy of an Oil Spill Cleanup: What Works and What Doesn't
Preston Kott of U.S. Environmental Services moves oil absorbent boom into a warehouse at a pollution control staging area in Venice, La., April 27, 2010. Staging areas are being set up along the Gulf coast as the Deepwater Horizon spill continues to
Nature Conservancy Land Purchase Could Save Alabama's Red Hills Salamander
A little salamander that is found in only a
US Federal Judge Awards Compensation For Chinese Drywall-Caused, Wiring, HVAC, Appliance Damages
A Federal judge has ruled that seven Virginia homeowners made legitimate damage claims regarding corrosion of metal items in the home and personal inconvenience caused by use of
What the Heck? Second Coal Ash Spill, this Time in Alabama
Image: Google Maps. We think this is the Widows Creek power plant where the spill happened, but if anyone from Alabama could confirm, please do so in the comments. Coal Waste Spill at At Alabama Coal Plant It wasn't so long ago that we were writing
Slow Cook Your Way Out Of A Drought-Stricken Electricity Bill
The Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) is proposing a rate increase due to extreme drought having reduced their ability to ramp up hydroelectric generators in time for customers to turn on the bright kitchen lights and cook dinner - after 4:00PM. Only 6
US Department Of Interior Secretary Calls Atlanta Drought "No Longer A Theory"
US Department of Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne has reported on a compromise between three Southern US Governors who had been struggling over diminished access to shared surface waters. The language used to report this progress indicates a small
Southeast & Mid-Atlantic US Drought Update
With TeeVee news cameras focused exclusively on the California and Mexico wildfires, the thirsty and parched on the other coast are not going to be forgotten by us. The East Coast and Southeast US drought problems and their potential solutions are
Industries And Power Plants Downstream From Atlanta Also Need Water: Not Just For Endangered Species After All
When Governor Sonny Perdue of the US State of Georgia filed a legal complaint and then formally asked for the support of the Bush Administration to force the US Army Corps of Engineers to stop releasing water from Atlanta's Lake Lanier, perhaps he did
Two Remaining Pieces To The Atlanta Drought Puzzle
Why a water crisis in Atlanta now? The cause is not climate alone, as Lloyd's post of today points out. Runaway growth - Georgia is the fastest growing US state east of the Rocky Mountains - and a seeming refusal to plan for the future seem to have
How Long Until The Rust Belt Becomes The Life Belt?
Alabama is contemplating a pipeline to the Great Lakes. We've said it time and again: transient drought will not drive the US Federal government to pipe Great Lakes water to the drought stricken states. If it becomes severe enough, and the impacts come
Pray for Rain
He has encouraged people to pray for the following week, in attempt to bring rainfall. "Throughout our history,
Buy T-shirt, Build Home, Look Hot, House Families
That's the simple premise behind this campaign. Cameron Sinclair, "lumberjack sized Brit", author of Design Like You Give a Damn, and co-founder of Architecture for Humanity tells the story of meeting Natalie "Alabama" Chanin at a conference
Habitat for Humanity Modular House wins AIA Award
The American Institute of Architects just announced its 2007 Housing Awards; among the winners were our beloved Loblolly House and in the Special Housing Category, the Designhabitat2 house, from The DESIGNhabitat 2 Studio School of Architecture,
Why closing nuclear plants in Germany is a "War on Rationality"
War correspondent Gwynne Dyer says they should worry more about carbon and climate change.
Phoebus Cartel 2.0 gets DOE to roll back lightbulb efficiency standards
The big light bulb manufacturers get what they want out of the DOE and the President. We should all stop buying anything from them.