A lot happened this week in green: from readers in the Hollywood Hills to our writers in Times Square, the International Day of Climate Action brought global awareness for climate change; we found out Chinese fruit bats demonstrate unusual sexual behavior–never before seen in adult animals–discovered a lamp that works only with a drop of blood, and rounded up five tips for a greener Halloween. Find out what else happened in the world of green this week in our photo roundup of most popular, most important, and most oddball stories. And if you missed it, view last week’s

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The Week in Pictures: International Day of Climate Action, Green Halloween, and More (Slideshow)

Me, pictured center, with just one of six million indigenous Mayans living in the Maya Forest. Why I didn’t know much about Mesoamerica’s Maya Forest (or ‘Selva Maya’ in Spanish), I’m not sure (and yes, am admittedly embarrassed). My guess is that since the Amazon takes the gold for being the largest rainforest, it receives the most attention. (A quick search on TreeHugger results in pages upon pages of Amazon news and you guessed it, close to zilch on the

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The World’s Second Largest Tropical Rainforest

Energy vampire. Image credit: PeopleJam I’m not one to dress up for Halloween, but I like to find creative ways to get on board with the spooky spirit of the holiday. If you’re an energy activist like me, I think you’ll enjoy these ideas: Energy Vampires When you sleep, when you eat, while you’re hard at work, vampires lurk in the depths of your home. From morning to night they are sucking you dry. It is called vampire power and t… Read the full story on TreeHugger

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Your Treat: Save Money by Slaying Energy Vampires

I see you. It’s not the present future, or even the past future, it’s the ancient future and it’s really cool. In this time period, you are wearing gilded dresses sewn from free ranging silk worms, dyed in beet juice and sprinkled in gold. Around your neck,  this beautiful talisman rests, your passport to the present where people become entranced when they look at you, a mere mortal but somehow more than that. I’m not at all sure Sword and Fern designer Emily Baker had this in mind when she designed the piece, but you never know. Created from natural sea urchin spikes, tiny vintage brass cubes, and old car parts on a vintage brass chain that hangs around 24-26″ with the pendants. Baker does claim on her site that wearing this will create, ” a pyramidal journey around your neck.” I’m ready, Emily. Sign me on for the ride. Leave a comment below stating what time space continuum you see yourself in while wearing this and you ‘re entered to win.

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Sword and Fern’s ‘Ancient Future’ Giveaway

A sobering snap of a dazed and skeletal addict after copping his fix. Credit: Religion Compass Before you or your child dig into that plastic jack-o-lantern (or its post-consumer equivalent) full of sugary snacks, you might do well to check out former FDA Commissioner David Kessler’s new book The End of Overeating . The book highlights the addictive nature of junk food , show… Read the full story on TreeHugger

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Chasing the Junk Food Dragon: How Junk Food Affects Brain Like Heroin

The world has been talking about the proactive measures announced by China in order to reduce its carbon emissions, increase renewable energy use and improve energy efficiency. But its neighbor, India, too is now is in a remarkable transition from an environmental underdog one who projected itself as a weak and helpless sufferer of the natural calamities that the changing climate threatens to bring in the future. With changing international scenarios the domestic policies of India changed as well. With the change in Washington, many developing countries changed their stance and announced slew of proactive measures which they had fiercely opposed in the past. Even though they all are still opposed to mandatory emission reduction targets they have announced forest conservation plans as well as massive renewable energy projects. Efforts to Dodge Pressure India was opposed to any such measures until, as late as, July-August. With Copenhagen talks nearing there was tremendous pressure on all parties to discuss and resolve core issues. India continued to argue against mandatory emission reductions saying that the current dismal global environment scenario is the resultant of aggressive industrial expansion of the Western countries which now must fulfill their historical responsibility by agreeing to bold emission reduction targets. India got support from the IPCC and World Bank which noted that developing countries were not yet ready to shoulder the economic and social burdens of mandatory emission targets. The World Bank, in its India specific report, noted that that Indian government’ s stance against mandatory emission reductions was justified since any such move would adversely affect its endeavor to eradicate poverty. The report went on to state that in the near future India’s village will see an accelerated electrification drive which more likely to be based on India’s vast coal reserves. Slowly the Indian government pieced together a comprehensive effort to dodged international pressure to become an active contributor in the next international climate change treaty. In June, the Indian government came out with a study which noted that the country’s forest reserves absorbed 11 percent of the total carbon emissions generated every year. The government announced plans to invest $500 million for afforestation and conservation projects. Earlier in the year, the government announced plans to introduce feed in tariff schemes for urban cities. Pilot projects of the same are already underway. Last year, under the National Action Plan on Climate Change it was announced that solar power generation capacity will be increased to a whooping 20,000 MW by 2030 from the current 2 MW. Recently, a study with forecasts of India’s overall carbon emission output and per capita emission were highlighted. The Indian government boasted about the per capita emission forecasts as they were projected to be extremely low compared to those of developed countries and even China. India’s environment bluntly rejected Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s call to consider carbon emission targets. The minister once even challenged the United States to agree to bold emission reduction targets and watch India follow suit. Chinese Policy Shift All this changed when the Chinese announced that they were ready to consider voluntary sectoral carbon emission targets. The dramatic shift in Chinese policy was the result of their year long negotiations with officials of the Bush and Obama Administrations. For the first time China had agreed to voluntary emission cuts. During Hillary Clinton’s visit to China, various bilateral environment deals were signed. Following the US-China agreements, Indian and Chinese officials met to discuss the renewed Chinese stance. Although officials from both the sides told media that they stand firm on their previously stated positions the events that followed said a different story. The Indian environment minister announced that the government would introduce an national emission reduction law aimed at controlling carbon emissions of the top five polluting industries of the country. The bill would be sensitive to the financial aspect of the still expensive emission reduction exercise. The Parliament would have significant jurisdiction over the financials of clean energy projects in order to safe guard the economic interests of the companies and the country. The bill is scheduled to be introduced in the Indian Parliament during the winter session starting in November. The minister, in an informal letter to the Prime Minister, wrote that India should play the role of a deal maker and not a deal breaker. He added that by accepting greater responsibility India would gain strategic leverage at the international forums possibly paving way for India’s successful bid for an place in the UN Security Council. He argued for greater monitoring and reporting of the national mitigation measures. India is one of the top five polluting countries in the world and as an emerging economy whose energy consumption levels would increase dramatically over the next few decades it is important that it recognizes its responsibilities.

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India Seeks to Become Global Leader in Climate Politics

My aunt takes good care of me – sending me little treats in the mail all the time. Yesterday I got a Halloween package in a cute little envelope. When I opened it, it proceeded to howl and cackle at me – a little recorded sound track that played every time you flexed the envelope open. On the one hand, I had to laugh, thinking about how she put thought into picking out this admittedly adorable envelope. On the other hand, I had to suppress anger that this stuff is made in the first place. Exactly what are we expecting will happen to these envelopes? … Read the full story on TreeHugger

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A Scary Halloween Treat – Cards Packed with Candy and e-Waste

Image credit: Stobart Group Hybrid trucks may cut carbon , and even slowing down road freight may save gas , but truckers still have a long way to go before they can beat the efficiencies offered by rail. But road freight does have its place—perhaps most notably in allowing perishable goods to be transported from farm to warehouse to store with minimal risk of delay. Traditionally, fruit and vegetables grown in S… Read the full story on TreeHugger

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First-of-its-Kind Refrigerated Rail Expedition Cuts Carbon

The spookiest news I’ve heard so far this Halloween is the report from Politico.com that the seven Republican members of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee will boycott next Tuesday’s planned markup of the Kerry-Boxer climate legislation. Ah yes, the “ screw you guys, I’m going home ” tactic. How productive. Read more of this story »

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GOP Will Cry in the Corner During Kerry-Boxer Markup

Play with eco-fashion label Feral Childe paper dolls. Credit: Feral Childe via Ecouterre We’ve been seeing Feral Childe around New York lately–at the NOW Showcase , at Kaight two nights ago, and as paper dolls on Ecouterre . The Brooklyn-based fashion label is known for their silk screened textile… Read the full story on TreeHugger

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Feral Childe Fall 2009: Print and Play Trick-Or-Treat