WCAV - Go Green

Charlottesville Woman Takes on Zero Garbage Challenge
Last Updated: 12:11 PM 03/05/10 - Last year, Rose Brown started the Zero Garbage Challenge after deciding she didn't want to take out the trash anymore. Her goal was simple: 365 days, zero garbage. After 12 months, Brown accumulated just one pound of trash. 5 Comments
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UVa Electric Car Is Now Solar Powered

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Last Updated: 6:10 PM 02/24/10 - Over the past year a mechanical engineering class at UVa converted a Honda Accord to run on electricity. Now that electricity will come from solar panels. (Full Story)

Sierra Club: Bring Green Jobs to Central Va.

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Last Updated: 6:23 PM 02/15/10 - The Sierra Club is asking citizens to call lawmakers and push forward a clean energy bill into law. Members said it could bring as many as 45,000 new jobs to Virginia, in addition to billions of dollars in investment opportunities. (Full Story)

"Green" Building Trends

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Last Updated: 11:11 AM 01/12/10 - 2010 "Green" building trends are for smaller homes, tighter construction, using more local supplies, and for less development outside of the city and more redevelopment in the city limits. (Full Story)

Free Christmas Tree Recycling

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Last Updated: 8:41 AM 01/09/10 - People who live in Charlottesville can get their old trees picked up to be recycled for free. Trees need to be curbside early on Monday morning.
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Tour of van der Linde Recycling

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Last Updated: 6:39 PM 12/24/09 - More and more trash companies are telling customers not to worry about sorting items from household garbage to be recycled. At van der Linde Recycling, they'll take care of the separating for you. (Full Story)

More Headlines...

CO2 at new highs despite economic slowdown
Levels of the main greenhouse gas in the atmosphere have risen to new highs in 2010 despite an economic slowdown in many nations that braked industrial output, data showed on Monday. Carbon dioxide, measured at Norway's Zeppelin station on the Arctic Svalbard archipelago, rose to a median 393.71 parts per million of the atmosphere in the first two weeks of March from 393.17 in the same period of 2009, extending years of gains.
EPA Makes Chemical Information More Accessible, and for Free
The web has been a valuable source of information on the releases of toxic chemicals in our communities, and for citizens and environmental action groups to see what companies and facilities are emitting air pollutants, discharging water pollution, and generating hazardous wastes. Finding the information you were looking for was not always easy, and not always free. Now things are getting a little easier, and more information is obtainable for free. US EPA announced that it is providing web access, free of charge, to the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) Chemical Substance Inventory. This inventory contains a consolidated list of thousands of industrial chemicals maintained by the agency. EPA is also making this information available on Data.Gov, a website launched to provide public access to important government information.
Salt and Smog
The smell of sea salt at the beach is a pleasant thought for many beach goers. Wind and waves kick up spray sending salt (sodium chloride into the air. Most salt of this sort falls back into the sea or nearby beach. The bit of chloride lingering in the air can react with nitrogen oxides (NOx) to form nitryl chloride which is a forerunner of chlorine gas, the most reactive form of chlorine. Those gas can contribute to smog formation in coastal areas. However, in a surprise, researchers have found that this air chemistry thought to be restricted to sea spray occurs at similar rates in the air above Boulder, Colorado which is nearly 900 miles away from any ocean. What's more, local air quality measurements taken in a number of national parks across the United States imply similar conditions in or near other non-coastal metropolitan areas.
Prenatal Bird Communication
Everyone has heard the theories about how to treat the infant in the womb. Talk to the infant in a nice soft voice and he or she will grow to be kind and compassionate. Listen to classical music and the baby will grow to be more intelligent. But is there really any truth behind these theories? Can the same be said for prenatal care for other species? According to a recent report from the University of Cambridge, the answer to both is yes.
48 Kauai Species Protected Under the Endangered Species Act
HONOLULU— In response to a 2004 petition and two lawsuits from the Center for Biological Diversity, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service announced today that it is finalizing listing for 48 species from the island of Kauai with designation of critical habitat. Most of the species are plants, and many have been waiting decades for protection. Two birds, Akekee (Kauai akepa) and Akikiki (Kauai creeper), were also included.
California Caps SF6 Emissions for Utilities
The California Air Resources Board recently announced that they will begin monitoring and limiting the emissions of sulfur hexafluoride (SF6) in high-voltage electrical equipment starting in 2011. SF6 is the most potent of all greenhouse gases which contribute to climate change. SF6 is approximately 23,900 times as potent as carbon dioxide, the world’s most prevalent greenhouse gas, at trapping heat in the atmosphere.
Deep-sea volcanoes play key climate role
A vast network of under-sea volcanoes pumping out nutrient-rich water in the Southern Ocean plays a key role in soaking up large amounts of carbon dioxide, acting as a brake on climate change, scientists say. A group of Australian and French scientists have shown for the first time that the volcanoes are a major source of iron that single-celled plants called phytoplankton need to bloom and in the process soak up CO2, the main greenhouse gas.