When You Feel Blue, Does Fido Too?
June 11, 2012 by Michael Mountain
When you’re feeling down in the dumps, does your pooch want to comfort you? If so, does she really know what’s going on with you, or is something else going on? Enquiring minds want to know. Some new research suggests that dogs do indeed respond specifically when they can see that you’re upset. But it’s [...]
World on Unsustainable Track, Says U.N.
June 7, 2012 by Michael Mountain
As world leaders prepare for the Rio+20 environmental summit in Rio de Janeiro, a United Nations report says that despite over 500 internationally agreed goals and objectives, the world continues to pursue an entirely unsustainable path. The latest Global Environmental Outlook (GEO-5) looks at 90 of the most critical, agreed goals and objectives, and concludes [...]
Where the Earth Has Legal Rights
June 7, 2012 by Michael Mountain
Bolivia’s Law of Mother Earth recognizes that all living things have certain legal rights, and that the natural world has equal status to human beings.
U.S. Cities Worst Prepared for Climate Change
June 6, 2012 by Michael Mountain
What’s wrong with this country? While cities around the world are making plans to deal with climate change, cities in the United States are just sitting around like there’s no tomorrow. Which, at this rate, there won’t be.
Do Plants Think?
June 6, 2012 by Michael Mountain
In his new book, What a Plant Knows, Daniel Chamovitz, director of the Manna Center for Plant Biosciences at Tel Aviv University, says they can see, smell and feel – not in the same way as animals, obviously, but certainly their own way.
The Incredible Lightness of Being a Dinosaur
June 6, 2012 by Michael Mountain
Just about everything we ever thought we knew about dinosaurs has turned out to be wrong. These amazing beings who survived and adapted and are still with us (in the form of birds) were smart and colorful (literally), developed feathers and wings, and cared for their young. And now we’re learning that even the largest [...]
20,000 Species at ‘High Risk’
June 5, 2012 by Michael Mountain
Part of a larger graphic by the New York Times and the International Union for Conservation of Nature Nearly 20,000 species of animals and plants around the globe are considered high risks for extinction in the wild. That’s according to the most authoritative compilation of living things at risk — the so-called Red List maintained [...]
How Dogs Have Saved an L.A. Neighborhood
June 5, 2012 by Michael Mountain
In downtown L.A., pet-friendly policies have revitalized entire neighborhoods. In The Atlantic, Marissa Gluck writes: Walking dogs drove residents out of their homes and into the street at least twice each day. Elsewhere in Los Angeles, where single-family homes predominate, dog owners often have the luxury of sending Fido out to the yard to do [...]
L.A. to Ban Using Bullhooks on Elephants?
June 5, 2012 by Michael Mountain
The circus is coming to town. In a few weeks, Ringling Brothers will be arriving in Los Angeles with all its elephants and other caged animals. But this time they may be getting a muted welcome from the city council. A city panel is set to consider a recommendation from the L.A. Board of Animal [...]
The Dead Kitty Copter
June 5, 2012 by Michael Mountain
This takes Monty Python’s dead parrot sketch to a whole other level. And the responses are mixed: from “cute” to “hilarious” to “utterly tasteless” to “completely grotesque and definitely not funny.”