Free Republic

RALEIGH, N.C. — New plastics designed to break down naturally have been hailed as environmentally friendly alternatives to traditional plastics. Instead of taking decades or even centuries to decompose, they vanish in a few years. But new research at North Carolina State University suggests they may not be so green after all. The study, led by NCSU doctoral student James Levis, found that biodegradable plastics can release large amounts of methane gas when they break down in landfills. Methane is one of the most problematic greenhouse gases, able to trap much more heat than carbon dioxide, making it a major...

They've learned about global warming from animated penguins and woolly mammoths. Are cartoons and toys turning them into stewards of the environment? Forget "Mommy, where do babies come from?" These days, kids can explain how penguins kiss and make mini-penguins. Or how the polar ice caps are melting. Or how your SUV guzzles too much gas, Mom! Saving the world is chic with the PB&J set. And for every environmental morsel taught in school, there's a TV show or movie with an elementary take on the natural world. The characters are snuggly animals or audacious kids. They're happy-go-lucky -- even...

An appeal is being made for donations to buy a new bank of batteries for the Cato-Meridian High School technology department's Sunpacer solar-electric car. The Sunpacer, competing in the one-person commuter class, has won its category in the annual Tour de Sol competition nine of the past 13 years, including the last seven years in a row. The car is being readied to compete in this year's event, scheduled for May 10-14 in Saratoga Springs. Technology teacher Jeffrey Ostrowski said the batteries in the car overheated during last year's competition and there are questions about their reliability and range for...

About the same time I was slapping at mosquitoes in my back yard while reading news reports about how record rainfalls would spawn unprecedented populations of the bug this summer, a birthday gift arrived for my daughter. She just turned 7, and a well-meaning family member sent her a most interesting book. The title? "Rachel: The Story of Rachel Carson" by Amy Erhlich, published by Harcourt Books. The book is devoted to further advancing with children the iconography surrounding Rachel Carson, the woman who helped launch the modern environmental movement with her 1962 enviro-manifesto, "Silent Spring." But what Erhlich doesn't...