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EarthTalk® is a weekly environmental column made available to our readers from the editors of E/The Environmental Magazine

Leaders in the emerging Living Building movement define a living building as "a structure that generates all of its own energy with renewable non-toxic resources, captures and treats all of its water, and operates efficiently and for maximum beauty." Pictured: the Omega Center for Sustainable Living in Rhinebeck, New York, which hopes to become a certified living building in May 2010 after it is a year old.

Dear EarthTalk: I recently heard the term “living building.” Can you explain? -Rebecca Gordon, Seattle, WA

Continue Reading EarthTalk: Living Buildings Explained

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For over thirty years, scientists and researchers have studied and quantified the benefits of using white paint for rooftops to dissipate heat and reduce energy effects. The “heat island” effect of cities and urban areas is well known, and this is one easily implemented, low-tech method of reducing the heat generated from buildings and other structures found in an urban setting.

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EarthTalk for Monday, March 2. All about the Green Cities movement

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This is our first installment of “EarthTalk”, a weekly environmental column from the editors of E/ The Environmental Magazine

So-called Dear EarthTalk: What are these “ocean deserts” I’ve been hearing about? Also, didn’t I read that there was a huge mass of plastic bottles floating around somewhere on the ocean surface?
— Wally Mattson, Eugene, OR

Continue Reading From the Editors of E/The Environmental Magazine: EarthTalk – Ocean Deserts and Eco-Homes