Vital Technologies, Inc.

Alternative fishing technology has been shown to save turtles while not affecting fish catches, according to a report released by WWF and the Inter-American Tropical Tuna Commission (IATTC).

Batman has the Joker; real bats have wind turbines. The energy-generating machines kill bats the world over, yet the exact cause has remained as mysterious as the plot of a movie thriller. Now, a new study appears to have solved the riddle.

Small scale fisheries produce as much annual catch for human consumption and use less than one-eighth the fuel as their industrial counterparts, but they are dealt a double-whammy by well-intentioned eco-labelling initiatives and ill-conceived fuel subsidies, according to a University of British Columbia study.

A new "green" technology developed cooperatively by scientists with the Agricultural Research Service (ARS) and North Carolina State University (NC State) could lead to production of hydrogen from nitrogen-fixing bacteria.

An investigation by the Associated Press (AP) has revealed that the drinking water of at least 41 million people in the United States is contaminated with pharmaceutical drugs. It has long been known that drugs are not wholly absorbed or broken down by the human body. Significant amounts of any medication taken eventually pass out of the body, primarily through the urine.

2008 was a good year for enviros in the boardroom. A record 57 climate related shareholder resolutions were filed this year—a figure that has doubled over the past 5 years. Support for these measures averaged more than 23% among shareholders-- another all time high.

Traces of a chemical once used by power plants leave birds looking fit, but singing another tune altogether. Wild chickadees exposed to permitted levels of polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) can't keep a tune as well as other birds.

TOKYO (Reuters) - The race to go green has taken to the high seas with two Japanese companies saying they would begin work on the world's first ship to have propulsion engines partially powered by solar energy. Japan's biggest shipping line Nippon Yusen KK and Nippon Oil Corp said solar panels capable of generating 40 kilowatts of electricity would be placed on top of a 60,000 tonne car carrier to be used by Toyota Motor Corp.

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Stock index futures turned lower on Tuesday, with Wall Street now looking set to add to Monday's drop, as the price of oil cut its earlier losses. Oil, which had earlier fallen more than $2 a barrel, was down just 50 cents.

Biofuels offer the promise of a low-carbon fuel that could power vehicles and stimulate the world's rural economies. Yet biofuels are also among the most vilified of environmental technologies. Ethanol refineries are not always clean. The labor on biofuel farms is not always fair. The diversion of feedstocks from food to fuel may be driving up global commodity prices.

With the boom in consumption of organic foods creating a pressing need for natural insecticides and herbicides that can be used on crops certified as "organic," biopesticide pioneer Pam G. Marrone, Ph.D., is reporting development of a new "green" pesticide obtained from an extract of the giant knotweed in a report scheduled for presentation here today at the 236th national meeting of the American Chemical Society.

There is a strong growing demand in the world for "organic" wool and consumers are willing to pay a bonus, which is a promising advantage for Uruguay and its textile industry, said Pedro Otegui, one of the country's leading wool and textile exporters.

HOUSTON — American natural gas production is rising at a clip not seen in half a century, pushing down prices of the fuel and reversing conventional wisdom that domestic gas fields were in irreversible decline.

Denmark's parliament on Monday approved the construction of a 400 megawatt (MW) offshore wind turbine park in the Kattegat arm of the North Sea between Jutland and the island of Anholt in 2012.

Researchers from Monash University have designed a nano-sized "trojan horse" particle to ensure healing antioxidants can be better absorbed by the human body. Dr Ken Ng and Dr Ian Larson from the University's Faculty of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences have designed a nanoparticle, one thousandth the thickness of a human hair, that protects antioxidants from being destroyed in the gut and ensures a better chance of them being absorbed in the digestive tract.

Lord Smith, the new head of the Environment Agency, this week gave a cautionary warning to the government over the folly of continuing with climate damaging super projects like the third runway at Heathrow, and the proposed new coal power station at Kingsnorth in Kent. He also highlighted the threat that climate change induced sea level rises and coastal erosion will have on the UK’s coast line and that tough choices would have to be made over whether to defend threatened communities.

A 160-nation U.N. climate conference in Ghana split on Friday over ways to pay poor countries to slow deforestation, blamed for producing up to 20 percent of the greenhouse gases caused by human activities.

Logging of a Ghanaian forest submerged 40 years ago by a hydroelectric dam could point to an underwater timber bonanza worth billions of dollars in tropical countries, a senior Ghanaian official said on Monday.

Barack Obama today named U.S. Sen. Joe Biden (D-Delaware) as his vice presidential running mate in the 2008 presidential election. Biden brings some obvious strengths to the ticket, particularly in foreign relations. Biden currently chairs the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and is considered one of the Senate’s leading experts on U.S. foreign policy.

(Fortune) -- What do Oreo cookies made by Nabisco (KFT, Fortune 500), Cheez-It crackers from Kellogg's (K, Fortune 500) or General Mills' (GIS, Fortune 500) Fiber One Chewy Bars have to do with global warming and the destruction of tropical rainforests? A lot, say environmental activists.