From the Boulder Daily Camera (Carol O’Meara):

Before bemoaning the lack of rain barrels, consider an alternative, says landscape designer, Alison Peck. What you can do is channel rainwater coming off your roof into the landscape so that it flows to thirsty plants and stores in the soil. There, plants can access the water as summer heat dries the land.

“The interesting thing is that we’ve always been told you can’t use rainwater, but there’s nothing illegal about collecting rainwater in the landscape, storing it in the soil,” says Peck, a founding member of the Front Range Sustainable Coalition. “You can’t put rainwater in containers, but are they really helpful? Think about how small an area can survive on rain barrels, which only hold about 30 to 50 gallons.”

Generally, you can store between a 1/4-21/2 inches of water in your soil, but to make use of it you need…

Renewable energy growth helps offset greenhouse gas increases

The strong growth in renewable energy sources has helped offset an increase in greenhouse gas emissions, according to official figures released today by the European Environment Agency (EEA).  more

Countries must fully support right to water at Rio+20 conference, says UN expert

What If Solar Energy Got the Same Subsidies as Fossil Fuels?

Instead of subsidizing fossil fuels, what if we switched to funding solar instead? (more)

University of Puerto Rico among best college bargains in US

Some random photos of UPRM-Mayaguez Campus