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As more cities in  America  legalize cannabis use, attention has switched to the pungent smell that wafts from the joint itself. Denver has passed a new “odor ordinance” with a potential $2,000 (£1,247) fine for anyone found guilty of polluting the atmosphere. The need to draw up standards emerged because of the confusion over the legal position of whether somebody smoking marijuana in their own home could be committing an environmental offense when the smell seeps into the street.  Under the new law an offense is committed if the odor is detectable when the smoke is mixed with seven times the volume of clean air. The nose telescope – also known as an olfactometer – is the device used to measure the concentration of cannabis in the air.  - Telegraph Reported When there's some strange smell in your neighborhood, who are you going to call? The Nasal Ranger! That's who.  "Futurama's" Professor Farnsworth isn't  the only one with a powerful smelloscope . In Den...

An international group of prominent scientists has signed  The Cambridge Declaration on Consciousness  in which they are proclaiming their support for the idea that animals are conscious and aware to the degree that humans are — a list of animals that includes all mammals, birds, and even the octopus. But will this make us stop treating these animals in totally inhumane ways? S EXPAND While it might not sound like much for scientists to declare that many nonhuman animals possess conscious states, it's the open acknowledgement that's the big news here. The body of scientific evidence is increasingly showing that most animals are conscious in the same way that we are, and it's no longer something we can ignore. What's also very interesting about the declaration is the group's acknowledgement that consciousness can emerge in those animals that are very much unlike humans, including those that evolved along different evolutionary tracks, namely birds and some cephalopod...

A spy whose naked, decomposing body was found in a padlocked gym bag at his apartment likely died in an accident with no one else involved, British police said Wednesday.  Metropolitan Police Deputy Assistant Commissioner Martin Hewitt said the death of Gareth Williams, whose remains were found inside a bag in his bathtub in August 2010, was "most probably" an accident. "I'm convinced that Gareth's death was in no way linked to his work," Hewitt told Reuters.  But he conceded that the facts could not be established beyond a reasonable doubt, and Williams' family members said they still believe he was killed. Tests found no traces of alcohol, drugs or poison in his body, Reuters reported.  The police verdict also disagrees with a coroner's inquest, which concluded last year that Williams had probably been killed by another person in a "criminally meditated act." Hewitt told reporters at Scotland Yard headquarters that a police review had fou...

A new sustainable housing project in the northwest of Scotland will feature industrial hemp as a main building material, reports Green Building Press.  The ecofriendly material is the main component of a prefrabricated wall system called Hembuild – a mixture of the plant’s woody core and a lime-based binder.  The system was supplied by Hemcrete Projects, an English housing company that specializes in hemp-based construction.  So far, two prototype houses have been completed in the Achabeag township, both with very different designs.  Two of the first prototype houses in the Achabeag township were recently completed Peter Smith of Roderick James Architects explained the decision to use the Hembuild walling system to Green Building Press.  “Hembuild ticks all of the boxes when it comes to delivering sustainable properties, and the system is ideally suitable for what are two totally different styled houses but which fulfil the requirements of a scheme where the use...

by  Lauren McCauley  |  Common Dreams The migratory population of the monarch butterfly has reached an “ominous” low, researchers in Mexico announced Wednesday. Scientists are attributing the decline of this essential pollinating population to the ongoing drought and the “explosive” increase in the use of genetically modified crops in the American corn belt. “Because farmers have planted over 120 million acres of crops resistant to the milkweed-killing herbicide glyphosate, the monarchs’ essential food supply has been all but destroyed.” Released by the Mexican government along with the World Wildlife Fund (WWF), a recent survey found a 59% decrease in the area occupied by monarch colonies wintering in the forests of central Mexico, the Los Angeles Times reports. Because of the difficulty in counting butterflies, scientists rely on measurements of the area that butterflies occupy to estimate their numbers; 1 hectare may contain as many as 50 million butterflies. “The repo...

By: Amanda Froelich,  True Activist. , Guest The latest news regarding opposition to GMO crops comes from two actions passed in Hawaii and by Mexico. Limiting pesticides, herbicides, and genetically-modified food sources in exchange for natural, organic options is a vision of the people which continues to make progress! Hawaii For bio-tech companies, life in paradise just got a lot tougher. Firms such as  DuPont Pioneer  and  BASF  have long used the Hawaiian island of Kauai as a testing ground for GMO crops and pesticides; however, now the island’s County Council has  passed a law  clamping down on the field tests. Last week  Bill 2491  was passed, introducing new strict regulations. It set up a study of health effects of the pesticides, and establishes buffer zones around schools, parks, and homes where the crops can’t be tested. Most controversially, the bill also says the agricultural companies must disclose which pesticides and genetical...

By Amanda Froelich, Guest True Activist. The vision of the  Beacon Food Forest  is to change the way the public thinks and relates to its food. To curb poor nutrition, prevent food waste, enhance general education, and grow free and sustainable food for all, the food forest has finally become a reality. Thankfully, the evolvement is not alone. Several other areas are beginning to plant dedicated forests for public use. The Beacon Food Forest will cover seven acres within city limits, offering everything from plum, apple, and walnut trees, to bushes, herbs, and vegetables. The goal is to re-create an eco-system of a real forest with food-bearing varieties at different heights. Image Credit / beaconfoodforest.weebly.com Hardworking members of the community group have already planted about 35 trees, and also have completed a large amount of landscaping and irrigation work, according to Glen Herlihy, one of the creators. The  forest is now open , with plants to start producin...

( NaturalNews ) The second largest country in the world, India, has become a hotbed of pharmaceutical fraud, as unscrupulous drug companies, mostly from the West, continue to use India's generally poorer populations as human guinea pigs in unethical and flat-out inhumane clinical trials. And India's Supreme Court is finally taking action against this massive organized crime ring by ordering India's health ministry to justify its approval of 162 global clinical trials to take place in the country. Image:  www.chrisspivey.co.uk Because it is a rapidly developing nation with lax regulatory protocols, India has been a primary target of the pharmaceutical cartel in its never-ending quest to dominate the medical systems of the world. Major drug companies have been largely successful in swindling the Indian government to approve trials for all sorts of "new chemical entities" (NCEs), many of which have been tested on rural Indians in poorer communities, where there is mi...

Christina Sarich,  Staff Writer Waking Times For those who are appalled at the way animals are treated in conventional livestock production, there is a better way. Sustainable livestock production practices include providing greater animal welfare, increasing biodiversity, and extending good working conditions to those who care for the animals, all while maintaining a profitable business.  A new study clarifies this further, showing how sustainable livestock care outperforms that of factory farms. More and more people are turning to small farms and more sustainable practices as a means to get their meat. New research from the  University of Cambridge  (U of C) has identified silvopastoral systems of livestock production as a means of sustainable, ethically sourced food production. This system differs from the tiny cages and infinitesimal square footage that our livestock is most often raised in now. It includes shrubs, and trees with edible leaves or fruits and lots ...