MNN - Mother Nature Network

What a year! 2009 was a pretty crazy swing around the sun filled with all sorts of political, economic and environmental drama. Our country got a new president; the world's markets were down, then up, then down, then who knows what; and at the beginning of the year the green blogosphere got a new member of the family when MNN went live.

 

I'm going to take a few days this week to revisit some of my favorite posts that I wrote in 2009 culled from my 500+ strong archive of posts, lists and long-form articles.

 

Though we didn't officially launch until January of this year, we all started writing a couple of months prior to work out the kinks. My first post was published on Nov. 25, 2008, and it was about President Obama (then president-elect) and his gas-guzzling SUV.

 

This time last year I wrote about the coal ash spill in Harriman, Tenn. It had just happened and we still weren't sure exactly how big it was. I'm struck by one of the initial comments from Gilbert Francis Jr., a spokesperson for the TVA, who passed off the dangers of the billion gallon spill when he said, "Most of that material is inert. It does have some heavy metals within it, but it’s not toxic or anything."

 

The other story I wrote a year ago today (more or less, Dec. 28 was a Sunday last year) was about a report the Natural Resources Defense Council released showing the massive energy load generated by video game consoles.

 

In January I had a lot of fun live blogging the inauguration of President Obama from the comfort of my couch. Ontario, Canada cut its use of coal of 32 percent in just three years and met its 10-year goal of adding renewable energy to the grid in just one year. 

 

If you are a Mainer like myself, you can swing by your local library and borrow a Kill-a-Watt energy monitor. Englishman Thomas Thwaites set off on a mission to build a toaster from scratch, starting with processing iron ore in his mother's microwave.

 

I turned up this crazy video of a mine collapsing in Malaysia:

 

 

Captain Planet came to MNN in February. Greenies got a bad rap when eco-jerk Stephen Fowler hit ABC's Wife Swap.

 

Willie Smits is regrowing the rain forest, and Saul Griffith wants to power the world with kites.

 

Sheep + LEDs + Art will ALWAYS equal awesome.

 

Right-wing bloggers got all upset over a ban on phosphate dish soap and some called for blood. Seriously.

 

In March, I shared some of the amazing images from Earth Hour. I crack myself up entirely too easily.

 

And right before April Fool's rolled around (I'll cover that quarter tomorrow), I said something that would disqualify me from seeking public office in West Virginia when I said that mountains should not be trumped by jobs.

 

I'll have more of my favorites from the spring tomorrow. Enjoy your day!