Posts by Ben

Morning all, and welcome to this week’s Carnival of the Green. It’s just after 11.30am here in blustery Gateshead, so grab yourself a nice cup of tea, sit back and absorb the best green posts from last week’s Internet, incorporating our brand new feature™ #bestgreentweets

The Vetrazzo Process: A Photo Essay By MC O’Connor

Jim from bargaineering brings us five reasons to go paperless with your statements (bank, credit card, mortgage, etc.). Paperless is not only good for the environment but also good for you financially. Use less and everyone wins!

With petrol prices on the rise yet again, we look to hypermiling: a set of skills employed to reduce fuel consumption. Techniques range from simple to extreme, dangerous to downright illegal. Green Promise sheds some light on these practices, with safety and the environment in mind.

Biotunes presents Use recyclable, not just renewable, energy posted at Bioblog by Biotunes.

Marie Snyder questions the green-ness of the green bins.

Elizabeth at Go Green Travel Green discusses 12 Tips and Tricks for Green Business Travel. From staying in a green hotel to taking ecocabs, discover how to be a greener business traveler.

Jessica Nagel presents Love’s Baby Soft and Coca Cola posted at Sustainable Halo.

RecycleCindy from myrecycledbags.com (a website dedicated to recycling & crafting) offers her latest recycled tote bag which is crocheted from old plastic bags. Crochet your way to a wonderful reusable tote and a great way to repurpose those old plastic bags into a cool grocery bag. Here is the free crochet pattern link. Happy recycled green crafting to you!

Surbhi presents Wildlife Conservation – The Weak Link posted at The Viewspaper » The Viewspaper.

Beth Terry says: “For almost 2 years, I have collected and tallied my own weekly plastic waste on my blog, Fake Plastic Fish. Now it’s your turn. Are you willing to take the challenge and let us see your plastic pile for the week? This challenge is for educational purposes only. Leave your guilt in the garbage can and Show Us Your (Plastic) Trash!

Michal presents The FlexScan EV2303W Energy Efficient Monitor posted at Energy Saving Gadgets.

Is local food always the greenest choice? A new Worldwatch Institute study says no. Read about the study on Veggie Revolution this week, from Sally Kneidel. What could be greener than local?

Wren Caulfield presents Spring Cleaning: Do It Cheap, Do It Green posted at True Adventures in Money Hacking.

Jennifer Heigl presents Are You Getting “Localwashed?” posted at Daily Blender.

Pictures & video of a green home building project in Long Island. Those solar panels look awesome. 6.5kW!

Alex presents How to Get Rid of Ants with Apple Cider Vinegar posted at Home Life Weekly.

Instead of sending toxic cleaning products down the plug-hole, here are four easy and effective ways to use baking soda around your home from ooffoo.

Ooffoo have also just announced the winners of their reuse competition here in a post called Top 10 ReUse Tips & Ideas. 

Guffly presents Help the Enviroment with iTunes | Guffly posted at Guffly.

Kara presents Grilled Blue Cheese Portobello Burgers posted at An Hour In the Kitchen. 

Free Organic News presents Why Wear Natural Organic Fabrics Like Cotton, Wool, Linen And Hemp? posted at Free Organic News.

Busy Bee Kim presents how to pack a green school lunch posted at Busy Bee Lifestyle.

And finally, Erin, aka Conscious Shopper, discusses some of the ways available to finance a home energy retrofit, including tax credits, loans, and “weatherization assistance”. I think she means “weatherisation”. 

The Carnival Of The Green goes all a’Twitter

As Treehugger mentioned on Friday this is the first Carnival of the Green to incorporate twitter (What’s Twitter?). A few #bestgreentweets were submitted and these are the best three. Well done to all on twitter who joined in:

@Kare_At_EandM Unique Recycle of Plastic Bottle http://bit.ly/fYeMT #bestgreentweets

@greenbiztweets Group Releases New Standards to Green Utilities’ Supply Chains http://bit.ly/184rhf #bestgreentweets

@sustainablog SUNfiltered: 5 innovative non-profits making bicycling (and bikes) more accessible http://is.gd/zBtM #bestgreentweets

Thanks to our fine hosts last week over at Organic Mania.

Next week, the carnival stops at Surely You Nest.

TTFN!

Gordon Brown & Queen Rania -WEF Annual Meeting Davos 2008

On the 28th January, Heads of state, business and religious leaders are meeting in the Swiss alpine town of Davos to initiate the start of the five day World Economic Forum (WEF).

The WEF is a Geneva-based non-profit foundation best known for its Annual Meeting in Davos, Switzerland which brings together top business leaders, international political leaders, selected intellectuals and journalists to discuss the most pressing issues facing the world including health and the environment.

In 2008, some 250 public figures attended the Annual Meeting, including: Ban Ki-moon, Condoleezza Rice, Ferenc Gyurcsany, François Fillon, Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, Gordon Brown, Hamid Karzai,  Queen Rania of Jordan, Shimon Peres.

Al Gore, Bill Clinton, Bill Gates, Bono, and Tony Blair are also regular Davos attendees.

Read the rest of Dear Davos »

Spicy Winter Vegetable Soup

So, day three of the EthicalSoup-erStore Soup Challenge, and the task falls to me to prepare the lunchtime broth. Now, I’ve made soup before, but I like soups to be thick and chunky, and I have a feeling that some of my classic family recipes that have been handed down from generation to generation may be slightly too eccentric for some of the palates here…

Read the rest of Ethical Soup-er Store Challenge - Day 3 »

This is not hypermiling.

Did you know that “Carbon Neutral” was word of the year at Oxford in 2006.

This year, the honour goes to Hypermiling, which has been picked as “word of the year” for 2008 by the New Oxford American Dictionary.

Read the rest of Oxford Dictionary Word of the Year for 2008: Hypermiling »

Foggy autumn morning by James Jordan

The 22nd of September is the Autumn equinox, which means that the nights are now longer than the days. Here are some of our favourite things to see and do now that the nights are drawing in…

Read the rest of Autumn at Ethical Superstore »

The latest threat to the American way of life. Photo by Glenn Loos-Austin

In a post snappily titled “The latest threat to homeland security: Bicycles” Timbuk2 (makers of excellent recycled messenger bags) explore one of the more unlikely issues caused by rising “gas” prices in the good ol’ US of A.

High gas prices = cars coming off the road.
Cars off the road = more bikes on the streets.
More bikes = more “obstacles” for inattentive SUV drivers to contend with on their drive back from the liquor store.

This cannot be tolerated. Get these pesky bikes off the road now!

The UK is the Dirty Old Man of Europe. We send more waste to landfill than any of our European neighbours.

Did you watch Bill Bryson last night on Panorama? I recorded it on my generic digital recording device that is not a VCR.

I will report back once I’ve had a chance to watch it. In the meantime, here’s a post that lets you know where all our recycling goes.

Photo credit goes to D'Arcy Norman. Here is the original.

Promoting awareness of allotments, locally and nationally.

Next monday, the 11th August sees the beginning of National Allotments Week, which runs until Sunday 17th August.

National Allotments week aims to raise awareness and availability of allotments both locally and nationally and to show the public and the local authorities the strength of support and interest for the heritage of allotment culture.

National Allotments Week is promoted by the National Allotment Gardens Trust in partnership with the National Society of Allotment and Leisure Gardeners.

Photo credit Ben30

In his new book, What About China?: Answers to this and other awkward questions about climate change, Alastair Sawday has joined forces with a panel of experts to give precise and entertaining answers to a series of tricky questions on climate, travel, recycling, food, energy, waste, and finance.

The book tackles all the questions you were afraid to ask, like: 

• Flying only contributes 3% of the carbon emission, so what's the problem?  

• Shouldn't we just accept food miles as an unavoidable evil, especially if we want to support Fair Trade?

• Do vegetarians use less energy? 

Written in collaboration with the Soil Association, Waste Watch, Tridos Bank, Alastair Sawday’s Special Places to Stay travel guides, the Centre for Alternative Technology and James Bruges, author of the The Little Earth Book and The Big Earth Book .

What About China? presents straightforward answers and explanations, facts and figures, that will convert even the most hardened climate change sceptics.

Alastair Sawday's Publishing has given us 10 copies of the book to give away. 

For your chance to win, leave us a comment with your favourite climate change related myth, comment, fascinating fact or question. 

The best ten submissions will win a copy of the book.

Editor's decision is final. No cash alternative. Competition closes midnight, Sunday 31st August. 

Full competition terms and conditions below. 

1. The Editor is always right.

2. If in doubt, refer to rule 1. 

Good luck!

Do you have beehives on your roof, keep goats in your garden or have you turned your lawn into a wheat field?

How Ethical’s favourite TV chef and all round good egg Hugh Fearnley–Whittingstall is looking for people who produce their own food in challenging or unusual circumstances for the next series of the Channel 4 series River Cottage.

The series will feature produce that has been harvested or made in Autumn, so if that’s you, then they would love to hear from you.

If you’d like to take part, send an e-mail, or a photo of your food growing or being made to homegrown [at] keofilms.com

And, if you’re reading this in the Autumn, perhaps you’d like to check out Hugh’s recipe for Whole Pumpkin Baked with Cream »

Perhaps I should find a more seasonal recipe for summer…