Browsing: green

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!

Wrapping illustration

Christmas is a stressful time of year, of that there is no doubt. At a time where we are required to be jolly, full of good cheer and be having the time of our lives, we are also expected to cook the best meal of the year, buy the perfect gift for our loved ones, attend every show and carol service that our children are in and look our best at every opportunity.

I can’t help you with any of that, I’m sorry. But if on top of all that, you wrestle with a guilty conscience throughout the festive season as I do, then I hope that these tips may be of some use.

Read the rest of Less guilt, less stress this Christmas »

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 »

The night before our fortnightly recycling day in my household is a stressful and often unpopular task, with all the washing, compacting and sorting involved.  The council provides us with one small black box in which to squeeze our recycled rubbish and if this isn’t frustrating enough they won’t take my cardboard or plastic bags which means I have to get in the car and take it to our local recycling centre; I sometimes feel like giving up on this recycling habit.

Read the rest of Recycling made easy with Ben the Bin »

Green news we loved: In case you missed them first time around, here’s our September round up of the most talked about, most innovative solutions or simply the most spectacular green news to hit the headlines.

Read the rest of Green News Roundup September 2008 »

As part of our Organic Fortnight Special (6-21 September), Sophie Grigson talks to Ethical Superstore about her solution to cooking organically in times of the credit-crunch, why she loves Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall and her long-term devotion to organics.

Ethical Superstore: What first switched you on to organic food?
Sophie Grigson: I’ve always had an interest in organic farming systems but it became more relevant when I had children. You have a huge responsibility to do the best and it made sense to give my children food that was as pure and untainted by chemicals as possible. But as I got to know more, the biggest motivation became protecting our countryside – my children don’t see the diversity of birds and flowers that I saw as a child – and conserving our global environment.

Read the rest of Ethical Superstore meets Sophie Grigson »

Newcastle Green Gathering is back, bigger, better and, erm, greener than ever! It aims to raise awareness of environmental issues and living ethically by providing a creative and educational environmental at an arts and music based event.

There’s a Kids Area and Healing Zone as well as a plethora of local and national bands performing - ensuring there’s something for everone to be entertained by. As well as this there will be a whole host of stalls and pitches around the site in Exhibition Park inspiring the ethical consumer and green living enthusiast in all of us.

 As the official site says;

‘The festival will be taking place in Exhibition Park, Newcastle Upon Tyne on the 30th & 31st August. Featuring 5 stages of local and national music, arts, community groups, alternative therapies, stalls, food, drink (please note – no alcohol to be brought onto the site - drinks available through event bars) and much more. All dedicated to making sure that everyone in the city and beyond can make small but practical steps to change the environment we live in for the better; and have a great time while learning a bit as well.’

For more information check out the Green Gathering website

Photo: BBC

We’ve just got wind of a great research project being undertaken by Ryan Cunningham, an MSc media researcher at the LSE. It was posted on the New Consumer website; he’s looking into how people receive and respond to information about energy efficiency and their views on terms such as ‘ethical’, ‘green’, and ‘sustainability’. 

I’ve taken the survey myself and it really makes you think of how and where you find out about green issues and the researcher gives you a chance to receive a final copy of the report.

Take it yourself at http://www.questionpro.com/akira/TakeSurvey?id=988583and let us know what you think.