Carnival of the Green #85

Yes, it's that time once again! The Carnival of the Green appears for the second time on the Ester Republic blog. I first hosted this compendium of sustainable blogginess back on July 10, 2006, with Carnival of the Green #35.

The carnival is a weekly digest of green (as in sustainability, rather than as in Green politics) posts to the blogosphere. The carnival was originally hosted by TriplePundit and CityHippy, but is now tended by Treehugger (a wonderful greenie blog full of useful facts and interesting analysis). While the carnival was in its first year, I did an interview with Tepper and Nick Aster (of TriplePundit) on what the carnival was all about.

Last week's carnival was hosted by Bean Sprouts ("one family's search for the good life"), a blog hosted by Melanie Rimmer in Great Britain, and next week's carnival will be hosted by the AIDG blog (hosted at the Appropriate Infrastructure Development Group), an organization dedicated to supporting appropriate technology.

So, what exciting developments are there in the great green blogworld this past week?

Beautiful Garbage
Well, here's one to which Esteroids, Goldstreamers, and other thrifty Alaskans will surely relate: the Wonky Tourista at Money Changes Things was recently in Tel Aviv and discovered that recycling bins can be works of art! Check out the photos, folks. I suggest we do a little sprucing up of our own transfer stations along these lines, what?

Food, Eating, and Gardens
Most of the submissions had to do with food in one form or another. Ah, summer!

Mark Powell over at Blogfish asks, "Will seafood make you sick?" The seafood industry is only slowly coming around to supporting sustainability and quality. Faster movement is necessary to promote consumer confidence in our seafood supply. (And while you're visiting this blog, check out the Carnival of the Blue, too!)

Doug at Doug Green's Garden discusses the pros and cons of using diatomaceous earth as a natural insect control in the home garden. (Doug, by the way, has several other blogs and sites that are worth a gander. Fergus the Frog, for instance, has true, possibly true, and definitely not true stories for your amusement.)

Darrick Dean at the Evangelical Ecologist ("'Cause the World's Not Ours to Mess Up [Ps 24:1]") has a post for the Carnival. Here, he describes how he made his diet more natural and healthier.

The Naked Vegetarian celebrates the opening of a new vegetarian restaurant in Akron, Ohio. But the proprietor isn't your average leaf-loving gourmet: Chrissy Hynde, lead singer of the Pretenders, is a partner in VegeTerranean, and says she'll be on hand for the opening and a free concert kicking off the event Sept. 15.

In order to eat, one must first prepare the meal. But how to make your kitchen as green as your organic, locally grown veggies? Tracy Stokes at Ecostreet describes how to give your kitchen a green makeover. Starting with the little changes, and working up to a whole new eco-friendly kitchen, no matter what your budget is, there'll be something here that you can do to improve your kitchen's green credentials. Hans and I have done a few of the things she suggests (compost bucket, energy-saving lightbulbs, biodegradeable soap) but she's got a great list with some simple--and obvious--things I never thought about.

Greentech Widgets
There are myriad ways in which people can help conserve energy, water, and other resources. Choosing the right lightbulbs is one good way to do this, as a couple of bloggers noted. Trent Hamm presents Five Reasons To Try Out A CFL Today at The Simple Dollar, and Lucynda Riley talks about Phasing Out Incandescents at Witch on White Mountain.

And speaking of light, Al Tepper at the Natural Collection (yes, that's the same Al of CityHippy fame) alerts the green blogosphere of a contest. Natural Collection's 'Fabulous Facebook Freeloader Freebie' competition has now ended but managed to inspire a load of entries. One stood out, making judge Penney Poyzer's job really easy. And the winning entry is a poem about being heavily pregnant and wanting to go green. Worth a look for sure. And what did our pregnant poet win? Well, a portable solar charger (actually two)!

But then there's that stuff that goes down into the dark. You can save up to 15% off your water bill with this simple five-minute tip presented by Dean: How to Save the World One Flush at a Time posted at Mr. Cheap Stuff Online Coupons. An oldie but goodie!

The Legal, Social, and Ethical Ramifications of Bad Environmental Practices
Leon Gettler presents a post on climate change litigation risk at Sox First. Lawyers are cashing in on climate change. Law firms around the US are getting ready for an explosion of work. Attorneys expect a bonanza of climate-related work tied to government regulation, lawsuits against energy companies, and new markets that will trade the rights to emit carbon. Carbon trading will be a big market so that means plenty of litigation.

In the Fray Magazine exposes a grim problem in the mining industry. Here's a quote from BBC correspondent and muckraker Greg Palast from Bush Family Fortunes that explains what it's all about:

In August 1996, Sutton's bulldozers, backed by military police firing weapons, rolled across the goldfield, smashing down worker housing, crushing their mining equipment. ... About 50 miners were still in their mine shafts, buried alive."

Listen to an impressive roster of officials, journalists, and politicians on "Making Contact" in this post by Harlan Weikle on multinational corporate mining interests and their effects on African nations.

Live Earth
Don Bosch, also at the Evangelical Ecologist, submits the Ultimate Live Earth Global Environmental Impact Assessment, with a total run-down of news, links, commentary, and items of interest from last weekend's Live Earth concerts.

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Whew! I think that's everybody. Thanks to everyone who submitted their posts, and to those who wanted to but didn't get to it in time (believe me, I can relate). There's some great green blogging out there. And thanks to Kara at Treehugger for organizing all of us! (and take a look at this marvelous post they just put up there, too)