If you’re thinking that the last few months have been the toughest of an increasingly problematic year for most of the world – you’re not wrong. But there’s a silver lining: conditions are also perfect for innovation, redesign, a flourishing in all walks of life. Julia Levitt explains over at Worldchanging exactly why the signs are good.
Forty years ago, human beings watched the Earth rise about the horizon of another world (or more accurately, a Moon). The most poignant image of humanity’s home, a fragile-looking blue-green circle of life set against the almost unimaginable emptiness of space, was first taken with black and white film – but earlier this year, a Japanese lunar satellite called Selene not only recaptured this iconic image in glorious HD color…it also filmed it happening. Happy birthday, Earthrise. We need you more than ever.
If you fancy earning $100 and at the same time help scientists map the movement of glaciers, all you have to do is find a rubber duck. Couldn’t be simpler. (Oh, and you’ll need a plane or boat ticket to the Arctic). Full story at The Guardian; via Treehugger.
And now for something memorably…unusual. Enviro Vixens – in Time! Um…thanks now, Ideal Bite. (But if you thought that was cheesy, we’d point you towards the truly excruciating White House Christmas Video. There should be a health warning for this one).
Someone at Alternative Consumer would like to bark a word or two on a topic that’s close to our own hearts – the right way to choose a new four-legged member of the family.
We’re currently in the festival of Hanukkah, and if you’ve never participated, Samantha at GreenUPGRADER outlines why it’s a deeply eco-friendly time for participants – and a good excuse for an energy-audit of your home.
When it’s time to reluctantly pull your Christmas tree down, there’s two places for it – the loft (if you have the plastic variety) or the scrapheap. In the latter instance, instead of saving it into a million compostable pieces, why not find a local Christmas tree recycling point using Earth911’s search engine? A fine idea suggested by Sprig.
Fancy a tipple? The range of organic booze and plonk has never looked more attractive, as you can see from Ecoble’s roundup. One can’t hurt. (And hey, you don’t think everyone has bright eyes and rosy cheeks because it’s cold?)
Speaking of cold, some less than stellar news for Bing Crosby fans – there’s a good chances that White Christmasses in the northern hemisphere will decline in frequency over the next century, reports Reuters. (But we’re sure hoteliers in Dubai are already thinking of ways around it).
Before you launch yourself with gleeful abandon into the January sales, you may find what you’re looking for (or at the very least an idea of what it is) over at DealStop.
Oh no – they’re at it again. PETA have announced they’ve developed a perfume that smells like decomposing flesh. Less an actual product that a response to a marketing campaign by Burger King…it’s very much business as usual for the animal rights organization.
You’d be forgiven for thinking that in the age of Google Earth, the world holds no more secrets. In fact it’s the opposite: take the discovery of a paradise of biodiversity in Mozambique, all from an unexpected patch of green spotted on Google Earth. So what else is out there?
Oh dear, McDonalds. Oh. Dear. We can feel the desperation from here, as the launch of the Quarter Pounder at the Osaka branch in Japan is apparently accompanied by 1,000 people paid to look like customers. We’re less than enamoured with the Golden Arches, so hearing stories like this? Lovin’ It.
But onto more serious matters. What’s your favourite of these eco Gingerbread Houses over at Inhabitat? (Ah, if only they were life-sized).
And lastly, if you found yourself in Times Square on New Year’s Eve, the new Ball (Cleantechnica reports) was made of 32,256 Phillips LEDs – 16 million colors, and yet using the same energy every hours as just two traditional home ovens. Rest of the world, please take note!