Carnival of the Green # 168!

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Roll up! Roll Up; the Carnival of the Green has parked its tents and marquees on our doorstep! And what a plethora of green entertainment and thought provoking articles we have lined up for you today.

Thank you to Reclaimed Home for hosting last week’s Carnival and to EcoSpace who are hosting next week’s. And let us not forget the two great men who made history by giving birth. Yes, Al Tepper, formerly from City Hippy and now at pastures new over at Ooffoo and Nick Aster, formerly from Triple Pundit and now, erm, still at Triple Pundit held hands and pushed and panted like crazy to birth the vision for the most popular green carnival in the blogosphere.
Thanks also to TreeHugger for taking on the travelling carnival. Without these lovely people, there would be no carnival at all!

Suitably attired for swinging on a trapeze, let’s bring on the fun and see what insight and revelry we have for you this week.

Don Bosch from the evangelical ecologist shares his thoughts about President’s Day.
He shares that in the past century Republican presidents have gotten a bad rap on the environment. But thanks to Al Gore’s internet he’s found a forum to make a small dent in that myth. Take a walk through history with Don and find out who has been pushing for conservation and ethical living since before you and I were a twinkle in our parent’s eyes.

Phil from Phil for Humanity says “If a tax were placed on gas to keep the price at least $4.00 per gallon, then this would have a lot of consequences… some good and some bad”. Read all about it on his “The Merits of a Much Higher Gas Tax” post. It’s thought provoking stuff and re-iterates one of the messages I keep banging on about, that ‘cost’ isn’t just about bank balance.

Heather Levin from The Greenest Dollar asks us if we want to live in a shipping crate!? She promises that living in a shipping crate is amazingly affordable, eco friendly, and surprisingly inspiring and invites us to find out more on this new micro-home trend. Rather than judging steel crates on their ugly looks, take a moment to wander round and be inspired by these energy efficient and beautiful, yes, beautiful homes.
She also has a post for the girls; although I feel sure that green guys will be interested too. In her “Green your period” post she shares ways in which we can make our periods more eco friendly. This one gets my vote; bring this subject out in the open I say, get over the squeamishness, which has, afterall, only been given to us by the disposable san pro manufacturers, and let’s get on with healthier periods for us and the environment.

Kathryn from Kathryn Vercillo on HubPages shares details about developing and existing sustainable cities all over the world in her post “Ecocities: What they are and where to find them.” I have to admit, I never knew such a place existed. I’d heard of transition towns, but not Ecocities; and what a lot there are. Be sure to visit for some exciting cyber travel.

Jennifer from It’s easy being green, tells us that indoor air pollution can be worse than outdoor. Jennifer has been cooped up in her home for so long this winter that she’s created lots of tips for improving indoor air quality. I feel like I can breathe more easily already.

According to Anne over at Sustainable flat brush; everyone loves a worm composting potluck! what a quirky and eco friendly way to make new friends! You might even get to take home some leftovers, compost and worms in your doggie bag. Just don’t get them muddled up 😉

Beth from Fake Plastic Fish blog reaches right to the core of many of us travelling the road less travelled this week. She asks ” Do you ever beat yourself for not being “green” enough?  Do you feel guilty for buying new things, even if the new things are eco-friendly?  Here’s a meditation on green guilt and its antidote: gratitude.” Well yes I do; and I bet you have too, so go right over and read her ‘Guilt, gratitude and glass‘ post and save yourself Three Hail Mary’s and a drink from the holy fountain.

Cindy, over at My Recycled Bags has a freebie for us and offers her latest recycled tote bag which is crocheted from old plastic bags. Its a wonderful reusable tote and a great way to repurpose those old plastic bags. Check out her free pattern link and get green crafting.

Sally Kneidel from Veggie Revolution has been monkeying around this week. It seems wild monkeys have been observed using tools, and more than that, choosing the most appropriate tool for the job!  See Sally’s cool pix of wild capuchins…and one of them’s a little ticked off at her….

Annette Berlin  from Craft Stew tells us that her old pillow was damaged. Instead of throwing the pillow out and spending at least 10-20 dollars on a new one, she decided to recycle the old one. Go and find out what she did with her Recycled Pillow tutorial. It’s the sort of thing your Grandmother would be proud of! Tomorrow we’ll be sharing how ideas like that might net you £250.

The Digerati Life share some tips to help save money while saving the environment with their  “10 Simple Ways To Save Money And The Environment” post. This is a great article that reminds us how some of the simpler steps can make a difference and can help us to avoid overwhelm while doing our bit.

Kate, from Green Thinking Blog invites us to rethink our vacations. Instead of going to the new American Idol experience at Walt Disney World you could combine your vacation with doing some good for the environment. From restoring coral reefs and saving sea turtles and their habitats to organic farming, hiking trail preservation, or saving rhinos and manatees you’ll be able to find some great resources in her “Volunteer Vacations – Plan Ahead!” post. Holidays will never be the same!

Belle, over on Homesteaderbelle’s Blog reminds us that on 28th March at 8.30pm it’s Earth Hour. It’s a global event which invites everyone to turn off their lights for an hour and Belle wants to know if you’re taking part.

Chris Baskind, from Lighter Footstep, has picked on a topic that I am passionate about. He tells us that this topic is really important to him too and while CFLs are, without doubt, a good deal for the environment, Greens seem very cavalier about the mercury the bulbs contain. Yes, CFLs are mercury net negative in many cases. But they still contain one of the most toxic substances on the planet, and we need to make people aware that CFLs don’t go in the regular trash.
He’s challenging other Green sites to accept the CFL Recycling Challenge — and get their readers involved with his Take the CFL Recycling Challenge article.

We’ve been put off CFLs so much that Mr Green is in the midst of building his own LEDs. Too expensive to buy at the moment and limited in choice, he’s taken the task into his own hands to see what he can come up with.
Great post Chris and I hope you inspire lots of people to take up your challenge 🙂

Alison Kerr from the beautifully named “Homeschooler’s guide to the galaxy”  gives us a roundup of green news sites. If you want to keep up with the latest news in the green world, be sure to bookmark this article.  Alison has taken the hard work out of trawling the internet by ferreting out those hard-to-find pages on some publishing and broadcast houses too.

Julena, from organic make up and skincare blog, shows us as cheap and easy way to pamper ourselves naturally; with strawberries! She proves to us that organic skincare need not be expensive by showing us how to make some delightful sounding strawberry face masks. The best bit? Well I guess you can eat any leftovers! Roll on summer when we can get some local strawberries – this would be a great way to reduce food waste too, by using up the overripe ones for natural skin care. I feel ten years younger already!

Finally, David Shiffman from Southern Fried Scientist sailed into my inbox at 4 o’clock this morning to share an ethical debate about Dolphin Safe Tuna. Y’all buy it, right?  According to David, Dolphin Safe Tuna is worse for everything else OTHER than dolphins. He believes that by trying to help dolphins, groups like Greenpeace, have caused one of the worst marine ecological disasters of all time.

If you’ll excuse the pun, this is most definitely food for thought. If you’re a tuna eater, please go along and educate yourself about this important topic. I’m certainly in a quandary about where to go from here.

So off you go dear friends; take your candy floss, remember to recycle the stick, drop a coin into the magic hat and travel around this week’s global Carnival of the Green. Share good karma and spread a little blog love by leaving some comments for all the great people who took time to post and are helping to make the world a better place.

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