Carnival of the Green #5

Cheers to Great Green Goods for last week’s recap of the highlights in the green blogosphere. This fifth Carnival of the Green--a roving weekly display of what's on the minds of green bloggers--started with a bang. Francois, aka the Radical Libertarian, submitted his "top 10 list of signs you are a Greenie." Noted among his "top 4 activities of greenies" was: "Having sex and making children... while believing that human activity is inherently harmful. Perhaps they think it's okay as long as you can brainwash your children to become "caring" Greenies like they are." (Not what green bloggers such as Common Ground have in mind when we talk about making sustainability sexy.)

Triple Pundit fired back with this message for the Radical Libertarian: "Although amusing, these complaints expose a woefully outdated way of looking at "environmentalism" that is held by those who choose to see extremists as representative of the entire movement, and possibly mask their own concern for wellbeing with an aloof front." Thanks to Nick for taking the words out of my mouth.

Speaking of gratitude, George at Dirty Greek lost sleep cooking for 24 hours but relished his organic Thanksgiving meal. The morning after, many green bloggers rolled out of bed with the intention to observe Buy Nothing Day rather than race to the mall for the busiest shopping day of the year.

Others geared up for holiday gift giving by looking at greener ways to shop.

• Green LA Girl urged us to "Fuck Amazon—Buy Local!" and cited a study finding that “local stores returned $68 for every $100 to the local economy, while chain stores returned only $43 of $100."
• City Hippy spotlighted green shopping at a discount.
• Greenthinkers posted a fun gift idea guide.
• Dee's Dotes put up an evolving list of "out of the norm holiday gift giving ideas that are more friendly to our planet."
• Great Green Goods picked out ways to wrap presents without wasting paper.
• Urban Eco came up with a handy Eco-Electronic Buying Guide.

The gadget on my gift wish lift? The battery-free Pedalite bike light found by Unplugged Living. For a faster, green two-wheeler, check out plans by Micah Glasser of Event Horizon to build an electric motorcycle with the chassis of a Suzuki GS500E.

If you celebrate Christmas but don't want to breathe in pesticides along with the aromatherapeutic pine when you bring home a tree, check out the Blue Voice's guide to organic tree shopping in "How Toxic Are Thy Branches?" And don't leave wildlife out in the cold this winter; TreehuggerMum provided parent-friendly tips on feeding backyard birds in chilly climes and times.

Catch up on news you may have missed at Groovy Green, which summarized "This Green Week in U.S. Politics." Look for Carnival of the Green #6 at Jen's Green Journal next Monday. Find out more about the carnival through its founders, City Hippy and Triple Pundit.

Comments

[thebizofknowledge]

I stumbled across your blog while I was doing some online research. This is the first time I've ever been made aware that cut Christmas trees can be loaded with pesticides. It seems so logical, yet I'd never realized it before!

[Don Bosch (evaneco.com)]

No trackback, but I've posted a link at evaneco.com today.