The discovery of the tiny Geobacter microbe by Dr. Derek Lovley of the University of Massachusetts at Amherst holds the key to understanding microbial energy conversion. Geobacter uses its hair-like extensions, or pili, to generate electricity from mud and wastewater. Researchers have developed a strain of Geobacter that is eight times more efficient than other strains at producing power.

via From bacteria to electricity: The future of green energy.

Global meat production has tripled in the past three decades and could double its present level by 2050

via Major report reveals the environmental and social impact of the ‘livestock revolution’.

Corn ethanol doesn’t appear to be the way to go, for multiple reasons.  So no, it’s not “green”.

“The new study, published in the March issue of BioScience , finds much lower emissions from indirect land-use change than the Searchinger paper calculated but still enough to tip the balance away from corn ethanol.”

http://www.wbcsd.org/plugins/DocSearch/details.asp?type=DocDet&ObjectId=Mzc4NzM

“Public libraries are at the forefront of a number of significant and pressing urban and environmental sustainability issues, and are evolving a leadership role in addressing these through sustainable urban design practices, contributions to economic regeneration and a commitment to social equity.”

via Peter Scott’s Library Blog: Call for Papers: Public Libraries and Resilient Cities: Creating Sustainable and Equitable Places.

Including sound energy and running water…. pair this with a lowhead water turbine and things might get very interesting.

“This study provides a simple and cost-effective technology for direct water splitting that may generate hydrogen fuels by scavenging energy wastes such as noise or stray vibrations from the environment,”

via Scavenging energy waste to turn water into hydrogen fuel.

Guerrilla Gardening and more.

http://www.designundersky.com/dus/2010/2/25/ludic-guerrilla-gardening-drone-warfare.html

“We may not see millions of new factories in the short run, but I would bet we will see thousands.”

I don’t necessarily agree with everything he’s saying, but a lot of it makes great sense.

http://replicatorinc.com/blog/2010/03/web-souveniers-turning-the-web-into-physical-products/

“The study is the first work to document experimentally Fowler and Christakis’s earlier findings that social contagion travels in networks up to three degrees of separation, and the first to corroborate evidence from others’ observational studies on the spread of cooperation.

The contagious effect in the study was symmetric; uncooperative behavior also spread, but there was nothing to suggest that it spread any more or any less robustly than cooperative behavior, Fowler said.

From a scientific perspective, Fowler added, these findings suggest the fascinating possibility that the process of contagion may have contributed to the evolution of cooperation: Groups with altruists in them will be more altruistic as a whole and more likely to survive than selfish groups.”
http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2010-03/uoc–if030510.php