Photo by Agaton Strom

Green Ticket Success
This year, when buying tickets to Lollapalooza or Austin City Limits—two of the most celebrated annual music festivals in the nation—purchasers were offered the option of adding a “Fan Tag,” to the event pass. By buying the Fan Tag at an extra five bucks, fans essentially are purchasing 500 kWh worth of carbon offsets through Be Green, the carbon offset division of Green Mountain Energy Company. Oh, it’s a nice idea, you may be dismissively thinking to yourself, but how many rock fans are really that inclined to tack five extra dollars onto an already expensive festival pass? Way more than you’d think.

Recent Comment by AjaxSam : "How can I increase my carbon foot print. Also, how do you wash the stink out of dreadl..." [read]

Photo by JCIV.

We want to extend National Talk Like A Pirate Day just a few more days, especially since it is helping to spread the word about clean sailing and boating. The Sierra Club has put together a fun set of questions to not only get you in the spirit of the holiday, but find out just How Green is My (Your) Pirate Ship.

Image courtesy of GreenBusiness Works

The GreenBusiness Expo is slated to take place this October 7th and 8th in Atlanta, with the aim of educating business leaders, politicians, the development community and others on the latest in sustainable business issues. With an ever widening range of topics, the Expo offers some invaluable instruction on environmental business practices. Here’s what’s on the agenda this year:

Image from Zach Behrens/LAist and Damien Newton/Streetsblog LA

Following several months of intense wheeling and dealing, Los Angeles County's Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) has finally settled on a tentative congestion pricing plan that would convert high-occupancy vehicle (HOV) lanes (i.e. carpool lanes) on two freeways into high-occupancy toll (HOT) lanes -- with a twist. As Streetsblog LA's Damien Newton wrote about a month ago, the watered down plan would allow most vehicles, including hybrids, van pools and, in some cases, two passenger cars, to still use the HOV lanes for free, thus blunting most of the criticisms about equity concerns that had dogged it. In a further effort to distance itself from more conventional congestion pricing schemes, Metro even dropped the "HOT" term, adopting the more benign-sounding "Fast Lanes" in its stead.

Image courtesy of "Your TV 20"

Seems as though Lesley Nagy, host of the syndicated TV show “Your Green Life” has taken a cue or two from TreeHugger’s guide on How to Green Your Wedding. She’s attempting to make an example of how environmentally sound a classic wedding can really be—without sacrificing any of the traditional rituals or events involved. And though the event may seem a bit like a publicity stunt (she’s taking interviews on her wedding day) that’s fine by us—there are around 2.5 million weddings every year, so the greener these oft-extravagant events can be, the better. And you might be surprised just how meticulous Nagy’s gotten in crafting the epitome of a classic, but green wedding:

Google seems to be positioning for a Water World-like scenario. That's hyperbole to get your attention to what Google has designed in the way of offshore data centers (see patent application filing here). What's Google designing for a non-apocalyptic future? Imagine a barge (as pictured) holding modular groupings of water-cooled servers, with all of them gobbling power from tethered wave generators. Save for the linked generators, all the component parts are off-the-shelf technology, including the cargo containers which comprise the 'modules'. Not so fantastic really. Combining free server-cooling with green energy gives real efficiency gains.

Think on the other benefits. Steady, green hydro-power capacities are threatened by climate-change in many areas, limiting future prospects for buying commercial quantities of stable green power. Adds an option.

Why does Google want to put them so far offshore? See below for some answers.

Recent Comment by Raiyn : "One torpedo and Google is pwned!..." [read]

Photos by Agaton Strom

Last Tuesday, Yoga instructor/hip hopper/vocal Obama proponent MC Yogi (aka Nicholas Giocomini) brought his singular brand of Indian mythology-infused rap to the Jivamukti Yoga School in New York City for the CD release party of his first album, Elephant Power. The goal of Yogi’s composition is to bridge yoga and hip hop, and as dubious or downright incomprehensible as that aim may be, the MC delivers what’s likely the closest thing conceivable. And the release party was pretty ideal for the project: rooted in yoga-related themes, it was exuberant, vibrant, a little goofy, and generally unclassifiable—just like the album.

photo: The Green School

Read more: An innovative new sustainable school opens in Bali. Students from all over the globe learn the latest in green living while living in paradise.