Photo credit: Areaware

Designer Ross Menuez reinvents a childhood classic with his Kuma Bears, a series of psychedelically patterned teddies so vibrant that the Grateful Dead Bears pale in comparison. Made from 100 percent organic cotton canvas and stuffed with organic cotton filling, the Kuma Bears are hand-silk-screened using eco-friendly (and worry not, parents, child-safe) soy-based inks.

Available for pre-order via Areaware, the Kuma Bears will be available to ship mid-November. More images below the fold. ::Areaware

Caribbean musician Turtuga Blanku (it translates into “White Turtle”) plays music powered by the sun. Literally. He records his blend of rock, reggae, and pop in a studio completely powered by photovoltaic cells, proving you can always count on finding solar power in strange places. Looks like Cloud Cult has got itself some competition for the title of greenest musical act out there. In fact, the entire production process for Blanku’s tunes is solar-powered—not an easy feat, but for a musician this dedicated to environmentally conscious music, sacrifices must be made.

The 2nd Symposium on the ocean in a high CO2 world, is being held at the Oceanographic Museum of Monaco from 6th to 9th October, 2008, attended by 250 scientists from 32 countries . "Under the patronage of Prince Albert II of Monaco, the symposium is being convened by UNESCO-IOC, SCOR, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), and the International Geosphere-Biosphere Programme (IGBP)."

Abstracts for papers to be presented at the conference can be downloaded here (.doc file). Look below for an exemplary abstract of great relevance to the scheduling of "climate action", plus an opinion piece from TreeHugger friend, Russ George.

The bottom lines:
Ocean Acidification must be part of the basis for whatever climate deal world governments can next agree to.

"Toxic assets" currently impacting the world fiancial system could be passing concerns in comparison to the long term risks posed by ocean acidification: a.k.a. toxic oceans

A new website for kids called the Scrap Kins has just launched. It’s an innovative, fun site focused on getting kids to think about recycling via a cast of engaging, friendly monsters who live in a recycling center—the Scrap Kins. The Kins’ brainchild is illustrator and designer Brian Yinnish, who found inspiration for the characters from his own childhood drawings.

Image: K. Mok

This billboard is on top of a four-storey building in the Plateau neighbourhood of Montreal. With the Canadian election day coming up on October 14th, there's a bombardment of plastic election signs everywhere - major pedestrian hazards. (Right To Move, a student- and community-run bike shop at Concordia University, reuses these signs as splash guards. Now that's what I call recycling.)

Related Links on Canadian Election 2008
Canadian Election Called for October 14
Canada PM Harper's Green Facade Crumbling?
Canadian Government To "Reclassify" Lakes As Mining Dump Sites
Canada Sort of Commits to Kyoto. We think.
Election Signs / Affiches Électorales Photos (Spacing Montreal)

Recent Comment by spidra : "Kent Peterson is famous for repurposing coroplast election signs into panniers, fairing..." [read]

Image courtesy of Teacher Magazine

The CBS and Ecozone Green Schools Initiative launched last Wednesday, October 1st in Miami. The initiative features a “Green My School Contest” in which the grand prize is a $250,000 green makeover for the winning school. The money will supply the school with products and services to aid in an environmentally minded overhaul, as conducted by a professional “green schools coach.” Teachers, students, administrators can enter the contest by filling out an application to the Green My School website. Among other things, they’ll have to consider what being green means, and provide a written answer.

Miami Mayor Manny Diaz, apparently plenty busy with green initiatives lately, was in attendance to call for submissions from Miami schools. And though Miami is the first city to host the initiative, there are plans for the contest to expand to cities across the country. San Francisco’s program is now underway, too. And if it seems like there’s an awful lot of corporate interest involved in a Green School contest, there is—and that’s not a bad thing. Here’s why.

Six hundred adults "living in private households in the state of Indiana" recently were asked the extent to which they supported State subsidy of co-called "clean coal" projects. The results were surprising, but make sense in light of recent developments in the political arena.

Why is clean coal considered a "sub-prime'" choice for government support?
Although the tag-line of 'sub-prime coal' (a characterization provided by the survey sponsor) has that spin sound, there is an appropriateness which stems from reactions to financial and political developments, recently shared by many US citizens. First, is that the investment banking/sub-prime mortgage crisis and the proposed Federal intervention, has raised suspicions about "big business' subsidies of any sort. Second, the US presidential debates have implanted in public consciousness the notion that both Presidential candidates support, to varying degree, "clean coal" subsidies. Below is a key survey summary finding, as reported by its sponsors:

Recent Comment by Bill W. : ""Renwables"? Is that your typo, or should it have a (sic)?..." [read]

Image courtesy of SFluxe

Appel and Frank is bringing a night of eco-themed fashion to San Francisco on Thursday, October 23rd. Eco-inclined shoppers will find the night especially tailored to environmentally friendly wares—and the first 300 guests to walk through the doors will receive a reusable gift bag filled with green goodies like mineral makeup, organic tea, Green Zebra guides, Bloomsberry chocolate, and more.

Recent Comment by Willy Bio : "Yay. Buy more stuff. Its green and eco and chic, so buy more stuff. Never mind the f..." [read]