Go Green and run to power your MP3 Player.

Do you like to listen to your MP3 Player, while your going for your daily jog? Many people claim it really helps to keep them going, and the right music puts that extra umph into your workout. Now, you can wear Dancepants Kinetic Music Player, which converts kinetic energy from running, hopping, jumping, and moving around, into electricity to power an iPod or other music player. According to the Dancepants designers, the product is 100% interactive way to feel the value of energy on your own.

Even the Birds are Going Green

Just when I thought I had seen or heard of everything, along comes a solar bird house. Strange as this may sound, it does make the birds life somewhat easier.

Take a look at the picture, and you can see the perch on the house, where the birds can sit, actually lights up. The solar panel on the roof of the bird house, generates enough power to light that perch, which is great for the birds, when they get hungry. You see, that light attracts bugs and insects, so the birds only need to stick their head out side the house and they can eat their food, or feed their babies.

Oooms is the maker of this bird house, and it retails for around 70 euros.

Go Green Philadelphia - Tallest Leed Certified Building in USA

Philadelpia now has the tallest LEED Certified building in the USA. The Comcast Center has been awarded the title, after earning a Gold Certification for LEED-CS (Core and Shell). This 58 story building is covered in high performance glass and sunscreens, features louvers in the atria to help optimize daylight inside the building, and many other great green design features to help reduce energy consumption.

Right now, the high performance windows block 60% of the heat from the sun, and let in 70% of the sites available daylight, which helps reduce energy consumption from lighting and cooling - both of which use huge portions of the skyscraper's energy demands. The high efficiency water fixtures help the building use upto 40% less water than a typical office building, and the shade in the plaza outside reduces the project's urban heat-island effect by 70%.

Kia - new ideas for green vehicles

Kia wants you to dream big on their website by designing your own custom (solar) car for a chance to win $1,000 US. Kia has partnered with Antenna Magazine to create the Soul Xpressions which is an exhibit that displays Kia Souls designed by icons in the world of music, technology and fashion. You could for example, expresss your individuality by designing a car using recycled products, like wood, metal, and many other materials.

If you are interested, then just visit Antenna Magazine website, download the image of the car and start designing your own Kia.

Go Green with the Fair Trade Gift Guide

The Fair Trade Gift Guide is here, and it is full of possibilities for the season. This 32 page gift guide has an array of stylish eco conscious, fair trade gift ideas, with everything ranging from kids toys, to hand made gifts of chocolate, and even Chondonnay and Vodka. The kids will love some of these great puzzles and wooden toys, that bring every adult back to their own childhood.

Take a look at this great guide, and vote with your own dollars for fairly treated and paid artisans, field workers, and farmers to be fairly paid, as they do so much to help mother earth.

For Not Going Green- The Angry Mermaid Award goes to...?

The Angry Mermaid Award goes to? Yes, that is correct, there is now an award to be presented to the company that is doing the most to sabotage effective action on climate change. Some of the TOP nominees include:

SHELL for it's promotion of carbon capture while investing in environmentally destructive oil extraction from the Canadian Tar Sands.

SASOL due to it's lobbying for carbon capture and storage to compensate for the conversion of coal into petrol.

MONSANTO for presenting Genetically Modified crops as another climate change solution

AMERICAN PETROLEUM INDUSTRY for spending millions lobbying against climate legislation.

EUROPEAN CHEMICAL lobby for attempting to undermine EU attempts to cut carbon emissions.

AMERICAN COALITION FOR CLEAN COAL ELECTRICITY for promoting "CLEAN COAL" and funding a letter writing campaign in an attempt to weaken the US climate bill.

According to Paul de Clerk at Friends of the Earth International, "All the candidates have lobbied to protect their own profits and prevent effective action to tackle climate change. This influence by major polluters and lobbyists needs to be exposed. Climate Change can not be tackled, while doing business as usual, and that is what these companies and lobbying groups want to do."

PUBLIC VOTING for the "ANGRY MERMAID AWARD" starts TODAY. Visit Angry Mermaid and cast your vote.

Be GREENER, and use whole trees

According to the Forest Products Laboraty, whole unmilled trees can support upto 50% more weight than the largest piece of lumber milled from the same tree. These trees are often considered scrap by lumber companies, as they come from thinning the forest, so that the other trees can get bigger, as well as trees that are blown down by wind, or a storm, and even some diseased trees can be used. By using these scrap trees, that are usually grown locally, you are using a sustainable resource and promoting a healthy forest, and local green jobs for your community.

Don't confuse these homes with a log house, as they are completely different. The "Whole Tree" building, uses trees that are locally grown, small in diameter (10 inches or less) and larger tree trees that are downed by wind and disease, and usually from the clients own land. There is no milling, transportation or bulk curling, which helps save the environment. Obviously, this would not work for a city, but if you live in a small community or own land with your own forest, then this could be a good alternative for you.