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Is this the look of an embarrassed Argentinian Cow?  Perhaps we’ll never know.

This is a snapshot of a cow that, willingly or not, participated in a recent experiment funded by the government of Argentina to measure the methane “output” of our bovine friends.  A tube is inserted into the cow’s, ahem, gas-producing orifice, and linked to a big, pink balloon on its back. “Oh this?  Why, it’s nothing.  Don’t open that valve!”

Apparently, the cow’s didn’t mind.  Perhaps after getting a numbered tag crudely stapled to your ear, carrying around a lightweight gas tank is calf’s play.  Still, if I was at a party with a deflated plastic bladder attached to my rear end, and it suddenly, in the middle of some great witty banter, inflated, I’d head for the door pronto.  Maybe cows don’t have parties.

Some good did come out of this ridiculousness.  The Argentine government established that fully 30% of its total national greenhouse gas emissions come from their more than 55 million cows.  And methane is more than 20 times more effective at trapping heat in the atmosphere than the much-more-demonized CO2.  So the Argentines are now experimenting with different types of feed for their livestock to try and reduce the methane emissions.

Probably, we should all give up beef, which as a food source is among the most inefficient in terms of land and feed use.

But until that time, perhaps more cows will have to suffer the embarrassment of the pink balloon.

If there’s one thing new mom Paola Pena and I agree on it’s this: “It’s never too early to practise socially aware and environmentally conscious habits.”

The owner of LITTLE BODHI makes the above statement on her new e-boutique website, which features an assortment of eco-friendly basics for babies including toys, clothing, and music. At LITTLE BODHI, online shoppers can choose between shopping green, organic, or non-toxic. Brands include Kate Quinn Organics, Speesees, Sckoon, Rockabye Baby, and Anamalz.

While the prices for organic baby wear may be slightly steep for some new parents, we all know there are plenty of aunties out there who see nothing wrong with paying 25 bucks for a unique onesie (especially if it means plugging sustainable options at the baby shower and having a gift that won’t likely be a duplicate). If the parents-to-be are responsible consumers determined to bring baby up green, the thoughtful gift will mean that much more.

Though I choose to clothe my own busy children in mainly hand-me downs or thrift shop bargains, I must admit that my newborns were clad in 99% brand new gift wear like most of their peach fuzzed peers. But one thing I never got around to doing as a new mom was sending out cute birth announcements. LITTLE BODHI offers a free, eco-friendly solution for expecting parents who may never get around to circulating that first photo in a formal way. New moms who choose LITTLE BODHI as their gift registry can sign up for the adorable electronic baby announcement that can be effortlessly e-mailed to friends and family after the baby arrives. Visit LITTLE BODHI for more details.

If there’s one thing new mom Paola Pena and I agree on it’s this: “It’s never too early to practise socially aware and environmentally conscious habits.”

The owner of LITTLE BODHI makes the above statement on her new e-boutique website, which features an assortment of eco-friendly basics for babies including toys, clothing, and music. At LITTLE BODHI, online shoppers can choose between shopping green, organic, or non-toxic. Brands include Kate Quinn Organics, Speesees, Sckoon, Rockabye Baby, and Anamalz.

While the prices for organic baby wear may be slightly steep for some new parents, we all know there are plenty of aunties out there who see nothing wrong with paying 25 bucks for a unique onesie (especially if it means plugging sustainable options at the baby shower and having a gift that won’t likely be a duplicate). If the parents-to-be are responsible consumers determined to bring baby up green, the thoughtful gift will mean that much more.

Though I choose to clothe my own busy children in mainly hand-me downs or thrift shop bargains, I must admit that my newborns were clad in 99% brand new gift wear like most of their peach fuzzed peers. But one thing I never got around to doing as a new mom was sending out cute birth announcements. LITTLE BODHI offers a free, eco-friendly solution for expecting parents who may never get around to circulating that first photo in a formal way. New moms who choose LITTLE BODHI as their gift registry can sign up for the adorable electronic baby announcement that can be effortlessly e-mailed to friends and family after the baby arrives. Visit LITTLE BODHI for more details.

One of the many problems with trying to get people to live greener is the widely held view that it involves uncomfortable sacrifice.  For instance, at one end of the spectrum is the so-called “No Impact Man,” (www.noimpactman.com) who made a well-publicized experiment of living in New York City for one year and attempting to have no net impact on the environment.  As you can imagine, this was quite the challenge and called for siginificant deprivation.  No fridge, no A/C (in the NY summer!), no TV, no electric lights.  And, in the most disgusting bit of denial, no toilet paper!  Of course, in the process of giving up all these creature comforts, No Impact Man found amazing new ways to bond with his family and has ended up remaining very low impact, preferring the mostly-off-the-grid lifestyle.  But that’s a topic for another day.  Most people would consider his lifestyle VERY uncomfortable.

But club-goers in London now have a new way to enjoy themselves AND draw very little power from the grid.  How do they do it?  Just by dancing.

According to London’s Evening Standard newspaper, come July 10, a rich real estate entrepreneur named Andrew Charalambous will be opening London’s first eco-dance club.

When London’s energetic dance youth arrive at the new club, they will be charged ten pounds entrance fee — unless they can prove they walked, rode a bike, or took public transportation.  In that case, entrance is free.  Drinks are served in cups made of eco-friendly polycarbonate cups.  And, gray water will flush the toilets.

But the most interesting thing about this club is its dance floor.  It is raised a few inches, supported by an array of short columns made of piezo-electric crystals, which generate electricity when compressed.  So, when the hordes of half-drunk young Londoners pogo madly to the beat of the latest endlessly repeated Euro-house dance loop, they will be generating up to 60% of the club’s electricity.

Charalambous and his new organization Club4Climate (dedicated to helping halt climate change) plan to open clubs in New York, Cape Town, and Rio.  Their motto: “All you have to do is dance to save the world.”

If only that were true.  But, this new club is — forgive the pun — a step in the right direction.

Those of us who read and write on talkgreen want to think we’re fairly environmentally savvy. That as the years go by, we’ll keep trying to find ways to live that are easy on Mother Earth? And we’ll continue those habits right up until the day we die, right?

Well what about after that?

Greensprings Natural Cemetery has the answer.

Now you can follow your environmental bliss right into the grave! Greensprings (http://naturalburial.org/index.php) is a one hundred acre nature preserve in rural New York State, a beautiful bit of rolling hillsides and grassy fields not to far from Ithaca. There you can purchase a plot in which to be buried. But this is no rows-of-depressing-headstones type of place. Each plot is 15×15 and is meant to revert back to nature once you are deposited in the dirt. You can plant a tree, or a bush, or some flowers to mark the place if you want. And, if you really are a traditionalist, your final resting place can sport a flagstone marker. But it must be small, made of local stone, and flush to the ground.

The result is, judging from the pictures, a much more peaceful place that a normal cemetery, a place you wouldn’t mind having a picnic or getting rained on.

And if that’s not natural enough for you, check out the Natural Burial Company (http://www.naturalburialcompany.com/). There you’ll find a wide array of biodegradable caskets. They come in natural wood (no pressboard or plywood please), wicker (if you’re interested in feeling like you’re getting buried in your patio furniture), and the ultra-modern recyled paper “ecopod” (see below).

Here’s hoping when our time comes, we’ll do the right thing for the earth, because at that point we’re about to become part of it.

Ecommoder came out with a list of 104 eco driving tips.

Here it is:

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