Make your web site greener

If you're one of the millions of people the world over who has a web site, you can make it greener very easily.

These handy tips, provided by Cyrus Patten at Mashable, show web site owners how simple it is to make a site greener. And all of them -- from choosing greener hosting, to simplifying your site design, to making print-friendly pages that use less ink -- can be applied to your site independently of the others. Although, of course, they all make sense!

Do you have a web site? Have you taken any steps to make it "greener"?

Go camping

If you're an old hand at camping, you'll already know the awe, relaxation, and joy that come from a camping holiday. If you've never camped before, why not give it a go?

Camping gives you a new appreciation of nature and the great outdoors, lets you meet other people who also like to enjoy their environment, and can see you trip to some stunning locations. It also gives you the opportunity to see wild animals in their native habitat, stargaze, watch the sun rise and set, and generally get back in touch with your wilder side!

Camping doesn't have to be expensive: borrow gear from someone you know; campers are renowned for their willingness to share, and once you discover how much you like camping, you'll undoubtedly go out and get your own gear.

Camping doesn't have to be "rough": from luxury camp matresses to fully kitted-out campgrounds with kitchens, bathrooms, pools, saunas and more, the modern camper doesn't have to rough it if they don't want to.

Camping doesn't have to be remote or isolated: you can camp in towns and on city fringes as well as some state and national parks, nature reserves, and so on. If you're just starting out, and you're not sure you'll enjoy the experience, you might want to choose a camping spot that's close to civilisation -- shops, pubs, and so on -- so you still feel connected.

I love camping and I'm currently planning some camping trips. Are you a fan of camping?

Congratulate yourself, Australia

Given Australia's lacklustre performance at and during the Copenhagen summit, many environmentally concerned Aussies are feeling less than inspired about the future.

Well, kick up your heels, Australia: according to a recent study, the nation's eastern states have reduced greenhouse emissions by 1.8%.

Explains ABC News, the Climate Group report "shows overall emissions were 5.3 million tonnes lower in 2009 than in the previous year."

South Australia and New South Wales have done the most to reduce emissions -- by 4.2% and 3.1% respectively. If Australians keep up their efforts, the report says it could mean "big cuts" to emissions by 2020.

Yes, people power works! How will you celebrate?

Understand why new Rainbow Warrior will be extra-green

Reports that Greenpeace is expanding its fleet by building a new, ultra-green Rainbow Warrior may make us wonder exactly what's so green about this new ship?

The answers include that the Rainbow Warrior III will be a vessel under sail. As well as dual electric and diesel engines, the ship will use sail, making the engines necessary only around 10% of the time.

This is definitely a case of Greenpeace putting principles into practice: spokespeople said that the decision to have the new vessel built was made because a conversion would not be as effective. Analysis also showed that by far, the greatest environmental impact of the vessel would occur during its use, rather than through its development or disassembly at the end of its life.

As well as using its fleet to take action against whaling, Greenpeace ships are, or have been, used to:

• prevent dumping oil installations
• chasing private vessels fishing for rare patagonian toothfish
• attempting to prevent missile tests
• bringing public attention to nuclear missile, toxic chemical production and dumping, climate change, and other marine issues

Have you ever used the Greenpeace onboard webcams to see what their ships are up to?

Plant a herb

I know what you're thinking: "Plant a herb? How will that help the environment?"

If you're the kind of person who considers themselves too busy to grow food plants, who thinks they have no space to grow food plants, or who believes they signal death to any plant that comes under their ownership, then planting a herb is a great thing to do.

Firstly, if you can grow a herb, you might just get the idea that you're not a "black thumb", which may encourage you to try to grow other plants you can eat.

If you can grow a fresh herb and add it to the food you cook, you'll quickly realise the difference that fresh-picked foods can make to your meals, diet, and sense of well being. This may encourage you to look for more ways to grow food plants, whatever your situation, and/or encourage others to do the same.

Finally, if you can grow a herb, you may be inspired to expand your range of herbs to include others -- even if all you have is a sunny windowsill. Herbs are among the more intensively-reared commercial crops. Grown in hot houses, under lights, and in hydroponic setups, herbs require a lot of inputs and energy to be grown in commercial quantities, on demand. But, choose the right herbs for your season and location, and they take comparatively little effort, energy or time to grow at home. And they add so much to your meals.

Yeah, your homegrown basil rocks that basil-and-tomato salad! Wouldn't it be cool if you grew the tomatoes yourself too?

Make your bike part of life

Riding your bike is a great way to reduce your carbon footprint. So instead of seeing riding as a weekend exercise option, why not build more riding into your weekly schedule?

• Ride to work, or to the place from which you commute to work.
• Ride to the grocery store or market. A backpack and panniers will enable you to do a decent amount of grocery shopping on your bike.
• Ride to get your errands done. Picking up drycleaning, heading to the post office, going to the doctor, stopping by the bank -- whatever it is you need to do, the bike will make the process quicker and easier.
• Ride to a party. Ride to meet friends for dinner. Ride to the movies.
• Ride instead of relying on public transport to get where you're going. Using public transport is better for the environment than driving everywhere, but riding your bike will reduce your carbon footprint even further. Riding also means you're not stuck to particular public transport routes and gives you more flexibility in terms of trip times.

The other plus? Riding is good for you. Build riding into your daily routine and you'll be doing yourself good, as well as the planet.

Do you use your bike just for pleasure rides, or are you already using it to help you get around?

Find out which Antarctic glacier is beyond repair, and why

New Scientist reports that new scientific modelling shows that a major Antarctic glacier is "past its tipping point."

The article says that "In 2004, satellite observations showed that it had started to thin, and that ice was flowing into the Amundsen Sea 25 per cent faster than it had 30 years before."

The outlook was grim then, but more recent research -- the first to model the ice sheet in three dimensions -- probably "is irreversibly on track to lose 50 per cent of its ice in as little as 100 years, significantly raising global sea levels."

By "significantly", they mean by as much as 24 centimetres.

See the full article for more details.

Buy free range

Much farming today is intensive -- also called factory farming.

Sheep, cattle and pigs as well as poultry are raised in small yards (feedlots) in the open or covered sheds. They have little room to move, no chance of exercise, and a fairly abnormal existence. Some may literally never see the light of day if they're in sheds that are artificially lit, move around, or experience anything approaching a natural flock or herd scenario.

These are the key reasons why buying free range eggs, milk and meat is the way to go. Free range animals usually have some quality of life and endure less stress than those reared intensively. By buying free range products, you're voting with your wallet for a more natural approach to farming that's better for the animals and, often, the environment. How?

1. When animals free range, their manure is automatically returned to the soil as fertiliser.
2. Settling ponds for manure and animal wastes, which can cause contamination to ground and surface water, are not required, or are needed to a lesser degree, on a free range operation.
3. Free ranging animals can be put straight into a fodder crop; that crop doesn't need to be harvested, transported, stored, and then fed out to those animals: they can simply eat it where it grows, which reduces the energy required in production.

I'm all about free range, and buy my meat from a butcher who stocks exclusively free range product. How about you?

Meet Green Touch, the green IT initiative

Green Touch has just been launched by a consortium of IT research institutions determined to "achieve a 1000-fold improvement in the future energy consumption of the Internet and other networks that support communications, commerce and entertainment."

That's right -- a system that's one thousand times more efficient than the current one. It's an ambitious goal, but not unachievable, according to Green Touch members who say, "Bell Labs research suggests that today’s Information and Communication Technology (ICT) networks actually could be 10,000 times more energy efficient then they are today."

Take a look at the official webcast and member videos, and stay up to date with the group's achievements via their Twitter feed.

Do you think a 1000-fold reduction in IT energy consumption is doable?

Use what's on hand

We've talked before about the commercial idea that you need specific products for specific tasks, and explained why it's very rarely true in the everyday life of the average household. Using what's on hand is a great ethos to apply to your activities at work and home.

What does "use what's on hand" mean in a practical sense? It means:

• Use waste paper as a note pad.
  
• Use worn towels and sheets as dusting rags, liners for Fido's bed, etc.
• Use holey stockings or fabric offcuts to tie plants to stakes in your garden, or bundle items together in your kitchen or office.
• Use newspapers to line shelves and drawers, clean glass, wrap rubbish, protect stored items from dust and breakage, mulch your garden, sprout seeds, and so on.
• Use the back of a used envelope to write up your shopping list.
• Use unwanted CDs to keep birds off your veggies and fruit.
• Use leftovers as tomorrow's lunch or tomorrow night's dinner.
  
• Use empty toilet rolls to hold soil and sprouted seedlings (one per roll, fold one end over!).

This list could go on and on. What does "use what's on hand" mean to you?

Know how 'climate' differs from 'weather'

It seems that Britain's cold snap has required UK commentators to point out the difference between weather and climate. It's a simple distinction, but one that many are surprisingly sketchy about. Let's make it clear.

According to the Australian Bureau of Meteorology, climate is:

"The atmospheric conditions for a long period of time, and generally refers to the normal or mean course of the weather. Includes the future expectation of long term weather, in the order of weeks, months or years ahead."

The BOM provides the Macquarie Dictionary definition of weather: "the state of the atmosphere with respect to wind, temperature, cloudiness, moisture, pressure, etc." but adds, "It occurs in the troposphere, the layer of air about 10 - 15 km thick, above the surface of the earth."

On its weather education page, which deals with the climate vs. weather question in detail, the BOM says simply "Climate is what you expect. Weather is what you get." See that page for (much) more information!

Are you clear about the difference between weather and climate?

Look forward to greener skiing

What? Skiing isn't green?!

According to New Scientist report, skiing can have lasting negative impacts on alpine areas, including erosion, habitat removal (to form the runs), and so on.

While those in many southern hemisphere locations are facing a future sans snow, those in the north will be cheered to hear that skiing can now be made greener, since more and more snowy locations are looking to expand into the ski industry.

Scientists have developed specialised software that allows users to enter the kind of ski operation they want to run (eg. boutique resort). According to the article, "The software then homes in on the preferred general region and seeks out those locations with the combinations of available land and humidity levels most likely to produce powder snow. Among many other factors, it also analyses accessibility by road, slope steepness - to work out the risk of avalanches - and the likely erosion from tree felling. A key factor is the ready availability of electricity to power the ski lifts."

It's an interesting combination of business and environmental goals. Have you ever considered the environmental impacts of your skiing?

Instigate recycling in your office

Does your office offer recycling bins for staff? I'm not just talking about paper waste: you should ideally have recycling for plastics, cans, cardboard and organic waste.

If you don't have recycling in your office, consider rising it with your boss, office manager, or CEO. The reasons why they don't offer recycling may vary from the potential cost to the simple fact that no one's had time to research and organise a service. You'd be surprised how often this is the case.

Once you know what the problem is, you may be able to help -- perhaps by researching cost-effective services and making a recommendation to your employer accordingly. Running a quick search in your local area for "office recycling" or "commercial recyclers" will get you off to a good start.

Do you have recycling in your workplace?

Enjoy Sumatran tiger footage...

...and learn about the problems they face.

The Guardian has published this footage of two rare Sumatan tiger cubs with their mother -- very cute, and very awe inspiring. Indondesianfauna.com has more information on the tigers and how they live.

Look past their cuteness, and you'll see an example of a critically endangered species in the wild. All that illegal Indonesian logging we're always hearing about -- usually as a reason to check when you buy furniture to make sure the timber hasn't come out of a rainforest -- as well as deforestation through legal logging is the major cause of the problem. Of course, tigers near settlements can cause all sorts of havoc for communities, whose members understandably kill tigers that come too close to habitation.

How can you help? Well, besides adopting a tiger, you can donate to the Sumatran Tiger Trust. The site offers other tools -- petitions, information and more -- that can help you direct your efforts to help protect this dwindling species.

How much did you know about the Sumatran tiger before you read this?

Weed your garden!

When we think of weeds, most of us think of the things that grow uninvited in our flower beds or in pavement cracks.

But weeds -- innocuous as they may seem in well-preened city streets -- spread rapidly from backyards to parks to wasteland to farmland. If you live in a rural area, you'll know exactly what I mean: weed seeds are transported by vehicles and people as well as wind, weather, water and animals.

What's so bad about the humble weed?

Weeds can choke good land, outgrowing indigenous plant species and reducing the food sources and liveable space available to native animals as well as stock.

They can undermine native ecosystems, flora and fauna, and once you have an infestation, it can be almost impossible to remove -- many weed seeds survive for years (sometimes decades) in the soil.

They also end up costing tax payers money, as local and state governments spend millions trying to control weeds on public land.

Weeding 101

Spraying weeds isn't the ideal way to weed: manual removal is best. Depending on the weeds you have, you may need to use a garden fork, hoe, mattock, crowbar or dozer to remove the weeds.

Remember, it's always important to get the roots, but you may also want to do research to understand how your weeds reproduce and when, so that you can time your weeding to greatest effect. As an example, we had a contractor bulldoze gorse on our block at the end of winter, before it had a chance to seed.

Of course, many weeds require follow-up tactics (periodic weeding, or deliberate planting of a competitive species) to ensure that their offspring don't get a foothold in the earth that you disturbed when you were grubbing them out. And yes, ultimately some of us need to use management techniques (goats, sprays, and so on) to manage serious infestations in an ongoing sense.

You need to weed. It's a good thing it's such a satisfying job! I'm about to go and pull some gorse from along my fenceline. What weeds do you have to deal with this season?

Use airconditioning more efficiently

We all know that airconditioning is inherently inefficient. So is heating, though, so rather than advocate that everyone rip out their aircon, let's look at some tips to make your aircon more efficient when you do use it...

• Maintain your airconditioner well and check filters, vents, thermostats, condensers and so on ahead of summertime.
  
• Close windows and blinds, curtains or awnings in the cool of morning on a day that's destined to be hot.
• Keep your aircon unit out of direct sunlight.
• Don't change the temperature on your airconditioner in an effort to get it to cool your house more quickly -- most airconditioners cool the air at the same rate no matter what temperature you set them to.
• Run as few appliances as possible on hot days (these often generate heat -- think washers, dryers, irons, vacuums).
• Plan your activities for the cooler parts of the day. So if you need to cook something, do it in the cool of morning, then refrigerate in anticipation of the evening meal.
• If you must cook, use an extraction fan to remove the resulting hot air from the kitchen.
• Use fans along with your aircon to circulate the cool air through your house.
• Wear light clothing and remove your shoes to stay as cool as possible.
• Insulate your house (if you haven't already).
• Cool particular rooms of your house, and shut them off from other rooms that you're not using (for example, guest rooms, bathrooms, etc.).
  

These are just a few of the ways you can make your airconditioner use more efficient. What tips can you add?

Investigate climate change scepticism

Scepticism is healthy, and we all know it's good to question anything and everything the media tells us. But often, the various arguments for and against an issue like climate change just create noise, rather than outcomes.

Wouldn't it be good if the scepticism over climate change enabled us to learn more about the science behind the arguments for and against this issue?

Enter: SkepticalScience.com, a site that's dedicated to exploring the arguments of climate change sceptics. It's run by an Australian scientist who's quick to point out that his "interest in global warming comes from a layman's perspective", though he has a degree in physics and a postgrad in solar physics.

His blog basically takes a systematic approach to considering and investigating the arguments of climate sceptics, then explaining the reasons he's found for those arguments' inaccuracy. He's not an evangelist and he doesn't rant: all his cases are presented dispassionately and he's happy to engage in further detailed discussion with readers as required.

Have a look. Have you been bamboozled by climate scepticism in the past? Let us know if you have any good informational resources that we can check out.

Give 1% to the planet

The organisation 1% for the Planet invites businesses to commit to donating 1% of their annual sales to a network of "researched and approved" environmental organisations around the globe.

That's great for businesses. If you run a business, why not consider joining up?

But if you don't run a business, you might consider donating 1% of your income to a worthy environmental or community-based cause. You may get toward the end of the financial year, then select a cause to donate a lump-sum to, or you might find it easier to arrange monthly donations to a particular non-profit organisation.

Can you afford to donate just 1% of your income to an environmental cause you believe in?

Buy greener electronics ... easily!

Standing in an electronics store and trying to choose a more environmentally friendly device can be like searching for a needle in a haystack. Fortunately, Greenpeace makes the decisions much easier -- and quicker -- with the 2010 Guide to Greener Electronics.

The guide ranks the top 18 producers of personal computers, mobile phones, TVs and games consoles, and tells you where they fall in the scheme of things, and why. Download the full scorecard for the companies assessed in PDF format for use when you next hit the shops -- online or off.

This is not to say that a given brand rates in a particular place for every item, but it should help you direct your search for 'greener' electronics items.

My phone's a Sony Ericsson (not bad -- ranks third!) and my conputer's an Apple (average. Very average). How do your electronics rate?

Make a green resolution

New Year is the traditional time to resolve to do things. So along with "exercising more", "be kinder to animals" and "get a pay rise", why not add a green resolution -- one you might actually keep -- to the list?

Here are some ideas to get you started:

• Make myself a cloth shopping bag to take every time I go shopping. If you're keen, I recommend furnishing fabrics -- solid, durable, and washable.
• Do the weekly shop for meat at the organic butcher.
• Refit the house, office, shed, etc. with fluorescent bulbs.
• Do not buy a pre-prepared frozen meal all year.
• Ride to work twice a week (best to ease into it!).
• Shop for food at a farmer's market at least once a month.

Pretty simple, huh? My resolution is to grow my veggies patch so that through the year, I have only to add a maximum of one shop- or market-bought vegetable to the plate for each meal. Doable? We'll see... What's your green resolution?