First up, hate throwing away pill bottles? I do – and ditto the capsules that 35mm film came in before we went digital. Put them all to good reuse instead.

Why are we doing all this? Why go green? Why talk it up to anyone who will listen? According to The Good Human, these are the wrong questions – because there are zero reasons not to want to go green.

At last, the practical yet painfully unhip personal shopping trolley gets a make-over. Out go the plastic, tartan-painted horrors (iconic if you’re a Brit) and in come the ethical Turtle Trolleys. Form an orderly queue.

For those of you living in climates with more sunlight than rain, one fun way to take the load off your AC bill is to line the windows with a film that blocks most of the heat and all of the UV rays. We spotted this variety via Modern Eco Homes, although that’s not a recommendation, since we haven’t tried it and the reviews are rather conflicted. Nice idea, nonetheless.

Feeling like the tide of human kindness is at a low ebb? Maybe the story of a tiny cardboard robot can convince you otherwise – and show a little of what binds people together in the big cities even when they think they’re alone.

Here’s a peek at some of the blogs we read.

For a head-scratching example of how environmental pollution gets even more messy when it hits the courts, read the mystery of the $42 Million Pesticide Dump at Treehugger. Shared blame means no blame, apparently.

Congratulations to Viva Terra – they’ve made it onto TIME’s Green Design 100.

On April 25th, Ford set their new hybrid on a journey to promote its astonishing fuel economy. Ford claimed it could manage 1,000 miles on a single tank of gas. Ford was wrong – it managed a jaw-dropping 1,445 miles. Is this the perfect PR stunt?

Watering plants is all about fine judgment. When you’re growing plants as an agricultural business, it could also be the difference between dehydrating your plants to death or killing your profits with over-watering. But modern technology has the answer – a tiny sensor that monitors if individual plants are getting just the right amount of water. Sounds like science fiction, but it’s right here at IEEE Spectrum.

Take a look at the photos in this post at designklub. Without looking at the text – how big would you say they are? You’re probably way off, because it’s the fascinating work of Christien Meindertsma, who is channeling the 16th Century Dutch cordage industry with his practical, tactile creations.

Have you heard of the Energy-Water Nexus? If not, be prepared – it’s a worry.

The latest casualty of global warming is…an Internet domain name? Like the Maldives, the islands of Tuvalu are starting to disappear into the sea, and they own the .tv domain. If they go, do their websites? No so – and frankly, I think the inhabitants are probably worrying about other things right now. Gawker via Hippyshopper.

A splash of color for you. The Boys in Blue are going green, as seen at Red Green and Blue. Got that?

Proving that modern table design is far from dormant, these three sustainably-produced tables have just graced the Modern Design Function Exhibition in San Francisco, and they’re all the work of local table guru Dylan Gold.

Why won’t the world simplify itself? Why do we fight entropy so much with our clutter and complication? I admit, I’m actually speaking about myself here – but if you struggle to simplify as well, try some of these spring-cleaning, simplifying techniques at Apartment Therapy.

Goats are eating machines. That’s why they’re proving a good green alternative to lawnmowers, with the added value of being family-friendly and almost unbearably cute. Ever-greening Google was quick to spot this – and MG Siegler from Techcrunch dropped in to see how a hired army of goats had fared with Mountain View’s variety of 4-foot brush.

We already know that dung is a deeply stylish substance – in the right context, that is. But would you believe that cattle dung will soon power L’Oreal? It’s fast becoming clear that poop – er, “biomass”- will be a superfuel of the 21st century.

We’ve talked about the problem of palm oil before. The Independent has undertaken a two-month investigation, and concludes that even more palm oil is being use than originally thought – finding it in 43 of 100 of Britain’s top grocery brands, no less.

When it comes to eco-friendly lighting, it’s nice to see America take the LEED. (You’re fired – Ed.). The latest glowing engineering feat? The Henry Miller theater in New York – the city’s first to be LEED-certified.

Josyln at Simple Lovely just drew her line in the sand. This Earth Day, she used her final paper towel. What would you – or what did you – give up this year? (We’ve given up the bottle.)

It could have become yet another Los Angeles housing development – but today, the Baldwin Hills scenic overlook offers a glimpse of the city before it was the city. One worry – it’s near what is estimated to be the largest urban oil field in the United States. See the full story at Dwell.

And lastly, if you’ve wondered what Larkyn has been up to, she’s been growing her own blog, Little Willow. A sample post: she’s helping spread the word about shoes resurrected from the basement of a Swedish clog factory.

Image: Szymon Blasczczyk

You turfed your roof? Yesterday’s green, darling, so yesterday’s green. Anyone who is anyone is lining theirs with loofah. Obviously you haven’t been hobnobbing with the right sort of people over at Ecopreneurist.

You’d be forgiven for losing track of the ever-changing landscape of quality green blogs out there. It’s a little dizzying. So here’s one to bookmark – Trends Updates lists its Top 40 Green Blogs.

The Environmental Protection Agency wants the world to view environmental criminals like any other sort of criminal – literally. As GreenBiz reports, a new EPA new web tool is designed to collate information on particular individuals for easy access by law enforcement agencies – and, remarkably, there is even a public-facing page for identifying fugitives.

Here’s an eco-experiment that takes some nerve. Catering company owner Ari Derfel has held on to every scrap of trash he’s produced in the last 12 months, keeping it in his house (which no, doesn’t smell like a landfill – he composts everything he can). A side benefit – it’s allowed him to scrutinize his diet in detail, and identify where his work is so stressful it’s making him seek solace in junk food. Read the full San Francisco Chronicle story here.

For those employers still resistant to greening up their businesses, consider the findings of the World Resources Institute – they estimate a 48% drop in profits for non-sustainable companies by 2018. Ouch.

A deeply distressing expose of the Bureau of Land Management’s proposed cull of tens of thousands of America’s wild horses. The response of the Animal Welfare Institute? It’s a measure “pure and simple to balance the books for an agency whose reckless management has caused immeasurable harm to a national treasure at considerable cost to the American taxpayer”.

“Hummer“. Boy, how that word has aged. And no wonder, when you tot up the impact this gas-guzzling beast has had on the world since 1983. (Salon does all the work for you).

Ready for Christmas? Me neither. But don’t worry – everyone feels that way. There’ll be plenty of time to panic later, so for now, have a read of The Inspired Room’s Six Strategies For Making The Holdays Sane, and put your feet up.

How do you feel about wearing fur? Elizabeth Rossiter puts her cards on the table, over at SpliceToday.

“Within four months, I’d lost more than 35 pounds and was below 180, less than I’d weighed in 30 years.” These are the words of Mark Bittman – and he accomplished this by going “Vegan ’til Six” (which allowed him to eat more).

Hot on the heels of the discovery that peridotite can soak up carbon dioxide, scientists in Britain and Central America are trialling a technique used by pre-Columbian Amazonian Indians that locked up CO2 in trees that were them processed into a soil-renewing charcoal, boosting agricultural productivity and locking carbon into the soil. The startling implications, in the words of Craig Sams (of Green & Blacks chocolate fame) – “if just two and a half per cent of the world’s productive land were used to produce “biochar”, carbon dioxide could be returned to pre-Industrial Revolution levels by 2050.”

Climate update: this year is the coolest since 2000. What does that mean in terms of global warming? Answer: nothing at all. Long-term trends contain short-term variations, as The Guardian explains. And in the short term, our global climate remains as concerning as every. Naysayers – listen to the scientists, not your weather report.

Are we all done with the fax machine? Not quite yet…but this relic of yesteryear will find it a struggle to fit into the paperless workplace of tomorrow. However, right now you probably still have one kicking around your workplace – so following these tips from GreenHackz will ensure you’re not sabotaging your principles when you use it.

If someone offered you a meat sausage that had been grown in a test-tube, you’d probably show a good pair of heels. But Shmeat is on the way. The impetus for its development is a $1 million prize to be awarded to the first market-ready batch of in vitro meat products – and it’s PETA stumping up that prize money. A step in the right direction, or entirely missing the point? Expect this one to grow and grow. Full story at Grist (via Huffington Post).

And lastly, courtesy of Lisa Farino at MSN – know your Christmas Tree!

Image: Jef Poskanzer