Pods for passing

From a woman who long worked with natural childbirth techniques comes a natural death product, earth-friendly Ecopod caskets. Made from hardened, 100% recycled paper, the coffins designed by the UK's Hazel Selina take inspiration both from ancient Egyptian sarcophogi and from the form of a seedpod, a metaphor for natural cycles of life and death. Silk-screened versions, overlaid with Thai paper and screened with one of three images, are available for the artfully departed.

Earlier: Helen Nearing recalls her husband Scott's choice to die, unaided by food or medicine. "He said 'All... right,' and breathed slower and slower and slower till there was no movement anymore and he was gone out of his body as easily as a leaf drops from the tree in autumn, slowly twisting and falling to the ground."

Brilliant: Carbon footprint on product labels

The Independent (UK):

The Carbon Trust is launching a green equivalent to the Fairtrade label - a consumer label which details the carbon footprint of a product and a commitment by its producer to reduce it.

Several major brand products, including Walkers crisps (carbon footprint: 75g), Boots Organics shampoo (148g) and Innocent smoothies (294g), will test the use of the logo - a white arrow wrapped in a black letter C. Over time it is expected that many more will join, raising the prospect that products might be marketed on the basis that they have the lowest carbon footprint in their marketplace.

The first product to be stamped with the logo will be Walkers cheese and onion crisps - the company's best-selling flavour. The Carbon Trust has enabled the company to identify the footprint of the three competing products in its range - crisps, Quavers and Doritos - by tracing its production cycle from the potato and corn producers at the start to recycling consultants at the end.

As a result, Walkers has reduced the carbon footprint of the product by a third...

Read more.

"Hummer that breathes"

At last, a non-deplorable Hummer! Unveiled at the L.A. Auto Show's Design Challenge, this prizewinning Hummer has "algae-filled body panels that would convert carbon dioxide exhaust gases produced by the vehicle's engine into pure oxygen." Available at a dealer, well, nowhere, the concept, by GM’s West Coast Advanced Design Studio, is now just a series of 2D renderings.

Comparing greenhouse emissions

World Resources Institute illustrates America's disproportionate emission of greenhouse gases compared to other countries:

When it comes to climate change, states make a difference -- even when compared internationally. If states were ranked individually, six states -- Texas, California, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Illinois and Florida -- would rank among the top 30 emitters internationally.

This map, featured in Science magazine, shows how regions within the U.S. compare to major emitters. The lower 48 states are approximately equivalent to China, Brazil and the United Kingdom combined: or the United Kingdom, Brazil, Russia, India, South Korea and Canada.

Conservation.

Headline: "If you don't preserve nature by installing solar panels, who will?"

One in a series. Via reBlog.