Flotsam and Jetsam

It's the weekend, and we're all too tired to be very serious (except Bruce, whom I might think was always serious if I didn't know what a wicked sense of humor he actually has). So I just wanted to drop off a few interesting items I've accumulated during the week.

-The second installment of City Hippy's interview with Penny Poyser is up on their site today, delicious as always. The BBC's Queen of Green is pregnant, which probably eventually will lead to a whole new series on Growing Up Green, or something on that order! I'm still hoping to be able to eventually see the series, No Waste Like Home.

-If you consider yourself green, and/or hope to become greener, this site is a frequent must-read, as well as a terrific reference source. The Green Guide,

...the consumers' go-to source for green homes tips, product reviews, environmental health and wellness products information, and green living advice.

Whether you are searching for information on earth friendly products, green building materials or organic products and bottled water, or you want to know what the latest research is on mercury in fish, flame retardants, healthy wellness products or food safe plastics and cookware, The Green Guide is your source. Well-researched and easy-to-use, The Green Guide is a trusted green living resource for today's conscious consumer, an essential for green homes everywhere.

-This item intrigues me: Alternative to high heat bills has dealer stoked, from the Richmond Times-Dispatch, news of an alternative fuel/energy source with which I have up til now been unfamiliar:

Lavery is an independent dealer of Snowflame Cornglow Stoves. The stoves are small furnaces that burn shelled corn (the same stuff farmers give livestock). But instead of ending up as a barnyard buffet, the hard golden kernels heat your home.

During the Great Depression, farmers in the Midwest burned corn instead of coal. The technology has evolved, but the concept remains: Shelled corn is packed with oil and ethanol. It burns hot and it burns clean. Kernels (no cobs or husks) are poured into a hopper and the stove circulates them into a burn chamber. Fans circulate the warmed air (using about as much electricity as a box fan).

It's odorless, smokeless and ridiculously cheap. (You won't be neck deep in popcorn either, because the corn combusts instantly.) Plus, by ditching fossil fuels for efficient, renewable warmth, you score big in the environmental karma department.

-If you've lived in a cold climate for any length of time, you most likely either know all of these tips or don't mind paying really high heating bills. But if you've just moved, say from Miami to St Paul, or Houston to Boston, you might cast an eye over Unplugged Livings's very low-tech suggestions for Keeping Warm This Winter. They don't involve any installation, techie knowledge or hard work.

-Lastly, just because it's a great story, I'll pass along Pilot Tracks Monarch Butterflies on Long Migration.

And that's what's washed up on my beach recently. Reader and commenter Amber often sends me choice snippets from her collection, I welcome others to do the same.

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