Istanbul during Ramadan.

If you prefer to walk or bike instead of using a car, enjoy being outside, use reusable bags, avoid plastic bottles, eat meat sparingly or not at all, research makeup and cosmetic products for safety, carry a refillable water bottle, and generally avoid buying crap you don't need and using the stuff you do have as long as it is useful, then you are well on your way to successfully completing by DoSomething's Weekend Without Oil challenge.

photo: Dmytri Kleiner via flickr

Here is the most succinct symbol of how humanity is using resources beyond the capacity of the planet to sustainable regenerate them, and is only increasing to do so: Global Footprint Network tells us that August 21, 2010 is Earth Overshoot Day--every single thing we collectively do past this date depletes environmental capital, puts

There's no doubt that the last decade or so has seen the rise of what we might term 'conscious capitalism'. Consumers have increasingly put a premium on paying more for goods and services that have a philanthropic bent -- look at the Fair Trade coffee of Starbucks, the organic produce at Whole Foods, or the donation of shoes through Tom's. Few would argue that this has been a positive development. But there's at least one man who's doing exactly that: the philosopher Slavoj Zizek.

We've been focused on educating people about reducing their oil consumption (see our Minus Oil series), so when we heard from DoSomething about their Weekend Without Oil it was as if the idea had been plucked straight from our heads.

Image via Ellie Marie

When I first started Terracycle, I spent a lot of my time explaining what upcycling was. It was this foreign concept whose name wasn't on a lot of people's radar.

Cleaning the supply chain is one of the challenges of Walmart's sustainability project. Image credit: williamcho/Flickr

This guest post was written by Rand Waddoups, senior director of sustainability at Walmart.

Last July, we announced that we would lead in the creation of a Sustainable Product Index—a tool that will help manufacturers, merchants, customers and other retailers make more sustainable purchasing decisions.

Image via Green Biz

If there's a giant retailer out there that's working harder than Wal-Mart to build it's green cred, I certainly haven't heard of it. With its much-touted Sustainability Index, Wal-Mart has created more ambivalence in the green community than even T. Boone Pickens or nuclear power could muster.

Photo via armatoj

We just noted the rising popularity of e-books as Amazon announced sales of digital books have consistently surpassed sales of hardcover books. However, don't think libraries will turn to ancient ruins quite yet. Pop culture is about to bring them back in a big way.

Photo by Horia Varlan

According to Amazon, e-books are outpacing hardcover books by around 50%, with about 143 e-books sold for every 100 hardcovers on average over the past three months, and 180 e-books sold for every 100 hardcovers last month. The company pins it on the lower price point for Kindle devices, saying it has reached a tipping point and e-books are set to take over.