Dear St. Nick, or as I like to call you “The Claus”,

I know this might be a very late request, but I think you should check out this new alternative to plastic when you go out to deliver your gifts. The german company Tecnaro, has developed a “liquid-wood” that is bio-degradable and recyclable. It can be injection-molded to make toys and addresses concerns that people have about toxins in plastic toys. Arboform is made from the bi-products of paper-making and can be used to make everything from golf-tees to car parts to toys to the nativity scene below. If you can’t get some of these gifts made this holiday season, perhaps next year.

Peace,
The Green Rapper

There will probably be not be one cure-all solution to reliance on foreign energy and carbon emissions. Luckily, there are numerous people thinking creatively to harness energy from unlikely sources. Syngas is a process in which heat is used to convert a solid material such as coal or municipal waste into a gas. “Gasification” of biomass can reduce waste and carbon emissions since the source material is renewable and organic.

The Boston Globe did a story about one company, Ze-Gen, that heats scrap metal and captures the gases for combustion. Like many of the “new” energy propositions being developed these days, this idea is not new at all. A similar process was used to extract gasses from coal in order to light street lamps in the pre-electric days. (Via Nigel)

If you’re like me, you receive a white pages and yellow pages at least once a year and never use them. I think the last time I used the yellow pages, I was 6 years old and I tried to steal my mom’s car by sitting on a stack of them. These days, I’m too internet-connected to be bothered to flip through these huge books. For better or for worse, I’m much more likely to use Yelp or Google when trying to find a business or service in my community. Now there is an organization that gives you the option to discontinue your Yellow Page delivery. Yellow Pages Goes Green has a sign-up section that allows you to stop getting these deliveries. I haven’t heard any feedback on how well this works, but it’s definitely a good idea.

Proquo is a new service that claims it can remove you from unwanted mailing lists and let you opt in to those you want to receive. I would be a little weary that signing up for such a service might lead to more junk mail. Nothing in the world is free and for Proquo to be a viable business, they must have partnered with marketing companies in order to make the service work. That being said, they do have a very explicit privacy promise that agrees to hold your personal data sacred.