• 8 Gifts That Reduce Waste – Examiner. Okay, so if you haven’t bought all your presents, you’re a serious procrastinator, but here are a few good ideas.
• DIY Green Wrapping – Green Phone Booth. I love wrapping presents in reusable bags. Two gifts in one!
• Vegetarian Holiday Recipes – Green Phone Booth. Has anyone tried these? They look good.

It’s been a few weeks since I’ve shared, so there’s a lot. Do you do want the good news or the bad news first?

The good news:

• Empire State Building Achieves LEED Gold Certification – Inhabit. It’s the tallest building in the U.S. to get LEED certification.
• EPA Issues Rule Limiting Arsenic, Mercury Emissions from Power Plants – NPR. About half of the coal- and oil-fired power plants still lack modern pollution controls. Now they have three years to clean up their act.
• Elevation of the Chimp May Reshape Research – New York Times. The government is halting all new grants for research on chimps.
• EPA Report Cracks Down on Hydraulic Fracking – Energy 2.0. The EPA specifically links fracking with groundwater contamination.
• Could Having Better Labels Help out the Environment? – Slate. More argument for social norms advertising.
• Naked People Need Building Science – Energy Vanguard. Okay, so this is less good news and more funny. But it makes a good point!

The bad news:

• The Scariest Energy Graph You’ll See Today – Green Bang. Warning: the the US Energy Information Administration’s International Energy Outlook 2011 is pretty depressing.
• Canada Holds Hearing on Suspected Virus in Salmon – New York Times. Infectious salmon anemia has spread from farmed fish to wild.
• As Permafrost Thaws, Scientists Study the Risks – New York Times. Permafrost could contain twice as much carbon as the entire atmosphere.
• Plastic Bags – XKCD. I love XKCD.

Pink and brown is the new red and green.

How to avoid this trap without looking like a total scrooge?

• Give to people you know well. Daily or weekly contact translates to gifts that are 10% more satisfying.
• Give experiences, not things. Interpersonal relationships and new experiences consistently make people happier than material goods.
• Surprise them. Whether the surprise is in the timing or the present itself, unexpected gifts are the most satisfying.
• Give to those less fortunate. Redistributing wealth—even if it’s just from comfortable adults to broke students—is a particularly good way to make gifts more efficient.

• Energy Circle’s 2011 Holiday Gift Guide: Gifts of Efficiency – Energy Circle. I love that spray foam and caulk are at the top of this list.
• A gift guide to bike stuff that people actually want  - Grist. I vote for Smart Wool socks.
• Hubway to branch out next spring – Boston Globe. 20 stations in Cambridge starting in March!
• Winter Farmers’ Markets – Boston Globe. The winter farmers market at the Pru is definitely not getting the love it deserves right now.
• Organic Can Feed the World – The Atlantic. ”A 2010 United Nations study (PDF) concluded that organic and other sustainable farming methods that come under the umbrella of what the study’s authors called ‘agroecology’ would be necessary to feed the future world.”
• Carbon Emissions Show Biggest Jump Ever Recorded – New York Times. ”The increase, a half-billion extra tons of carbon pumped into the air, was almost certainly the largest absolute jump in any year since the Industrial Revolution.”
• What’s the #1 Air-Pollution Source in Montreal During Winter? Old Wood Stoves and Fireplaces – Treehugger. Old wood stoves are not only inefficient, but release tons of particulate matter into the air.
• Sustainability: 4 Principles for Behavior Change – Practically Green. I love these! Berklee’s Counseling and Advising Center did an anti–drugs and alcohol social norms campaign that was just great.

I tallied people passing through two sections of Beacon Street, and I couldn’t believe the traffic! It makes sense, because it’s a wide road, with bike lanes most of the way.

163 bicyclists in an hour!

I found this especially interesting because I’m taking a Program Evaluation class this semester. This data collection instrument is nice and simple, but at the same time it would be easy for a collector to miscount while trying to keep track of four directions of traffic. (Once I had 16 people walk through at the same moment.) If the city wanted completely accurate statistics, they could record the intersections on video and then have two separate people tally the results. Of course, that would be far more expensive, and since this study is relying on volunteers, I’m assuming it must not be well funded. This is definitely good enough for a quick and dirty method. However, if I were conducting the study, I would probably want more training of the volunteers and maybe simplify the forms to only include pedestrians and bicyclists.

I’ll be interested to hear how they apply the results.

Thanks to Green Lifestyle Consulting for the tip!

Our doorbell was ringing constantly this weekend, and not just on Halloween. The election for Cambridge City Council and School Committee is coming up on November 8, and the candidates (or their staffers) are really doing their due diligence in going door to door. I’ve gotten to the point where I just don’t answer anymore. Is this how people in New Hampshire feel during the primaries? The sheer amount of paper wasted is ridiculous!

That's a lot of paper.

So I decided to count up exactly how many flyers we received in our mailbox (or on our porch…or inside our front door). I know this is a minor thing, but it seems like an interesting thought experiment, since the candidates all say they care about environmental issues.

City Council

• Marjorie Decker – 8
• Henrietta Davis – 7
• David Maher – 5
• Denise Simmons – 3 (in a plastic bag!)
• Minka vanBeuzekom – 3
• Tim Toomey – 2
• Leland Cheung – 2
• Ken Reeves – 2
• Charlie Marquardt – 2
• Craig Kelley – 2
• Matt Nelson – 1
• Larry Ward – 1
• Sam Seidel – 0
• Tom Stohlman – 0
• James Williamson – 0
• Gregg Moree – 0
• Gary Mello – 0
• Jamake Pascual – 0

Ultimately, I don’t think it’s going to change who gets my #1 vote. I’m too passionate about Henrietta Davis, Minka vanBeuzekom (a Pragmatic Environmentalism reader!), and Leland Cheung—and now Merven Osborne—to decide on someone else based solely on their literature. However, some people I was lukewarm about did get bumped down the list because of it (I’m looking at you, Denise Simmons).

Some pieces really impressed me as being something more than just junk mail. Henrietta Davis sends out updates quarterly, with great information that we actually put on our refrigerator, like farmers market dates and locations, useful phone numbers, and local discounts. David Maher’s flyer unfolded into a window sign. Way to make it do double duty!

If you want to do your own research on the candidates, Robert Winters has some great profiles on each of them, as well as voting records for the incumbents. His busy site gives me a crazy old man vibe, but I think he does a better job covering Cambridge politics than Cambridge Chronicle.

• Win a Free $600 Value Energy Audit from Sierra Club Green Home – Inhabit. Enter before October 31.
• A Chimney Balloon will Keep Your House Warm, Save You Money – Energy Circle. Fireplaces suck for energy efficiency, but chimney balloons can help.
• Weatherize Baby Weatherize – Complete Home Evaluations. DeWitt has now done energy audits for 250 homes in Maine.
• Meal Planning in the Digital Age – Half-Assed Housewife. I used to be great at meal planning; now I’m trying to relearn it. I hope these websites will help.
• Coconut Curry Butternut Squash Soup – Not Eating Out in New York. It’s that time of year…
• How To Speed Up Your Website And Be More Eco Friendly – Eco Living Advice. I doubt these tips actually save much energy, but they’re common sense that I need to keep in mind.
• 6 Ways To Drink Wine Smarter – Huffington Post. My friend Lesley really recommends Yellow + Blue.
• 5 Easy Car Repairs Anyone Can Do (Even You) – Cheap Like Me. I’ve never done an oil change myself, but I’ve watched my sister do it many times.
• Go Slow To Go Fast – Slate. Reducing speed limits not only saves gas, but can also reduce traffic jams.
• EPA Launches “Greener Products” Portal – Energy 2.0. A new online guide for EPA eco-labeling  programs.