"Many introverts seem to know this instinctively, and resist being herded together. Backbone Entertainment, a video game development company in Emeryville, Calif., initially used an open-plan office, but found that its game developers, many of whom were introverts, were unhappy. “It was one big warehouse space, with just tables, no walls, and everyone could see each other,” recalled Mike Mika, the former creative director. “We switched over to cubicles and were worried about it — you’d think in a creative environment that people would hate that. But it turns out they prefer having nooks and crannies they can hide away in and just be away from everybody.”

Privacy also makes us productive. In a fascinating study known as the Coding War Games, consultants Tom DeMarco and Timothy Lister compared the work of more than 600 computer programmers at 92 companies. They found that people from the same companies performed at roughly the same level — but that there was an enormous performance gap between organizations. What distinguished programmers at the top-performing companies wasn’t greater experience or better pay. It was how much privacy, personal workspace and freedom from interruption they enjoyed. Sixty-two percent of the best performers said their workspace was sufficiently private compared with only 19 percent of the worst performers. Seventy-six percent of the worst programmers but only 38 percent of the best said that they were often interrupted needlessly."

"A number of companies are making a push to move traditional desktop applications into the cloud. You can now write documents, spreadsheets and presentations all from the web browser with ease. Programmers have not been left out of this revolution, with several sites now offering development environments (IDEs) in a web browser."

"all this drying uses a lot of energy. According to figures from the Department of Energy, tumble dryers gobble up over 3 per cent of all household electricity, and that doesn't include drying that gets done at laundromats, hospitals, restaurants, universities and prisons…. … most of us could save about 10 per cent on energy costs if we did our laundry the green way - cold water, line dry, no bleaching or ironing… Yet clothes lines have become a rarity in the US, in part because draconian regulations make it impossible for many people to dry garments naturally. Around 60 million Americans live in homeowners' associations such as condominiums, retirement communities and mobile home parks. Most of these ban or severely restrict the clothes line. Why? Clothes lines evoke a negative emotional reaction from many Americans, who view them as flags of poverty. Property owners often fear that a clothes line in their neighbourhood will lower the value of their house."

uses "weed trees" to build sustainably. Inspiring.

"find farmers' markets, family farms, and other sources of sustainably grown food in your area, where you can buy produce, grass-fed meats, and many other goodies"

"an innovative proposal from the Berkeley City Council to encourage residential installations of solar power panels. The city foots the bill for the installation, but homeowners retain ownership and pay the city back over 20 years via an annual property assessment. And if they sell their house before the bill is completely paid off, no worries -- the liability for the remaining bill, along with the solar panels, goes to the next owner of the house."

clever graphic showing the impact of consumer choices on water usage

"These 100 social networks offer the chance to get involved, make a difference and meet people that share your ideals and ambitions. You won’t just be building good karma, but also making a real impact on the world of tomorrow."

"The tenderness of the delicate American buttock is causing more environmental devastation than the country's love of gas-guzzling cars, fast food or McMansions, according to green campaigners. At fault, they say, is the US public's insistence on extra-soft, quilted and multi-ply products when they use the bathroom."

"The Federal Government owns more than half of Oregon, Utah, Nevada, Idaho and Alaska and it owns nearly half of California, Arizona, New Mexico and Wyoming. See the map for more."

yep, all the back issues now online. awesome.

"a social networking site for people under the age of 27 who like to connect based on deeper interests than Paris Hilton's wardrobe and want to get engaged within a cause. Find a cause, join the discussion and get involved."

"My measurements indicate that my phone chargers consume less than 0.5W when left plugged in. The total power consumption of the average Brit is 5000W. (Including car driving, home heating, and so forth, not just electricity.) So obeying the BBC's advice, always unplug the phone charger, could potentially reduce British energy consumption by one hundredth of one percent (if only people would do it). "

"a project of Institute for the Future and its Ten-Year Forecast program. It is an experiment in massively multiplayer forecasting games—an experiment designed to test the capacity of extreme-scale collaboration to address very large-scale, verly long-range challenges. The goal of the project is to engage a broad public in considering the dilemmas we face in our current, everyday lives and think together about resolutions that go beyond the familiar ways of dealing with problems."

a brief survey of some geoengineering proposals to combat global warming. some of them are worthy of scifi

With most of the things you buy, you're told little or nothing about how they're made. Icebreaker is different. We have a deep commitment to animal welfare, the welfare of the people who work with us, and the environment. And we have nothing to hide. Your unique Baacode will let you see the living conditions of the high country sheep that produced the merino fibre in your Icebreaker garment, meet the farmers who are custodians of this astonishing landscape, and follow every step of the supply chain. We're sure you'll find the experience as inspiring as we do. Enjoy your journey back to the source.

runs through calculating the energy usage and offset amount, as well as how to go about it.

proposes that environmentalists will change their mind and their behavior about four major subjects in the next ten years—urbanization, population, genetic modification, and nuclear power.

Launching in Fall 2008 for grades 6-8, the Siemens We Can Change the World Challenge will provide students and teachers with the tools and resources to inspire innovative thinking about sustainability issues, and engage them in developing actionable solut

Why introduce yet another expensive, energy-intensive and risky technology if there are so many other and better ways of fighting global warming?

No doubt LED is the future. Technology is moving forward at a rapid rate, but LED's look and behave differently. Should we be striving to achieve the same result but in a low power form, or adapt to the products and use them to do new and exciting things

a complete listing of the articles in "How to Talk to a Climate Skeptic," a series by Coby Beck containing responses to the most common skeptical arguments on global warming.

it's how food is produced, not how far it is transported, that matters most for global warming, according to new research published in ES&T

Stealth growers seed or plant on land that doesn't belong to them. The result? Plants that beautify or yield crops in otherwise neglected or vacant spaces.

Using GPS and GoogleMaps, two entrepreneursenlisted volunteers to plot the location of over 10,000 illegal dump sites, including descriptions and photos. Phase II of t: clean-up upwards of 80% of the illegal sites in one day, using mass collaboration.

Local food availability listings by state and time of year. More complete than the Epicurious map (which is cool nonetheless).

"interactive map to see what's fresh in your area, plus find ingredient descriptions, shopping guides, recipes, and tips" — awesome

uses media and experiences to empower people to use the resources that can restore and protect Earth's ocean and freshwater systems.

founded by Nobel laureate and former Vice President Al Gore, educating people in the US and around the world that the climate crisis is both urgent and solvable

List of links to resources on water and waste.

Buckminster Fuller proposed an alternative to war games, called the World Game. He saw the world operating at a 4% mechanical efficiency and asserted that, if we could operate at 12% efficiency, we could accommodate everybody – humanity would be sustain

inspired by speaking engagements and current events, on wide-ranging topics spanning entrepreneurship to brand creation, transportation to sustainability, and all kinds of networking

Robin Chase's blog (Zipcar founder) covering the extremely important issue of transportation and make it more sustainable

Zipcar founder contemplates road-pricing schemes that will shake up our driving habits and a no-fee mesh network as sprawling as the United States Interstate highway system. (i think I have a new hero!)

provides analyses of economic and environmental trends to 2030, and simulations of policy actions to address the key challenges

Wind and solar viability by location

To make the map, scientists compiled global data on the impacts of 17 human activities including fishing, coastal development, fertiliser runoff and pollution from shipping traffic.

inspires social transformation through innovative projects and multimedia

the only architectural solid surface certified by the Forest Stewardship Council for using 100% post-consumer recycled paper. It is also certified by Smartwood and The Rainforest Alliance.

"Controlling the sale of contraceptive pills will not be necessary, and fishermen will once again be able to use their rods and tackle with impunity."

an open-source electronics prototyping platform based on flexible, easy-to-use hardware and software. It's intended for artists, designers, hobbyists, and anyone interested in creating interactive objects or environments.

Where toxic pollution and human habitation collide with devastating effects

Scientists have come up with extreme -- some might say crazy -- schemes to counteract global warming.

teach your students about the importance of our natural resources - How we use them every day and usually never bother to think about where they came from.

just what proportion of these materials have we used up so far, and how much is there left to go round?

If it isn't made of wood, cloth, or other living matter, it was dug out of the ground.

By studying the movement of ocean flotsam—in particular, the movement of 29,000 bathtub toys that were lost from a cargo ship in 1992—retired oceanographer Curtis Ebbesmeyer has uncovered quite a bit about our ocean's currents and the places they carr

Global warming is not the only threat that marine organisms face. In the North-East Pacific a vortex of plastic rubbish is taking over the ocean, swamping marine ecosystems and ultimately posing a danger to human life.

Lights Out San Francisco first held a citywide energy conservation event on October 20, 2007. On this night, we invited the entire city of San Francisco to turn off all non-essential lighting for one hour.

an industrial process called SkyMine that captures 90 percent of the carbon dioxide coming out of smoke stacks and mixes it with sodium hydroxide to make sodium bicarbonate, or baking soda

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has created a Google Earth map mashup that shows air quality across the nation. Get started here. There’s even a 3-D map overlay that lets you view the level of air pollutants that are coming from specific busine

free service, looks useful

a membership-based international human rights organization dedicated to promoting social, economic and environmental justice around the world.

dedicated to aggregating a massive nationwide movement by communicating a positive vision and a coherent set of national policies that rise to the scale of the climate challenge we are confronting

Alisa Smith and James MacKinnon (bios) chose to confront this unsettling statistic with a simple experiment. For one year, they would buy or gather their food and drink from within 100 miles of their apartment in Vancouver, British Columbia.

a project of more than 30 leading youth organizations throughout the U.S. and Canada. The Challenge leverages the power of young people to organize on college campuses and high schools across Canada and the U.S. to win 100% Clean Energy policies at their

relating to the film

a research-quality global climate model (GCM) with a user-friendly interface that runs on desktop computers. Anyone can explore the subject of climate change using the same methods and tools that scientists employ.

global activist social movement for progressive social change. It aims to resolve in a definitive and comprehensive manner the major social problems of our world and our era.

Sometimes referred to as the North Pacific garbage patch, this vortex is the epicenter of a system currents and winds covering most of the North Pacific.

This guidance accompanies the Climate Change Film Pack sent to all secondary schools in England including Al Gore's film, An Inconvenient Truth and a series of short films from Defra.

Want a low-maintenance, ecologically friendly landscape? Chemical free? Want to do it yourself?

KPCB is investing $200 million in green technologies to save the planet and make a profit to boot. But, Doerr fears, it may not be enough.

a technology that transforms your iPod or USB Hard Drive or Flash drive into a portable and private PC. Just install MojoPac on any USB 2.0 compliant storage device, upload your applications and files, modify your user settings and environment preferences

IPF's educational site. It sets out to sensitize young people and the educational world to the importance of the Polar Regions and of climate change by proposing adapted teaching tools and projects.

how to respond to global warming. On one side are "engineers," people convinced that we must work our way out of the climate crisis by engaging in planet-scale efforts

to spark social change by identifying, investing, and supporting the world's most exceptional emerging leaders and the organizations they launch.

The 2030 Challenge: to reduce building energy use by a minimum of 50%

concerns about CO2 loading of the atmosphere is that the resulting carbonic acid in the oceans is dissolving the calcifying organisms and could effectively end the crucial carbon sink that oceans provide.

"soot and particulates being put into the atmosphere by human activity such as fires and industry, are actually masking the effects of global warming by a huge degree."

just as the speed and scale of China’s rise as an economic power have no clear parallel in history, so its pollution problem has shattered all precedents

The Green Mile to School: examine personal activities and estimate impact Think Globally, Act Locally: Response to videos Small Steps Mean Smaller Footprints: semester-long project-based program

an article by Greg Katz