Welcome back to the Planet Forward blog for another edition of our weekly green news highlights. This week: transforming plastic bags with 12 DIY tips for upcycling; a BP whistleblower files a lawsuit for wrongful termination after he complained about BP’s oil clean up practices; and alternative fuel apps that tell you where the nearest alternative fuel station is based on your location. Just click on the links to learn more.

This one is crafty.  Reuse Plastic Bags: 12 DIY Upcycle Tips.  Plastic bags often clog our landfills so we thought it was appropriate to explore ways to reduce waste. This list of 12 Do-It-Yourself Upcycle tips from the Huffington Post allows you to reuse plastic bags and turn them into fun crafts, toys, art or use them for food storage and baking.  Beyond the obvious ways to reuse your plastic bags like lining your waste baskets, you can do fun projects to transform and upcycle your plastic bags into something unique.  The list includes making a soccer ball from plastic bags, weaving a throw rug, designing a tote bag and more .  Planet Forward would also like to add a 13th to this upcycling list with our popular craft for recycling plastic bags to make jewellery beads.

Ex-BP worker files whistleblower suit over cleanup.  A whistleblower lawsuit has been filed against BP by a former employee who claimed “he was fired for airing concerns about the cleanup of Mississippi’s shoreline after the Gulf oil spill.”  The suit was filed last Friday in New Orleans by August Walter, who claims that “one of his BP bosses manipulated data on shoreline cleanup and didn’t give the Coast Guard “the true status” of what substances needed to be cleaned.”  Walter helped develop the cleanup plans after the 2010 BP oil spill (Deepwater Horizon) and he contends that he was fired in retribution for complaints that BP wasn’t adhering to environmental regulations and was “picking and choosing what oil to pick up.”

Alternative fuels smartphone apps are available for Android providing a GPS guide to the closest alternative energy refuelling stations for any travel route.

“The Alternative Fuels apps include:
• the ‘Alternative Energy Fuelling Directory’ which provides essential information for identifying and locating fuelling/charging stations
• ‘Where to get Biodiesel’, for those users driving vehicles that burn diesel fuels that want to go green
• ‘Where to get NGV’, for those users driving vehicles running on CNG, LNG, or LPG
• ‘My Plug-In Directory’, for users driving vehicles that only re-fuel from electric charging stations

Fuels the apps can help you locate:
• ethanol and methanol
• compressed natural gas (CNG)
• electric fuelling stations
• hydrogen
• liquefied natural gas (LNG)
• biodiesel

The apps will allow users to find the most convenient fuelling stations/charging points, search for alternative fuel stations by zip code, get driving directions, website addresses, facility hours and facility phone numbers.”  With these apps it’s easy to drive and service your green car.

And that’s it for this edition; stay tuned for more green news.

January 26, 2012
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