Good evening or good morning depending on when you read this and welcome back to the green gazette, my attempt at finding eco-events, inventions and intentions then wrapping them all up with a red bow on a blog post. I’m feeling vaguely festive today so with a good mood being something you should never spurn I’ll not talk about the Copenhagen Climate Summit tonight but instead chronicle some of that event later in the week. Instead let’s look at some of the happier news in terms of the environment.

I may have mentioned part of this once before (forgive me) but I’m really impressed with these two resources that are useful additions to any eco-conscious consumer. ‘I Stay Green’ is building up an ever expanding database of hotels throughout the world and evaluates them based upon eco-initiatives and practices that the property has implemented. Hotels are such a large consumer of resources that considerations about where you stay should be made when book a room and this site helps you achieve that. Another directory I think is quite brilliant is Ecovian who are building up an impressive resource for eco-friendly retailers, restaurants and service providers. From pet shops to roof construction (bad dog pun built in) Ecovian is a great data source for many cities in the States. Each business that applies is evaluated based on a variety of eco-criteria so you can learn more about them. Its especially good for restaurants.

Seems that the new film Avatar is getting very positive reviews and is on target to be the box office leader this weekend. Many reviews are suggesting that there is a strong environmental message within the film also so I’ll need to find out about that for you. The premise sounds a lot like Dances with Wolves to me (although naturally set in a Science Fiction world and not the great plains). I’m curious to see it for the special effects but hopefully there will be a plot too? If it takes a Sci-Fi premise to engage more people in environmental concerns than who am I to argue, the cinema still holds great capacity in reflecting our culture and raising awareness so I’ll applaud the concept.

Normally I don’t think sharing news from 2008 is terribly helpful when 2009 is heading to its conclusion but I came across this story just this week and it made me recoil when I read it. My reaction was two-fold so let me explain myself, China in 2008 announced and enacted a nationwide ban on plastic bags from retailers!! Its still in place today and has been an anticipated success from a environmental and economic perspective. The initial story appears via this post on The Daily Green which appeared in January 2008. It won’t come as a surprise to learn that China’s 1.33 billion population led the planet in plastic bag use in 2007 and making such a bold effort has huge positive implications. This follow up article on Blomberg from this year details the amazing results seem from the ban. Estimates are that 3 million metric tons of oil a year (which in turn may cut carbon emissions by a remarkable 9+ million tonnes) both of these results are quite inspiring, hence my reaction. I was amazed that China had implemented such a strong rule nationwide. My understanding is that ‘free’ plastic bags were banned and plastic bags could only be purchased (quite expensively). Part two of my reaction was why not here also? It’s not that draconian, it doesn’t infringe on civil liberties and it makes a fantastic difference to our environment. Shouldn’t our governments in North America and Europe be able to duplicate these efforts? Can we at least have these ideas appear in referendums? I know the San Francisco bay area has made a plastic bag ban operational with more bans to follow in Southern California but why stop there? People might feel inconvenienced for five minutes by needing to purchase a reusable bag but what a small price to pay to make positive impacts to climate change and fossil fuel waste. Come on ‘The West’ we can do more…we should do more.