Rallying around a study conducted in November, animal rights groups are coming together to promote vegetarianism as a way to combat global warming. According to the study, the production of livestock creates more greenhouse gas emissions than all forms of transportation combined.

While there is certainly validity to the position, getting people to change eating habits is sure to prove more difficult than switching vehicles.

Story from the New York Times.

When sand erosion began to threaten the $1 billion per year in beach-related revenue in south Florida, government officials started to get creative. The old practice of dredging sand from the ocean floor is becoming increasingly expensive so officials are considering mixing recycled glass with sand to help fight the erosion that costs the state millions of dollars each year.

The glass idea is still in the test phase and the Ocean Conservancy has expressed concerns over the idea.

Story from the Associated Press.

Although Honda was the first auto manufacturer to bring a hybrid to the U.S., Toyota quickly became the front runner with the launch of the Prius. Honda is a little peeved and plans to come out swinging with the launch of the “Global Small Hybrid” in 2009.

Unlike past Honda efforts, such as hybrid versions of the Accord and Civic, the new vehicle won’t share sheet metal with any current vehicles. As Toyota proved, people want their hybrid to show just how much they care about the environment and rolling a Civic with a subtle “hybrid” badge on the trunk isn’t getting it done.

Story from Newsweek.

Evidently quite common in parts of Africa and Asia, a small group of parents in the U.S. is taking on the messy task of potty training their children from birth. According to advocates of the practice, even infants give clues to their need to relieve themselves and can be trained to communicate that need to their parents.

While this no doubt cuts down on the amount of diapers that end up in landfills, it can present some unique challenges. Some parents have found it difficult to find day care centers that accommodate the practice, underwear for infants is difficult to come by, and when you are out running errands a bathroom is not always readily available for those with small bladders. Just ask the mom who let her baby go to the bathroom in a public sink. Ewww.

Story from the Associated Press.

We just showed the five sexiest green cars from Inhabitat, now Wired has published a list of the ten fastest green cars. Green and fast don’t always go together but it’s still fun to see which companies are pushing the limits of technology.

The Top 10:

1. E85 Dodge Viper: 220.7 MPH
2. British Steam Car Challenge Inspiration: 215 MPH
3. Ford Fusion Hydrogen 999: 207.3 MPH
4. Audi R10 TDI: 204.5 MPH
5. Toyota Landspeed Prius: 130.8 MPH
6. Tesla Roadster: 130+ MPH
7. Nuon Solar Team “NUNA4″: 80 MPH
8. Volvo Aria: 54 MPH
9. FM-4 Humancar: 30 MPH (surely there are faster)
10. Venturi Electric: 31 MPH

Not sure how the Palumbo M-80 didn’t make the list.

Story from Wired.

Blog Action Day is a one day event to rally blogs from around the world to write at least one post related to the environment. The blog doesn’t have to be eco-focused, just incorporate the environment into the normal topic of discussion. For instance, a car blog would include a post about hybrid cars.

Of course, we are always talking about the environment so not much will change here. As of today, more than 3,000 blogs have signed up to participate.

Blog Action Day website.

After you knock back your favorite organic wine or vodka, odds are the glass bottle ends up in the recycling bin. Ever wonder what becomes of it in its next life? Well, if your bottle is lucky, it is picked up by Jerry Kott and turned into a very stylish hand-made lamp.

Lamps are made to order and you can select three, four, or five colors with prices varying according to complexity.

Color Block Hanging Lights from re:modern.

The team over at Inhabitat has put together a list of the five sexiest sustainable sports cars. While you can debate whether cars are really sustainable, the point is the vehicles on this list are proving that cars can be both pleasing to the eye and eco-friendly.

The countdown from 1-5:

1. Tesla Roadster
2. Toyota FT-HS (pictured at right)
3. Citroen C-Metisse Concept
4. Venturi Fetish
5. Saab Aero-X

For more details and pictures head over to Inhabitat.

The ever popular Weather Channel is working on a new HD (high definition) studio that is being built to LEED standards. This move follows the greening of the Sundance Channel, Fox, and just about every network and studio out there. In the most overused statement of the past year, a Weather Channel executive states that “green is the new black”. We know that execs don’t actually write these things but you would think this would have been kicked back to the PR person for some additional effort.

The studio will include:

• An underground stormwater retention pond.
• More than half of disposable will be sorted and recycled.
• Low VOC paint.
• Carpet made from recycled material.

Story from Greener Buildings.

On occasion I am out during the day and need a quick, and fairly healthy, lunch which inevitably leads to me standing in line at Subway. During a wait not so long ago I finally noticed just how many plastic bags are wasted by those customers who eat in the restaurant instead of taking it to go.

A bit of searching online led me to the Subway website where they proudly state that they sell enough sandwiches each year to circle the globe at least six times. Stated another way, they use enough plastic bags to circle the globe six times! While some of those customers certainly need a bag to cart their order home or to the office, I’m guessing that a fairly large percentage are carried to a nearby table and then dumped in the trash.

Subway sells 2,800 sandwiches and salads every minute in its U.S. locations (keep in mind, Subway operates in 85 countries and has more than 26,500 locations). Do that math and that works out to 168,000 per hour and 4,032,000 every 24 hours in the U.S. alone!

Subway is by no means the only restaurant to produce massive amounts of garbage, but they are one of the few that use plastic bags. Would it really be so difficult to provide in-store recycling, or better yet, just give the sandwich in the paper wrap and skip the bag altogether?

Subway FAQ page.