Whether you call them trinkets and trash, swag, giveaways, or promotional gifts, the fact remains that most of it ends up in the trash. Companies are too cheap (or smart) to give away really good stuff and people aren’t willing to stuff junk into their suitcase for the long trip home.

Hopefully, the actions of the organizers of the Web2.0 Summit will rub off on their event counterparts. At this well attended conference in San Francisco, attendees were given a tree as their gift via TreeNation. If you really like your tree, you can even register it and follow its growth online.

If you like the idea, ecoist also plants a tree for every bag sold.

Story from blognation.

The title of the original article from Yahoo is “Healthy Halloween Treats” but don’t kid yourself, nothing about candy is healthy. Sure, these alternatives are a great idea when compared to their conventional counterparts but to call them healthy is misleading. With that said, you can’t control what the little ones score when running around the neighborhood, but you can set a good example with:

• Organic Jelly Gummi Bears
• Trapeze Caramels
• Figamajigs
• Ginger Candy Chews
• Fruit-to-Go Sticks
• Angel Mints
• Dark Chocolate Edamame
• Blueberry and Almond Chocolate Bars

Story from Yahoo

According to a Harris Interactive poll conducted in 2005, 3% of Americans ages 8 – 18 are vegetarian, up from 2% in a previous poll. This mirrors the adult population of vegetarians, though 10% consider themselves to be vegetarian even though they eat fish and chicken. That’s funny, people who eat meat consider themselves vegetarian. Whatever makes you feel good I guess.

The motivation for a switch to vegetarianism spans everything from concerns about the environment to peer pressure and celebrity influence. Making the move a bit easier, food companies are offering a wide range of products for vegetarians and even school cafeterias are catering to their diet choices.

Story from USA Today.

General Motors has been working on an aggressive plan to make its manufacturing plants landfill-free operations. Thus far, eight have met the mark with another 90 on track to meet the goal by 2010. The amount of waste is truly amazing and the fact that they can reuse so much waste is remarkable.

In a single year, the Baltimore plant had waste stream consisting of 510 tons of aluminum, 600 tons of steel, 10 tons of alloy metals, 360 tons of wood pallets, 3 tons of paper, 20 tons of empty totes and drums, 250 tons of used oil, 220 tons of waste water residual, and 5,400 tons of returnable packaging. Of that, 97% was recycled in some manner and the other 3% was turned to energy.

Q&A from GreenBiz.

Demand for building materials has pushed the cost of building a new home in many parts of the country out of reach for the masses. Luckily, for those with a little imagination, a more affordable alternative is readily available. Shipping containers are now being recycled into affordable, and surprisingly stylish, homes.

By one estimate, more than 300,000 containers sit idle as a result of slowing U.S. exports and can be purchased for as little as $500. With a little sprucing up, these homes are virtually indistinguishable from their conventional counterparts and can be built in half the time.

Story from NBC. Be sure to watch the video.

Regardless of motivation (global warming, convenience, etc.), the growing popularity of fixed gear bikes in major metro areas can only be viewed as a positive. The less people sitting in traffic, the less pollution is being spewed into the air.

The urban biker movement is riding a huge wave of momentum and if the recent Interbike in Las Vegas is any indication, there is no slowdown in sight. Interbike is the major bicycle industry tradeshow where manufacturers tout their latest offerings and city bikes were out in full force. Specialized has 34 different models of city bikes alone!

Story from Wired.

Wind energy is the fastest growing source of renewable energy, accounting for approximately 1% of the total energy used in the U.S. Despite its green credentials, one of the major problems with wind power is that it is weather dependent and thus not a reliable source.

Thank goodness some smart folks have come up with a solution to store the energy generated during non-peak hours for use when demand is high. The solution can be seen at the Iowa Stored Energy Park where a group of local utilities is working together on a project to store the excess energy in sandstone 3,000 feet below the surface.

Story from Business Week.

One of the most popular videogame franchises in the world is teaming up with BP to help teach gamers about the connection between power generation and pollution. For you non-gamers, SimCity allows players to build and manage cities, with each decision having an impact on the progression of the game.

Previous efforts have been heavily skewed towards entertainment rather than education, but the game’s development team worked closely with BP engineers on the latest version to provide a more realistic cause and effect simulation.

Story from the NY Times.

The Kodak Gallery Cycling Team presented by Sierra Nevada claims to be the first carbon neutral pro sports team and we have no reason to dispute them. Prompted by the actions of Sierra Nevada founder Ken Grossman, the team is going far beyond the call of duty to off-set emissions caused by the team.

Renewable energy credits offset all athlete and management home electricity use, team transportation emissions, and pollution from team vehicles used during the 120 days of racing this year.

Kodak Gallery Pro Cycling Team website.

It may be sobering, but sadly, it isn’t shocking. Our friends, neighbors, and family members remain startlingly clueless when it comes to the causes of climate change and what can be done to solve the problem. Accordingly to the 2007 Energy Pulse survey:

• Two thirds of people don’t know that most energy comes from burning coal.
• 19% think that hydroelectric generation is the number one source of electricity. It’s actually about 3%.
• Less than 4% name coal burning as the number one contributor of greenhouse gases.

Press release (PDF) from Energy Pulse.