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Check it out, it's George W. Bush! Wiki Commons doesn't have many cool Halloween photos.

This post was supposed to be part two of an October celebrations series, but it turns out all the fun days came early this month – except for Halloween and one other day, so I’m going to skip the other October celebrations and focus on these two.

It turns out that you can take a National Tour of Solar Homes every October throughout the United States. Not as fun as Halloween, but it’s a start! Click here to find a tour near you, U.S. denizens!

Now, on to the fun stuff. I’m a fat kid at heart, so anything related to candy rocks in my eyes. Of course, I pretty much stick to vegan candy these days, so it’s not so easy to a) eat everything I steal from trick-or-treaters, or b) raid the candy shelves at Walgreens and CVS on November 1^st. Really, if it weren’t for costumes and alcohol, Halloween would suck for adults.

So scary. Where's the pumpkin vodka?

I’ll leave the alcohol to you. Meanwhile, here are some eco costume ideas so you can get ready to party with stuff you can find in your own home, borrow, and/or buy for very cheap:

• Murder victim: wear a white shirt with ketchup or corn syrup dyed red. Smear red on your face, wear your hair messy hair, and have your kid put grey makeup on your eyes and lips and white or pale powder on face.
• Static Cling: Wear one single color from head to toe. Use safety pins to pin socks, underwear, bounce sheets, etc., to your clothes. Optional: spray your hair straight up in the air.
• Black-eyed Pea: This one’s to encourage healthy eating. Paint one of your eyes black (as if you’d gotten punched in the face) and paint a big “P” on your shirt (or cut it out of construction paper and pin it to your shirt).
• Laundry basket – full of clean or dirty clothes: Wear sweatpants and a sweatshirt or perhaps tights and a turtleneck depending on the weather/where you’ll be. Cut a hole in the bottom of a thin plastic laundry basket that you can fit through. Cut the hole small enough so it will rest on your hips after you pull it over your head. Fill the basket with laundry (clean? Dirty? Clean and dirty? There are so many choices!) and use safety pins to pin a few dryer softener sheets to your shirt.
• Partly cloudy with a chance of showers: Wear sky blue clothes (maybe snag some surgical scrubs from a thrift store), glue cotton to yourself in patches and carry a squirt gun filled with pumpkin vodka. Okay, I’ve never seen pumpkin vodka but I would totally drink it if it existed. Pumpkin vodka!!
• Grapes: Dress in all green or with green pants and a brown top. Blow up purple balloons and pin them to yourself.

For more ideas, check out Eco Fabulous. They even tell you about a nifty black cat flashlight that’s useful when trick-or-treating!

Also, if a costume swap sounds cool to you, go here!

Wind power

Australia’s looking up: a report recently showed how Australia could power itself with 100% solar and wind energy by 2020 using technology that is commercially available right now.

However, the federal government reached a deal to keep its renewable energy target at only 20% by 2020, while raising more near-term targets.

In any case, Beyond Zero Emissions — an Australian independent, not-for-profit NGO — released the report, “Zero Carbon Australia,” which contains a detailed explanation of how powering the country completely with renewable energy could be achieved in merely a decade. Beyond Zero Australia was founded in 2006 to help facilitate a quick transition to a zero carbon future.

“Zero Carbon Australia” says 40% of power can be generated with the use of wind and the rest from solar thermal installations (speaking of which, Denmark intends to source 50% of its power from wind by 2025). The report proposes managing variability in renewable power by using molten salt thermal storage (molten salt can store heat so that it can be retained for use for electricity during bad weather or at nighttime, when solar rays are not available).

First public solar phone in Australia

The plan estimates that energy use will jump by 40% (!) up from 228 terawatt-hours/year in the present to 325 terawatt-hours/year in 2020. This will cost some USD 32.3 billion per year, by the way — but the authors find this manageable:

“The required investment of [AUD] 37 billion/year is the equivalent of 3% of GDP. The extra money spent versus Business-As-Usual to 2020 is the equivalent of $3.40 per person per day, the cost of a cup of coffee.”

Hey, that’s nothing [for most people in Australia, I assume and hope]. It’s fantastic.

The concept’s technical feasibility now needs just one bit of help:

“What is required to make this happen is leadership from policymakers and society, with firm decisions made quickly that will allow this transition to occur.”

Naturally.

So if you’re heading to Australia anytime in the next 10 years (or if you live there!), remember to support hotels and establishments that are pushing for increased renewable energy throughout the country. Stay at eco hotels, buy locally grown food, etcetera. We have the power to change the world!

You can help Beyond Zero Emissions if you wish by making a donation here.

Bicyclists and a bike counter in Malmo - photo by 2headedturtle

What a surprise – we’re again looking at Scandinavia! This post focuses on Malmö, the home of almost 300,000 Swedes in the southern province of Skane, Sweden.

Oh, Malmö, let me count the ways that you are green:

• Between 2008 and 2012, you are cutting your CO2 emissions by 25% (!), essentially giving the Kyoto Protocol the finger as you obscenely surpass the Protocol’s meager 5% goal
• You lead the way in green electricity practices
• You consist of eco-friendly neighborhoods that contain hundreds of smart energy homes!
• Western Harbour runs on 100% renewable energy (solar, wind, hydropower, and biofuels from organic waste)
• Your buildings are energy-efficient and were built with sustainable, recyclable materials
• Your streets encourage walking and cycling instead of driving – and it works: about 35% of the population travels by bike
• The restoration of Sege Park will power the neighborhood with solar (photovoltaics*), wind, and biofuels power
• Malmö, you renovate shipyards and industrial areas, transforming them into green residential communities
• Your district known as Augustenborg uses green roofing that reduces runoff and insulates buildings
• Augustenborg has the first-ever emissions-free electric steel trains (swank!)
• Another one for Augustenborg: more than a dozen recycling houses process 70% of collected waste

Brilliant.

The largest photovoltaic project in Scandinavia in Malmö's Sege Park

Malmö, oh, Malmö – your vibrant dedication, your grass-stained fingers, your cool, clean breath, your practical ingenuity – you are so wonderful I would give up certain sweets for you.

Oh, Malmö, with your canals, beaches, parks, and your harbor you remind me of the aesthetics of the Middle Ages and the distant future in spirit.

My love, oh, Malmö, is yours.

And I’m not the only one raving about this city: check out this BBC article on Sweden’s eco-awesomeness.

* What the hell are photovoltaics? I’m glad you asked. Why, they’re a solar energy technology. Photovoltaics cells transform solar light directly into electricity. Learn more here.

photo by AE Creations

I first started finding out about Vancouver because that’s where one of my favorite fiction authors, Douglas Coupland, resides.  But that’s besides the point.

Point: Vancouver’s so green it beats Reykjavík! Very impressive.

Here’s how Vancouver does it: 90% of its energy is currently renewable-mainly hydroelectric-and “feeds” its population of over half a million peeps. This makes it the global leader in hydroelectric energy.

It has a 100-year plan that aims to use emerging energy-efficient technologies for everything. (Note 1: Yeah, we’ll be dead by then, but if you’re into kids, think about them! They’ll benefit! Note 2: why 100 years? 2050′s far enough into the future! Not to mention the Maldives’ 2020 vow.)

Okay. More about its 100-year plan: It’s going for reducing its greenhouse gas emissions to levels 20% lower than what it’d planned at the initial Kyoto Protocol agreements in 1990 (which it’d better, since now the outlook is grimmer-let’s hope others follow suit).

photo by Getty Images

You thought Portland was cool for its solar-powered parking meters? Well, it is. But Vancouver’s got solar-powered trash compactors! These babies hold 5 times the waste of regular trashcans, reducing the use of garbage trucks.

The Economist magazine named Vancouver the most livable city in the world, and evidently it is also a model, not just for Canada but for the world, for using renewable and clean energy sources for its power.

Next up: solar, wind, wave, and tidal-powered energy. Surf’s up!

(image courtesy of sapdesignguild.org)

Oh, Portland. Home to over half a million people, many vegan restaurants, amazing bands (RIP Sleater-Kinney), bikers, tree huggers, DIYers, and the like. (BTW, check out Havi Brooks, a Portland-based wonderful coach/yoga teacher/inspiration source galore/lots of etc.etc.)

Check it out: by 2010 (2010!!!) Portland will be so green it will supply 100% renewable energy. Had you heard of solar-powered parking meters? I hadn’t. Holy shit that’s amazing.

Of course, this green hub has always been innovative in its eco ways. Back in 1903 it was already trying to get other US cities to heart green spaces in urban areas, for instance. Three decades ago it replaced a 6-lane highway with a waterfront park. (Wow.) Today the city boasts 92,000 acres of green space plus 74 mi. of biking, hiking, and running trails. Portland protects 25 million acres of forest and farms.

More: Portland employs fuel cells that run on waste methane (maybe farms should get on this, since cattle produce so much methane it’s screwing up our planet-ahem, thought about going vegetarian lately?), a micro hydro facility in its drinking water system, and microturbines that run on, again, waste methane. Next time you’re feeling gassy, think about that! (If you’re the gassy type, maybe consider powering your house that way. If only, huh?)

Portland’s the first US city to implement a plan to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions. The city helped found the Cities for Climate Protection Campaign and has been touted as a green city for a long time.

50 of the city´s buildings meet or exceed the US Green Building Council’s sustainability standards. The city is pedestrian and bike-friendly (hear that, Florida, Los Angeles, etc. etc.??) About 25% of commuters ride their bikes to work. There is lots of green amidst the drab cement or urban life (hear that New York? Mexico DF? Detroit? Santiago? Sao Paulo? Etc. etc.?)

‘Nuff freaking said.