Everyone is continuously challenged with the burden of charging their ubiquitous cellphone. Genesis Electronics has patented a solar holster that will keep your phone charged while you go about your daily business. The Sunblazer will keep your faithful cellphone at optimum charge just by adding a little sunlight. You’ll now have a more compelling excuse for joining the growing legion of pocket-liner, cellphone-on-the-belt wearing geekazoids.

Parent company Pricester.com and Taiwanese electronics maker MediaTek are negotiating to mass produce the green gadget.

Remember that cellphone charger of yours slurps-up energy when plugged-into the wall even if your phone isn’t charging, so unplug that charger when not in use.

• Brazil Defends Biofuel Merits – bbc
• This whole Hannah Montana craze is bludgeoning my environment…The Miley Cyrus Eco Song May be the Best One Yet – ecorazzi
• I vote ‘gag order.’  EPA E-Mail to Officials a Gag Order? -msnbc
• The Oil Rush – Has Global Oil Poduction Reached Its Tipping Point? – washington post
• I don’t know how they get ‘cool’ out of this…Does Cuil Just Offer More to Ignore? – cs monitor
• PETA Wants Military to Stop Using Animals in Medical Training – cnn
• 10 Things to Scratch from Your Worry List – nytimes
• Oye! Six-Legged Deer Gets New Home After Dog Attack – breitbart
• Tech Zombies: 6 Technologies That Don’t Know They’re Dead – cracked.com
• This Senator embodies all that is wrong with America.  Alaska Senator Is Indicted on Corruption Charges – nytimes

A big part of going green is becoming more conscious of everyday things and their lifecycle.  Take for example, plastic hangers.  At first glance, typical clothes hangers might seem rather harmless. But in fact, they are a blight on our environment.

It’s estimated that 8 billion plastic hangers are thrown into landfills each year, leaching some of the most toxic chemicals such as benzene and bisphenol-A into our ground water for upwards of 1000 years.  Oakland-based GreenHeart Global is a sustainable industrial design and manufacturing company whose first product line is Ditto Hangers, which are made from recycled or easily recycled materials and intended for various retail markets. For the past several months they’ve been making available to consumers, packs of 100 of  their eco-friendly hangers  (100 @ $74).

And beginning next month, handy 10-packs of Ditto hangers (price, TBD) will be offered to consumers as well. As positive eco change takes many forms, this is very good indeed.

Related:  previously on altCon,
(3.13.08) Hung Up on How to Go Green?

UPDATE July 31, 12:50pm – This Giveaway is Concluded:

3 Winners Have Been Selected:  Christene, Colleen S. and  Charlene – Congratulations!

Compliments of HempGarden, The Alternative Consumer’s Great Green Giveaway will be awarded to 3 different Winners.

Win HempGarden’s luxuriating Hand Cream (120ml)! It nourishes and protects even the driest of skin, with extracts of carrot, Aloe Vera, Frankincense and enhanced with Patchouli, lemon and Geranium.

To enter:  first visit HempGarden.  Then enter a comment on this post telling us why you’d like to receive this naturally beautiful gift.  It’s that simple.

And for all you guys, this giveaway would make for a nifty surprise gift to any lucky lady in your life.

Random drawing will take place on Thursday, July 31 at 12:30noon, ET. Three winners will be selected and notified by email.  Winners need to reply to notification in 24 hours in order to claim their individual prize. (enter m at alternativeconsumer dot com in your address book) Prize value $20, free shipping. So start clicking, and best of luck!

I don’t know why these energy saving gadgets always show up first in the U.K. .  Here’s how this one works. Plug an appliance or device into Energenie’s Standby Shutdown socket; use the computer or TV as you normally would, when the device goes into standby or sleep mode the Standby Shutdown will automatically shutdown power after a couple of minutes. Downside is that it works really well for single devices but will shutdown all connected devices at the same time if they’re grouped.  Automates energy saving.

£12.99 @ energenie4u.com

via: hippyshopper

• This could explain a lot. Life From Venus Blown to Earth? – bbc
• A better Google? Ex Google Engineers Debut ‘Cuil’ Search Engine – myway
• Congress Deadlocked Over Offshore Drilling – yahoo! news
• Move over T. Boone, this may be the greatest anti-pollution commercial ever. Beijing Shrouded in Haze 11 Days Before Olympics – reuters
• What do developing nations have except natural resources? It’s all about economics…Paying to Save Tropical Forests Could be a Way to Reduce Global Carbon Emissions – science daily
• Floods Strip Midwest of Valuable Topsoil – msnbc
• It was asking for it…Man Shoots Pesky Lawnmower – aol news

U.K. based, Plant a Card, creates lovely biodegradable greeting cards that contain seeds that will grow into emissions fighting plants.  Cards are printed with eco friendly vegetable dyes, on 55% recycled paper, and wrapped in 100% compostable corn wrappers.  The biodegradable seed capsule will dissolve in minutes once planted and watered.  A great way to show people you care both about them and the environment.  Nine different designs featuring the image of the enclosed plant or veggie seeds.  Pictured above – Sunflower.
£3.95 @ plantacard.com

I didn’t have to read many pages of Helen Coronato’s upcoming book, Eco-Friendly Families, to know that she and I think along similar lines.  Take paper towels, for example.  Seems Helen used a lot more of them prior to having her children, rolls of them, in fact, to do her housework.  I remember not using them at all until my kids were on the scene, preferring the single life luxury of linen tea towels in my kitchen.  One marriage and two kids later, my giant select a size rolls always seem to empty.  Helen, I’m sure, is using more practical means to clean up these days.  The kicker is that we both spend any time at all thinking about paper towels.

After publishing last year The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Reading with Your Child, Coronato is no stranger to the “help-your-family-help-yourself” genre. So, I’m betting that Coronato has done some pretty idiot-proof thinking about most things green.  The evidence is playfully demonstrated in the pages of Eco-Friendly Families, due out August 5th, which is chock full of great craft ideas, recipes, planners and really useful strategies for bringing a touch of deep green to family living.

At the heart of the book is a simple premise:  Lots of little ideas make all the difference in the world.  “Instead of changing everything, I changed something,” writes Coronato.  “Before I knew it, one something had evolved into a household of somethings.” From choosing who gets to drag the recycling bins down the driveway, to convincing kids to eat organic foods, to taking the hassle out of holiday gift-giving, Coronato’s guide relies on the family as a unit, as an agent of change, and celebrates the family who takes eco-actions that help the planet.  Learn more at helencoronato.com

Ya gotta love a guy who’s a musician, singer-songwriter, surfer and surf film buff, as well as a serious advocate for cleaning up our collective environment.  You can feel the hypnotic, ocean’s waves from Hawaiian-born, Jack Johnson’s laid back vibe.

What sets his band’s Green Tour apart from any other right now is the Village Green that accompanies each show.  This on-site area sets the stage for non-profits to pitch their causes, from voter registration to cleaning up beaches. If you’re looking to get hooked up in green, there are about 180 groups just waiting to hear from you.

As Johnson performs around the world, he’s encouraging audiences to get inspired and get involved  — essentially, get it AllAtOnce.  The band’s commitment to eco values and issues are far-reaching, from tapping into solar power to record their music sessions to utilizing bio-fuel for tour buses and trucks.  Jack Johnson’s creating mellow music while motivating everyone to live green and clean, they’re doing it all at once.  check it all out @ jackjohnsonmusic.com/allatonce