Green living today: green-brewing, plastic bag bans, and planet-friendly homes

Green living articles and features from around the web:

Modular green home showcases speed and style (USA Today):  "If the home is well-designed, you can get away with less," says Paul Stankey, co-owner of Hive Modular, a Minneapolis-based prefab company, begun in 2004. He lives in another of the models, a three-bedroom, 1,778-square-foot house that costs $105 monthly to heat in winter's coldest subzero temperatures.”

Plastic bag bans sweep cities across nation (Treehugger): “Even though California wasn't able to pass its statewide tax on plastic bags, plenty of its municipalities have gone ahead and imposed bans or taxes anyways. They're outlawed in cities like San Francisco and Fairfax, and many other cities -- Los Angeles, San Jose, etc -- are already forging their own bans. And that's just California: Plastic bag bans are slated to take effect in just a few months in cities in Texas, Alaska, and Hawaii.”

The planet-friendly kitchen (KCBA): Tips for transforming your kitchen into an environmentally-savvy space.

Green, but still feeling guilty (New York Times): “Living in an environmentally responsible way, for the truly observant greenie, can be difficult. Certainly it is sensible to take the position that guilt is neither healthy, nor a motivation for long-term change. But when one is acutely concerned about doing the right thing, it can be difficult not to feel guilty on occasion.  Those who skim the surface of the earth’s crust in their needlessly huge fossil-fuel vehicles, tossing their foam coffee cups out the window, may never give such matters a second thought, focused as they are on getting to the mini-mart and saying to the clerk, “A six-pack of your finest spring water, my good fellow. And would you mind triple bagging it?” But for those who are concerned about green, life is fraught.”

Green beer: Homebrewing (Huffington Post): “Crafting your own beer at home lets you create an artisanal product that doesn't need to be shipped by the truckload around the country: saving on fuel and cutting down greenhouse gases. Home brewing also embraces recycling--clever collecting is all you need to acquire all the carboys and bottles you could ever dream of filling.”

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