A weekly wrap up of green and socially minded business news from the gang at TriplePundit.com.

This Valentine's Day, shop local.

Every bag they make is different, which creates a real marketing and display problem.

Kayak not included, but everything else a dorm room needs is.

A number of states are edging out insurance companies. This could be huge for the environment.

If this plan even halfway succeeds, oil companies will be in serious trouble.

Tata kills the world’s cheapest car that nobody wanted.

A new investigative report from Viva! reveals that conditions for laying hens are as hellish and squalid as ever, even if they're labelled free-range.

It's a disappointing conclusion, but surely there are other reasons why Earth-friendly food production is a good idea.

Architects are finally taking it seriously. It's about time.

The longer we wait, the more expensive (and dangerous) it gets.

The new Facebook applications feature allows people to add all sorts of functions to the website. One interesting one that we've seen is the Carpooling add-on. Users can post their journeys, where they become searchable. People can then get in contact

If you cannot be live in Munich for eCarTec, check out the photo updates on their facebook page

The Muslim American Society of Charlotte isn't just putting solar on its mosque. 40 of its congregants are going solar too.

Based on the belief that we carry black or white pebbles with us, depending on the choices we make in our lives (black pebbles represent self-focused, irresponsible decisions; white pebbles represent a life of sound,

In honor of what would have been Rachel Carson's 100th birthday, the U.S. Environmental Agency has an essay/poetry/photo contest for two-person teams. The famed writer and biologist once wrote about the need for children and adults to share the "joy,

This coming Sunday would've been Silent Spring author and environmental hero Rachel Carson's 100th birthday. In recognition of Carson's contributions to the creation of the modern environmental movement, Sen. Benjanmin L. Cardin (D-MD) has announced his

When I wonder what words should replace Emma Lazarus's obsolete phrase on the Statue of Liberty - "give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to be free" I think of Frank Luntz's dictum learned from Joe Romm: "There is a simple rule,

Forty years ago, activists blocked plans to dam the Buffalo River, eventually getting Congress and President Nixon to designate the river as America's first National River. Now, a factory hog farm is putting one of Arkansas' most beautiful spots at risk.

A new study looks at how AVs are part of a much bigger picture of how we get around.

The car changed the design of our houses; the AV will change our houses and the way we live.

Phil Levin thinks it will change real estate completely; Christian Wolmar thinks it is ludicrous tech nerd fantasy.

When you try and go too fast it says, "I'm sorry, Dave. I'm afraid I can't do that."

Perhaps AVs should have their own lower speed limits until they figure this all out.

People are being killed every day and the problem is the design of our streets as much as the cars and drivers.

They want to build beacons into bikes. Will implants in pedestrians be next?

Judging from what I am reading all over the political map, I suspect that autonomous cars are the new Juiceroo.

Self-driving cars will likely be big autonomous mobile home theaters.

It may be decades before AVs are good enough, so in the meantime everyone will have to keep out of their way.

In which we learn a new and useful word: techno-chauvinism.

We are wasting too much time, energy and money on autonomous vehicles. We know what to do and it's not AVs.

Survey finds that drivers with a few "smart" features in their cars take a lot more risks.

Researchers at Georgia Tech warn that there is a risk that self-driving cars might be hacked and cause gridlock.

The 107 million tons of grain that went to U.S. ethanol distilleries in 2009 was enough to feed 330 million people for one year at average world consumption levels. More than a quarter of the total U.S. grain crop was turned into ethanol to fuel cars

At a time when excessive pressures on the earth's land and water resources are of growing concern, there is a massive new demand emerging for cropland to produce fuel for cars--one that threatens world food

French tire giant Michelin recently held its 10th Challenge Bibendum, this time in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The event is a chance for Michelin to rally industry players around the flag of sustainable mobility and the future of the automobile. Here's me loo

This year, French tire giant Michelin (yes, the Michelin that made the tires on your car) held its 10th Challenge Bibendum event, this time in Rio de Janeiro. If you've never heard of this thing, don't kick yourself,

The first large-scale commercial operation to produce cellulosic ethanol (the kind of ethanol made not from corn or other grown crops, but from organic waste) in the US just got major backing from the oil industry, and will be online in 2013. The New

The rare metal is now worth US $1,700 an ounce.

Your phone makes it easier and safer.

It's got all three: low transportation energy, low embodied carbon, low operating energy.

Alice + Whittles makes use of high-quality materials that would otherwise go to waste.

"If a touchscreen must be used, it should be embedded alongside a set of fixed, physical buttons that support muscle memory and single actions."

Western Michigan University is installing solar-powered electric car charging. But it has to chop down nine trees to do it.

When cars first began appearing in the late 19th century, some cities moved to ban them -- but there is still one place in the US that has yet to change its mind.

Ideal Bite: Are you getting very, very sleepy? by Heather Stephenson "You will be if you follow this tip. Conventional anti-insomnia pills work, but if you don't wanna lose sleep over side effects and potentially addictive ingredients, induce

Artists installed a grass carpet through a French town to celebrate the 10th anniversary of its arts and nature trail programs.

Like the word 'sustainability', 'environmentalism' has become a hollow word, a word divorced from meaning, a word lacking in soul, separated from its essence.

The electricity grid can handle a ban, ten years earlier than law makers are aiming for.

More on why the 626 environmental groups demanding action on climate change shouldn't be doctrinaire.