A town bans plastic water bottles (see video above)? A robot picks up your garbage? A hamburger that fights climate change? Such surprises (see below) keep us coming back every Cool Green Morning — enjoy, and enjoy your weekend!

1. An Australian town has banned plastic water bottles there — the first such restriction on Earth, says Eco Child’s Play. (The town voted more than 350 to 1 to enact the ban. Hat tip: Green Options.)
2. Smart grid, smart grid — what’s this darned smart grid thing Obama and everybody else is always going on about? Martin LaMonica at Green Tech lays it all out in an FAQ.
3. A recycling, trash-picking-up, atmospheric-pollutant-measuring robot called the DustCart is being tested on the streets of a medieval Italian town — and it even makes house calls, reports GlobalPost. (Hat tip: Inhabitat.)
4. What will it take to get science back into U.S. climate policy? NOAA head Jane Lubchenco gives the low-down to New Yorker writer Elizabeth Kolbert on Yale Environment 360.
5. Could eating more beef actually help the fight against climate change? Timothy J. LaSalle of the Rodale Institute makes the case on Treehugger.

Posted: July 10th, 2009 under Climate Change, Climate Science & Research, Cool Green Morning, Energy, Europe, Green Living, Policy, United States.
Tags: beef, beef climate change, Climate Change, climate policy, DustCart, DustCart robot, Eco Childs Play, Elizabeth Kolbert, garbage robot, Green Options, green tech, Jane Lubchenco, Martin LaMonica, New Yorker, Obama, plastic water bottle, Rodale Institute, science climate policy, smart grid, Timothy J. LaSalle, Treehugger, water bottle, water bottle ban, Yale Environment 360