1. Make today’s green beer greener by using gentle, eco-friendly dyes.  (Planet Green)
2. Some greenhouse gases contributing to ice sheet melt might actually originate from underneath ice sheets.  (Wired)
3. If everyone adopts it in their homes and businesses, LED lighting could save Americans $120 billion over the next 20 years.  (EcoGeek)
4. Chanel’s Karl Lagerfeld: the official climate skeptic of Paris Fashion Week.  (Fast Company)
5. A new study indicates that not all carbon emissions are created equal.  (The Vine)

1. A Welsh company is turning old plastic into brand-new, affordable housing.  (CleanTechnica)
2. Renters get the opportunity to buy into solar power– no landlord permission necessary.  (Green Inc.)
3. Did a drought make the Amazon greener?  According to a new study, probably not.  (Journal Watch Online)
4. Here are ten reasons to get on the recycled-paper-products bandwagon already.  (The Daily Green)
5. Is Ian McEwan’s new book the first good climate change novel ever?  (Treehugger)

1. What’s killing the great forests of western North America? (Yale Environment 360)
2. Who’s growing more skeptical of climate change in the United States? (The Vine)
3. Why is Japan frightened of China’s green tech investments? (GreenBiz)
4. Who has the world’s first skyscraper with built-in wind turbines? (Inhabitat)
5. What’s the carbon emission toll caused by a single page view of Treehugger? (Treehugger)

1. Deep sea creatures — what do they eat down there? Wood, heat and spinach…on a bed of whale carcass, natch. (Blogfish)
2. Europeans love a new green toilet that separates #1 and #2. (CNET News)
3. Just how tight are some U.S. Senate offices and the anti-climate action lobby?  (Solve Climate)
4. A new UN climate change group is (surprise!) all white, all male. (Dot Earth)
5. A U.S. Congressman wants all federal buildings to become bird friendly. (Mongabay)

1. A new report says that the UK loses at least two animal and/or plant species per year.  (Guardian Eco)
2. An all-black penguin is discovered near Antarctica; researchers call it a “”one in a zillion kind of mutation.”  (Yahoo Green)
3. The US and EU are on board with a ban on bluefin tuna trade– Japan, not so much.  (Treehugger)
4. The latest in corn-based biofuel:  ethanol out, isobutanol in.  (Green Inc.)
5. Support slips a tiny bit for green building and LEED certification, but overall remains pretty strong.  (GreenBiz)

1. Watching “The Oprah Winfrey Show” might make you greener.  There is actually science behind this.  (Planet Green)
2. A bike commuter does the math and finds that a year of regular rides keeps 3,260 pounds of carbon out of the atmosphere.  (Treehugger)
3. How green is the dentist working on your pearly whites?  (GreenBiz)
4. Big news in plastic recycling:  scientists have developed an organic catalyst that can “build up and break down plastics over and over again“– and on the cheap, too.  (The Vine)
5. Your diet soda habit might not be so good for the planet.  In related news, I now feel like a horrible person.  (Huffington Post Green)

1. How clean is “clean” coal, really?  (Grist)
2. A team of researchers says that consumers just aren’t interested in eco-friendly wine.  (Journal Watch Online)
3. This fall, Kentucky will become home to the greenest elementary school in all the land.  (EcoGeek)
4. In the wake of “ClimateGate,” science works on its defensive strategy.  (dotEarth)
5. New research indicates that extinctions are outpacing evolution.  Here’s hoping we don’t eventually run out of species…  (Mongabay)

If you’re an Apple fan, you already know: MacHeist is ON LIKE DONKEY KONG.* If you’re truly a Mac addict, then you’ve probably already ordered your nanoBundle. But if you haven’t (hurry, MacHeist ends Today!), let me make a quick pitch.

MacHeist is donating 25 percent of every sale to some amazing charities — to date, the group has donated close to $2 million dollars to charity and last year they donated $83,000 to the Conservancy’s international programs. Which brings me to my pitch:

I humbly submit that you should choose The Nature Conservancy for your charity when you pick up your MacHeist awesomeness.

Here are five reasons why:

1. Accountability: The Nature Conservancy has a four star rating from Charity Navigator (It doesn’t get any higher than that!) and an A- rating from the American Institute of Philanthropy. This means, when you contribute funds, nearly 80 percent of the money goes to programs.
2. Innovation: Whether it’s in our conservation work — check out our next Big Ideas in Conservation — or in how we communicate with members — see our blog (hey, you’re reading it now!), our Twitter feed, our Facebook Cause, our Flickr group, our Plant a Billion Trees campaign and planet change, our climate change action microsite — we’re always looking to try something new. People who are down with MacHeist are down with trying new stuff.
3. Working at scale: The Conservancy has protected more than 119 million acres of land and 5,000 miles of rivers worldwide — and we operate more than 100 marine conservation projects globally. We partner with everyone from indigenous people to governments and businesses and take a pragmatic approach that’s not based on political ideology — if you want to do what’s right for the environment, we want to work with you.
4. Science-based: The Conservancy doesn’t take on a conservation strategy because it’s popular or we think we can get contributions from it. We take on strategies because our 700-plus scientists tell us it’s the right thing to do. Once we make a decision based on science, we act quickly.
5. We need the money: Let’s not sugarcoat it: Times are tough, the economy is hurting and charitable contributions are down — way down. Programs like MacHeist are important to our mission and to ensuring we can continue to do great conservation work for nature and people. Need an example?  Check out how our work on the Zambezi river is benefitting local communities.

So there’s my pitch. Now, head on over to MacHeist, load up on some great software and choose The Nature Conservancy as your charity.

*Right, I realize we’re not all Mac fans, so here’s the deal on MacHeist: The website offers a bundle of software, up to 7 programs at a deeply discounted rate and donates 25 percent of all proceeds to charity. The Nature Conservancy is one of 11 charities that stand to benefit, so we’ve got some stiff competition!

(Image: Derek B. used under a Creative Commons license from Flickr.)

1. Google gets into the solar thermal energy game.  (EcoGeek)
2. A common pesticide is turning male frogs into females, which could devastate frog populations for obvious reasons.  (Mongabay)
3. Green jobs in brownfields?  The EPA thinks it’s possible.  (CleanTechnica)
4. Brooks introduces the greenest running shoe on the market.  (GreenBiz)
5. The Premier of British Columbia blames Vancouver’s spring-like Olympic weather on climate change.  (Treehugger)

1. A new study suggests that fewer, but stronger, hurricanes may be in our future, thanks to climate change.  (The Vine)
2. It looks like the world will bid farewell to the gas-guzzling Hummer.  (Treehugger)
3. Is this new Bloom fuel cell thing the answer to all our clean energy problems?  And why is it so expensive?  (Wired)
4. Milk packaging gets a green makeover.  (GreenBiz)
5. In a few years, we might be flying in partially waste-fueled planes.  (EcoGeek)