That’s right: six years (and two days) ago, I created a new Blogger account, and started wrestling with this concept of sustainability that I’d only recently discovered. There’ve been lots of twists and turns since then, but it’s really gratifying to look back and see the growth and development of my little blog in that time.

While most of us associate birthdays/anniversaries with gifts and celebrations, these dates are also the perfect time for expressing gratitude, and looking forward (as well as back). I owe many people thanks for their support, including

The folks at Green Options: sustainablog’s always been a little unique in the GO network: rather than narrowly focusing on a niche within the green world, we’ve always done a little bit of everything. That has its ups and down, and I’m grateful to my friends at GO (and new parent company Virgance) for their patience with and support of our model.

The green blogosphere: You can’t blog in a vacuum… or, at least, you can’t blog in a vacuum and expect to build much of an audience. From early on, sustainablog’s received a ton of support from both big and small players within the green online media space. Special hat tips to Grist (one of the first big sites to link to us), Treehugger (for the writing gig and frequent linkage), Worldchanging (for frequent early linkage and some guest posting opportunities), Triplepundit, HuffPo Green, Green, Inc., Greenbiz, Lighter Footstep… I’m just getting started. Whether you’re listed or not, know that I appreciate your support.

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Image credit: striatic at Flickr under a Creative Commons license

From our friends at ZapRoot: Farmers take it to the extreme to protect their crops. The Auto Alliance has jump on the green bandwagon. These Guys are Full of **it returns.

Links for this week’s edition:

sustainablog - Killing for Crops
Gas 2.0 - Ecodriving with the AAM
EcoScraps - McDonalds Green Billboard
Shell and the Alberta Oil Sands
Sad Hippies

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“It’s only irrelevant in the context of one who still feels entitled to the comforts and privileges that being white in Western civilization has afforded her.”

Overall, I think the most crucial component of changing the world is not privilege: it is responsibility. As someone who was born into a world with social systems favoring her, it is my responsibility to address and counteract these effects. As someone who enjoys the benefits (but not the costs) of systems that hurt the environment for future generations, I have the responsibility to try to undo the harm done in my name or the name of the dollar I spend.

You disparage psychology, but I believe that our shared psychological needs-take Maslow’s pyramid, for example-absolutely influences the immediate decision-making process of every human being. For Americans, it means that we often don’t opt to do the most responsible thing, if it is not also the most convenient and most personally-positive thing as well. Once again, this all goes back to perspective-if a hot shower feels good to me immediately, and I will never feel the worldwide damage that such an action causes, then I can hide from such knowledge and forgive myself for a single shower. With millions of people making such inner decisions-in situations with varying stakes-well, most of us can see the problem we are facing now.

I think psychology will be key, too, in fixing this little biological oversight-we can create social systems which enforce a global responsibility in personal situations (where our limited perspectives are failing us). If we can unite on truly valuing the Earth’s biosphere, then we as people, as lawmakers, can create systems of justice-environmental justice-that as validly as possible account for additions and subtractions of valuable assets within the Earth’s limited resources. This idea may sound radical-but it is amazingly simple. Often, the average person forgets that he or she is a lawmaker-that laws are not sacred nor eternal. People make them and break them according to their needs.

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As many of you know, Green Options is not my first foray into the world of green blogging: I started sustainablog in 2003, and have written for Treehugger for about 14 months. Since Green Options launched, I've had to curtail my blogging a bit — I cut back on my Treehugger schedule, and put sustainable on hiatus at the end of May.

Things change, though, and during a recent discussion with TH founder Graham Hill about the direction and success of Green Options, we decided that it was a good time for me to "call it a day" as a TH contributor. I've got nothing but respect and admiration for the folks at Treehugger, and thoroughly enjoyed my time writing for them. But, it is time to move on… I've got plenty to handle here!

At the same time, a blogger blogs… and I'm definitely a blogger at heart. So, I've decided that the split from Treehugger means it's a good time to get sustainablog going again. I also looked at the calendar and realized that tomorrow, July 10th, is sustainablog's fourth anniversary. So, to celebrate that anniversary, I'm relaunching sustainablog. While I should probably wait until tomorrow, I'm just too excited… my baby comes out of hiatus tonight.

Please come by, say "Hi," and let me know what you think. I'll keep my writing at sustainablog largely separate from the work I do here — maybe an occasional cross post, but, otherwise, I won't be "GO's Senior Editor and Content Director" there. Rather, I'll go back to where I started: a passionate student of and advocate for sustainability in all of its myriad forms. I can't wait…

It’s a holiday weekend in the US, so everyone should already be in a festive mood. If you need a little help, though, here’s some music to put you in the right frame of mind. And away we go…

Hungry?

We’ve got plenty of choices for snacking while enjoying the Carnival this week (though no funnel cake or cotton candy):

• Mark at blogfish takes a look at the future of sustainable seafood… yum!
• Chris at Lighter Footstep has some great tips for easing into vegetarianism.
• Tracy at ecostreet offers ten ways to reduce your food miles.

Animals on Display

We’ve got a couple of wonders from the animal kingdom here for your entertainment. Please note that all animals used in the Carnival of the Green live under humane conditions!

• Mel at Bean Sprouts was so excited by the popularity of her post on raising chickens that she expanded it into a three-part series.
• Sally at Veggie Revolution makes the claim that US housecats are an “invasive species.”

Business and Government

Our mini trade show this week includes some information on finances, real estate and utilities.

• Don, the Evangelical Ecologist, shows you how to read your city public works department’s Consumer Confidence Report.
• Robert at Sustainability Blog continues his recovery from affluenza, and sits down with Green Key Real Estate founder Chris Bartle.
• And Cody at THRILLING/heroics takes note of a Johnson Controls report showing business owners are much more concerned with energy prices these days, and are investing in efficiency measures.

Enjoy a Ride!

A couple of participants in this week’s COG think about getting from here to there.

• SavingAdvice.com’s Jeffrey spells out ten ways you can save money (and energy) in your commute.
• Walter at Highlight Health notes that a big increase in ethanol use could have a negative impact on air quality.

Stroll Down the Midway

Finally, to wrap things up this Monday,

• The Natural Collection, under the guiding hand of old friend (and former City Hippy) Al Tepper, points us to London’s Trafalgar Square, which went green for a few days.
• Jennifer at Green Options (yeah, that’s my other site) takes a look at natural and organic beauty products, and finds that caveat emptor is the rule rather than the exception.
• David at The Good Human wonders how our lawns became an extension of our egos.
• And, finally, Zenofeller argue (tongue-in-cheek, we believe) that global warming is good thing…

That’s a wrap for this week’s Carnival of the Green! See you next week at groxie.

On a personal note, I said on Saturday that today’s COG post would be the last at sustainablog for the foreseeable future. I say that with a heavy heart — my little sustainability blog has been a real source of joy and pride for nearly four years, and connected me with many good people around the globe that I now consider friends. Many, many thanks to all of you who’ve supported sustainablog over the years — you’ve made it all very worthwhile. Please stop by Green Options or Treehugger to say “Hi!” — I’m not going away…

Best,

Jeff