Disease Proof

• I like The Lord of the Rings, but some people REALLY LIKE it. Like this dude, he built his own earthy-friendly hobbit house. More from Rigel Celeste of Green Daily:

This house in Wales is one that he built for his family so they could all live greener lifestyles closer to nature. And it doesn't just look green on the outside -- it's eco-conscious through and through. Dale built the house completely on his own, with very little experience and just a few buddies to help out here and there. The foundation is made from rocks and mud sourced on site, the interior features skylights and natural branch rafters, the water runs via gravity from a nearby spring, solar panels provide lights at night, it has a compost toilet, and the refrigerator is cooled with air from underground.

• With suspicion over pesticides mounting, a company has developed a “biopesticide” that is supposedly safe for humans and animals. ENN reports:

The new biopesticide has active compounds that alert plant defenses to combat a range of diseases, including powdery mildew, gray mold and bacterial blight that affect fruits, vegetables, and ornamentals. The product will be available this October for conventional growers, according to Marja Koivunen, Ph.D., director of research and development for Marrone Organic Innovations. A new formulation has also been developed for organic farmers and will be available in 2009.

In one of the presentations by Marrone Organic Innovations (MOI), the progress toward discovery of an "organic Roundup" — the Holy Grail of biopesticide research — an environmentally friendly and natural version of the world's most widely used herbicide was discussed.

Biopesticides are derived from plants, microbes, or other natural materials and are proven to be safer for humans and the environment. The active ingredient in one of the company's first products, GreenMatch EX, came from lemongrass oil, and microorganisms from around the world are studied in the search for novel and effective natural pesticides. Currently, the MOI R&D team is working on an organic rice herbicide based on an extract from a marine microorganism, as well as on insecticides and nematocides to kill insect pests and soil-inhabiting, parasitic roundworms that affect plants and animals.

• Colorado, it’s high on altitude and apparently eco-friendly jobs too. Colorado is poised to provide more than 2,000 green jobs. Via John Laumer of TreeHugger:

This has nothing to do with political conventions, and everything to do with the wind and the future - a little bit about the tipping of the balance of power among lobbyists.

Vestas expects to employ 2,450 people in Colorado…

…The towers will be built in Pueblo - biggest such in the world. Blades and nacelles in Brighton CO. Blades in Windsor.

That's probably more people than work in "clean coal' combined, the world over: and they don't even have to get filthy. No support columns caving in on poor miners either. Nice. Who would have thought a Danish company would be the light at the end of the tunnel.