Instead of community-supported agriculture, Jane Jensen and Robert Holmes are inspiring community-supported gaming. The duo both previously worked for Sierra, the games studio responsible for Kings Quest 4, which they both worked on. They are now a husband and wife team and looking at launching their own program, named Mobious. The couple have launched their new game on Kickstarter, with a blockbuster response that has already garnered over $400,000 of support for the project.

Their new studio, Pinkerton Road, is completely devoted to the community-supported gaming model. The Kickstarter campaign ends Saturday. For more information, check out the story on Wired News.

Photo by Gary Hunscaker

According to researchers at the University of Michigan, drugs may be better off in your trash can than in the hands of your pharmacists. This is surprising data given the programs advertising take-backs at pharmacies, and you would think that the disposal methods used would be “greener” at a pharmacy. Not so. Drugs taken back at most pharmacies are incinerated, which creates more emissions than dumping it at a landfill. But what about concerns that drugs will end up in the water table? The researchers state that the risk would be about the same either way, except that the carbon emissions from incineration are three times greater.

If you’re looking to fire up the grill now that the weather is turning warm, here are some organic barbecue sauces that are a healthier option for both your family and the environment.

Annie’s has a range of organic barbecue sauce options, including Organic Annie’s Original BBQ Sauce, as well as a hot chipotle flavour, smokey maple, sweet and spicy and even a Worcestershire sauce. All of the flavours are vegan-friendly and made from organic ingredients.

Bill’s Best Organic BBQ Sauce (), meanwhile, is made from a secret family recipe and available in either original or spicy varieties. The ingredients are USDA certified organic and, where possible, bought from local farms and companies located within 100 miles of their Pennsylvania headquarters.

Canadian organic food retailer the Healthy Butcher offers their own take on the classic. The Healthy Butcher’s Original BBQ Sauce is made from organic Ontario tomatoes and fair trade cane sugar. Their website also has some recipe suggestions for putting the sweet and tangy sauce to good use.

Photo by John: Flickr

Toronto-born animal activist, star of the reality show Whale Wars, and founder of the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society, Paul Watson is currently being detained by German officials as he faces possible extradition to Costa Rica on the basis of a 2002 maritime violation. Watson was arrested this past weekend at the Frankfurt International Airport due to the 10-year-old Costa Rican warrant, and should learn tomorrow whether or not he’ll be extradited at the country’s request.

According to a statement from Watson posted on the Sea Shepherd website, the “extradition request was in reference to a complaint from Costa Rican fishermen who I caught poaching in Guatemalan waters. The fishermen were not injured and their boat was not damaged… Interpol originally denied this extradition order and deemed it as politically motivated.”

Sea Shepherd maintains that Watson cannot possibly hope to have a fair trial in Costa Rica, where the country’s illegal shark-finning mafia could also try to do him personal harm. The environmental group is calling on the German government to dismiss the case and deny the extradition request. They have set up a donation form for the Free Paul Watson fund, which will help support the legal defence and public education. They also ask supporters to appeal directly to the German Ministry of Justice, and ask them to deny the extradition request.

Wicked Hemp Men's Hiking Boots

If you’re looking to experience the great outdoors this summer, hiking can be a great way to commune with nature. Here are some options for eco-friendly footwear that will keep your feet sturdily on the right path.

Patagonia, an outdoor sports retailer with a focus on minimizing their corporate footprint, offers a wide range of hiking boots and shoes for men and women, ranging in price from about $120 to $200. The company also offers a ‘product footprint’ pop-out for each item, allowing customers to learn about the mills and factories around the world that provided materials for each style.

Wicked Hemp by Wicked Footwear, meanwhile, offers a selection of fair trade hemp hiking boots and shoes for men and women, several styles of which are also vegan-friendly.

La Sportiva has their own entrance into the ecologically-conscious footwear market with their FC ECO line, including the FC ECO 3.0 GTX for men and women. All three available models use 100% recycled nylon mesh on the upper and 40% recycled nylon for the lining, as well as recycled nylon laces and 15% recycled EVA content in the midsole.

The World Wildlife Fund has released their Living Planet Report today, and the news isn’t good. According to the WWF’s findings, demand on natural resources has doubled since 1966. Today, the global community is currently using the equivalent of 1.5 planets’ worth of resources, and it takes the earth a year and a half to regenerate the natural resources that people consume in a single year.

“We are living as if we have an extra planet at our disposal. We are using 50 per cent more resources that the Earth can sustainably produce and unless we change course, that number will grow fast — by 2030 even two planets will not be enough,” said Jim Leape, WWF’s Director General, in a statement.

The report also found that biodiversity is still being lost, and high-income countries have five times the ecological footprint than their low-income counterparts: the U.S. leaves the fifth largest footprint out of the 130 countries included in the report, while Canada follows at eighth.

But all is not lost. These dark tidings can be reversed if we start making better choices, the report explains. The WWF recommends more protection for natural capital and biodiversity, more efficient production systems, a better pattern of consumption, redirected financial flows that support conservation over consumption, and equitable resource governance.

The WWF has released the report in the lead-up to the Rio+20 UN Conference on Sustainable Development, which will kick off in Rio de Janeiro five weeks from now.

By NOAA National Ocean Service: Flickr

Conservative politicians may be pushing the idea that people value job creation over protecting the environment in tough economic times like these, but that’s not what a new poll from Yale and George Mason Universities reveals. According to interviews they conducted between March 12 and March 30, 2012, 58% of those polled said that environmental protection actually improves economic growth and provides new jobs. Only 25% felt that the environment had no effect on economic growth or jobs, and a mere 17% felt that it actually reduced economic growth and cost jobs.

As part of the same poll, 62% of respondents said they felt protecting the environment was more important, even if it reduced the amount of economic growth, compared to 38% who chose economic growth even if it caused environmental problems. Meanwhile, 70% of those surveyed felt that corporations and industry need to do more to address global warming, and 67% felt that citizens also need to do more to address the issue.

The study, which was conducted by the Yale Project on Climate Change Communication and the George Mason University Center for Climate Change Communication, surveyed 1,008 American adults. You can view the full details of the study on Yale’s website.

Buying organic salmon isn’t going to be a simple matter of looking at a label anymore. Canadian farmed salmon has just been granted an “organic” classification at the same time as Infectious Salmon Anameia (ISA) is ravaging both farms on the East cost and another “organic” salmon farm in British Columbia. Critics of the plan are fierce in their assertions that it allows the status quo to continue in conventional aquaculture in Canada while slapping a greenwashing “organic” label on Canadian salmon.

Additionally, 100% organic feed is not required for the fish and fish farmers may still use synthetic pesticides.

Bottom line? If it isn’t wild Canadian salmon, you can’t be sure it’s organic.

According to the company Simply Organic, 1 in 133 people have a sensitivity to gluten. This makes the gluten-free market an attractive one for natural product companies, and they’re no exception. They include in their certified gluten-free product line items like:

Alfredo sauce
Pancake & waffle mix
Enchilada Sauce
Banana Bread mix
Salsa mixes
Various flavours of tomato sauce

Simply Organic also has a great line of organic herbs and baking needs that you’ll find indispensable in your kitchen. I’m a big fan of their organic pepper, which tastes great and comes from organic sources. If their baking products are as of high a quality as their spices, you’d do well to give them a try. To check out what they’ve got and find a dealer near you, see their website.

Family's Best Organic Chips

If you’ve got the munchies, sometimes nothing but a handful of potato chips will satisfy that craving. While chips are never exactly going to be good for you, if you stick with organic options, it makes it easier to know what exactly you’re eating while doing your part for the earth as well.

In Canada, the President’s Choice label offers potato chips in their PC Organics line. These snacks are made from organic potatoes, organic sunflower oil, sea salt and seasoning. They’re available in salt & pepper, barbecue and sea salt flavours.

Family’s Best Organics offer USDA Certified organic chips, available in natural flavour, mild jalapeno and garlic & pesto. Their products are made from organic potatoes, fried in organic sunflower or safflower oil and then seasoned.

Whole Foods offers their own organic chips under their 365 Everyday Value label. Made from organic potatoes, they’re fried in organic sunflower oil and then seasoned with organic spices.