Having read William McDonough & Michael Braungarts book Cradle to Cradle, then watching Inconvenient Truth, I’ve become more of an environmentalists to some degree. Being an Industrial Designer, I’m familiar with the tons of products, materials, and manufacturing techniques that are incredibly destructive to our environment, but I never knew how major companies ranked in this destruction. Well, Greenpeace recently issued a “Guide to Greener Electronics” report card which offers a detailed ranking of some very well known tech firms based on a criteria. Dell and Nokia ranked well(kudos to them), but tech giants Apple, Motorola , Acer, and Toshiba ranked as some of the worst! However true or untrue this chart is, it puts a definite ding into those brands the next time I buy some electronics. Read the rest of the Cnet article here, or read some comments on engadget here.
OPD, 
Watch this 
The 2005 Solar Decathlon competition has an amazing assortment of incredible designs based on sustainable energy-efficient living. The competition introduces a variety of innovative methods to use solar energy and high-tech materials. If you dig deep into some of the submissions, you’ll be blown away by the student concepts. I recently saw a special on TV about this competition and became hooked. They recently announced the roundup of schools invited to compete in 2007.
“Sustainable design, which balances environmental, social, economic and aesthetic concerns, has the potential to transform everyday life and is already reshaping the fields of architecture and product design. Beyond Green explores how this design philosophy resonates with an emerging generation of international artists who combine a fresh aesthetic sensibility with a constructively critical approach to the production, dissemination and display of art.”