A misconception of going green is that we would be sacrificing technological awesomeness for the sake of the environment. Lies!

A post on WebUrbanist highlights seven ideas that would make the Earth a better place. All of these look incredible and really futuristic, or, to be blunt, they’re bad ass. Check out the eco-island, which is an actual ISLAND that benefits the environment through its mere existence! It looks cooler than the island from Lost.

While many of these ideas are outrageously expensive and would require years of planning and construction, it’s a good sign that we’re beginning to think of helping the Earth on a large scale. And it’s an even better sign that they’re going to look like something from Blade Runner.

In what might be the most metal (or goth, whichever your preference) display of green living we’ve seen yet, the site Eco-Chick has a post entailing some examples of eco-friendly coffins. That’s right, coffins that actually benefit the environment.

While one may not think that coffins would be damaging to the environment, the truth is that as we place them in the ground, they obstruct areas where plant life could potentially be thriving. As such, new companies are offering options such as biodegradable coffins and coffins with partially opened bottoms that allow your body to decompose into the ground, thereby benefiting plant life. Sacrificing your dead body to the Earth? Sounds like a Slayer song!

No, you are not hallucinating, the title of this blog entry is very much true. Via SmartPlanet, we have happened upon this competition for Friends of the Earth, in which you make a one-minute film with the theme being “Which bit of the Earth are you a friend of?” Personally, gingerbread men are my best friends. And yes, I consider them to be bits of the Earth. The delicious Earth.

Friends of the Earth has the full details. The deadline is August 29, 2008, so get moving!

A while back, we wrote a post on how farting is a contributing factor to drastic climate change. At the time, we told people to just stop farting altogether (“farting” also meaning leaving enormous carbon footprints). But just when we considered things to be impossible, apparently science CAN conquer nature.

A recent press release says that scientists believe they can stop farting in sheep and cows, perhaps even providing a vaccine to prevent humans from farting as well. No joke. Wonder what this will do for the air freshener industry…

An article in Treehugger details the Osaka Candle Night, an event in which Japanese citizens try to conserve energy by attending events lit entirely by candles. Encouraged by the Ministry of the Environment, these events save an enormous amount of energy, and are slowly becoming popular around the country.

This got me to thinking about how much energy really can be saved through candlelight, and also how pleasing it is to the eye. Try candle.com, a massive online resource for all types of candles and candle holders, and also Maximum Scented, which distributes pretty cool candles made entirely of soy. And try and light your room, or otherwise, with candles. It’ll put a spooky, but exciting, spin on the evening; and who knows, maybe a romantic one too.

When recycling, you often forget what is potentially reusable and what isn’t. Take perfume: While it’s glass bottle is a totally recyclable product, it probably wouldn’t occur to someone to not throw it in the regular trash bin.

As Green Daily reports, certain American department stores are allowing you to bring back your empty perfume bottles for recycling purposes. Let’s hope that more stores catch on, and other perfumes as well.

And maybe we can start having recyclable fragrances as well, by mixing the dregs of each bottle into one super perfume! OK, maybe we’ll hold off on that one for now.

Tired of food products coming from rural farms that allow the presence of chemical products, animal mistreatment, and conveyor belt-filled factories, many city residents in the United States have begun taking up urban farming. That’s right: farms in cities!

This article in Slate cheekily details the urban farming movement, in which young people “chewing on only organic, free-range, locally grown straw, racing outside to move their tractors for street-sweeping,” have begun killing their own chickens and growing their own produce. You might be asking: How this is possible in a city that doesn’t have the geographic locations of a rural setting? Well, it’s possible in the most punk way imaginable, by creating the environment yourself.