Corporate Critic is a product of the Ethical Consumer Research Association Ltd. Corporate Critic indexes and rates the Corporate Social Responsibility records of over 50,000 companies, using primarily civil society data. Ranging from large multinationals to small independents, it includes both publicly listed and private companies from anywhere in the world.

Vela Creations is a documentation of our experiences and projects living off the grid. We are a young couple striving to fulfill our lifestyles through sustainable means. Our hope is that our experiences will serve as guidence to those interested in the technologies and methods illustrated on this site.

The Long Now Foundation was established in 01996* to develop the Clock and Library projects, as well as to become the seed of a very long term cultural institution. The Long Now Foundation hopes to provide counterpoint to today's "faster/cheaper" mind set and promote "slower/better" thinking. We hope to creatively foster responsibility in the framework of the next 10,000 years.

SustainLane.com is the web's largest people-powered guide to sustainable living. The hub of SustainLane Media's offerings, SustainLane.com is filled with personal accounts of how-tos, news, and local business and product reviews for sustainable living. The site connects interested consumers with the tools and information on everything related to green, including: * The largest directory of local, green-friendly businesses in the United States with over 20,000 small business listings; * Consumer-generated how-tos, news and product reviews of new green offerings in the marketplace; and * A community of likeminded individuals willing to share information and personal experiences with each other.

The Net-Zero Energy Now House is Really Boring. I mean, really. Except for the metal roof, the Now House looks just like every other sixty year old postwar veteran's house on the street in suburban Toronto. Everybody knows that a zero-energy house has to look all heliotropy and be covered in green gizmos. And everybody knows that these old 2x4 houses are not worth renovating. They're sieves, they're heat sinks. As Ruben said in an earlier post: Most old buildings merely slow the wind down. They are abysmally hard to heat, as any reading of period novels will tell you. Even though there are millions of them across North America, everybody knows they are just knockdowns. Net zero energy? Impossible. And the size? 1350 Square feet! nobody has lived in that since 1960. This has to be replaced or boxtopped (second floor added on) or it is uninhabitable. Everyone knows that a North American house has to be 2500 square feet. I mean, really. Not.

The Now House™ project will turn a 60-year-old WWII house into a near zero energy home—one that produces almost as much energy as it uses. The first Now House™ is located in Topham Park, Toronto. The home is a 1200 square foot, 1 1/2 storey, detached structure in a community of 200 similar homes. It was built in 1946 from plans provided by CMHC. The Now House™ project is a collaboration of designers, architects, engineers, homeowners and sustainable building experts led by Lorraine Gauthier of the design consultancy Work Worth Doing.

Plug In America advocates the use of plug-in vehicles powered by cleaner, cheaper, domestic electricity to reduce our nation's dependence on petroleum and improve the global environment.

LessWatts.org is not about marketing, trying to sell you something or comparing one vendor to another. LessWatts.org is about how you can save real watts, however you use Linux* on your computer or computers. LessWatts is about creating a community around