Bioneers offered many outstanding speeches by leaders in all areas of the green movement. Covering politics, inventions, renewable energy, biomimicry, women’s rights, indigenous peoples’ rights, social activism, and many other areas, the talks provided conference goers inspiration and motivation.

Gathered here are just a few of the favorites. …

Finally, Redesigned 2010 Toyota Prius
A member of the PriusChat forums has posted 5 shots of the new redesigned 2010 Toyota Prius, and Toyota has confirmed on its official blog that it was the real deal, though without any other details.

More photos below the fold….

photo: Katie

While the environmental movement can claim some genuine successes, the methods used so far are ultimately limiting the scope of the type of change that it can, and must, create if we are going to leave our children a planet that is capable of supporting human life in anything near the capacity it has previously done. That’s the broad-stroke view of Yale University’s James Gustave Speth. In a recent interview, Speth argues that a reassessment of the boundaries, methods and goals of the environmental movement is needed. Nothing short of a new politics will work:
…

TreeHugger loves Bill McDonough; We have probably written more posts about him and his cradle-to-cradle certification than any other individual. He is the king of the green one-liner, a brilliant and entertaining speaker, and a pretty good architect. He is a successful green entrepreneur and gets to hang out with Richard Branson, Larry Page, Daryl Hannah and Elon Musk. He speaks at TED and at the Democratic Convention.

Which is why my jaw dropped to the floor when I read Danielle Sacks’ demolition job in Fast Company….

Solar-powered rickshaw photo: Cleantech

While it is easily possible to argue about the human rights aspect of pedal-powered rickshaws (there’s certainly a bit of difference in the type of people involved in the biz in India compared to their limited use in the United States…), there’s no denying that from an environmental perspective they’re a better form of transport than burning fossil fuels.

Enter, the Soleckshaw: A cycle rickshaw with an electric assist, charged at solar-powered charging stations, which it is hoped will both reduce the physical burden on its d…

This cool water fountain was at the center of the outdoor conference tents. Made of some unexpected reclaimed materials, it provided a nice place to sit and talk, as well as a DIY inspiration for a back-yard project.

Read on to see if it is something you might want to throw together in your own yard….

photo: Maury Landsman

While I’m not sure that the claims by the owners of Castello Monte Vibiano Vecchio olive oil farm that they will be the first farm anywhere to reduce their net carbon emissions to zero, without using offsite carbon offsetting projects, are be entirely true—I’d be surprised that some small farm hasn’t tried to do the same thing, just not publicized it as well—the efforts by the owners of this Umbrian farm are pretty interesting: …

James Dean makes smoking look cool.

The Big Cheese behind TreeHugger, Graham Hill, hit the Arctic as part of Cape Farewell’s 2008 Disko Bay expedition to witness the direct environmental effects of climate change. In a science research boat, he traveled alongside over 40 artists, scientists and rock stars.

Humans are driven by incentives. For the most part, we do things because there’s something in it for us. This may be money, …

The house-in-a-greenhouse probably wouldn’t play very well in say, Arizona, where enclosing your house in glass shell would be folly. But Bengt Warne, a Swedish architect, starting designing what he called the Naturhus (Nature House) in 1976 to work with Scandinavian nature. Warne put up his own Naturhus before he died in 2006, but two other Swedish families have now designed their own versions of an enclosed house.

Greenhouse on the outside, energy-efficiency on the inside
Here in Sweden, where the dark drear of winter drives many of us to depression or worse, a clear greenhouse on the outside of your wooden house as insulation p…

Photo via Bioneers

Many TreeHugger favorites made their way to Bioneers 2008. From carpets to paper, from solar to social networking websites, many TH friends permeated the exhibit hall.

Check out the huggable companies who made it out to the conference to show off their greener sides. …