Good food is one of the most exciting parts about environmentalism. The food chain is the basis of life on this planet, so eating green requires a willingness to live in harmony with nature. What better way to be harmonious than to have a (more) environmentally-friendly BBQ?

Your party could fill up a BBQ spot like this

The first thing you will need to do is get yourself a grill and all the corresponding do-dads for delivering the sweet-tasting kiss of charring to your food. One thing to consider is the quality of the grill itself – a better-built grill will last longer and therefore create less environmental waste because it will need replacement less often. So don’t feel bad splurging on that higher-end model (provided you’re actually getting what you’re paying for) – splurging in this case might just help the environment. Test various models before you buy to see how sturdy they feel, and don’t buy a “starter” model thinking you’ll just upgrade later. That’s just a plan for creating unnecessary waste.

Using gas is the most resource-efficient means of powering a grill. It is also the least carbon polluting method.

But if you simply must have that traditional charred flavor that only charcoal can provide, Whole Foods Market and other retailers sell charcoal made from either recycled scrap wood (in Whole Foods’ case, discarded furniture and wood flooring) or from sustainable forests. You can find some interesting info on Whole Foods’ charcoal, along with reviews of other sustainable lump charcoal makers, at this link [www.greenlinkcharcoal.com]. So don’t feel bad if you’re a hardcore grilling purist – you can still grill in environmentally-friendly ways.

Since green inventions are very stimulating for the imagination, and this product might actually work, check out this Solar BBQ Kit [www.dailymail.co.uk]. This device will allow you to BBQ your goods with ZERO carbon footprint.

If you are looking for a few BBQ odds and ends, check out Sprig.com [www.sprig.com] and see some of their suggestions for an environmentally friendly BBQ.

Check out this simple guide to green grilling found on Ideal Bite [www.idealbite.com].

You may also enjoy another great blog post series on blogspot called Cooking Without Carbon [cookingwithoutcarbon.blogspot.com].

When it comes to what food you will put on the grill, you can definitely buy grass-fed beef or you can also get slightly less expensive beef that is produced without pesticides or hormones. The same thing goes for chicken and pork.

When it comes to vegetables or tofu, you can pretty much put whatever you want on the grill and the environmental impact is more or less the same. However, if you can afford it, buying local and/or organic vegetables taste much better in addition to aiding your planet’s food chain.

This week on THE GREEN, we are dressing up people who like organic clothes and we are looking behind the manikin of fashion companies that care about the environment. Clothing is a very important product to consider in the sustainable limelight because it’s simply everywhere. Clothing is also central to one’s identity. Often what you wear to the ‘big’ interview can have as much impact as what you say during it. What is the difference between an office with a formal dress code and one with casual clothes? For that matter, should school and athletic uniforms be required to be green?

The ethical implications of clothing production come into play here as well; everyone has heard about the sweatshop and even slave-labor conditions of some clothing manufacturers. There are simply no incidences of this conduct in the sustainable clothing market, as the people who make said clothing simply will not stoop to these draconian business practices.

As we find out on THE GREEN, organic and sustainable clothing is not only produced in harmony with nature, but is also created free of chemicals that can be harmful when wearing clothing. There are good reasons that all undergarments are made from natural products like cotton or silk. Without further preamble, here are some useful links to illuminate this week’s content on THE GREEN.

As always, if you find some lacking depth or just plain disagree, login to Sundance Channel and take those notions into our green discussion area. [www.sundancechannel.com]

BIG IDEAS FOR A SMALL PLANET: WEAR

Before describing to you in flowery terms as to why you should love this episode, please check out the following BIG IDEAS webisode that has some exclusive clips you can only get on the Sundance Channel website.

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Now that you are once again in love with Robert Downey Jr. and are itching to find Linda Loudermilk clothing [www.lindaloudermilk.com], you should know that tonight, may 8th, on THE GREEN, you will get to learn a lot more about Linda Loudermilk and her inspirational clothing line.

BIG IDEAS FOR A SMALL PLANET also covers some other major areas of the clothing industry. You have clothing production as seen through Patagonia’s [www.patagonia.com] recent environmentally-friendly line. It’s pretty amazing that a hard plastic bottle I drink from can be recycled into a soft-fabric fleece jacket that can keep someone warm through the winter.

Next up on the BIG IDEAS agenda is clothing reusing, as seen through the inventive Swap-O-Rama-Rama [www.swaporamarama.org] events. This is a creative event where you drop off your old clothing and if you want to, you can actually learn to sew and make your own clothing by combining other people’s old clothing into something new.

There is so much in a BIG IDEAS FOR A SMALL PLANET episode, it’s simply shocking. I cannot even fit it all into one blog post, so pull out a pillow for your chair and check out our eco-videos [www.sundancechannel.com] so you can see for yourself how much hope there still is for this world.

We encourage all of you to come back soon and get more amazing blog, I know it can be too stimulating for your senses but it’s also good for your soul.