It’s ever so easy to become bogged down by the doom and gloom that tends to come with weighty environmental issues like rampant global warming, alarming food crises and all the important (but often depressing) issues we read about all the time.

And, with that doom and gloom comes apathy, and with apathy, inaction. It all seems too far gone, too out of control for us to be able to do something ourselves, so we have a tendency to give up – leave it to someone else to fix.

Well, call me the eternal optimist, but I prefer to focus instead on the good things that are happening – the stories that inspire us, not the ones that make us quake in our boots and wish we could just bury our heads in the sand.

We don’t see them that often, but only because good news rarely makes the headlines – there are more of them out there than you might imagine.

And so, to do what I can to spread the luurve, I have decided to be ‘eternally optimistic’ and put together a weekly list of all the stories that have helped warm the cockles of my increasingly green heart (and that are inspiring me to live a better, greener life).

‘Smog Eating Eco House in Cyprus‘

Italian architects in Cyprus have designed a “smog-eating” environmentally-friendly house that is “full of green features that provide for clean energy and also save your bills.”

So how exactly does it go about “eating” smog, you might ask? Well, like this, of course:

“Its smooth structure is composed of photo-catalytic concrete, a material containing an active agent that reacts with light to break down air pollutants such as carbon monoxide, nitrogen oxide, and benzene.”

Gotcha. But wait, there’s more – in case you’re wondering how this fabulous eco-dwelling also manages to help reduce your energy costs, here’s the skinny:

“Low emissivity glass helps insulate the interior, while adjustable solar panels and a rainwater recycling system cut down on utilities. A heat storage system helps to regulate temperature when day turns to dusk.”

Hmmm, they had me at “smog-eating”.

‘Dirty nappies to be made into roof tiles‘

Here’s a sobering thought:

“It is estimated that up to 750,000 tonnes of nappies – enough to fill Wembley Stadium eight times – are buried in landfill sites each year in Britain as part of 29 million tonnes of the nation’s annual municipal waste.”

That’s why it’s really good news that Britain is building a new recycling plant (the first of its kind) that will have “the capacity to recycle about 30,000 tonnes of nappies and similar absorbent materials such as incontinence pads each year.” Apparently, the processed nappies will then be “turned into a range of products including roof tiles and plastic cladding.”

After that they can figure out what to do with the other 720,000 tonnes…

‘$100 Wind Turbine Brings Light to Villages Without Power‘

This is a great one for the developing world: a $100 wind turbine designed to be a “cheap replacement for the kerosene lamps that are a fire and health risk.”

What makes this small-scaled power-generator particularly useful is its vertical axis which, according to its designers, “works better in the choppy conditions likely to meet the turbine out in the field, where it’ll be bolted on to buildings, towers or even trees.”

Nifty.

And, in other good green news:

* ‘Look out for fynbos-friendly wines‘ (urbansprout.co.za)

* ‘Wild Wonders of Europe Launches Biggest Ever Nature Photography Project‘ (treehugger.com)

* ‘First Wind Powered City‘ (cleantechnica.com)

* ‘Every little page counts‘ (bizcommunity.com)