Weekend Update: Organic Chocolate & Solar Juice Bags

Just in time for Valentine's Day, Whitman's & Russell Stover are offering organic chocolates. The Green Girlfriend got some the other day, so hopefully she'll post a comment reporting on how they compared with standard chocolate.

Speaking of The Green Girlfriend, we went to Lost Dog Cafe for a late lunch/early dinner yesterday. They have the best selection of beer in Arlington, sandwiches that are much tasier and much cheaper than your standard Cosi/Potbelly/Au Bon Pain fare, and best of all, the owners are actively involved in animal rescue work, so you know your money is doing better work than just enhancing some stockholder's portfolio.

Ever heard of Juice Bags? If you're like me, your reaction was, "What, like Capri Sun?" These are backpacks or messenger bags with flexible solar panels on one side, so you can keep your electronic devices charged. If you're a frequent hiker or bike messenger, I can see where they'd be a great investment. You can be entered for a chance to win one by taking Grist.org's reader survey.

A few environmental programs that have been brought to my attention recently, if I get a chance to watch them, I'll post reviews:

- HGTV's "Living with Ed"
- The Sundance Channel's "The Green"
- NPR's "Discovering Where We Live: Reimagining Environmentalism"

This week, I'll be posting an "Ask the Green Miles" on I66 widening, and will be passing along any updates from Richmond on smoking ban legislation. And from what I hear, I may have lots of time to blog on Tuesday, because we could get a major winter storm here in DC. Few forecasters are putting down bets on snow totals yet, but AccuWeather is saying we could get 6-12 inches, with slight variations in the track of the storm having a big impact on whether we get much more or much less.