Brazil: Practice safe sex, save rainforest [1]. Here's an innovative way to support local, sustainable farming, preserve rainforests, encourage shopping local — and prevent the spread of HIV! Brazil's new condom factory will get its latex from small-time rubber tappers, who'll take care of the trees they tap, thus helping to protect the larger rainforest. The new factory will also let Brazil meet its own condom supply needs; at the moment, Brazil imports about half its condoms. (via grist [2])

IKEA: Neither paper nor plastic! [3]. Come October 2008, IKEA will no longer offer single-use bags at its checkout counter. Turns out, since customers started getting charged a nickel for taking a bag, plastic bag use has gone down more than 92 percent in U.S. stores!

Do cheap people make good environmentalists? Perhaps... In any case, IKEA's bag-reduction success shows that people do pay more attention to enviro-issues when they show up as a separate item on their receipts. Whole Foods too, by the way, will nix the plastic bag on Earth Day 2008! Paper bags will still be available there, but all are encouraged to tote their own stylish reusable bag instead.

James Bond: Down with greenwashing! [4] In the upcoming Bond film Quantum of Solace, greenwashing [4] is the ultimate villainous behavior. Bond's nemesis will be a fake environmentalist out to control the water business! (via green daily [5])

It's refreshing to see that this popular film series is pointing to some of the the biggest green concerns of our day: water privatization, environmentalism, and false green advertising. Will Bond become the new Al Gore?