Environmental education group, NatureBridge, said today it has received a $4 million grant from the Google Charitable Giving Fund of Tides Foundation.

Over a three-year period, the grant will help NatureBridge serve more students and teachers with environmental education programs in more national parks and in the communities where they live.

When it comes to data centers, we seem to hear about Google and perhaps Facebook most often.  Both companies have been known to announce new facilities and expansions on a regular basis.  But apparently eBay has quite a lot of expertise in this field, too, as the U.S. Green Building Council recently awarded its Topaz data center the LEED Gold certification.

Facebook’s won the support of a lot of people as it builds a data center in Prineville, Oregon; an official Facebook Page is full of positive comments from locals.  However, because the facility will primarily be powered by coal, Greenpeace – along with around 500,000 individuals – has sided against it.

Two months ago, Google invested $38.8 million in two wind farms, and as out-of-the-blue as that development may have appeared to some people, it wasn’t an isolated event.  This morning, Google followed up with what it’s calling a "20-year Power Purchase Agreement" involving another wind farm.

Energy efficiency and the white space spectrum have come together thanks to Google, a young company specializing in wireless tech, and an electric utility that also deals in telecommunications.  The organizations announced that the first smart grid wireless network trial is underway.

First, dogs were allowed in the offices.  Next, goats were brought in to cut the grass.  Now, bees have also made their way onto Google’s property, with four new hives arranged at a safe distance to raise awareness about Colony Collapse Disorder (and supply employees with honey and wax).

Love to see non-profit organizations like Earthjustice embracing social technologies.  Each time someone “checks in” at an Earthjustice poster in the San Francisco BART stations, one of Earthjustice’s donors will give $10 to support their cause. The ads, featuring images of Lake Tahoe, oil rig platforms, and the little furry endangered pika, can be found throughout the BART stations coming this summer.

Two wind farms in North Dakota now enjoy the support of a certain search giant.  Google announced this afternoon that it’s invested $38.8 million in the farms, and believe it or not, this may be a move that both environmentalists and investors can get behind.

The Shelton Group has released some interesting survey results showing that the majority of Americans would like to "go green," but not at the expense of their own convenience. It’s not that the results are particularly surprising, but they are interesting in that they are broken down into what percentage of participants would be willing to give up what devices if they could help the environment.

Four months ago, a report claimed that the act of performing two Google searches produced as much carbon dioxide as boiling a kettle of water.  Google wasted little time in disproving the idea.  Now, the search giant’s returned to the concept and tossed out even more comparisons to show how "green" it is.

Google’s trying quite hard to be a environmentally conscious company, and yesterday evening, its Green Energy Czar (yes, that’s a real title) wrote a blog post listing some efforts.  Unfortunately for the search giant’s image – and possibly for Mother Nature, too – a document released at about the same time revealed that the EPA’s looking into an alleged chemical leak. 

Times Online ran an article citing several studies about Internet use and the consumption of energy. Information used for this report suggested that Google searches are responsible for a large amount of CO2 emissions.  The article reads:

Amazon.com announced Monday an initiative to reduce the amount of packaging materials some of its products are shipped in with the idea to make them easier for customers to open and to be better for the environment.

Google could have promoted energy conservation by lighting up gigantic "save electricity" billboards.  Instead, in at least one country, the search giant has taken the equally unproductive path of turning its homepage black.

About three months ago, Ask joined a tree-planting program created by Dell to offset carbon emissions.  Those trees are presumably doing just fine.  The bigger piece of news relates to energy-efficient servers the two companies discussed, and those are also on track.

From the Playboy perspective with Christie Hefner – that true brands represent attitude and a point of view, that can be moved from one product to another. It can play in different spaces.

Shopping search engine thefind.com has launched a shopping search Web site for finding products from eco-friendly retailers and brands. The site is inclusive of products that are organic, created using ecologically conscious processes, or those offered by retailers who are committed to preserving the environment.

Search engine Ask.com and Dell have partnered to protect the environment with custom energy efficient servers.

Google’s well known for its environmentally friendly leanings, and Yahoo launched a “Be a Better Planet” campaign just last week.  Now Microsoft has joined the usual suspects by launching its own endeavor; oddly enough, former president Bill Clinton was also involved.

A comp.unix.shell newsgroup post asked a neophyte question about how to run a script in the background.

Line56 published an article Monday talking about presence becoming a more important part of IBM’s collaborative environment.