DISQUS

This is a topic I've certainly spent some time thinking about. Something that frustrated me when I attempted to take stock of the environmental impact of my lifestyle was simply the never-ending permutations or corrections that any plan can run through (like your "wind turbines come from China" problem). There's also no shortage of conflicting well-intentioned facts or malignant nay-sayers to contend with, or the undeniable feeling that, really, you're not going to make a discernable difference at all. It's too easy to get lost in all of that and end up inert.

At times it seems like an over-simplified approach, but one that is at least green and progressive in spirit, is the best bet. Of course you're not going to be able to minimize your impact absolutely, but maybe at this point simply contributing to a sense that this is something we should be aiming for is enough, while we really figure out the details.

Michael Pollan also has a nice minimalist piece of advice on how to approach diet (another minefield of indecision and disinformation) that hits the mark, I think: "Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants."

iTerm could be the solution to some of your Terminal issues. It's got tabs and profiles.

Totally agree too. I'm all for citizen media and so on, but for some reason I have yet to come across an amateur podcast that does it for me. The fact that I can't "skim read" a random podcast that I come across, the way I might do with a random blog to decide if I might like it, means that I'm not inclined to invest my time checking it out.

That said, there are a couple of professionally produced "spoken" podcasts that I think are great and listen to when I have time: This American Life, RadioLab.org and Slate Magazine's podcasts are worth checking out.