Since moving its not-for-profit venture online in 1995, New York-based Green Map System has made online maps of sustainable initiatives accessible to keen greens everywhere. Its selection of hand-picked mapmakers in 50 countries are responsible for the site's 450+ maps, facilitating global sustainability from a grassroots level. Ethical stores, green spaces and recycling sites are just some of the sites the maps help people discover.

The project's impact will hit a whole new level with the introduction of Open Green Map: a community site that makes the project accessible to all, letting users add new locations as well as exploring the recommendations of others. Participants can bring entries to life with Flickr photos or YouTube videos to support their text descriptions. The site has also boosted its usefulness with the development of applications for mobile devices. Users can now upload content the moment they discover it, and log in to find the nearest fair-trade coffee shop or ethical fashion store whilst out and about.

Combining the expansion of the mobile internet and the desire to live green, Open Green Maps uses technology to connect communities in the real world. As well as making it much easier for users to track down world-changing initiatives in their own neighbourhoods, the site might help foreign ecopreneurs discover new ideas to introduce to their home markets. As the tagline goes, 'Think global, map local'. (Related: The big city guide to going green.)

Website: www.opengreenmap.org
Contact: www.greenmap.org/greenhouse/en/contact

Spotted by: Emma Crameri

There's no doubt bicycles are going through a renaissance of sorts, as the dual pressures of gas prices and environmental concerns spur consumers to look for transportation alternatives. Makes perfect sense, then, to see a similar upward trend in bicycle-related paraphernalia and equipment.

One bike innovation out of the Netherlands recently caught the attention of one of our spotters: a combination bike stand and tire pump. Designed by Studio HiMom, the Heklucht pump was originally developed for an art project in Ypenburg, a newly built Dutch neighbourhood. With the goal of stimulating neighbourhood interaction, eight of the stainless-steel units--available in multiple colours--were placed in front of eight Ypenburg houses. The Heklucht won a Dutch Design Award back in 2006 in the category of public space products, and has since been installed also in Gent, Vienna and Leeds, Studio HiMom says.

Indeed, making life easier for bicyclists is a goal with increasing appeal around the globe, particularly when the solution blends strong functionality and attractive design. One to bring to the bike-friendly neighbourhoods near you....? (Related: Vending machines for bicycle parts.)

Website: www.heklucht.nl
Contact: heklucht@gmail.com

Spotted by: Bjarke Svendsen

It's hard to imagine a business for which emissions-free travel makes more sense than the delivery of fresh organic produce. No real surprise, then, to find a Florida company that delivers local, farm-stand fruits and vegetables via a bicycle-towed trailer.

Sarasota-based Harvest Cycle provides home and bulk deliveries of organic produce from Jessica's Stand and Organic Farm, a local provider. Foods delivered include farm-fresh greens, vegetables, fruits, herbs, nuts, grains and seeds, and everything is delivered in 14-gallon Rubbermaid bins stacked atop a bicycle-towed trailer. Customers browse the week's available selection--updated each Thursday night--and place their orders online. Deliveries are then made Friday or Saturday. Delivery fees are USD 15 per bin, and 25 percent of the proceeds go to the Alliance for Responsible Transportation.

Expect to see more examples of delivery by bicycle in the energy-conscious days ahead, using anything from traditional bicycles to van-sized cargo cycles, as we've already seen at French La Petite Reine. With the growing number of eco-minded consumers out there, it won't remain a novelty--or an option--for long!

Website: www.harvestcycle.com
Contact: info@harvestcycle.com

Spotted by: Emma Crameri

Aside from eco-burials and artistic or branded urns, not a lot has changed in how we typically honour the dead. A few new hearse options have popped up in recent years, however, that offer the biker crowd a way to give loved ones an unconventional last ride.

The Tombstone Hearse Company, for example, offers transport of caskets or urns in a motorcycle-drawn nineteenth-century style hearse. Tombstone also offers the option of touring on favourite roads or past sentimental places along the way to the final destination. The Pennsylvania-based company has affiliates nationwide as well as in England and the West Indies. Prices for motorcycle hearse services begin at roughly USD 650.

Texas-based Black Diamond Motorcycle Hearse, meanwhile, offers coach and driver services for prices beginning at USD 400, while Maryland-based Mid-Atlantic Motorcycle Hearse Company serves the mid-Atlantic region for prices starting at USD 795.

The California-based Black Velvet Motorcycle Hearse company, on the other hand, uses a 2002 Harley Davidson Road King Classic and attached hearse to transport the dead while the addition of a custom 2007 Liberty sidecar allows widows to ride along.

There are other contenders as well, but the category as a whole is yet another beautiful illustration of the profitability of appealing to the massive ageing baby boom generation and its various hobbies and lifestyle choices. Whether through supermarkets, being spaces, driving services or hearse services, the opportunities are many to take traditional offerings and tailor them for this unique demographic. The reward? If you're lucky, you might just earn your own little piece of HOG heaven! ;-)

Websites: www.blackvelvethearse.com -- www.tombstonehearse.com -- www.bdmotorcyclehearse.com -- www.midatlanticbikehearse.com

Spotted by: David Brundage

When we wrote about Texas-based uShip last year, we noted that there were few--if any--equivalents on other continents. As if on cue, earlier this year a new company with a similar model entered beta in the United Arab Emirates.

Like uShip, Dubai-based Darrb (which means "way" in Arabic) is a delivery service marketplace that aims to connect people who have something to send with people who are willing to do the delivering. In eBay fashion, the process begins when a user posts an item they want to have delivered. Those interested in handling the job--known on the site as "Darrbers"--then bid for it with the lowest price and fastest delivery time they can offer. Darrb sorts all bids by both price and promised speed, with a third factor--quality of service, as measured by the deliverer's past customer ratings--available as a deciding factor. Once the user selects a Darrber and the job is done, he or she can enter feedback and ratings that get attached to that shipper's account for use by future users.

Using Darrb during its beta period is free, and will remain so for users, the site says. Shippers will eventually be charged membership fees. More than 100 Darrbers have signed on with the site since its launch, and those numbers will likely increase soon: Earlier this month the team behind Darrb launched eMapia, a map-based online marketplace that lets users search by country for things for sale around the world, and it plans to promote the use of Darrb for shipping those items.

Profits await those who can capitalize on the intention economy, as we've noted before in several related examples. Nice to see the concept spreading around the globe! (Related: Ride-sharing for packages.)

Website: www.darrb.com
Contact: www.darrb.com/contactus.php

Spotted by: Susanna Haynie