You’ve probably already noticed some differences this morning at Green Options, and will be seeing more here in the very near future. Last night, our tech team took a major step forward for us by migrating the site to the Wordpress platform. Don’t fear, though: while you may experience some glitches here and there, they’re addressing these matters. In no time, you should be browsing around smoothly.

Members should’ve received an email noting that their user names may have changed slightly. Specifically, any spaces or non-alphabetical or numerical characters have been removed, and capital letters are now lower case. So, “Great-Green-God” would now be “greatgreengod.” Your password should be the same.

We appreciate your patience as we work out the kinks here. Feel free to make note of any problems you’re having in the comments of this post, and know that we’re working to identify and fix all of them.

As Noel pointed out last week, Green Options now provides all registered users with a blog. If starting a green blog has been on your to-do list, now you’re only a mouse-click away from adding your voice to the "green blogosphere."

We’re pleased to see that a number of members have already started using their blogs, and we hope you’ll give it a shot, also. We’ve made sure that GO user blogs are fully functional, so you can:

Add images: It’s easy to add photographs and graphics to your blog posts — we’ve created a video (originally for our writing team) that walks you through the process. Keep in mind that many images may be under copyright, so be careful about using other people’s images — at minimum, you should give credit and a link.

Add links: Linking is also easy to do… see our "Blogging at GO" overview for instructions.

Add tags: Tags allow you to categorize your posts beyond the standard options available through the normal category structure. Your tags are also submitted to blogging megasite Technorati.

Use HTML: If you’re an advanced web author, you can add HTML tags through the by clicking on "disable rich text" below the "Body" text field.

Promote your blog: We’ve added widgets that allow you (or your readers) to easily submit your posts to social bookmarking sites StumbleUpon, Digg and Reddit.

Got questions? Check out our "How To" doc… and then blog away!

We’ve been working hard lately to reach out through some of the web’s most popular social media sites, but, until now, we were MIA from 800 lb. gorrilla in this space: Myspace. We’ve fixed that, though, and are pleased to unveil the GO Myspace page.

If you’re a member at Myspace, please add us as a friend, and ask your other friends to do so. We’ll be highlighting chosen content there, as well as keeping users in the loop about devlopments at GO.

As always, let us know if you have suggestions. We’ll see you there!

As you might imagine, the process of getting GO launched, running and successful has been a learning and growing experience for all of us here. We’ve all had our little victories, and made our mistakes along the way. We’ve discovered things about ourselves and each other, and in the case of our partner Shea Gunther, those discoveries have included a need to move in some different directions. Shea will be leaving his duties at GO and our sister site PlanetSave to focus his energies on other projects, including a full-time effort on what was once the GO Home, and a writing stint at Treehugger.

For details on what Shea will be doing with his time in the near future, you can read his farewell note on PlanetSave. We’re sure that he’ll bring energy, enthusiasm and insight to all of these projects. And we look forward to reading his contributions to TH.

Join us in wishing Shea farewell and good luck — GO won’t be the same without him.

That’s right: we’re finally jumping on board the Twitter bandwagon. If you’re scratching your head right now, Twitter is an instant notification, "micro-blogging" system that allows users to broadcast short messages to other users that have chosen to receive them. By signing on to "follow" GO’s Twitter posts, you’ll find out about new articles and features as they’re released. We’ll also throw in some of the fun and interesting items we come across every day.

Twitter is a free service, and it’s easy to sign up. Let your friends now what you’re doing right now… and be among the first to know what’s new at GO.

Ladies and gentleman, boys and girls… come right in for another edition of the Greenest Show on the Web: the Carnival of the Green! Fresh off of a stellar performance at Ms. Malaprop, the Carnival’s here at Green Options this week to amaze and delight you. But don’t wait around — the show has a limited engagement here, and then it’s moving on for a stint with our friends at Greener Magazine.

What’s the Carnival of the Green (or COTG, as we green bloggers like to call it)? It’s a roundup of some of the best posts on green blogs from the past week. Always moving, the COTG stops for a visit on a green blog every Monday. The Carnival was the brainchild of Al Tepper, publisher extraordinaire at City Hippy, and Nick Aster, the man behind (and often in front) of the curtain at Triplepundit. These days, our friends at Treehugger play tour manager for the Carnival.

Now that we’ve got the formalities out of the way, let’s get on with the show. And if you’re suffering from a case of the Mondays, here’s a little music to put you in that carnival mood…. wherever you are.

The Hall of Science

Come on in, and take a gander at the latest technological wonders. Won’t cost you a dime…

We’ve got a double-header from EcoGeek this week. Want some help adjusting your driving to save fuel? Hank and co. take a look at the Fuel Mizer, which can monitor your stops and starts for you. And if you’re a walker (which we hope you are!), two students at MIT are just won a prize to harvest the energy from your footsteps (yep, we covered that one, too).

The Naib, over at The Sietch, investigates the Watercone, a device that uses solar energy to desalinate water. This piece of simple technology could do a lot of good for people without easy access to fresh water.

For the Dedicated Followers of Fashion…

We’ve got some Fall previews, and some new looks.

The Natural Collection is predicting an ethical Autumn as they roll out their Fall fashions online. Keep an eye on their site, as they promise "some fantastic giveaways, competitions and freebies" are on the way.

Nature Mom Tiffany Washko takes a look at some furnishings (particularly beds) that are both green and stylish.

Inhabitat shows us how designer Stephan Boltz gives a second life (and new sense of style) to airplane trolleys.

And speaking of reuse, our own Victoria E. shows us how the Broken Plate Pendant Co. turns "useless" china into unique pieces of jewelry (on her own blog).

The Carnival’s Trade Show

Catch the latest trends in green business and finance.

Sox First has a podcast interview with Erik Mather, managing director of Regnan, on the growing pressure for companies "…to come clean on their contingent liabilities that include environmental, sustainability and governance risks."

Great Green Gadgets expresses some skepticism about carbon offsets, particularly those involving tree planting. Doesn’t mean they’re against planting trees, though… even guerrilla style!

And the Savvy Vegetarian shares a post from market gardener Jocelyn Engman on the importance of supporting local farmers.

Time for a Break… and a Beer

All this carnivaling can make you thirsty…

GO’s Gavin Hudson shares some tips on making your own eco-friendly brew: cheers!

And the Green Cougar points to that inevitable post-college dilemma for green grads: aluminum cans or glass bottles?

The Medicine Show

Health and safety stories with a green tint.

Allie’s Answers takes note of some of the potential dangers presented by manufactured nanoparticles in sunscreens.

The Environmental Working Group’s Enviroblog presents a video on the danger that still exist from arsenic-treated lumber used for decks and playsets.

Finally, at sustainablog (my other blog), I took a look at an editorial in the Minneapolis-St. Paul Star-Tribune claiming that greener development of transportation infrastructure could create less wear and tear on roads and bridges (so they’re less likely collapse!).

Get a Glimpse of Far-Away Lands…

A couple of our participants in the Carnival this week share some travel information and experiences.

Intelligent Travel spotlights several green hotels you might want to consider on your next getaway.

Sally Kneidel of Veggie Revolution recounts her visit (complete with some great photos) to the South African village of Welverdiend

The Souvenir Stand

If you must buy, make sure it’s sustainable.

The Millionaire Mommy Next Door claims that "Memories are made of the things we do, not the things we buy." We couldn’t agree more!

La Marguerite reminices on times past when we didn’t throw away so much stuff.

And Green LA Girl takes a look at some eco-friendly claims made by some companies about their products, and shows that a little digging often chips the green gilding off of these fairly ordinary items.

Finally, Take a Stroll Down the Midway…

You never know what you may find.

INNside Innkeeping in Montana highlights efforts by Xanterra Parks and Resorts, the owner of hotels and restaurants inside a number of state and national parks, to green up their own operations. That’s right… Yellowstone is going green…

Maria Energia, the blog of our own Maria Surma Manka, considers the implications of recently-announced renewable energy deals by BP.

Jetson Green takes a look at an ancient case of urban sprawl, and wonders if it provides some insight into more recent calamities such as post-Katrina flooding in New Orleans, and the bridge collapse in Minnesota.

In another post, Intelligent Travel offers its congratulations to Java Green, a D.C.-area cafe’ that recently won the title of "Best Vegetarian Restaurant" in a contest held by VegDC.

Flower-Garden-Bulbs.com provides some tips for getting flower bulbs started right… the organic way.

The Good Human muses upon the messages sent by environmentalists concerning climate change, and claims that the planet itself will survive this crisis; the human species, on the other hand, may not be so fortunate.

And, finally, our good friends at Lighter Footstep help spread the word on the October 15th Blog Action Day, when a diverse array of bloggers, ranging from Lifehacker to ProBlogger, will be writing about, and raising funds for, environmental issues.

That’s a wrap, folks — thank you for coming by and enjoying the Carnival. We’ll see you next week at Greener Magazine!

Image sources: Treehugger (COTG banner) and Wikimedia Commons (here, here, and here)

Are you a Facebook user (or even junkie)? Are you tracking your carbon emissions at MakeMeSustainable? Or, are you a lensmaster or frequest visitor to Squidoo? If so, come by, say "Hi," and join our groups and efforts at these popular sites!

The GO Facebook group is open to all members of the GO community. Join us, and add your comments to our wall, or your ideas to our discussion board. We’ll get photos and such up as we get them…

The GO MakeMeSustainable group is also open to all members of the community. We’ve set a goal of reducing our carbon emissions by 30% (though we’re already well beyond that), so add your cuts in CO2 to our effort.

At GO’s Squidoo space, you can keep a close eye on some of your favorite GO series, including:

• Green Myth-Busting
• Green Style Spotlight
• Red, Green & Blue
• Weekly DIY
• Weekend Grub
• Weekend Review

Remember: anytime you click on an ad on a GO Squidoo page, the money we earn goes directly to Dos Margaritas.

We’re just getting started with making our move into various social networking spaces… stay tuned!