Happy summer solstice! It’s the first day of summer, and longest day of the year! Well, the day with the longest period of sunlight, anyway. Are you doing anything special today?

(I’m writing this post from a hotel room with terrible wifi service, so my access to images is severly hampered. I’ll add some later, but for now I’m just going to post it without them, so it can be online before the solstice is over!)

Here’s a quick round-up of what’s going on around the web this week, related to sunlight, summer, and sustainability:

• Over at grist.com they’re talking about celebrating the solstice with solar power.
• Randall Munroe of xkcd.com rolled out a new installment of his “what if” series. This one includes a bit about the carbon cycle with a loooong term view of solar power, and how are cars today are, sort-of, powered by solar energy from millions of years ago!
• Harvard University is having a sustainability celebration of their own. If you’re in Eastern Massachusetts, head on over there before the festivities come to an end!
• And Elon Musk unveiled SolarCity’s plan for a new solar panel manufacturing plant, in upstate New York.
  (Incidentally, shares of SolarCity stock jumped up nicely, as well. Responsible investment is not only possible, it’s necessary! Stay tuned for an article on community- and environment-friendly investing.)

–Chad

PS – Summer is just starting, and the weather in Portland is fantastic…but is anyone else vaguely disappointed that passing the solstice means the days are only getting shorter?