Thanks to Karl Lindgren for giving The Conscious Earth the nod for the Thinking Blogger Award.


The award kicked off a couple months ago as a peer driven effort to weed through the fat of the blogosphere and deliver to readers the highest quality and most thought provoking content available. The winners, in turn, nominate five blogs that make them think, thus passing the torch throughout the online community and giving us all something to think about.

With heartfelt thanks to all of The CE's readers throughout the past 11 months, here are my own nominations for the Thinking Blogger Award. As the first rule of thinking is independence of thought, sharp readers will notice that not all of these are, strictly speaking, 'blogs'. My priority was in offering choices that genuinely made me think, regardless of the nature of the site.

Enjoy!

Desmogblog - Clearing the PR pollution that clouds the science of climate change. Begun here in my home town by local public relations professional Jim Hoggan, Desmogblog's mission is to counter the spin of global warming deniers with the facts about this critical issue. Included on the site is a database supplying background information on the top deniers, as well as critical resources outlining the genuine scientific consensus about the dangers of global warming.

Fireraven Tarot - A compatriot from down under, Fireraven is an environmentalist and Tarot card reader who, on every full moon, gives a reading for our planet Earth. Insightful and thought provoking, the site is a great reminder about the limits of scientific/rational thought, and how far we as westerners have been led away from the wisdom of the Earth.

Planetfesto - Simple and visionary, Planetfesto's mission is to build a virtual ribbon around the Earth, six inches at a time. Each visitor can add their own photo to the ribbon, alongside their words about the importance and beauty of the natural world.

The Alan Watts Library - Regular listening of mine, the wisdom of the late Alan Watts is as accessible and relevant today as it was throughout the 1950s, '60s and '70s. A host of books and lectures are available for order, as is a free weekly podcast.

Satan's Laundromat - A picture is worth a thousand thoughts. The Laundromat is a photolog of New York, with an emphasis on urban decay, strange signage, and general weirdness. There is nothing more thought provoking that the random expression of our fellow people.