There’s plenty of worrying environmental news out there, but over the weekend bloggers and reporters highlighted a few glimmers of hope, too:

• EnviroWonk: Seattle, following San Francisco’s lead, has banned city purchases of bottled water. Planners figure the switch from bottled to tap water will save $58,500 as well as reducing plastic waste.
• Triple Pundit: The Beluga Skysail’s completion of a 12,000-mile journey proves that ships can use towing kites to reduce their fuel requirements – in this case, offsetting an estimated 20% of the engine’s power and saving $1000 per day on fuel.
• The Oregonian: Tax breaks and cash rebates have ignited a solar boom in Oregon; state officials expect the amount of solar power in Oregon to jump more than eightfold this year.
• Nature: A campaign by India’s Energy and Resources Institute in New Delhi is working to bring solar lighting to the developing world, improving health and working conditions for one billion people – and reducing greenhouse-gas emissions, which has won it praise from IPCC chairman Rajendra Pachauri.

The last two items are via Environmental Health News, which has a special section for Good News.