We recently had a tip from Chris, saying that Treehugger readers might be interested in a link he'd seen to
Hellacious Riders, a site for motorcycle enthusiasts, for a great deal. A ginormous 1TB of free email storage, with a maximum attachment size of 500MB. Good offer, but “Why is this all TreeHugger-y?”, as Chris so adroitly put it. Quite simply because the hriders servers are sun run. Yep, their ISP is
Affordable Internet Services Online, which is a 100% solar powered facility. 120 photovoltaic panels grace their south facing roof. Using inverters they convert the solar energy into AC current. This in turn powers the data centre and their offices, including the air conditioners. The grid can be accessed in emergencies, although given the blackouts and brownouts of recent years, its likely the reverse would be the case. Seems they also channel natural lighting inside, through solar tubes. Sound like a technology company worth supporting? Thanks for the tip Chris. Check out the email offer via
::hriders [by
WM] ...
To celebrate its first decade in existence, Droog Design, that wacky Dutch design firm famous for clever ideas such as a bookshelf made of wrapping paper and a chest of drawers taken from unwanted furniture, is having a giant, international exhibition at the Gemeentemuseum in The Hague. “Simply Droog: 10+1 Years of Avant-Garde Design,” which opens tomorrow, features renowned designs by the likes of Hella Jongerius, Tejo Remy, and Marcel Wanders. Common threads and criteria for the selections are essentially the same things that drive Droog’s own designs: original ideas; clear and contemporary concepts; practical, simple end products; and wit and humor... ...
The latest solar technology is a key component in the £11 million redesign of Locomotion, the National Railway Museum in Shildon, County Durham, U.K. The new museum facilities include a number of environmental initiatives, including an array of BP Solar modules incorporated into the roofing system, which will provide 35.4 kW of clean and emissions-free energy--equal to the annual electricity usage of average homes. The solar electricity will be used to power interactive display points around the museum...
...
We’ve told you plenty about electric-gasoline
hybrids, but
Gizmodo found one better: electric plus human pedal power instead of gas! Next year’s Tokyo World Expo won’t allow taxis between the pavilions, so Yamaha’s come up with this swoopy cycle to do the job. The supercool wedge shape gives the old-school rickshaw an update for the 21st century. Don’t know that you can buy one to start ferrying tourists round your own town, but if you like the idea of electro-assisted cycling, Bolwell’s got
just the thing. Via
Gizmodo via
SorobanGeeks.
::Yamaha [by
KK]...
We’re slaves to junk mail. No matter how many times you tell advertisers that you don’t want to be pestered with their flyers, the mailbox just keeps getting filled up. And often filled with paper that doesn’t even know the meaning of post-consumer. While it may not help to curb the flow of junk mail, Office Depot has just committed to using “environmentally preferable” paper for its printed marketing—that means it’s got to have either recycled post-consumer waste content or fiber from certified responsibly managed forests. The certification is done by independent bodies, and Office Depot’s
Environmental Stewardship Report is the only one in the industry to be independently audited. They’re also trying to make it increasingly obvious to customers what paper on the shelves comes from where, and phasing out non-preferable products. Via
GreenBiz.
::Office Depot [by
KK]...
Yes, we did
promise you more recycled glass products. We mentioned
Green Glass recently, who make heaps of lovely glasses from reused bottles. To complement them you may wish to consider a glass platter, such as this one fashioned in Spain, with recycled content. 17” diameter $48.00 USD. It's part of a larger range of recycled dining ware on offer from
::Natural Spaces. (If you are fan of
Andy Goldsworthy, you may be taken with another recycled platter, that sports the curling image of fern frond.) [by
WM]...
Yet another bright idea from the
innovative brainiacs at NYU. The Solar Powered Wallpaper
project is smart lighting powered by the sun. By embedding electroluminescent materials into the design pattern of the wall paper and incorporating a built-in light sensor, design students have created a wallcovering that can respond to the lighting requirement of a room, acting as a decorative element when a room is naturally bright, and as a flat wallpaper light when the room requires more light. With power supplied from a solar charged battery, it can also be manually controlled to increase or decrease luminosity. Sustainable, efficient, functional, technologically sexy, and very TreeHugger, the idea was inspired by the sustainable designs of Ross Lovegrove,
Julian Lwin, and Droog Design (stay tuned for more on Droog later today). Check it out at NYU Tisch School for the Arts Winter Show, December 19-20 in New York City.
::NYU Winter Show [by
MO]
...
Have to be honest and say I’m not sure how useful these are. Been a while since it last snowed in Sydney. But with gobal warming in full swing, maybe I should get prepared. Three pairs of adult boots fit onto each tray. Made from durable, injection moulded, recycled polypropylene (the sort of plastic used as caps, on plastic carbonated-water bottles). A couple of sizes available, both have raised ridges to facilitate draining and drying.
Garland also makes recycled garden and nursery supplies. Boot Trays about $18-19 USD from
::Gardeners Supply Company [by
WM]...
Obviously by now you know that we think bamboo is really neat-o. So check out the latest knife-fork set we found at The Apartment. both made from one stick, you simply pop the fork out of the knife and you've got two utensils. Very efficient. Cool. $12
::The Apartment [by
MO]...
You may think of carpet as a cozy, harmless floorcovering, or you may not think about it all. But carpets can contain lots of nasty components, like icky glues, naughty fibers, and PVC backing. Now Shaw Carpet, a major player in the market, is taking some of that ugliness out of its program. As of December 8, the manufacturer has removed PVC from the list of ingredients in its Commercial Business Unit and replacing it with EcoWorx, a cradle-to-cradle sustainable product that can be infinitely recycled. And since the material is 40 percent lighter than comparable products, it reduces emissions and transportation costs, is easier to install and requires less packaging...
...
More groovy news from the gals at Popgadget, who spotted Michael Kertesz’s Bicycle Wheel, a system of LED lights applied to spokes. We’ve seen this done before, but this looks extra-good, so we’re giving it props. By mounting a thin strip of 32 LEDs on the spoke to create a semi-transparent screen, Kertesz can send messages, images, and animations to passers-by, while also increasing
cyclist safety. The mechanism uses “persistence of vision,” the fact that the eye perceives a series of rapidly moving images as a single still image, to create the illusion. You can check out the magic at NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts
Winter Show, where wicked smart kids put their semester’s work on display. Via
Popgadget.
::Michael Kertesz [by
MO]...
No longer does your utensil drawer need to be a mish-mash of hand-me-down tools culled from across the decades. Heck, these ones look so good you wouldn’t have to hide them in a drawer. They’re stronger than wood, too, so you won’t be snapping the spoon if the cake batter gets a little too thick—Bambu (check out their
bowls, too!) even claims that bamboo has a higher tensile strength than steel. They’re finished by hand with wood oil that’s natural, safe for food, and won’t scratch your pots and pans. Find a shop near you
here; about $3 each at
greenfeet.
::Bambu [by
KK]...
Residents fed up with getting their cars muddy paved over the dirt service lanes behind their homes in rainy Vancouver years ago. That didn’t help the city’s drainage problems: it forced rainwater into the sewers, where excess joined raw sewage and emptied into the Pacific. Lovely. Now Vancouver’s using Geoblock (shown) and Golpla structural grass to repave the back streets into Country Lanes right smack in the city. A few configurations are being tested out, but the goal is to use natural infiltration to lessen the load on the storm system. And to green the streets up a bit, making city life easier on the eyes and the lungs.
Concrete or gravel driving strips are necessary to support the weight of vehicles, but the rest of the lane can be built with permeable structural grass—a recycled plastic grid surrounds the grass......
Relying on mobile phone Lithium-ion battery technology and the latest high intensity LEDs, Angus Noble has produced a tiny, rechargeable light source that is controlled by a touch sensitive switch. Called the Indium, the light uses the natural conductivity of the skin to switch the light between full power, half power and strobe mode. Since the switch has no moving parts, there are no contacts to wear out or corrode. And since the battery will last hundreds of charge cycles (charging takes about 4 hours for 4 hours of illumination on full power or 8 hours on half-power), it should never need to be replaced. The Indiums casing is machined from solid anodized aluminum, not a super eco-source exactly, but certain to last a long time. U.K. buyers get a U.K. plug; overseas customers get a USB plug for recharging. Via
Popgadget via
Designboom. £49.99
::Angus Noble [by
MO]...
Metropolis magazine is making a final call for entries into its Next Generation Competition, so all you architects and designers out there looking for an extra 10 grand should chime in with your Big Ideas. Judges are looking for submissions that will improve the designed environment, making it better, safer, and more sustainable. Projects must show evidence of systems thinking and/or sustainable and accessible design; excellent aesthetic expression; technological innovation, inventive materials, and/or atypical process; and economic potential as well as a business plan for producing it. The judging panel includes savvy industry types like Shashi Caan, Interior Design Chair at Parsons; Wendy Brawer of Green Map Systems; and Susan S. Szenasy, edito-in-chief of Metrpolis. The deadline is January 31. Get the detailed entry form
here. Good luck!
::Metropolis [by
MO]...
Instead of sending their sleeping bags to landfill, Mont Bell’s Japanese customers can recycle them. If the bag was filled with synthetic insulation, their retail stores will accept washed bags back. You may recall in the past, we’ve said such programs are called Extended Producer Responsibility or EPR. Mont Bell are investigating how best to recycle and reuse the fibres they’ll get. Early ideas include cushions and mats. They are already using cutting room
residuals to make stuffed toys.
::Mont bell [by
WM]...
I could get into a lot of yellowy brown, smelly stuff here. Which is better - disposable or cloth? Maybe you’ve heard the phrase “Lies, damned lies and statistics.” Over the years data has been trotted out to support both sides of the argument. What doesn’t seem to be in dispute is the sheer volume of the disposables. In broad terms, per day, Australia uses 2.2 million, the UK 9 million and the USA 49 million. (Sorry, ran out of time to find stats for other locales.) That’s a lot of plastic headed to our landfills. And, think for minute, what's inside those bundles? Untreated human excrement. 60 million packages thereof, in just 3 countries – per day! The
Women’s Environment Network, who should know a heap more about this than me, suggest that ... ...
According to Linda Loudermilk’s press release, the U.S. and Canada spent “$85 million for organic fashions last year”, with next year set to be even bigger. Which may explain why she is introducing a line called ‘Luxury-Eco’. Hand tailored in her Los Angeles studio, the Spring 2005 range includes “a new type of Pointelle Bamboo fiber” and “specially-formulated organic cotton”. Our favourite, however is the “avante-garde blend of Japanese paper, herbs, vitamins and amino acids”, which apparently provide both anti-allergen and anti-bacterial properties. This is, after all, Haute Couture Fashion. So you’d expect to read “you’ll see subtle organic influences, as fluid pants flow like blue streams”. While claiming that previously, “...the environmentally-aware woman was confined to wearing shapeless sacks of scratchy ill-woven fibers to be true to her cause,” might be a bit over-dramatic, it is pleasing to see that the well-heeled will be offered more environmentally benign materials in their apparel. (Of course, the other end of the socio-economic ladder have always been into the best eco-clothing - albeit out of sheer necessity - re-used hand-me-downs from charity shops.)
::Linda Loudermilk [by
WM]...
Unfortunately its bank forced the closure of operations for one of our previous posts,
Walden Kayaks. So we’ve been out looking for an alternative provider of recycled plastic watercraft. Our search is ongoing but in the process yielded up Canoe Bear. Made from left-over fabrics, off the Mont Bell's production line, he and other stuffed toys are constructed by trainees at AOHANI-Kai. This Japanese welfare organisation provides a vocational training centre for the disabled. Mont Bell are an innovative outdoor clothing and equipment manufacturer, who have some interesting environmental angles. We’ll bring you another one soon. Canoe Bear is $19 in the US, or ¥1,680 in Japan.
::Mont Bell [by
WM]...
Green Design Is From Real Military Technology
A week ago, Mike at
Jalopnik sent us a tip on the Shadow RST-V. I’ve struggled with the moral dilemma of whether to promote military technology or not. Then I remembered a product I’d unearthed, even earlier, with the same quandary, the Paratrooper. Posting them together halves the problem. And in essence, that is what the Shadow tries to do, as well. As a hybrid diesel-electric vehicle, it halves the amount fuel used - compared to the gas greedy
Hummer. On top of that, its two lithium-ion battery packs, which like other electric hybrids, can be recharged with braking action, give it a range of 32km (20 miles), sans the diesel. Montague, on the other hand, figure their Paratrooper bike has a daily range of 120km (75 miles), on standard rations.
Quick and Easy! Folds in just 30 seconds!
Their unique folding design does not break the structural frame of the bike. Yet it folds almost in half in 30 seconds, without the use of tools, while weighing in at 29 lbs (13kg). Otherwise, it is a standard 26 inch wheeled mountain bike, with front suspension and disk brakes, combined with 24 speed Shimano Deore gearing. $645 USD. Thanks to ::
Jalopnik for the Shadow tip.
More on the Paratrooper and other affordable, green folding bikes can be found at ::
Montague [by
WM]
...
Jules Winnfield’s wallet was the inspiration for the label-maker inscription on this Catherine’s Pita Shop ipod cozy, but if you ain’t that bad, she’s got plenty of other sassy patches and designs that may suit your taste, like the jazzy “Horny Pickle,” “Tropical Robot,” or “Dead Red Meat.” Made from supple recycled denim, the cozies even feature a bitty pocket for your ear buds on the flip side. Require further customization? Cat’s label maker is yours to command. $25
::Catherine’s Pita Shop [by
MO]...
“It’s only a matter of time before one of those things takes a crap in the house,” Julia Louis-Dreyfus says of the pelicans and other birds circling over her house. “I’m not too keen on that, but what can I tell ya? They live here, too.” And just why do birds have such access to her home? In her state-of-the-art sustainable house, a retractable roof lets hot air out and cool ocean air in—along with whatever else might be lingering above. But Louis-Dreyfus and her husband Brad Hall are unflustered, pleased to be living somewhere so efficient and comfortable. She says the environment always comes first, ahead of other philanthropic causes: “It’s our common ground, quite literally—it’s the thing we all share and it’s connected to everything else.” Sounds far from the sentiments of
Seinfeld’s Elaine Benes—we’re glad it’s Julia we get in the real world and not the other way round. Via
::Mother Earth News [by
KK]...
Go chop down a tree. Really, we mean it. An artificial Christmas tree might seem like the greener option, since no real tree is being destroyed and it can be reused year after year. But they’re usually made of PVC, and our local recycling center certainly doesn’t have a bin for old PVC trees (
Grist has more on the dangers of artificial trees). Christmas tree farms, on the other hand, have sustainability built into the business: when you cart your tree off for trimming, they’ll plant another one to sell a few years down the line. In the meantime it’ll be turning carbon dioxide into oxygen and providing habitats for animals. At least, that’s the simple version of things. In actual fact......
Another Curly Question from a TH reader:
Heya Treehugger! So I've got a little problem. I'm throwing a big bash for New Year's and I'm expecting around 70 guests at my loft. My dilemma is in the drinkware for the New Year's toast. I don't want to purchase 100 glass champagne flutes only to use them once a year and then struggle to find a place to store them. On the other hand, it seems terribly wasteful to buy 100 plastic, disposable (hopefully recyclable) flutes. So what's the middle ground? Is their [sic] a company that makes recyclable drinkware from post consumer plastic? Or perhaps some other, more eco friendly material? I can't imagine I'm the only person that's ever had this problem. Nor is it isolated to New Year's. I've been steadily turning my lifestyle more green, but I don't want to start 2005 on the wrong foot. I know you can't address every e-mail that gets sent your way, but hopefully I'll be an exception! Much thanks, SV
...
Believe it or not, there's quite a market for old-fashioned rulers out there (don't believe us? check out eBay) and artisan Dorothy Spencer clearly has been doing her research on it. She's collected enough of the elusive red ruler to put togther this nifty chair. That's right, it's not painted, it's made of hard-to-find colored measuring sticks, which bear their original color. We dig its throwback-, school-house style, though we might keep it hidden from our repressed Catholic school friends. $400
::Uncommon Goods [by
MO]...
These pillows are very of-the-moment with their creative (re)use of vintage T-shirt's to bring funky patterns with lots of color to the couch or bed. We almost gave them the thumbs up, but then we-gasp!-found out they're backed with vinyl, which was precisely the moment when they shifted into the "Almost" category. Guess you can't win 'em all.
::Elsewares [by
MO]...
Salewa, based in Germany, are claiming to be the only adventure sports manufacturer offering Ingeo. (It could have been someone else, but more on that below) Ingeo is something you're going to hear much ado about, especially in the next few years, as a flood of product hits the market. Salewa suggest their shirt made of Ingeo will “direct perspiration moisture immediately away from the body, dry extremely quickly and feel as comfortable as silk.” The usual claim for outdoor sports next-to-skin apparel. So you’re wondering, where is the TH eco bit? Ingeo is made from corn! Strictly speaking, it is fermented corn starches, but that doesn’t sound as sexy. Like Tencel before it, Ingeo is a man-made fibre from a renewable natural source. Whereas Tencel's base is slow growing wood pulp, Ingeo’s source is fast growing annuals. And when your shirt has worn out, just bung it in the compost bin. It's biodegradable. Fantastic! Well, nearly......
Here’s a great resource for any home-improvement projects you may be taking on. The GreenHomeGuide is a community-based resource for advice, inspiration, and information. Their sole intention, besides helping you, is to help the green wave catch on. And let us tell you, while you may want to use eco-paint in the spare bedroom, it’s not always quite as easy as walking into Ace and grabbing it off the shelf. One recent project had us tromping around town to several different paint and specialty stores only to find out that a) information about these paints was not readily available—in fact, our requests were typically met with embarrassingly blank stares from the so-called experts--and b) it had to be special ordered. But GHG can help...
...
This year’s winners of the international Electrolux Design Laboratory, squeezed out entries from nine other universities around the globe, to take home the trophy for a dishwasher concept that uses no water or chemicals. Three students from University of NSW in Sydney, Australia, opted instead, to utlise super critical carbon dioxide in a closed loop system. Too much scientific mumbo jumbo for me. So I dug a little deeper. If I've got my small brain around it properly, CO2 can be pressurised to the point that it becomes a liquid. A liquid that has solvent properties for removing grease. ...
It’s not a hybrid and it’s not specifically designed to run on bio-fuel—heck it’s not even in production yet--but damn it’s efficient and cool. Redesigned for the modern age by Verdier with spankin’ new technology, this version of the VW rooftop camper recently won the Michelin Design Challenge 2004, and will be presented for the first time... ...
In A Field Guide to Sprawl (W.W. Norton & Co. 2004), Dolores Hayden, professor of architecture and American studies at Yale, explains what terms like duck, ruburb, tower farm, big box, pig-in-a-python, and boomburb (at left) mean, along with dozens of other weird terms invented by real estate developers and designers that have come to characterize land use practices and the physical elements of sprawl... ...
There was a time when industrial and natural landscapes were in opposite corners of a pretty bloody boxing ring. Now that’s all being changed.
Ford hired sustainability guru
William McDonough to redevelop the Rouge Center, where the F-150 is built, and they’ve ended up with the largest
green roof in the world. Plus a load of other eco-innovations that bring industry and nature together. The 10.4 acre sedum roof insulates the building, provides a habitat for birds and insects, produces oxygen to offset the factory’s carbon dioxide emissions, and purifies rainwater. “Instead of having a chemical-based storm water treatment plant,” Ford says, “this system mimics nature.” Down on the ground, the area......
Lighting isn’t usually something that allows for much creativity. There are some
cool choices out there, but generally you pick it, you install it, you live with it. That’s why we like Hexons, which let you fiddle around until you’ve found the lamp shape you want. We’d prefer the translucent or opaque pieces in biopolymer plastic rather than acrylic, but they ship flat and for tool-less self-assembly and they can be endlessly reconfigured into fruit bowls or candleholders, so we won’t fault them too much. They’re a bit expensive, but worth it if you haven’t quite outgrown your Lego. £105-£270 ($200-$520). Shops (including in the U.S.) listed at
::Pepper-mint [by
KK]...
By engineering, manufacturing, and installing prefab concrete walls, Standard Precast Walls can erect the frame of a building in a just a day, producing green buildings that will stand the test of time. Strong, energy-efficient, and cost-effective the construction of Standard Precast Walls (SPW) helps create environmentally sound structures that also offer strength and durability. As green structures, they are up to 50% more energy efficient than regular walls and can also be far more resistant to the elements of nature such as moisture, mold, rot, termites, rodents, and even fire and hurricanes. And SPWs use recycled material in the concrete mix and because there is very little on-site waste, all walls qualify as green building products.
::Standard Precast Walls [by
MO]...
Not too long ago, we featured an LED-lit resin
cube that we really liked. It got our thumbs up for energy efficiency, but we frowned, sadly, upon its makeup; the Lux-us is made from polyethylene (
not the worst, but could be better). According to designers to whom we’ve spoken who've made
similar pieces, it’s difficult to get eco-materials to work for these types of designs. But SkySide Studios has seemingly found a way. Their Sol cube is composed of durable
3-form EcoResin panels, which are made from 40% recycle content, with no compromise to its integrity, yet made from the same stuff as soda bottles. The cube is held together with aluminum fasteners and is available with either solar or electrical LED lighting. The battery takes 8 hours to charge, but provides approximately 40 hours of light once it’s good to go. The LED bulb is rated to last 11 years and will produce nearly 100,000 hours of light before it conks out. Available in a range of colors and patterns. $875
::SkySide Studios [by
MO]...
Eons ago, Patagonia did an environmental audit on the four core materials of their outdoor clothing line. Which was the worst? Consultants concluded that really; cotton, wool, nylon and polyester, were all pretty much as grim as each other. This didn’t stopped the firm from pushing the envelope, to improve the eco cred of their line. Aside from moving their entire cotton production over to organic, they were also pioneers in fleece from recycled PET soda bottles. Reckoning they’ve saved, so far, about 86 million such bottles from an immediate trip to the landfill. Recently they began offering shelled jackets using a recycled PET woven fibre (it also rescues polyester from car dashboards and classroom chairs). You can find it in the Infurno. A jacket which relies on ......
A hat for all seasons. Summerweight hemp for warmer months or Polartec 200 recycled fleece for the chillier ones. Said to be inspired by a 20's style cloche yet “updated with today's sophistication.” The fleece model is $32, while the hemp comes in at $40. A rolled up brim for keeping the sun off noses or the snow off glasses.
::Watership Trading [by
WM]...
Chicago designer Melissa Kolbusz gets our Sexiest (Re)use of Industrial Materials Award. (Re)using metal and rubber washers and cords, alternator wire, and steel cable to make bracelets, necklaces, belly chains, and hair accessories, like the bracelet seen here ($28), she’s created a collection of accessories that will please TreeHuggers, ravers, motorcycle mamas, and goth chicks alike. We dig her right-on aesthetic and her clever techniques. $25-100
::Virgin Threads [by
MO]...
We were thrilled to see that
tram tracks in Barcelona had been detailed with grass. Come to find out, they’re not the only ones: various trams in Germany and Strasbourg are doing it, too. This one’s in Düsseldorf. Grassy tracks remind us a bit of the
High Line in New York, which is turning old rails into new green space—the difference is that the Europeans have realized that a functional railway can coexist with the green. Kinda makes you want to take a few handfuls of grass seed with you to the train station.... [by
KK] Thanks to tram fan Mike Shaw for the tip!...
These rechargable lights finally gave us a way to spruce up the place for the holidays without resorting to cheesy wreaths and Santa Claus figurines. No batteries to throw away, and they won’t burn once and be binned like a real candle, either. The soft glow is just what we’re looking for, and the color choice is wide enough for even the most non-traditional holiday palette. We must apologize for our earlier filing of the lights under “almost”: it turns out the plastic contains recycled material and can be recycled again. The manufacturer even goes to the trouble of taking back used units for recycling by a certified facility, and they’ll take the pop-out batteries from the 2005 version back on their own for responsible recycling. $79 for 4 as pictured from
::vessel [by
KK]...
Like people, there are companies that you can know for years, and then suddenly realize that you never really knew at all.
Brooklyn Brewery is, for me, one of those surprises. A happy one. This cool brewery with the snazzy logo and the excellent drinking beer turns out to be seriously sustainable.
Im a long time New Yorker and have always known Brooklyn to be a seriously community-minded company. Any event worth attending seems somehow to have their name attached. So, when I was looking for food sponsors for the Treehugger official launch party, I called Brooklyn.
How surprised was I to find out that Brooklyn Brewerys original Williamsburg plant, where 20% of their beer is still brewed, is--get this--100% wind powered?...
Handmade in Massuchesetts, where they know how to deal with the cold, this cozy scarf is skillfully put together from recycled wool sweaters. A clever and attractive (re)use of an already
biodegradeable raw material. (We can't speak for the dyes though.) $38
::Uncommon Goods [by MO]...
Though its only available as a contract fabric (i.e. you won't be able to source it for your residential living room), Knoll's new upholstery textile, Wide Angle, is an excellent example of the company's eco-endeavors. Designed by Suzanne Tick, Wide Angle is made of recycled polyester and explores the relationship between polka dots and color. Its matte finish is contrasted by an iridescent pinstripe which appears only in the circles. Industry types can click the link to find a Knoll vendor near you; interested parties can click and explore Knoll's fabulous product lines.
::Knoll [by
MO]...
Normally I find it hard to get excited about energy bars. But this one has me enthralled. 70% organic ingredients. Display boxes 100% recycled, with 50% post consumer content. Office and bakeries powered by wind energy offset credits. (Last year they offset 5.5M ton of CO2 emissions, helping fund the first native American owned windfarm). Plant trees to offset their staff’s daily commute. Pay staff to volunteer time to projects, like Habitat for Humanity, to the equivalent of one extra full time staff member, annually. And offer promo T-shirts in organic cotton too. Reckon my energy bar purchasing decisions have been made. Except, that is, for figuring out which one of the 16 flavours tastes the best.
::Clif Bar [by
WM]...
Alas, these socks won’t be available, in time to hang over your fireplace for Santa to stuff. But track ‘em down in early 2005. They live up to their double name, both ‘techo’ and ‘eco. Formed from four main fibres. Soft, merino wool; organic cotton; ecowash wool (it uses oxygen to treat the wool for shrink-resistance, instead of the usual nasty chlorine); and finally Ecopet (a recycled polyester, made from fizzy-drink bottles and the like). But the socks’ environmentally story is not simply skin deep, so to speak. Energy for manufacturing and operations will be offset by purchasing renewable windpower. Recycled paper packaging is completely recyclable itself. Certification is being sought for the internationally recognised Oekotex label, which dictates that apparel will be free of dyes that form carcinogens or allegies, as well as being free of pestcides....
REI (Recreational Equipment Inc.) wanted to supersize their 3 letter acronym, so they went and got themselves a 4 letter one. A LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design). Still not satisfied, they even made it a top scoring Gold rated one. And it so happens, they were the first to score such a standard for retail store in the US. LEED is a green building rating system that considers the whole of a building, not just energy use. Let’s have a look at how an outdoor equipment retailer managed to pull off such an architectural coup d’etat, with their 37,500 sq/ft Portland store....
A word of warning. You probably won’t get rich working for the planet. Not in a monetary sense, anyhow. But you’ll rewarded with other riches, that are beyond any price. Caveats aside, this book can put you in touch with the nearly 300 organisations, that it details. Them and the umpteen others, for which they offer contact details, are offering satisfying employment - both paid and unpaid in the environment field. It looks at a pretty wide spread of industries from renewable energy to national parks, organic agriculture to scientific research and much more inbetween. It was updated earlier this year but I did note it had quite out-of-date information, for an organisation that I freelance for, so maybe use it as a guide not a gospel. If not for you, it might be an encouraging gift for someone in the throes of deciding on a career path. 288 pages for $20.
::Amazon [by
WM]...
AutoWeek said it earned “no green leaf cloisonné from the Tree Huggers Consortium,” and it certainly didn’t from this TreeHugger. They do make the fair point that the 10-12% fuel mileage improvement over the standard Silverado is great if you need a pickup for installing drywall (a Prius wouldn't be practical), but at over 5000 pounds, it’s more weight than you really need to haul a few sheets of gypsum board. It suffers from the same problem as its GM sister, the
hydrogen Hummer: all that weight means extra consumption no matter what fuel you rely on.
Strangely enough, the Silverado isn’t heavy enough to qualify for...
...
