Easy Way to Reuse Your Corks: Bakus by Ciclus

Fri, 27 Feb 2009 06:00:50 GMT

Bakus Cork Mat by Ciclus Designs We told you about an innovative wine-lamp box Cavallum: a sustainably designed holiday gift commissioned by a Spanish company. The designers at Ciclus have recently announced another simple, yet practical design to extend the life of your wine bottle corks while protecting your surfaces from heat. ... Read the full story on TreeHugger

Meet The Food You Eat: Measuring Carbon Footprints With a Kitchen Scale

Sat, 14 Feb 2009 11:40:43 GMT

Three students at the Copenhagen Institute of Interaction Design have experimented in physical representations of the environmental impacts of food. Their project, Meet the Food You Eat measures the CO2 emissions resulting from food transport and the amount of offsets required to replace that in one year through what looks like a kitchen scale. ... Read the full story on TreeHugger

How Many People Need to Ride the Bus?

Fri, 06 Feb 2009 11:18:57 GMT

Dart Bus in Dallas I am currently in Germany doing what is lovingly referred to as a life cycle assessment "boot camp." Today we are "freestyle" modeling different problems to find some preliminary results and present them this afternoon to our colleagues. Our question: how many people need to take the bus for it to be equally or more efficient than driving alone in a car? ... Read the full story on TreeHugger

Real or Artificial Tree: Is it Even Worth Considering?

Fri, 19 Dec 2008 11:35:09 GMT

The debate between real or artificial is not a new one when it comes to Christmas trees. You may have spent time around the dinner table debating this holiday topic with your family. It seems that those debates may be over, as the Canadians at Ellipsos reconfirm that the natural Christmas tree has lower impacts on the environment than the artificial tree. Their results conclude that a natural tree will generate 3.1 kg of greenhouse gases whereas the artificial tree will produce 8.1 kg per year. The natural tree is the best option even despite the annual trips to find it. Perhaps the most interesting part lies in the discussion of offsetting those carbon emissions.... Read the full story on TreeHugger

Wine that Transforms into a Lamp: The Perfect Gift

Fri, 05 Dec 2008 09:20:22 GMT

Image Courtesy of Ciclus Design. The holiday season often finds companies giving gifts to their employees as a symbol of thanks for all their hard work throughout the year. Grupo Hera, a Spanish waste management and consulting firm commissioned a sustainably designed (and really cool) cava gift box from Ciclus with the theme of turning waste into resources. Cava is the Spanish equivalent of champagne, but much tastier. Ciclus surpassed their goal and is now also launching a jewellery line made from waste. How this box turns into a lamp and a sneak peak at Ciclus Jewellery after the jump ...... Read the full story on TreeHugger

Econa: Water Saving Device Wins EcoDesign Award

Thu, 27 Nov 2008 11:01:16 GMT

ECONA, not to be confused with the Econo or the ECO Showerdrop, is a water-saving device that could change the way you view (literally!) your water consumption at home. This gadget won the Concurso Nuevo Diseno 2008 (New Design Competition) in the ecodesign category. The logo for the Competition, which also has interior design, furniture, and urban environment categories can be seen to your left. Designed by Clara Descals (Valencia) and Emma Laurin (Sweden), the touch panel receives, stores and manages information about household water consumption. It then displays the info about the house, via the water-droplet shaped units, that warn you if you are using too much of that clear gold and how much you should be using. Images and more details about the Econa after the jump. ... Read the full story on TreeHugger

Waterboxx Offers Possibilities for Reforestation in the Desert

Wed, 19 Nov 2008 08:00:26 GMT

Image of the Waterboxx from the AquaPro Holland website. It appears to be just a run of the mill, regular, rectangular plastic bucket with a whole in the centre, but the Waterboxx is actually a sophisticated design that traps night time condensation. Those dewey drops along with the little rain that falls in arid areas is distributed in small doses to the seed or young tree inside. This seemingly simple invention could have some amazing implications. ... Read the full story on TreeHugger

Using Life Cycle Analysis to Reduce Emissions and Encourage Video Conferencing

Fri, 31 Oct 2008 10:25:20 GMT

Image Credit: EMPA We like to see life cycle assessment being used in everyday situations, especially when it comes to helping businesses reduce their environmental impacts (and even if it means looking at rather archaic looking graphs like the one above). The scientists at EMPA (Swiss Federal Laboratories for Materials Science & Technology) - the creators of Ecoinvent, one of the most important life cycle databases - are using LCA to educate businesses that "being there is not everything where environmental issues are concerned." Environmentally aware entrepreneurs must ask themselves if they really need to be physically present at meetings or if virtual conferencing or phone conferences will suffice. The EMPA gang has evaluated the possibilities using life cycle assessment and their results say that the most important factor in a real journey is the energy consumed by the means of transport (trains, planes or automobiles), something we don't find very surprising. But it's nice to see the clear numbers. They also say that rail is by far the best transportation option. ... Read the full story on TreeHugger

New Carbon Footprint Standard Launched in the UK

Fri, 31 Oct 2008 07:13:59 GMT

BBC News reports that the Publicly Available Specification 2050 - PAS 2050 - a newly created audit scheme to help companies measure the carbon footprint of their goods, was launched in the UK by BSI British Standards. The effort aims to provide consistency and transparency for British companies to communicate their products' carbon footprints to consumers. DEFRA, the UK Department of the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, co-sponsored the voluntary system with the Carbon Trust in response to companies looking to count their carbon emissions and consumers wanting to know what how companies are doing just that. PAS 2050 is an audit system that will help companies calculate the life cycle greenhouse gases emissions of goods and services like food, buildings and electronics. It considers all the life cycle stages of a product from raw materials extraction to end of life (waste management). According to the BSI, the methodology includes six greenhouse gases identified under the Kyoto Protocol and can be used by all sizes and types of organizations. ... Read the full story on TreeHugger

Satch & Sol Sustainable Clothing Works with Artists in Mongolia

Thu, 23 Oct 2008 13:14:26 GMT

Satch & Sol Kids' Booties. Image Source: Satch & Sol. A beautifully, glowingly pregnant friend (there seem to be a lot right now) told us about Satch & Sol : an inspiring eco-friendly, mom-owned and operated business. These ladies are created children's clothing that is handmade worldwide, fair trade and earth-friendly. They have partnered with artisan cooperatives worldwide to bring you their clothing for newborns to 10 year-olds. Their most recent collection is from Mongolia "reflecting the country's passion for color." The collection includes slippers, boots, knits and more delightful items for your eco-tots made by artists in Mongolia. And as you probably know, Fair Trade ensures that the artists receive liveable wages that are appropriate for the art they create and to support their families and communities. ... Read the full story on TreeHugger

RONA Including Product Life Cycle Information in Stores

Mon, 13 Oct 2008 10:35:43 GMT

Life Cycle Stages According to the RONA Website. Source: Market Watch. The Canuck version of Home Depot, RONA , has announced its new eco-responsible signage in all of their stores. The new signs will be placed on products that were selected using the life cycle approach approach adopted by the largest distributor of home renovation and garden supplies. This includes over 300 various brand name items and RONA's own line called RONA ECO. The brand name items were chosen in collaboration with the experts at the International Chair in Life Cycle Assessment because they have lower environmental impacts in one or more phases of their life cycle, while the RONA ECO products "have a smaller environmental footprint throughout their entire life cycle." ... Read the full story on TreeHugger

B-Love Sustainable Clothing Showcased at IUCN Congress

Fri, 03 Oct 2008 12:42:58 GMT

Photo of Lynx Shirt Courtesy of B-Love Clothing. Two Canadians living in Granada, Spain are producing some very impressive, sustainable shirts using refurbished materials and all vegetable inks. Ben and Craig, also known as B-Love Clothing , are making these unique shirts by hand and bringing them and their eco-friendly clothing message to the people. As they say on their website, "All B-Love clothing and accessories are made from recycled fabrics. New life is given to starting materials as they are altered, while reducing environmental impact. Often animals appear in the unique and sustainable clothing environments that are created." ... Read the full story on TreeHugger

Expo Zaragoza 2008: The Spanish Pavilion as Sustainable Architecture

Fri, 19 Sep 2008 06:18:32 GMT

This past weekend marked the closure of three-month-long Expo Zaragoza 2008. Petz told us about the The Thirst Pavilion, the German Pavilion and the eco-friendly urinals that use no water, chemicals or energy. I was lucky enough to have a long weekend and took in some of the sights while also visiting friends in Zaragoza (Saragossa in English). I must admit that another reason for going was seeing a product I am involved with called the Econo; it was one of the official products of the Expo. It's really an utter shame that more international publicity was not distributed for this 93-day long event, as there were some amazing things to see. One of the most intriguing buildings in the 25 hectare mini-city was the Pavilion by the Government of Spain. The building was designed by the Navarra architect Francisco Mangado, who was assisted by bioclimatic design specialists from Spain's National Renewable Energies Centre (Cener). Mangado says the building imitates a forest, and describes it as, "a natural space that is both so simple and so complex, in which the light penetrates the treetops, and the sound of water transports us to an experience which today, because of environmental deterioration and urban lifestyles, is almost a luxury'. Images after the jump.... Read the full story on TreeHugger

100% Design London: Showcase of Canadian Talent

Thu, 18 Sep 2008 08:59:16 GMT

Design Exchange Flyer Featuring Canadian Artists at 100% Design London. We met Pablo Pineda Willis in Toronto this winter while he was still a student and was displaying his chair at the Interior Design Show with his fellow craftsmen from Sheridan College. We were impressed that he sought us out to look at his green design. Colin also wrote about Pablo's various designs this year. Now his work is being showcased at 100% Design this week in the UK capital along with other impressive Canadian designers. He told us in Toronto that he uses domestic and responsibly harvested wood. He elaborates on his website that he also uses glues that are non-toxic and water-based and wherever possible Pablo uses natural oils or water based lacquers and finishes. He boldly states, "My furniture is green."... Read the full story on TreeHugger

Planet in Focus Environmental Film Festival Announces 2008 Dates

Fri, 05 Sep 2008 09:06:09 GMT

Image from Blue Gold Courtesy of Planet in Focus Film Festival We attended last year so we are excited to see that the announcement of the ninth edition of the Planet in Focus International Environmental Film & Video Festival. It will run October 22 through October 26 in Toronto with over 80 (of over 450 entries) of the world's premiere films and videos on a wide range of environmental themes and subjects by Canadian and international filmmakers. This year's Spotlight Program - Food: The Big Picture - features thought-provoking films from around the world examining a wide range of issues on this topic. It will highlight the local and global concerns about food production, food security, food policy, its cultivation, manufacture, handling, distribution and, ultimately, the direct connection between the state of the environment with what, and how, we eat. The festival will also host panels and discussions in an exploration of the global food crisis as well as recent developments within Canada.... Read the full story on TreeHugger

Back to the Tap: Filtered Water Bottle

Fri, 29 Aug 2008 05:47:51 GMT

After writing about the benefits of tap water over bottled water, we received some info from the folks at Back to the TapTM. They have a serious movement going on to get people, as their name indicates, "back to the tap." Citing the benefits of kicking the bottle, like reducing plastic waste, and shrinking your carbon footprint, this organization encourages people to stay away from bottled water and use the EPA-regulated clear liquid that flows from your faucets. In light of this important step in greening your drinking water, the Back to the Tap people created a water bottle with a carbon composite filtering mechanism that will last approximately 3 months before it needs to be changed (or the equivalent of approximately 80 gallons). They estimate that it will effectively eliminate an average of 300 water bottles from going to landfills and as many as 1000 bottles per person per year. The end goal - reducing global plastic waste. ... Read the full story on TreeHugger

Ideal Bite Announces Best in Green Awards

Fri, 22 Aug 2008 07:32:11 GMT

Ideal Bite has announced its call for nominees for the first-ever Best in Green (B.I.G.) Awards. The program will recognize companies, products and services that are true leaders and innovators in the green space. Winners of the 2008 B.I.G Awards will be announced at Ideal Bite's B.I.G. Awards Party in November 2008 in New York City. B.I.G. Award Categories: The B.I.G. Awards consist of seven categories including: Home, Health & Beauty, Style, Food, Fun, Everyday/Living and Next in Green. Nominees will be selected from the thousands of products, companies and services that make up Ideal Bite's database of expert tips. ... Read the full story on TreeHugger

Weeds Season Three Goes Green: A DVD Review

Wed, 06 Aug 2008 11:10:08 GMT

Image Courtesy of Lionsgate The third season of the laughter-laden series Weeds by Showtime, about dealing wacky tabacky in the California suburbs is available on DVD. We were lucky enough to receive a copy for review and if you didn't see it on the small screen when it first came out, now is the time to watch it. It's packed with hilarious moments, lots of references to hybrid cars and an amazing cast which features Matthew Modine and Mary-Kate Olsen. Apart from side-splitting laughter and edge of your seat action, one of the nicest touches of this DVD (or Blue Ray if you have it) set is that the packaging has been greenified. Can we say greenified? The trays are made of 100 percent recycled materials and each tray can be recycled. Additionally, the paper used for the DVD packaging is made from 100 percent recycled fibers and is recyclable and compostable. ... Read the full story on TreeHugger

Ecover First Company to use Responsible Print Program for their Watercare Info Leaflet

Fri, 25 Jul 2008 09:00:23 GMT

Brighton based print management company Four Corners has created a free reporting service for print buyers which highlights environmental benefits for print jobs. This service, called Responsible Print, is being used for the first time by Ecover, with whom Leonora just spent the day perusing the Ecover Eco-Factory. Ecover have formed a 3 year partnership with Water Aid to provide sustainable access to safe water for communities in rural Ethiopia. The partnership will be featured on-pack, giving consumers the chance to order a free Watercare pack, which will include a leaflet informing them about the partnership and encouraging them to use water wisely at home in the face of worldwide shortages. This leaflet will feature the unique Responsible Print tracking service which records the entire lifecycle of a printed item - from paper source and print process to delivery and use. ... Read the full story on TreeHugger

Draught Beer Beats Bottled in Life Cycle Assessment

Fri, 18 Jul 2008 08:17:04 GMT

Here's a job we all want - carrying out a life cycle assessment of beer. One would have to really do some serious investigation to get realistic statistics on the "use phase". But seriously, the cover story on the March issue of the International Journal of Life Cycle Assessment is the LCA of an Italian Lager Beer (see the full article citation at the end of this post). When comparing one litre of draught beer with one litre of bottled beer neither one comes out as the hands-down more environmentally-friendly choice. Both have comparable environmental impacts, which are not very significant. Draught beer, due to its "bulk" packaging has lower impacts with an estimated overall environmental load that was 68% lower than bottled beer. ... Read the full story on TreeHugger

Tap Water or Bottled Water: Which is Better?

Fri, 11 Jul 2008 14:18:02 GMT

Image credit: Robert McLassus As a dedicated Treehugger you knew it, but...in case you needed more proof: "A direct comparison of drinking water from the tap with unrefrigerated bottled water shows an environmental impact of tap water which is less than one percent of that of bottled water. Even when refrigerated and carbonated, the environmental impact of tap water is approximately only one fourth of that of bottled water. Thus, from an environmental point of view, tap water is preferable to bottled water as a beverage." ... Read the full story on TreeHugger

Book Review: Big Green Purse: Use Your Spending Power to Create a Cleaner, Greener, World

Fri, 27 Jun 2008 06:50:29 GMT

"Women spend 85 cents of every dollar in the marketplace." That's an astonishing statistic. It's so incredible that Diane MacEachern wrote Big Green Purse to inspire women to use their spending dollars to help protect the Earth and to send a message to manufacturers that consumers want environmentally friendly products. Big Green Purse explains in twelve chapters, how some seemingly insignificant decisions can make a difference, leading to bigger shifts in everyday habits and a cleaner planet. The book starts with easy to understand explanations of issues and concepts. MacEachern breaks things down, like the precautionary principle, chemicals, climate change, and air and water issues so that anybody can understand it, yet she doesn't over-simplify things. ... Read the full story on TreeHugger

FishNet Project Exhibition Ongoing in Toronto Harbourfront Centre

Fri, 13 Jun 2008 11:30:01 GMT

The FishNet Project exhibit at the York Quay Gallery, Harbourfront Centre, Toronto, Ontario opened on May 2nd, 2008 and continues until June 22. FishNet is an ecological collaborative art project involving over 1,200 elementary Toronto District School Board students, artists and other participants learning about the fish of the Great Lakes and crafting full-scale textile versions of them. Not only does this project look like just plain fun, kids are learning about different species in the Great Lakes Region and their environment. The project involved 13 schools, 30 classes, 727 students and many parents and volunteers. The students each created a full-scale replica of the fish they studied and they are all hanging out now at the York Quay Gallery. It looks like a cool exhibit. Given my current location, I will unfortunately not be able to attend. If you go, please let us know and post a comment here! ... Read the full story on TreeHugger

Brazil and India Top Greendex; USA, Canada and France Finish Last

Fri, 30 May 2008 07:44:48 GMT

National Geographic, together with our friends at Globescan, have released the Greendex. The international study, which covers 14 countries measures consumer progress toward environmentally sustainable consumption. The intent is "to give people a better idea of how consumers in different countries are doing in taking action to preserve our planet by tracking, reporting, and promoting environmentally sustainable consumption and citizen behavior." The 14 countries included in the survey represent 55% of the world's population and include seven of the world's top eleven. In 2007, these 14 countries accounted for 75% of the energy consumed in the world that year.

The findings show that consumers in Brazil and India tie for the highest Greendex score for environmentally sustainable consumption at 60 points each. They are followed by consumers in China (56.1), Mexico (54.3), Hungary (53.2) and Russia (52.4). Among consumers in wealthy countries, those in Great Britain, Germany and Australia each have a Greendex score of 50.2, those in Spain register a score of 50.0 and Japanese respondents 49.1. U.S. consumers have the lowest Greendex score at 44.9. The other lowest-scoring consumers are Canadians with 48.5 and the French with 48.7.

... Read the full story on TreeHugger

Earth Policy Institute Updates Bicycle Stats for Bike Month

Mon, 26 May 2008 05:18:58 GMT

Image credit: In Love With it Amsterdam. As you know, it's Bike Month and in honour of our two-wheeled friends, the Earth Policy Institute has re-released some updated bike states and a report on the rise in cycling worldwide. They remind us that after a decline between 1989 and 2001, bike production has regained its momentum and has increased every year for the last seven years. They attribute much of that recent growth to the increase in the production of electric, or "e-bike" production, which has apparently doubled since 2004 to 21 million units! But since 1970, overall bicycle production has almost quadrupled, while car production has approximately doubled. ... Read the full story on TreeHugger

Rice Most Water Intensive Crop Says Australian Stats Bureau

Tue, 20 May 2008 10:45:21 GMT

MASH/Getty Images Via:: The Age. The Australian Bureau of Statistics released water usage numbers for 2005-06, showing that rice is the most water intensive crop per hectare; however, pasture for grazing is the largest overall consumer of H2O. Although pasture used for grazing is the biggest drain on water resources in Australian agriculture, it requires much less per hectare than hydro-intensive crops like rice, cotton and sugar cane. In short, rice tops the water usage list at 12.3 megalitres/hectare, followed by cotton at 6.4 megalitres/hectare, then nurseries (5.3 megalitres) and sugarcane (5 megalitres).... Read the full story on TreeHugger

Waterloo Grad Students Win $25,000 for Bike-Share Program Proposal

Tue, 13 May 2008 14:30:39 GMT

Waterloo, Ontario could become one of the first North American cities with a bike-sharing program. Three grad students, Ben Finklemen, Ben Clare and Matthew Lee have won a $25,000 prize from TD Bank's Friends of the Environment Foundation for their proposal for a two-wheeler-share program in the Canadian "university town". The students from the School of Planning are planning to take their proposal to the Waterloo regional council in the fall and see if they can get it going. If successful, it could mean less car trips and easier movement throughout the Kitchener-Waterloo area. ... Read the full story on TreeHugger

Doubletree Hotels and Arbor Day Foundation Kick Off "Tree Tag"

Sat, 03 May 2008 08:40:22 GMT

David Yakes, general manager at Doubletree Hotels and Executive Meeting Center, helps second-grade students at Grace Abbott Elementary School play a game of "Tree Tag" in celebration of Arbor Day. Doubletree Hotels with the Arbor Day Foundation kicked off a game of "Tree Tag" on April 24th to celebrate the world's oldest environmental holiday. The month-long project, kicked off in Nebraska, will raise awareness about the importance of trees across both the United States and Canada. Students and teachers will work with team members from Doubletree Hotels to "tag" the prominent trees on school grounds and in their neighborhood. The over-sized, eco-friendly tags will have unique facts about each tree. Via: Environment News Service. Image courtesy: Cohn & Wolfe. Project website here. ... Read the full story on TreeHugger

7-Step Alternative to Greener Buildings

Sat, 19 Apr 2008 05:29:30 GMT

Breezehouse - A Greener Building. Credit:: James Watts and CNET. Phaedra Svec, an associate in the Elements division of BNIM Architects is featured in an article on Greener Buildings discussing the seven steps she created as an interim alternative to life cycle assessment in the building industry since a comprehensive tool is not yet available. So many variables come in to play when looking at a building's life cycle, and there just isn't an appropriate LCA tool yet for the building industry in Svec's opinion. Thus, in the absence of a quick and effective LCA tool, she developed the seven-step material filter, featured in the article by Sarah Fister Gale, for evaluating and comparing the life cycle of building materials. It helps ask the right questions, as Svec explains. She also says, "every material -- no matter how green -- has an environmental consequence. It's about comparison, and choosing the material with the least impact." ... Read the full story on TreeHugger

Dolphins and Sponges and Ospreys - Oh My!

Fri, 11 Apr 2008 15:45:34 GMT

Fallen Australian Pines on Anclote Island. This past week we enjoyed a boat cruise from Tarpon Springs, Florida through the Tarpon Bayou to Anclote Island with Sun Line Tours. The picture above shows some of the fallen Australian Pines on Anclote Island that were planted to stop erosion, but due to their non-native species status did more harm than good. They are being allowed to naturally disappear from the small island off the coast of Tarpon Springs. ... Read the full story on TreeHugger

Recent Posts by TreeHugger's Jenna Watson, Barcelona