Move Like a Cheetah with this Incredible Human Powered Vehicle [Photos]

Wed, 18 Nov 2009 09:50:22 GMT

Is it a tricycle? Is it a weird bike? It's neither. Called Pardo, as an abbreviation of the word guepardo (which is cheetah in Spanish), this human powered vehicle seeks to imitate the movement and feeling of the animal. See how it works and more pics in the extended.... Read the full story on TreeHugger

Recycled, Native, Socially Aware Eco Design from Argentina at Sustentable Festival [PHOTOS]

Tue, 17 Nov 2009 09:55:16 GMT

Photos: Paula Alvarado Argentine sustainable design was on the spotlight last week, when the second edition of Sustentable Festival took place in Buenos Aires featuring more than 100 products in an exhibition. Some of them familiar, some newish, we pick some of the objects and designs that called our attention in these 13 photos. Take a look inside the post.... Read the full story on TreeHugger

Seriously Cool and Inspirational Visual Bike-Art [Slideshow]

Mon, 09 Nov 2009 09:59:15 GMT

Image: I Love Dust. Biking is beautiful, and bikes are incredibly beautiful objects too. Those of us who love to ride know this, but many are able to translate that feeling into images and art that remind us how amazing this vehicle is. In this gallery we compile poetic, funky, funny, and interesting pieces of visual art made by bike-loving artists all around the world. Autumn in the north hemisphere, Spring in the south, it's a great time to ride: so take a look and get inspired. ... Read the full story on TreeHugger

Seriously Cool and Inspirational Visual Bike-Art

Mon, 09 Nov 2009 09:34:08 GMT

Biking is beautiful, and bikes can be really beautiful objects too. Those of us who love to ride already know this, but translating that feeling into images and art can remind us how amazing this vehicle is. Here's a detail from a large mural painting called 'A solution to massive transport', located in the city of Milan and painted by Italian street artist Blu.

Walls of Milano.

... Read the full story on TreeHugger

Beautiful Bike Wedding in Sao Paulo

Wed, 04 Nov 2009 09:50:42 GMT

Photos: Luddista. It might not be a first, but you have to give this couple credit for marrying on a bike in a city where traffic is so heavy that even pedestrians beat cars. Priscila Teixeira and Willian Cruz were married last week in Sao Paulo and they organized a group biking trip to the city hall. As strong bike activists, they invited everyone who wanted to join with only one condition: they had to ride to the place. Take a look at more sweet pictures inside and get inspired!... Read the full story on TreeHugger

Green Houses to Improve Life and Aesthetics in Shanty Towns

Tue, 03 Nov 2009 14:18:15 GMT

A group of architects from Argentina have come up with a project called Orchard House, which proposes the implementation of vertical gardens in shanty towns to provide local people with food and improve the visuals of these villages. The idea is to teach people how to build a series of 'productive modules', with metal structures and different types of coverage that allow the growing of small vegetables. By providing them with the tools and knowledge, people could then build their own houses or structures on their own.... Read the full story on TreeHugger

Ecuador Moves Forward with Plan to Not Drill the Amazon in Exchange of Funds

Wed, 28 Oct 2009 11:00:41 GMT

A kid stands on pipes of previous oil extractions in the Ecuadorian Amazon. Photo: Lou Dematteis for the Crude Reflections book. We spoke about this campaign being in the making before, and about a presentation of it a month ago at the UN, but now it's a fact: Ecuador is promoting the measure internationally to get funds, and says Germany, Spain and France have shown interest in backing up the plan. The country is also considering forming a consortium of countries with natural resources.... Read the full story on TreeHugger

Conclusions of the 2009 World Forestry Congress

Tue, 27 Oct 2009 09:21:23 GMT

Photo: Paula Alvarado. As we mentioned last week, from October 18 until 23 Buenos Aires was host of the XIII World Forestry Congress. With less than two months to Copenhagen, climate change in the center of political discussions, and forests being a critical tool to fight global warming, the discussions inside the panels were of special interest this year. TreeHugger attended many of the conferences and here are some ideas and conclusions drawn from the conversations.... Read the full story on TreeHugger

WFC 2009: Zero Deforestation by 2020 a Utopia; Net Deforestation Reduction, not that Much

Tue, 20 Oct 2009 15:08:11 GMT

Photo: Paula Alvarado. TreeHugger is at the World Forest Congress, which is taking place in Buenos Aires until October 23. With forests being a key element in the fight against climate change, deforestation taking 13 million hectares of native woods every year, and REDD being proposed as an important alternative for controlling carbon emissions, the presentations taking place at the event are of particular importance this year. Deforestation was the main theme of one conference this morning. During the presentation, Mette Lyche Wilkie, Senior Forestry Officer at FAO, talked about the subject of 'Zero deforestation by 2020' target many organizations are requesting to leaders. The title of her presentation was, Utopia or realistic goal? Guess what.... Read the full story on TreeHugger

Impressive: This is What a 15 Tons Illegally cut Tree from the Amazon Looks Like

Fri, 16 Oct 2009 09:44:47 GMT

Photo: Ibama. We're talking about deforestation in the Amazon all the time, but can we really understand the magnitude of what we're saying? This is where an image is worth a thousand words: this is how a 15 tons, 40 meters tall, 250! years of age, fallen tree from the Amazon looks like. According to O Globo, this beautiful piece of nature was illegally cut down at Novo Mundo, in the state of Mato Grosso, Brazil; and will be showed at the country's capital, Brasilia, for an environmental exhibition next November.... Read the full story on TreeHugger

What is Brazil Planning to Propose at Copenhagen

Wed, 14 Oct 2009 09:10:59 GMT

Photo: Rodolfo Clix. Brazilian president Luis Inacio 'Lula' Da Silva is not only going to this year's Copenhagen summit, he's also actively participating in negotiations. Which is a good thing, since the country is one of the most carbon emitting developing nations in the world. As Lula continues to prepare Brazil's proposal for Copenhagen along with his ministers, Environmental Minister Carlos Minc announced yesterday some of the measures the country is considering to include in the document, which is supposed to be finished this month.... Read the full story on TreeHugger

Chile: Largest Wind Park in the Country Inaugurated

Tue, 13 Oct 2009 08:22:11 GMT

The new park. Photo: EolicaMonteRedondo.cl Chilean president Michelle Bachelet inaugurated last week the country's largest wind park. The Monte Redondo project took a 100 million USD investment and will have a production of 38 megawatts, which will power 57 thousand homes. According to Bachelet, never before had Chile invested so much in clean energy as in her government period. And the numbers are impressive.... Read the full story on TreeHugger

Great Looking Trash Can + Furniture with Post-Consumer Recycled Plastic from Chile

Tue, 06 Oct 2009 11:49:38 GMT

Photos: Courtesy of Rodrigo Alonso. Chilean designer Rodrigo Alonso has come up with a new line of furniture and accessories made of post-consumer recycled plastic, moulded into cool polyhedral shapes. One of the best: a trash can that looks so nice that it seems like a crime to throw waste into it. Check the designs and more photos in the extended.... Read the full story on TreeHugger

Underwater Museum to Protect Coral Reefs in Mexico

Tue, 29 Sep 2009 13:35:06 GMT

Photo: Jason Taylor's sculptures, now in Mexico. Mexico has announced plans to build the largest underwater museum in the world, with around 400 figures made of concrete submerged in the Caribbean sea, near Cancun. The goal? Protecting the regions coral reefs.... Read the full story on TreeHugger

Shipping Container Home Prototype in Buenos Aires

Wed, 23 Sep 2009 11:13:41 GMT

Photos: Marca Futuro and Paula Alvarado. How much do we love shipping container houses? They're built inside recycled structures, encourage people to live with less and let's face it: they look cool. Here's a new prototype from Buenos Aires, built for the interior design exhibition Casa FOA. Basic on the outside, creative on the inside. Take a tour inside the post.... Read the full story on TreeHugger

Amazing! Bike Faster than Helicopters, Running Faster than Car in Sao Paulo

Tue, 22 Sep 2009 11:24:39 GMT

Photos: Delcio G.P. Filho and Matthew Maaskant. Do you want more proof that encouraging car use in a city is only going to lead you to traffic hell? Take a look at Sao Paulo: the city of ridiculous car jams, where there are more privately held helicopters than anywhere else in the world. The thing is, not even the air has solved the traffic problem, and the new highways that are being planned for the city won't solve it either. It seems so obvious that the right way to go is to discourage the use of cars (like Bogota or Curitiba did), but now we have proof (a great treat for World Car Free Day). A group of cyclists have put up a test and had 18 different combinations of transport travel a distance of about 10 kilometers (over 6 miles) during rush hour. Guess what? Two of the cyclists turned out to get to destination faster than the helicopter, and all the cyclists, a runner, the bus and, a skater! took less time than the car. This last one took a nerve-racking 82 minutes to cover that distance. More details in the extended.... Read the full story on TreeHugger

62 Miles of Separated Bike Lanes for Buenos Aires by 2011

Wed, 16 Sep 2009 11:05:34 GMT

Photo: Paul Joseph. Excellent news for Buenos Aires locals, expats and green travelers that want to know the city. In order to put some order to the chaotic traffic, the government is building 62 miles of bike lanes by 2011, 15 of which should be ready by the end of this year. As the existing bike lanes have never been respected by cars and buses, the new ones will be physically separated from the streets (why this is extremely important can be seen on the post The case for separated bike lanes). More details about the plans in the extended. ... Read the full story on TreeHugger

Simple and funky cardboard bench by Proyecto Cartoon

Tue, 15 Sep 2009 10:16:35 GMT

Photos: Paula Alvarado. Found at the latest edition of the Casa FOA interior design exhibition, these cool looking benches are made entirely from industrially discarded cardboard (left out for imperfections or errors at factories) and a small piece of EVA rubber to add comfort and color. As many cardboard products it is low-tech, recyclable, easy to disassemble, and can be shipped flat. Also of course it's assembled without any glue or tools. More pictures and data in the extended!... Read the full story on TreeHugger

Clever and Crazy Recycled Design Ideas from Latin America (Slideshow)

Tue, 08 Sep 2009 10:42:39 GMT

Photo above: Remade in Chile. If anything, we Latin Americans are resourceful and creative. Think about it this way: we've been through lots of crisis, and finding new ways to make something out of nothing is our specialty. This is why some of the region's designers sometimes go a little too far when it comes to recycling materials into products. Some turn out amazing, like the well-known plastic bag boots. Others... Let's just say are 'harder to understand'. In this gallery we compile some of the craziest and coolest ideas of products with recovered and recycled materials from Latin America. Go on and get in, we know you're dying to know where that spoon and fork with legs come from. ... Read the full story on TreeHugger

GreenTube by Greenpeace Brazil

Tue, 08 Sep 2009 09:33:06 GMT

What's more of a trademark than YouTube's red bar that indicates a video's loading and play time? This campaign by Greenpeace Brazil from a few months ago took that symbol and used it to show how elements such as biodiversity, ocean levels, and extreme conditions react to the raise in temperatures. A simple yet powerful way to show some of the effects of climate change and invite you to take action. The campaign was created by agency Almap BBDO, which also made the not so popular Blackpixel. Take a look at the two other videos from the campaign in the extended.... Read the full story on TreeHugger

Clever and Crazy Recycled Design Ideas from Latin America

Tue, 08 Sep 2009 09:00:42 GMT

Have some Barbie dolls from your kid or sister lying around? Turn them into really funky spoons! That's what Chilean design student Catalina Villa did for the Remade in Chile 2008 contest last November.

Remade in Chile.

... Read the full story on TreeHugger

More Measures to Limit Tourism to Antarctica Proposed by IMO

Wed, 19 Aug 2009 10:10:10 GMT

Photo: Scott Wilson. The raise of tourism in Antarctica has been subject of discussion during the past years, and travel to the region was finally restricted by the Antarctic Treaty in April this year. Now even though not all of the region's problems can be blamed to tourists, the danger of oil spills from cruise ships is something to be afraid of. After all, it has happened before. This is why a new proposal by the International Maritime Organization (IMO) aims to raise the bar even higher for people who want to visit this spot. Keep reading for more.... Read the full story on TreeHugger

Really Cool Chair from Reclaimed Window Blinds + Table and Benches from Recovered Materials

Tue, 18 Aug 2009 10:32:22 GMT

Photos: Courtesy of Gruba. Argentine design studio Gruba (which we've talked about before) has come up with a set of very cool chairs, table and benches made with reclaimed materials that are also entirely recyclable at the end of their (second) lifetime. The first, featured above, is an incredibly good looking sofa chair made with reconstituted wood and recovered with recovered wooden window blinds. The chair is also easy to disassemble and its materials, recyclable. Keep looking for beautiful pictures of the other items.... Read the full story on TreeHugger

Stop Driving not just for the Environment, but for health: Car Drivers Breathe More Smog

Wed, 12 Aug 2009 11:32:08 GMT

Photo: Marc Lostracco. We all know that driving is bad for the environment, but did you know that it can also be bad for your health? A new study by the Mexican National Ecology Institute (INE, in Spanish) concludes that car drivers are more exposed to smog than public transport passengers, mainly because of the car's lower height and poorer ventilation. More details in the extended.... Read the full story on TreeHugger

Brazilians Take Global Warming Seriously. Much More than US or European Citizens

Tue, 11 Aug 2009 09:00:27 GMT

Photo: Rodolfo Clix. We may be behind in terms of green innovation and we may have a smaller green movement, but us South Americans are well aware about the seriousness of Climate Change. So it shows the latest edition of the Pew Global Attitudes Survey (PDF), which states that Brazil and Argentina are the countries in which people are most aware of Global Warming as a threat. The survey was carried away in 25 prominent countries around the world, including the United States, China, India, France, Kenya, and Poland among others. When asked the question, Is global warming a serious problem?, 90% of Brazilians and 69% of Argentineans said yes, while only 44% of Americans chose the affirmative answer. But Brazil's stewardship doesn't end up there. Keep reading for more. ... Read the full story on TreeHugger

Hold your Margarita: Tequila Leaves Environmental Hangover

Wed, 05 Aug 2009 09:00:09 GMT

Photo: Rick Audet. Tequila has been present in TreeHugger before, whether it's because we noted how farmers were replacing agave crops with corn, or how Australians were trying to make ethanol out of it. But this one's different, and may just hit you if you're an environmentalist and a big fan of this drink. A report by Emilio Godoy on Tierramerica calls attention to the unsustainable practices in the production of tequila, which involve massive use of water, irresponsible discharge of wastewater on soils, and degradation of forests. Keep reading for the dirty details.... Read the full story on TreeHugger

What's Maciel Crystal? Find out at the Moca Cultural Center Eco Design Store

Tue, 04 Aug 2009 09:30:24 GMT

Photos: Paula Alvarado. Last week we spoke about the Moca Cultural Center, a new space for emerging art in the south of Buenos Aires located inside of a recycled factory and equipped with many of that factory's vintage furniture. Apart from the green points for rescuing and re-using equipment, the center has some extra credit for its store, curated by green design studio Minima Huella and holding many products we've featured in TreeHugger before plus some new cool names. For example, Grupo Bondi and their 'Maciel Crystal' flower pots. Take a peek in the extended!... Read the full story on TreeHugger

Moca Cultural Center in BA Thrives with Old Factory's Furniture

Wed, 29 Jul 2009 09:30:47 GMT

Photos: Paula Alvarado. The Moca project is a high-end apartment complex in the remains of an old cookies factory in Buenos Aires. Apart from the housing area, the place has a very modern looking Cultural Center that opened just a few months ago. And to our great surprise, the place is neatly decorated with the old factory's furniture. Many more pics of the vintage accessories inside!... Read the full story on TreeHugger

GreenDrinks Buenos Aires is Back!

Tue, 28 Jul 2009 10:00:39 GMT

Image: GreenDrinks Buenos Aires. You may remember that during his stay in Buenos Aires, Argentina, Mr. Graham Hill (TreeHugger founder) started the local edition of GreenDrinks. As he usually is, Graham was probably ahead of his time, and the city's environmental-scene wasn't quite ready. But the flame kept burning, and now a new edition of GreenDrinks Buenos Aires is happening next Tuesday, August 11. All of you expats and tourists around for the date, read on for details!... Read the full story on TreeHugger

Sophisticated yet Funky Looks with Recovered Vintage Garments by Ana Walsh

Wed, 22 Jul 2009 09:25:09 GMT

Photos: Courtesy of Ana Walsh. One of our favorite green clothing designers in Buenos Aires, Ana Walsh, has come up with a new collection for her 'Fashion Archeology' line and now makes beautiful items for children too. In addition to earning points for recycling vintage clothes, Walsh charms with her exquisite taste and ability to produce a sophisticated, yet funky modern look. If you're in Buenos Aires, taking a peek is a must. If you're not, look ahead to find clothes recovery well done and take ideas. Many more pics inside!... Read the full story on TreeHugger

Recent Posts by TreeHugger's Paula Alvarado, Buenos Aires