Home / treehugger.com rss archive / September-25-2007


Brush Your Teeth And Help Rivers At The Same Time!
What do toothpaste and mouthwash have to do with protecting our rivers?A lot, thanks to Toms of Maine, our countrys leading natural care company.We are thrilled to announce the new Rivers Awareness PartnershipTM between Toms of Maine, American Rivers and River Network. Toms of Maine is generously providing $1 million in support over five years to our organizations to enhance awareness, understanding and, ultimately, protection of rivers nationwide. Additionally, Toms has pledged to work closely with us to reach the public with a river stewardship message and greatly increase the caring ...

Small Island Nations "Can Only Do So Much" To Impede Climate Change
As the leaders of the attendant developing and small island nations took their turns at the podium on Monday's United Nations high-level event on climate change, their angerand desperationwas palpable. "It is an irony that the least-developed countries and small island states, which are the least responsible for the climate change, are the worst affected," said Sahana Pradhan, Nepal's minister of foreign affairs. "Industrialized nations have a special obligation to mitigation," she added.Developed countries owe a "moral and environmental debt" that must be "duly paid" to resolve the inequities by climate change's ...

Watch "Tableland" in NYC, Oct. 1st
All across North America grows a wonderful bounty of local, seasonal, delicious food. Tableland is about the people with their hands in the dirt, the farmers, and the chefs and eaters who enjoy the benefits of their hard work. In Tableland, award-winning Canadian filmmaker, Craig Noble, documents successful and delicious examples of small scale food production and enjoyment....

Brokaw Wins Emmy For "Global Warming: What You Need To Know"
Here's but one reason we've teamed up with the good folks at Discovery. Last night at the 28th Annual News and Documentary Emmy Awards gala, Tom Brokaw was awarded an Emmy for his work on Global Warming: What You Need To Know. The two-hour special decoded eco buzzwords and armed viewers with clear definitions and visual depictions to explain the greenhouse effect, carbon dioxide emissions, CFCs, effects on weather and rising se...

Concepts We Want Made: Yuko Taguchi's Wind-Up Lamp
For people who like to do a little reading in bed (and might fall asleep with the light on from time to time) comes this cool concept from designer Yuko Taguchi. The "Wind-Up Lamp" is just that: crank the key around to generate power for the lamp and start the timer; when the power is used up and the timer goes off, so does the lamp, leaving you to a peaceful (energy-efficient!) slumber. Hit the jump for the designers' statement and another pic of the lamp in action. This concept really should get made. ::Yuko Taguchi via ::Red Ferret...

The Hidden Costs of Free Parking
Bryan Pijanowski counts parking spaces at Purdue University. In his own county, he found 355,000 off-street, nonresidential parking spaces, three for every person in the county. Now he wants to take his count nationwide. Dr. Donald Shoup, professor of urban planning at the University of California at Los Angeles, says there is no such thing as free parking. "We all pay for it, not in our role as drivers, but as residents, taxpayers, and customers." According to the Christian Science Monitor: Big parking lots hike building costs and get passed through to the consumer, sometimes through higher rents in their apartment buildings or bigger costs at their grocery stores. "Every pla...

Beklina Ethical Fashion Store: Fall '07
The online ethical fashion store Beklina has got in contact to tell us that not only are they stocking Stewart and Brown's Fall collection, but they also have two more exciting labels for us to enjoy. Beau Soleil is an fashion label by New York designer Anne Salvatore Epstein. She uses bamboo fabric, vegetable-dyed organic cottons, tencel, which is made from eucalyptus trees, and recycled leather trims. We love her sexily cut and metal accessorized dresses (above right).Beklina a...

Tesla Announce Latest Production Schedule
If you're waiting for a Tesla Roadster, then read on.Last month Martin Eberhard, the one-time Tesla CEO, stepped down from the head of the company, worrying some that delays could be on the way. At the time he said, "We are still planning to start production of the Roadster by the end of next month and deliver the first cars to customers this fall. We have a good chance of meeting this goal, but to be fully transparent, I want you to know that while it is within our reach, it is not yet fully within our grasp." ...

Build a Humane Mouse Trap
Call us a bunch of bleeding-heart, granola-chewing hippies, but watching a mouse starve to death while it struggles on a glue trap or coaxing pests with poison isn't our idea of a good time. Sure you could pony up some cash and buy one of those fancy humane mouse traps available out there, but you can also save yourself the dough and make your own using a used soda bottle, a piece of woodmaybe a salvaged cigar box from your friendly, local smoke shack?and some dry-wall screws. ::Humane Mouse TrapSee also: ::Lavender Sachets as Moth Repellent and

Superfund365: Where Toxic Waste Meets Art
So, what happens when you combine toxic waste and art? It's something that doesn't get done often, but when executed properly -- Ed Burtynsky's work (here, here and TH interview here) is a great example -- it can be very visually stimulating and moving: a deft, simultaneous celebration of our world and condemnation of th...

This is a Paper Bag
Here's an idea for eco-retailers, especially those who can't rely on their customers to always BYOB (which is to say, all of them). Measuring 12x16 inches, these paper carriers are made from several layers of used newspaper, along with sturdy cardboard bases, so no new paper is used in the process. Each bag costs 50 cents, with a minimum order of 50 bags. You can even customize the bags with your store's logo for an extra 10 cents per bag, although you'll need to order a ...

Grand Opening: A New York City Drive-In
One of the reasons people can live in smaller spaces when they live in cities is there is so much to do. Why have a media room and a big screen when there are theatres and places to go? Not only that, in the city, your experiences keep changing. The artists who run Grand Opening, Manhattan's only drive in cinema, used to run a ping-pong table in the space; now they have parked a 1965 Ford Fairlane convertible and are showing films from 1960 to the present, in chronological order. Fabulous curating of films; today they are in 1968, showing The Odd Couple, 2001: A Space Odyssey and the Producers. Book online (seats six, cozy in a Fairlane) at ::Grand Opening

Instant Contest; Win Two Tickets to Fashion Takes Action
We have mentioned the oh-so-green Fashion Takes Action show in Toronto on September 26th; it is "a fashion show with some of Canada's top designers using sustainable fabrics from Skya made from soy, bamboo, hemp, organic cotton and wild silk, all in support of Environmental Defence."We have two tickets (worth C$110 each) to give away at noon on the 26th; send in a comment describing what you will wear to the show. Greenest wardrobe wins the pair. Be sure to put your real email address in the comment form, it does not show up on the site. More on the event at ::Fashion Takes Action...

Rhode Island Winds Report Finds 10 Possible Areas for Wind Farms
Because we offset our electricity each month through our local electric company, we receive quarterly newsletters that incorporate the latest in alternative energy around Rhode Island and Southern Massachusetts. In the most recent one, results were printed from the Rhode Island Winds report, commissioned by the Rhode Island Office of Energy Resources. The report noted that after taking a close look and the wind speeds at various heights, water depth, shipping lands, eelgrass beds and other constraints, there are 10 possible areas in Rhode Island for state-sponsored offshore wind farms. And a wind farm at any of these sites could produce enough wind to meet

Freedom of Creation: Downloading Clothes
Freedom of Creation (FOC) of Helsinki uses laser sintering to "create digitally generated consumer products. These products are more than stunning beauties. They are also models for localized manufacturing and distribution logistics where no stock, no assembly, minimal transportation and just-in-time production are future goals" -what we have been discussing at Absolut Downloads. They have designed a range of products from lighting to textiles; watch a video of the process here. Jiri Evenhuis came up with the idea of Rapid Manufactured textiles- "instead of producing textiles by the meter, then cutting and sewing them into f...

Kids Create Rain Barrels With A Cause
Thats right folks, a local martial arts instructor in Annapolis, Maryland recently decided to engage his students in a fun, artistic endeavor to help prevent runoff and raise some bucks for local environmental causes at the same time. Impressively, 65 of his students showed up recently on a sunny Saturday morning to paint away alongside 4 local artists turning a bunch of your average rain barrels into artistic masterpieces worthy of sale at their charity auction. And theyre learning from the activity too, because as Joe Van Deuren, their instructor and the owner of Balanced Life Skills put it, We recognize that what we do and consume has an affect on others. ...

Bridge in Japan Uses Stored Summer Heat to Melt Snow
Bridges are dangerous in cold climates; because they cool more quickly than regular roads, ice can form when the rest of the road seems safe. More de-icing chemicals are used, which can cause the bridge to deteriorate. In Fukui, Japan, the Snow Management and Construction Technology Research Center has developed a system where they store summer heat for snow-melting in winter by driving a large number of dedicated heat-exchanger piles into the riverbank....

The Sun Lizard - Solar Air Conditioning
Asks an Australian if theyve been busy or not, and they might reply, Mate, Ive been flat out. Like a lizard drinkn. Colin Gillam, CEO of Alternative Fuels and Energy may well give just such an answer regarding his Sun Lizard solar heating/cooling project. Especially as he has been working on it for the past 16 years. His persistence finally paid off when last month he was scored both the judges vote, and the peoples choice vote on the ABC New Inventors TV show. In basic terms the Sun Lizard harnesses the sun to heat and cool a house. How it does this is a tad more complex. Though not radically so. In summer a pho...

EcoEDGE2 : Building Sustainable Cities
Walled city of Masdar in Abu Dhabi: to become world's first zero-carbon and zero-waste cityEcoEDGE2 is a conference coming to Melbourne, Australia during 14-16 February 2008. We are mentioning it now because early bird registrations close at the end of next month. And you might want to get along to an intriguing forum that addresses The Urgent Challenge in Building Sustainable Cities. The plethora of speakers includes experts in a tackling the economic, aesthetic and ethical dimensions in making sustainable cities through green urban design; green urban energy systems; green housing; and green government. One such speaker is the British based architecture firm, Foster + Partners,...

Off-Grid Assisted Living: Backing It Up Green
The generation that created the first Earth Day may not be ready for assisted living and senior centers. As that day comes for seniors in northern US states, however, winter comfort will, as in this example, sometimes be maintained by petro-diesel backup generators. Stellar Energy Services, delivered a 300kW diesel engine generator system to Warroad Senior Campus, located in Warroad, Minnesota. The system is large enough to supply emergency power to the complete assisted living community. Warroad Senior Campus is located in norther...

Planet-friendly Love in China: A Bike Wedding
Green weddings seem to be all the rage these days, and the trend seems to be growing around the world. The picture above is of a bike wedding held in Anyang City in China on Saturday, which also happened to be Car-Free Day. For more thoughts on green weddings, check out our comprehensive guide on How to Green Your Wedding, or you can even read about this authors own celebrations on a goat farm in North Carolina.

The RCA Presents: Slow Water, Design Solutions to Water Wastage and Management
Platform 10 at the RCAs Department of Design Products, led by Daniel Charny and Roberto Feo, gave their students the following brief: 'slow water down between the sky and the sea'. The creative outcomes show how design can intervene in the domestic use of water. Concepts include domestic rainwater management, water awareness, water bill sharing and the future of showers. What if your kitchen sink was eroding? Alan Merons Soap Sink takes on the misuse of our invisible water which shoots out of the tap only to be collected 15 i...

Solar Row: Sustainable Housing In Boulder
Every time we show a "green and sustainable" house being built in the middle of nowhere or with 6,000 square feet in it, we wonder where people with normal incomes and bikes instead of cars will raise their families. Perhaps the Solar Row in Boulder, Colorado is a good example; Nine homes ranging from 1200 to 1700 square feet, Net Zero energy consumption, and lots of green features in a "mixed-use neighborhood that includes artist's lofts, neighborhood-scale retail businesses and offices, pedestrian walkways and a two-acre park."It is built by Wonderland Hill Developments, which builds "sustainable communities based on the cohousing conc...

Never Mind Future Temperature Increases: CO2 Emissions Deserve EPA's Attention NOW
As far as oceanographers and biogeochemists are concerned, the level of attention that has been bestowed on the interactions between increased carbon dioxide emissions, global warming and the oceans amongst media and policy circles has essentially boiled down to one of two memes: higher sea surface temperatures or higher sea levels. Even then, the media's focus on these global warming-induced effects has paled in comparison to the attention paid to terrestrial ecosystems and future changes.Though no big secret amongst marine biologists - some of us have been studying the phenomenon of ocean acidifica...

VIDEO S&WFF: Bilby Brothers: The Men Who Killed the Easter Bunny
Al Gore isn't the only one encouraging Australia to become environmentally engaged as Lloyd recently reported. Two larger than life characters, zoologist Peter McRae and park ranger and former 'roo shooter Frank Manthe, joined forces more than a decade ago in an attempt to save the Bilby a small, endangered Australian marsupial from extinction. The film Bilby Brothers: The Men Who Killed the Easter Bunny (Australia, 2002, Documentary, 48min by Larry Zetlin & Jim Stevens) tells the story of the massive marketing campaign, fundraising and army of volunteers employed to accomplish the impossible. Warr...

The Sustainable Modular Classroom by ARC
The President of the AIA, R.K. Stewart, wrote recently: "It is imperative that we design the next generation of schools to teach about a more sustainable way of living, use minimal energy, eliminate the creation of toxins and waste and be interdependent with natural systems." Unfortunately, the construction of schools takes longer than the subdivisions they are supposed to serve. Ideally, school construction would be modular and flexible, to follow the demographic need; what we usually get is the dreaded mouldy portable classroom. The architectural firm ARC has revisited the portable, with the goal "

Fridgewatcher: We Are What We Eat
Fridgewatcher.com "is a project where people open their fridges to others. 'Cause every fridge tells a story." It's true; look at all these Dutch and Scandinavian fridges. The one shown is in Amsterdam: "Full of fresh fruits and vegetables our fridge smiles and flirts with asian sauces, sweet jam, a lot of fish. Normally it has more cheese from the market, but we ate them all."It is foodie voyeurism. Only three entries from North America so far; We have to get some of those double-wides with a full supermarket inside to wow them. Submit your fridge pix to ::Fridgewatcher. via

String + Bottle + Lighter = Drinkable Water
MacGyver Style DIY Tip - video powered by MetacafeSure, it's not the best-tasting water you'll ever have but - if you're lost, dehydrated and have an empty bottle handy - it'll do in a pinch. All you'll need are the above instruments and a puddle of water: get some water, start a small fire and hold the bottle over the flame to bring it to a boil. Once that's done, let it cool and take a swig of perfectly drinkable water (a nice variant, and more accurate/use...

Italian Scuba Divers Shack up Underwater
Global warming asideone of sciences age-old questions is: Can humans live underwater? In Italy, six Italian scuba divers recently broke the record for human underwater living in an experiment inspired by the Jules Verne classic "Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea." For 14 days, Stefania Mensa, 31, Debora Vissani, 26, Isabella Moreschi, 33, Claudio Croce, 34, Luca Giordani, 28, and Alessandro Brandetti, 40, lived on a wall-less platformcalled the apartment--anchored to the seabed off the Italian island of Ponza at a depth of about 15 metres (49 ft.). The goal: Determine the medical effects of living ...

Quote of the Day: John Barrie on Design
It takes about the same amount of material to make a BMW as it takes to make a Chevy. The only real difference is the design. John Barrie, an architect and professor in Ann Arbor, Michigan admits that perhaps there are other minor differences: (Ok, some of the interior finishes in a BMW may never be seen in a Chevy, but bear with me) but notes "The shape, color, texture and even the sound of a new car are designed and built from the same lump of clay. The same holds true in Architecture. The same pallete of materials handled by different Architects will turn out differently." He continues with some wonderful suggestions for building sust...

Trash Luxe
Trash Luxe is an exhibition of serious up and coming designers who have taken humble objects and made them into luxury items. Put together by Liberty, an old and stylish store, there were familiar names and surprises in this sophisticated show created specially for London Design Festival. Stuart Haygarth was there, of course, (his third exhibition as part of the festival) and this work was a wonderful chandelier made out of eye glass lens from spectacles, shimmering in the light. Heath Nash was also represented with a light created from discarded materials such as wire...

Greenest Photo Ever Contest: DeSmogBlog
Can you take the greenest photo ever? DeSmogBlog wants to give you a Sony Cybershot DSC-S600 6MP camera if you can. DeSmogBlog is a website dedicated to clearing the PR pollution that clouds climate change. What do they mean by green?It can be literally a really green photo (but not of a green dress, that's cruel). Or it can be a metaphorically green photo, whether that's ecological or 'green with envy' or any other angle you can think of. In short, be creative!To enter simply submit your greenest photo to their Flickr photo group by October 1, 2007. Five finalists will be cho...

Garbage, Design, Recycling: An Exhibition and Some Reflections
More events trying to raise consciousness about ecology and consumerism in Argentina, this time in the interior of the country and with an arty approach. From September 4th until October 26th, the cool print publication Acido Surtido is holding a collective art exhibition by the name Garbage, Design, Recycling; featuring artists also grouped in its latest issue with the same name. The event, which is taking place at the Centro Cultural Espaa Cordoba, in Cordoba province (about 700 kilometers from Buenos Aires), reunites the works of 22 artists-groups that analyze themes such as consumerism, recycling and garbage disposal. This is an invitation to reprogram the reality in the unst...

Wired on "The Plant That Will Save America"
Who couldn't love the gee whiz, boyish enthusiasm of Wired Magazine. When they see a trend, they just pounce and cover it like a blanket; last year it was the hydrogen economy, which has barely been heard from since, and this year it is cellulosic ethanol, the plant that will save America. They do note that "There's just one catch- No one has yet figured out how to generate energy from plant matter at a competitive price. The result is that no car today uses a drop of cellulosic ethanol."They go on for pages, describing the chemistry, looking at veterans who have been trying to do this since Jimmy Carter first funded research in it, enzyme hunters and gatherers, and biochemi...