Monthly Archive for April, 2011

Turkish Prime Minister Erdoğan’s ‘Crazy Project’ for Istanbul: Building a Second Strait

Map showing the estimated location (left) of the proposed Istanbul Canal, roughly parallel to the Bosphorus Strait (right). Image: Istanbul Municipality. A day out on a pleasure boat on Istanbul's Bosphorus Strait typically involves plenty of close-up views of massive tankers transiting between the Marmara and the Black Sea. It's a sight the Turkish prime minister wants to abol... weiterlesen...

IS IT GREEN?: The Laundry Ball

The GreenWashBall is a device that you toss into the washing machine to clean your dirty laundry in place of detergent. An innovative concept, but not the first of its kind – “laundry balls” like the GreenWashBall are abundant, including the Miracle II Ball, the Laundry Solution ball, and the Mystic Wonder Laundry Ball. They are supposedly popular in Europe and... weiterlesen...

Weekday Vegetarian: Potato Chip Frittatas

Photo: Emma Alter We have a federal election coming up on Monday, and my son has been working about 15 hours a day for the past three weeks hoping to get our candidate elected. I'm not good about doing things like door-to-door canvassing as he has been doing, so I'm helping out in the best way I know how. I've been taking food treats in for the volunteers and staff. This week m... weiterlesen...

What We Saw » Peru Gift Show 2011

by Diana BuddsGreetings from Peru! I'm in Lima reporting from the showroom floors of the National Gift Show and Peru Moda, a fashion tradeshow, taking place April 27th to 30th. An estimated 5,000 people come to the Gift Show, now in its 13th year, to spy the handcrafted wares from the Andean highlands to the coastal cities and everywhere in between. The designs at the Gift Show w... weiterlesen...

Hester Street Fair to Open with Festival of Ideas NYC (Event)

Photo: courtesy Hester Street Fair Summer weather is finally here and with it comes a much-loved weekend past time: flea market shopping! The Hester Street Fair, co-founded by by SuChin Pak and Ron Castellano, is opening their gates one week from today on Saturday May 7th (10am-6pm)--go mark your calendar, now--and they're kicking off the 2011 season big with the "Lower Feast... weiterlesen...

Callous New Law to Close Award-Winning Urban Farming High School For Pregnant Teens

Photo: filmmij If there's ever a story that hit me hard, it was this one. I wrote about Catherine Ferguson Academy last year. It was the subject of the groundbreaking documentary Grown in Detroit. The school is one of only a few left in the country for pregnant girls or girls with children giving them the opportunity to stay in school. More than that, the school has taken advan... weiterlesen...

A Twisting Pedestrian Bridge Keeps Everyone Safe and Looks Great Doing It

All Images Courtesy of DVVD / Alain Baudry When the Paris-based architecture firm DVVD (hyperlink) set out to build a pedestrian bridge, they wanted to please everyone. Keep drivers safe from thrown objects by installing protective mesh around the bridge. Keep pedestrians safe by providing a well-lit passage over a busy road and river, but without caging them in. And so was bo... weiterlesen...

Product Spotlight » Furniture by Chadhaus

by Jaime GrossI recently discovered the work of Chadhaus, a four-year-old Seattle-based company that builds beautiful modern furniture from hardwoods and recycled steel sourced mostly in the Pacific Northwest. Founded by Chad and Emily Robertson, the company combines the couple's backgrounds in art, construction, furniture, and architecture. According to their website, Chadhaus i... weiterlesen...

Event Spotlight » Nathan Vincent’s Locker Room

by Bradford ShellhammerArtist Nathan Vincent, will be showing his new work at the Bellevue Arts Museum through June 26th. Vincent's work utilizes crochet and yarn to recreate many masculine objects in a new softer form. He's knitted taxidermy busts, urinals, guns, and tools. The exhibit at Bellevue, "The Mysterious Content of Softness" features 11 national and internat... weiterlesen...

Biopesticides, Farm Worker Pensions, School Salad Bars and Farm Camps Win NRDC Awards

"Renegade lunch lady' chef Ann Cooper with kids "eating the rainbow" Fungi to fight plant pests? Agri-biz says it can't be done. Healthy school lunches? Superintendents claim it's too costly and kids won't eat vegetables. Health insurance and pensions for farm workers? There go the profits. Stock options? Forget about it. Mobilize a new generation to farm? Green thumbs are fo... weiterlesen...

Recycled Tub Chair Is the Perfect Place to Relax Without All the Water

The Tub Chair is very unusual to say the least – but who says you can’t create curious new things from recycled materials? Designed by Frees co, the Tub Chair is a sofa made from a bathtub cut-out, lined with foam matting and set upon arched legs. The chair has also been painted and designed to give it a more decorative elegance, rather appropriately taking away that... weiterlesen...

Recycled Tub Chair Is the Perfect Place to Relax Without All the Water

The Tub Chair is very unusual to say the least – but who says you can’t create curious new things from recycled materials? Designed by Frees co, the Tub Chair is a sofa made from a bathtub cut-out, lined with foam matting and set upon arched legs. The chair has also been painted and designed to give it a more decorative elegance, rather appropriately taking away that... weiterlesen...

Sustainable Blooms at the Royal Wedding, Celebrities Against Dogfighting, and More

Photo: Rune Hellestad/Corbis While we're still waiting to hear more of the green details from today's royal wedding -- were there sustainable materials in that Alexander McQueen dress? What organic foods were served at the reception? Are William and Catherine going to offset their honeymoon? -- Ecorazzi reports that the couple did go the eco-friendly route with their floral arr... weiterlesen...

Aqua Star’s Underwater Electric Scooter Charts the Ocean Depths

When we first laid eyes on the Aqua Star underwater scooter, so many different emotions ran through our minds – excitement, confusion, fear… but as we learned more about the bizarre but awesome vehicle, we saw that it was right up our alley. Called the AS-2 Scooter, this compact undersea vehicle is powered by a rechargeable electric battery and allows marine enthusia... weiterlesen...

Are Micronutrients a More Efficient Path to Food Aid Abroad?

Image credit: Build Nutrition Sir Richard's Condoms and Tom's Shoes aren't the only folks pursuing a "buy one, gift one" model of business and philanthropy at the same time. A new supplement company is hoping to use the market for prenatal vitamins in rich countries to help fight nutrient deficiencies in pregnant women and unborn children in poorer nations. ...Read the full sto... weiterlesen...

Vertical Gardens from Uribo are Designed for the City Gardener

Living in the city while having limited space may seem like the norm, but this is especially disheartening for any green thumb looking to take on a gardening project. Fortunately for all the city dwellers out there, Uribo has developed the Vertical Garden – a cool, modern and eco-friendly magnetic gardening system that combines futuristic aesthetics, with functional practi... weiterlesen...

Lawn Mower Bike Is a Fun and Fuel-Free Way to Trim Your Yard

If you’ve been looking for a more exciting way to cut the grass, forget about those souped up gas lawnmowers – this clever and inventive design takes mowing the lawn to a whole new level. Built from an old-fashioned push-and-pull mower and a folding bike, Florian Hauswirth‘s lawn mower cycle is a practical and fun design solution to keeping your garden tidy. An... weiterlesen...

Sparkling EDF National Archive Building Boasts a Beautiful High-Performance Facade

Read the rest of Sparkling EDF National Archive Building Boasts a Beautiful High-Performance Facade Permalink | Add to del.icio.us | digg Post tags: "sustainable architecture", bure, eco design, edf, edf national archives, energy efficient design, france, green architecture, Green Building, green design, high performance facade, LAN Architects, renewable energ... weiterlesen...

Week in Review » Friday Finds 4.29.11

by Meredith MacKenzieWe wrap up the month of April with a look at a remote-controlled party for your tush, a child makeup guru and some groovy Tumblr flashbacks, plus some dreamy videos sure to knock your socks off. weiterlesen...

Why We Must Learn From The Biosphere To Build Green Economies

photo: Nogwater/Creative Commons Interested in ecological economics? (And if you call yourself an environmentalist or are even minimally concerned about green issues, you should be.) Then here are two important pieces you should be paying attention to from the past couple of days: Some good new from the National Wildlife Federation on abandoning GDP as the most important measur... weiterlesen...