http://ecobuying.com Green Products, News, & Musings From Around The Blogosphere Mon, 05 Jan 2009 21:49:10 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en Flamingo Dress - $198 at the Inhabitat Shop Using beautiful animal illustrations and sustainable textiles, Mika Machida’s eco-friendly fashions show that you don’t need to wear fur or skins to look wild. Each piece is an elegant, innovative take on the words “animal print” — celebrating the forms and patterns found ... http://ecobuying.com/2009/01/06/sustainable-style-mika-machida-animal-inspired-fashion/ Artist Stewart Webb takes high tech recycled materials from computers, electronics, industrial, and aerospace industries and transforms them into functional art. His pieces are all handmade using repurposed materials, and include clocks, sculptures, and jewelry. Any self respecting eco-geek will want to collect at least a couple of his works. See ... http://ecobuying.com/2009/01/06/recycled-electronics-sculptures-fusing-art-and-technology-together/ The US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) is predicting severe bleaching for parts of the Coral Sea, near Australia’s Great Barrier Reef, and the Coral Triangle, causing immense damage to an important global marine environment over the next few months. “This forecast bleaching episode will be caused by increased water ... http://ecobuying.com/2009/01/06/severe-coral-bleaching-could-devastate-reef-ecosystems/ A blog friend and colleague of mine recently shared her annoyance for the grocery baggers who shoot out the dirtiest of looks when you pull out your own cloth grocery bags. As she said in her original twitter comment: Dear grocery store baggers: Please stop looking so sullen when I pull ... http://ecobuying.com/2009/01/06/don%e2%80%99t-hate-me-because-i%e2%80%99m-using-cloth-grocery-bags/ A team of UK scientists have discovered a natural process that could delay, or even end, the threat of global warming. The researchers, aboard the Royal Navy’s HMS Endurance, have found that melting icebergs off the coast of Antarctica are releasing millions of tiny particles of iron into the southern Ocean, ... http://ecobuying.com/2009/01/06/green-algae-bloom-process-could-stop-global-warming/ I must admit that I was (and still am) a bit nervous about the Obama presidency due to age and experience, but today I discovered something that gives me renewed hope for the future.  A new page has been launched on the Change.gov site called Open Government where the American people can ... http://ecobuying.com/2009/01/06/the-obama-administration-is-taking-questionsvotes-via-the-web/ When fuel prices were higher, airlines were going to great lengths to save fuel. They stripped down their planes of all unnecessary weight and even flew slower. Planes do use a staggering amount of fuel, and regardless of the price, all that fossil fuel usage is extremely harmful to the ... http://ecobuying.com/2009/01/06/oil-from-a-poison-shrub-powers-new-zealand-airline-flight/ How many remote controls are sitting on your coffee table right now? Those remotes aren’t just plastic pieces of junk, they also use up batteries. But, there’s no sense in getting up every time you want to change the channel, adjust the volume or pause the DVD you’re watching, so ... http://ecobuying.com/2009/01/06/go-battery-free-with-a-wind-up-remote-control/ Owning a Prius has more benefits than simply saving money on gas and lowering your carbon footprint – it can also get your family through a snowstorm by providing power. And while, technically, any car battery hooked up to an inverter can do the same thing, the Prius uses far ... http://ecobuying.com/2009/01/06/your-prius-can-act-as-an-emergency-generator/ The phone call came at around 4.20pm on Saturday. A bomb had been dropped on the house at our small farm in northern Gaza. My father was walking from the gate to the farmhouse at the time. It was our beloved place, that farm and its two-storey white house with ... http://ecobuying.com/2009/01/06/gaza-the-life-and-death-of-my-father/ The catastrophic economic collapse of Iceland has in international news stories been described as simply another, inevitable casualty of the credit crunch. A Wall Street Journal story last week noted that Iceland was one of the international financial bubble's most enthusiastic players," but failed to mention how Iceland's largely homemade ... http://ecobuying.com/2009/01/06/iris-erlingsdottir-iceland-the-nordic-zimbabwe/ The stories about Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich have been stunning -- with revelations of his boundless intent on corruption, as well as a knack for unceasing profanity. Yet Blagojevich has also displayed a canny audacity at his recent press conference, when he announced his choice of Roland Burris to fill ... http://ecobuying.com/2009/01/06/allison-silver-a-lesser-class-of-rogue/ JACKSONVILLE, N.C. — A man who police said was shot by his stepfather ended up in the same jail with him after officers discovered outstanding arrest warrants against the victim. Police told The Daily News of Jacksonville that 37-year-old Richard Hayes shot his stepson Thursday night. Authorities say 21-year-old Michael Bass ... http://ecobuying.com/2009/01/06/man-shot-by-his-stepfather-ends-up-in-same-jail/ SCIENTISTS have discovered true love. Brain scans have proved that a small number of couples can respond with as much passion after 20 years as most people exhibit only in the first flush of love. The findings overturn the conventional view that love and sexual desire peak at the start of ... http://ecobuying.com/2009/01/06/the-science-behind-true-love/ December 26th, 4:30pm - 4 days after the 1 billion gallon toxic coal ash spill in Harriman, TN. I'm on the phone with Donna Lisenby, the Upper Watauga Riverkeeper in North Carolina, who was planning to travel to the TVA coal ash spill and collect water samples along ... http://ecobuying.com/2009/01/06/sandra-diaz-canoeing-into-tennessee-coal-sludge-video/ Nations throughout history perished or flourished based upon how well they progressed into a new age. America mastered the industrial age in the early 20th Century and, thanks to John F. Kennedy's vision for the future of science in calling for a trip to the Moon, we mastered the age ... http://ecobuying.com/2009/01/06/craig-crawford-have-a-hopeful-new-year/ By Sam Stein and Ryan Grim The Minnesota State Canvassing Board confirmed on Monday that Al Franken has won his Senate election, ending a weeks-long recount process that started with the Democratic challenger facing a roughly 215-vote deficit. The final tally left Franken with 1,212,431 votes to Sen. Norm Coleman's 1,212,206 votes, ... http://ecobuying.com/2009/01/06/franken-officially-wins-election-but-power-fights-remain/ Photo: Flickr The Good Ol' Book is Back in Vogue When green advocates talk about product service systems (PSS), many might be left scratching their heads (if that's you, check out the linked Wikipedia page). Yet we're all familiar with public libraries, a great example, and when times are harder economically, people ... http://ecobuying.com/2009/01/06/library-use-is-booming-because-of-recession/ Like any child who has lost a parent, it was only natural that Benazir Bhutto's eldest daughter would wish to express her grief for her murdered mother. Less obvious, perhaps, was that the tribute would come in the form of a mournful rap song. Now the song, written and performed by ... http://ecobuying.com/2009/01/06/bhuttos-daughter-pays-tribute-with-rap-video/ I have been a frequent air traveller since I was a few months shy of my sixth birthday, when my parents packed me off to boarding school two plane rides away from home. Those days of being willingly handed from air hostess to air hostess as an "unaccompanied minor" made ... http://ecobuying.com/2009/01/06/shashi-tharoor-air-farce/ In Paraguay, forested areas have been reduced to less than 10% of the country, which means that wood is scarcely available as a building material. Additionally, 300,000 families do not have adequate housing. These two serious factors couple to form a sizable problem, which community activist Elsa Zaldívar ... http://ecobuying.com/2009/01/06/sustainable-and-recyclable-housing-made-from-loofahs/ Labels and standards are a touchy and confusing subject. Who sets them? What do they cover? TreeHugger readers have seen companies just calling themselves green, companies inventing their own labels (like SC Johnson), Companies going to third party labels-for-hire to certify what they think is important but may not be, ... http://ecobuying.com/2009/01/06/underwriters-laboratories-introducing-green-label/ photo: David Silver You may have missed it over the holidays of the past ten days but the BBC ran an interesting piece on the sort of transformation that will be required in the 21st century to feed a projected world population of 9 billion by 2050, without continuing to simply ... http://ecobuying.com/2009/01/06/agriculture-needs-a-fundamental-rethink-in-the-21st-century/ Photo: Lotus Evora Lotus Electric Car in the Cards These words were recently spoken by Lotus CEO Michael Kimberley, making us think that being a supplier to Tesla Motors inspired the company to throw its hat in the ring. The concept EV is expected for the Geneva Motor Show in March. Read ... http://ecobuying.com/2009/01/06/dont-be-surprised-to-see-an-electric-lotus-shortly/ Photo via FlickrA few weeks before we even rang in the start of 2009, I was already thinking about my New Year's resolutions. And then I started wondering what resolutions other people were making. I heard both the usual: eat better, exercise more...and the unusual: write more thank-you notes, focus ... http://ecobuying.com/2009/01/06/green-eyes-on-three-green-new-years-resolutions/ On Friday, I was happy to hang out with a journalist who is writing a book on plastic and wanted to know what it's like to try and live plastic-free. So we had lunch together and chatted, and then she followed me to the butcher shop where I take ... http://ecobuying.com/2009/01/06/do-you-ever-get-embarrassed/ photo: Dominic Alves With the honeymoon phase of support for first generation biofuels (those derived from food crops such as corn, soybeans, etc) pretty much over, and research into second generation fuels (cellulosic fuels and those derived from non-food crops) ramping up, you’ll have to forgive me to jumping ahead to ... http://ecobuying.com/2009/01/06/future-biofuels-could-be-created-out-of-thin-air-craig-venter-synthetic-genomics/ Want to keep track of what's happening money-wise in clean tech during 2009? A new website called TheFunded.com presents a way to get insider input and reviews on what's shaking in clean tech investing. ... Related posts:Clean Tech Investing At Record High Photo via Epicharmus Tired of hearing about ... http://ecobuying.com/2009/01/06/thefunded-keeps-tabs-on-clean-tech-investing/ Architect Greg Lynn may be best know as the king of ‘Blobitecture’ - creating blobby biomorphic structures using computer-aided-design and mathematical equations. Now the blob-loving architect is taking a turn for the green with an interesting new project to turn recycled old toys into high-end, artistic pieces of furniture. ... http://ecobuying.com/2009/01/06/greg-lynn%e2%80%99s-arty-recycled-toy-furniture/ Background photo via Martin Kingsley Starting with the new year, Oregon and Washington are launching e-cycling programs to help keep electronics out of landfills. As of January 1, it is free to drop off items like computers and TVs at permanent collection sites. Read on to see where these are located, ... http://ecobuying.com/2009/01/06/e-recycling-gets-a-new-year-boost-in-north-west/ Obviously not on an apartment building in the Bronx, but at Logan airport in Boston, this is the sort of wind turbine to be installed by Blue Sea Development. Photo: AeroVironment Though small scale wind turbines certainly have their drawbacks compared to their larger industrial-scale cousins, especially in urban areas (as ... http://ecobuying.com/2009/01/06/10-small-scale-wind-turbines-cut-nyc-apartment-building%e2%80%99s-electric-costs-in-half/ image: Tidal Energy Ltd It’s safe to say that tidal, wave, and ocean power (all different but similar in that they generate power from moving ocean water) have more competing designs than other methods of generating electricity renewably. TreeHugger has covered most of these before, but here’s yet another contender: The ... http://ecobuying.com/2009/01/06/12-mw-deltastream-tidal-power-turbines-to-be-tested-in-wales/ With the snow coming down fast this time of year, we can’t help but dream of laying on the beach listening to our iPod and relaxing. But how to keep it charged? If we had this handy pair of designer sunglasses, we could keep our iPod or other ... http://ecobuying.com/2009/01/06/solar-power-sunglasses-can-charge-your-gadgets/ Milano Santa Monica is a lush green super city that is scheduled to sprout up just outside of Milan. Envisioned as a stacked series of high-rises overflowing with flowering terraces, the self-contained development will employ principles of bio-architecture in addition to photovoltaic panels and solar-thermal water heaters to cut down ... http://ecobuying.com/2009/01/05/milan%e2%80%99s-stunning-green-super-city/ Landor Associates, a leading strategic brand consulting and design firm, has released their second annual trends outlook, which provides “predictions” for 2009 including sustainability. Russ Meyer, the Chief Strategy Associate for Landor Associates tells us that brands will need to integrate their commitment to sustainability into a larger message of ... http://ecobuying.com/2009/01/05/sustainability-predictions-for-2009/ A recent post on our new sibling site, Consumerist.com, details the downsizing of Dawn Ultra antibacterial dishwashing liquid and hand soap—the erstwhile 11-ounce container has lost 0.7 ounces. We've been covering this consumer-product trend for years, most recently in the October 2008 story "The Lowdown on Downsized Products," which offers some ... http://ecobuying.com/2009/01/05/the-growing-trend-in-shrinking-consumer-products/ Salvaging thousands of used disposable chopsticks from the Koriyama’s city hall cafeteria over two years, Shuhei Ogawara has built a 4-meter (13-ft) long canoe.  It took three months for Ogawara to glue 7,382 chopsticks together to form the canoe shell. Via:  Pink Tentacle Related posts:Beauty: New Designs For ... http://ecobuying.com/2009/01/05/japanese-man-builds-canoe-from-used-chopsticks/ A few weeks ago, Feelgoodstyle.com writer Stancie Wilson told you about Organic Beauty Magazine, the latest and greatest newsstand magazine featuring organic and natural beauty products, fashion finds, and advice on everything from choosing the best products to eco-friendly travel to creating your own at-home spa experience. I caught wind ... http://ecobuying.com/2009/01/05/free-subscription-to-organic-beauty-from-the-nature-of-beauty/ One of my favorite parts of elementary school was lunchtime. I always looked forward to my sack lunch.  My friends and I would compare our goodies and trade, as well as feel sorry the kids stuck with an overcooked, bland, awful school lunches.  Of course, I didn’t have a cool ... http://ecobuying.com/2009/01/05/folk-art-eco-friendly-lunch-pack-organic-cotton-and-bamboo-from-printpatternpaper/ Michigan Governor Jennifer Granholm has signed two bills to expand job training opportunities in high-demand fields for Michigan workers. The bills allow the state’s community colleges to tailor job training to meet the needs of employers in their regions. The jobs produced by the new training programs will not necessarily “green ... http://ecobuying.com/2009/01/05/michigan-gov-granholm-signs-bill-for-green-collar-job-training-sort-of/