Iconoculture: Architects Mitchell Joachim and Javier Arbona teamed up with environmental engineer Lara Greden to dream up the ultimate tree house — a two-story, water-recycling, solar-powered, living crib. They’re testing techniques for growing a weave of vines and trees that will form a lattice-like outer structure. Inside walls will be packed with clay and plastered. The team is experimenting with […]

TriplePundit: NPR has a great little piece today about the destiny of the (cue Carl Sagan) billions and billions of plastic water bottles that we go though every year, the majority of which end up in a landfill. About 23% however, do wind up being recycled into various uses, typically carpeting or other downcycled products. Interestingly the majority of this […]

Trendwatching: UK supermarket Tesco plans to introduce carbon footprint labels on all 70,000 products it sells to allow shoppers to compare carbon impacts. Implementation will take a while: the company is currently investigating how to develop a “universally accepted and commonly understood” measuring system. Last year, footwear manufacturer Timberland started placing a “nutritional label” on each shoe box, educating consumers […]

Bigfork Eagle News: Julian Cunningham started Swallow Crest Farm in 1999, a few years after moving his family to this scenic area on LaBrant Road. He taught a preschool for three years before deciding his heart was in farming — and he wanted to grow the healthiest food possible. Local wildlife helps him control pests, for instance. He’s put up […]

Springwise: 3.5 billion wire hangers are tossed into landfills every year, and that’s just in the United States. While the hangers are light, inexpensive and sturdy, they’re not exactly bio-degradable. Hanger Network has developed an alternative: a dry cleaner’s hanger made entirely from recycled paper. EcoHangers are sturdy and cheap. And because they’re paper, they can be completely covered in […]

Popgadget: It’s true, I don’t host many brunches or entertain a lot from home, but if I did, I would definitely get these biodegradable dinnerware sets, not just because they are attractive (call me boring, but I hate paper plates with designs on them, especially seasonal and holiday themes), but because they are made of 100% biodegradable, compostable sugar cane […]

Reader Mark Nagurski alerted us to the Ebay of dumped and useless items, Useful Garbage. From the website: “Recycle your unwanted clutter or anything you deem as being useless- excluding your Partner! Visitors can ‘Dump’ anything they want to get rid of – for someone else to ‘find’ and take off their hands. From antiques and art to cars, TV’s […]

TrendCentral: A growing trend in the UK, brides are the latest consumer group to go socially conscious. Many brides-to-be don’t want to shatter their fantasy diamond with the reality that the diamond industry is often linked to funding civil war and child soldiers in African countries such as Angola, Sierra Leone, and Congo. Thus, young couples are opting for ethical […]

TrendCentral: While they might resemble luxe golf carts, this dealership’s LSVs (low speed vehicles) offer Austin area residents a new alternative to gas-fueled travel. At 50 cents per charge (power for approximately 40 miles), with a one charge per day frequency, owners spend around $180 dollars/year to run their cars with a clean, renewable energy source. While this is clearly […]

Daily Mail: For the first time since it started making trousers for cowboys more than 100 years ago, the famous clothing company is bringing out a pair of “sustainable” jeans to satisfy environmentalists. The cotton is organic, the button on the waistband is made of coconut shell, there are no metal rivets, the dye is from natural compounds include indigo […]