Archive for August, 2009
I’ve never really been on to go in for Guinness World Record attempts, but this one’s pretty cool: The UNEP highlights the latest effort to go down in history as having planted the most trees in a single day without mechanical equipment. Volunteers in Dungarpur, India attempted yesterday to plant 600,000 trees in 24 hours: The volunteers planted mango, neem, teak, and jatropha. Once planted the trees will be adopted by local people — and supervised by the Indian Forestry Service — to ensure that they are water and properly cared for. No word yet on the final tree tally....
Here’s a sobering thought for your Friday morning: Mongabay reports a new study by the Population Reference Bureau shows that by 2011 world population will hit 7 billion people. That’s just twelve years after it hit 6 billion, and 24 since it hit 5 billion: As you may very well be aware, population growth is being driven nearly entirely by the developing world — despite signs in parts of Asia population growth is slowing. In particular, African population is growing most rapidly. The entire continent now has a human population of one billion, with the PRB predicting that in will...
The Reclaim – Samsung and service partner Sprint’s newest green phone – has innovative features that go beyond the bare bones that similar products like Motorola’s W233 Renew phone offers. This eco-conscious smart-phone is 80 percent recyclable and made mostly of corn-based bio-plastics, but that’s not all this compact phone has up its green sleeves. I really really really want one!!!!!! ***(Although there may be some criticism on the sustainability factor of the maize-made material, you can’t deny that Samsung has made giant efforts to produce a product that is not only green, but also services the needs of today’s consumer. Most of us rely on our cellular telephone as...
Big Ben, the famous clock at Britain’s Houses of Parliament, has shown up in a cornfield. Rre-created from more than 500 bales of straw, the 70 ft. sculpture weighs over 20 tons and has a working clock . And it can be recycled when it is taken down after Christmas. What is happening here? It turns out that the local ice cream company, Snugburys, has created the clock to commemorate the creation of the original Big Ben 150 years ago. They are even selling Big Ben shaped ice cream cones to celebrate the occasion. HIT FROM: TREEHUGGER.COM...
Care about green jobs and greening your community? Then pay attention. Green For All and the Hip Hop Caucus have launched a new campaign: Green the Block. Their first major national service event will take place on September 11th as part of the National Day of Service and Remembrance. In addition to the events on Sept. 11, Green the Block will launch programs to educate members of underserved communities about opportunities in the green economy, through job training, entrepreneurship, and increased energy efficiency. I’m signing up for this asap! Cool to see others with the same goals to educate the inner city youth about the...
People of New York, don’t miss your chance to be a part of Summers Streets NYC 2009. There are two Saturdays left when 7 miles of roads will become car free (on August 15 and 22, from 7 AM to 1 PM). It’s very family friendly and there are more than 1,500 free activities. This Saturday the very own street I live on LAFAYETTE in soho was taken over with tons of free bike rentals throughout the day: “A car-free zone was created from 7 AM to 1 PM starting at 72nd Street and traveled mainly along Park Ave to...
Singapore’s Telok Blangah Hill Park is a dreamscape for city-bound nature lovers. A sleek fly-over infrastructure of bridges and platforms elevates visitors above the forest floor to give them a “monkey perspective,” with minimal effect on the greenery below, writes Pop-Up City. The views also include a 360-degree panorama of the city, a reminder that the city isn’t — and needn’t be — far away from the country. Dooooope. Used as an important trading spot beginning in the early 19th century, the park has now found a more stable balance between the goings-on of the city and the buzz of the wilderness....
Skateboards these days are amazing examples of graphic design, and some are practically objets d’art – what a shame that they should to go to a landfill after the boards have lost their pop! Thankfully, Pennsylvania-based Deckstools is here to keep art from the trash heap and to add style to your pad with their striking line of furniture made from reclaimed skateboards. Inspired by the way that skateboards consistently break, designer and craftsman Jason Podlaski hand selects broken board parts, and builds every stool in his Pennsylvania factory. A unique aspect of the design is that the cast aluminum...
It’s hard to say no to a glowing bike, especially when it looks tight and could save your life in a dark intersection. The folks at Bicycle Design pointed us to a Core77 post about the Pulse, a tasty single-speed concept generated by design firm Teague. Designer Dana Krieger calls the Pulse a “tribute to the triangle,” and, at least on paper, it packs a healthy dose of tech-forward features like turn signals, brake lights, and of course the luminous frame. HIT FROM: Treehugger.com...
Jim Denevan’s art is all about etching his ingenuity on sand. Carving on a vast canvas with naturally abundant brushes (wave tossed sticks); he does it without any measuring aids. It’s all freehand stuff. It usually takes him 7 hours or 30 miles of labor to compose, design rather, a single oeuvre. What makes this art unique is his unconcerned attitude toward these creations. Unconcerned since waves wipe them off, but he never utters a word on this. Amazing works of art: 1) In 2005, Jim Denevan debuted his museum compilation at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts in...
