We just talked about libraries experiencing a booming business thanks to the recession. And it looks like the crummy economy could lend a helping hand to another business - toy rental.
Rent-A-Toy is a new company that helps parents cut cost and clutter by renting out toys. ...
TreeHugger has shown quite a few classic posters that have relevance today, and a few humorous ones that are updates of the originals. Now ReadyMade commissioned five artists to reimagine the poster art of the GD1 (great depression one) and made them available for free downloading, just in time for the holidays.Nick Dewar writes about his bike poster:
Photo via pixelposition
Ever left a business meeting or conference with a fat wad of business cards that you know you're going to have to spend hours inputting into your electronic contacts list before tossing them into the recycling bin? Or have you ever left a trade show with more brochures and pamphlets than will fit into your grab bag, knowing that you're going to read through them maybe once or twice more, glean the info and then toss them into the recycle bin along with the business cards?
Many of us at TreeHugger may indeed be suffering from an emerging disease called carborexia. It was only a matter of time before someone pegged "too much" concern for the environment as a disease. Word watcher Michael Quinon of World Wide Words explains the origins of the word in the "turns of phrase" section of his latest email dispatch.
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We do go on about the possibilities of downloadable designs, where you can pick the best from around the world and get it printed up at some form of 3D Kinko that might some day be in every neighbourhood.
The designers tell us that "Environmental Design is on Formtanks' agenda and we're looking towards a more sustainable approach to business. With this in mind the 2d3d Group attempts to produce "more from less" through a simple proposition; utilise a single sheet of steel in the most efficient way."
So they cut this intricate and stunning base out of a single sheet, which is then "then hand formed and immaculately finished by experienced engineers."...
A few years ago, after my laptop was stolen, I tried to see if I could do everything that I previously used a computer for in my Palm Treo. I bought a folding keyboard, good headphones, word processing software and more so that my office could fit in my pocket, trying to reduce the cost and quantity of hardware I needed to do my job. (I wrote more about the experiment here)
Industrial design student Kyle A. Koch is trying to do the same thing with his iPhone. ...
photo: Gilbert Rodriguez
In a practical sense, to make the type of changes in theory and practice which many TreeHugger readers would probably like to see happen to make the world a more ecologically sustainable place, we may have to compartmentalize a bit. Overturning the whole system may prove difficult, but at least according to Yale University’s Gus Speth that is the type of change needed.
We show a lot of what we call "downloadable designs" on TreeHugger; as we said on our Absolut World website, "With digital designs we decide what we want from the best in the world, not what Mr. Store Manager picks out." That is why we completely fell in love with Ponoko, an "online space for a community of creators and consumers to use a global network of digital manufacturing hardware to co-create, make and trade individualized product ideas on demand."
We have prattled on about how new technologies will change mass production into mass customization, and how Unto this Last, a store/factory in London, is a prototype of things to come: Instead of driving the minivan off to IKEA, you walk down the street to your neighbourhood CNC equipped shop, choose the design that suits your needs, choose your plywood and size, and they cut them out on the spot.
Roy from Ponoko visited the London shop, and describes it:
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