Blogs & Ecology

I have been convinced of the environmental benefits of bag-in-box wines, as they carry more wine in less packaging than any other form. (glass is heavy and is usually down-cycled, tetra-paks are light but not very green). Unfortunately, the selection is limited, the packaging is cheezy and the contents are a blend of who knows what. One Australian reader says they are known locally as "goon bags. You can get 4L of truly awful wine for about eight bucks thanks to these things."

TreeHugger readers have a love/hate relationship with London designer Ross Lovegrove; most loved his solar trees and hated his car on a stick. He is at it again with his Alpine Capsule,

A compact shelter where one may spend the evening admiring the stars and the beautiful surrounding mountain range. It would offer the opportunity of overnight stays within a spectacular 360 degree view.

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Summer Rayne Oakes and a purple ballet flat from Zoe & Zac
Image credit: ArtistInterviews.com/ Cohn & Wolfe

On Planet Green, Kelly is cooking up a series of one pot meals. She tries to find cooking techniques and recipes for people without a lot of time (who usually buy too much takeout) or money (not uncommon these days) so these meals are "fast, easy, nutritious, delicious and cheap."

What she and her readers need is the Pot Plate, designed by Joong-Ho Choi & Hyun-Soo Choi to reduce the number of dishes and the space required for them all. You cook your food inside and used the compartmentalized lid as a serving tray.

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We have been showing some of the work of students at London's Architectural Association School of Architecture, where they were looking at models for integrating food production into the fabric of the city.

Taebeom Kim envisions a Gastronomic Garden. Pruned writes:

Just don't wax your floors too well before buying into Jonas & Jonas furniture that leans against the wall and has just two legs. They say that "the scratch and shock-resistant body of this furniture is made of high pressure laminate and allows for any kind of strain" but I would be nervous about someone accidentally kicking a leg and having it collapse.

But I do like the minimalist look and it certainly doesn't take up much space. ...

Dutch designer Marieke Staps has built a lamp with the LEDs powered by soil. She writes:

"Free and environmentally friendly energy forever and ever. The lamp runs on mud. The metabolism of biological life produces enough electricity to keep an LED lamp burning. The mud is enclosed in various cells. These cells contain copper and zinc that conduct the electricity. The more cells there are , the more electricity they generate. This technique offers a wealth of possibilities. The only thing the lamp needs is a splash of water every now and then."

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Architects and designers love flat roofs; they not only look cool but if you design them properly they can permit high-level ventilation and keep the house cool. This one, designed by Studio Dror, "creates a wind tunnel circulating breezes in the summer heat."

Indeed, but who wants all that ventilation in winter and what about snow loads?
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For all the talk of green design and eco lifestyles, it’s odd that Australia has so few events for businesses, organisations and institutions to showcase their wares in this area. Melbourne does have its very well attended Sustainable Living Festival, where last year they also managed to hold the World’s Largest Green Drinks party. But Sydney, while having a few smaller community level green days is not quite so blessed in events that promote the bigger picture.

We were delighted when Casa Decor, one of the leading interior design shows taking place in cities like London, Miami, Milan, Madrid or Lisbon, chose sustainability as this year’s theme for the Barcelona edition. After more than 38 exhibitions all around the world, presenting the latest in interior design, decoration and art, the Barcelona team has made an effort to motivate this year’s exhibiting designers to go green, under the slogan Pathway to a Sustainable Environment or Rumbo Sostenible in Spanish. But have they managed we wonder?

There is so much to learn from this Women's Health Care Centre in Burkina Faso by FARE Studio. It just won the Health Category Award at the World Architecture Festival.

It mixes local materials, simple technologies, careful siting and control of sun and wind to build an off-grid, solar powered facility....

Industrial designer Michael Lambourn has an idea that might help reduce bicycle theft: integrate a dye pack, like the kinds built into some fire alarm pulls and clothing tags, that that explodes and covers the bicycle and thief in loud purple dye.

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image by lowie

Bronwyn Lowenthal has been knitting for years--we first met her at London Fashion Week where she had her vintage scarves and hand-knit sweaters and dresses on display. She makes use of traditional handicrafts--hand-knitting, crochet, hand-embroidery and hand-stitching in all of her pieces. Then she put out a book on knitting which was stylish and easy enough for beginners to take the leap. She has always delivered her orders by bicycle.

Industrial designer James Thomas loves bikes, and blogs about them at Bicycle Design. He thinks that most bike designs fail for people taking up cycling as a serious mode of transportation.