Save the Environment

The next time your children ask for a pet, why don’t you suggest a worm? I know it doesn’t sound that great at first but our slimy, wriggly little lowly friends have a lot to offer the eco-conscious. A worm is environmentally friendly, reduces waste, doesn’t take much to look after and better still, the lowly worm is a pet that you do not have to clean up after. In fact a worm‘s waste is exactly why you would want to keep them. What is a wormery? A wormery is a simply-designed bin Read more

Electrolux will be announcing the winner of its 2010 Design Lab Compact Living competition later this month.  Here’s a look at the eight futuristic finalists: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M0cxYgoja48 You can pop over to the Design Lab site to vote for your favorite.  I could probably do without the virtual reality cooking gizmo. Read more

There’s a new green fashionista on the block. To celebrate the Grand Opening of Melissa Dion’s ecolissa.com, an eco and vegan conscious fashion site for women — you’ll receive 10% off your first order of already reasonably priced threads.  Some personal faves (above) – Cholla Elroy dress and Second Eco Denim jeans.  Just enter GO10 [...] Read more

After debuting the world’s first hybrid tugboat in 2009, the Port of Long Beach is partnering again with Foss Maritime Company to retrofit an existing tugboat with hybrid technology. The ship called the Campbell Foss is a conventional dolphin tugboat assisting ships in the San Pedro Bay. It will be fitted with motor generators, batteries and control systems by Foss at one of their shipyards.  The retrofit should cut 1,340 tons of CO2 emissions and save 100,000 gallons of fuel per Read more

It sounds like a good idea: Use electricity to compress air, stuff it in a tank and use the power expelled by the air’s release to power a vehicle. Seems like a good idea, certainly a lot easier to understand than nano-constructed cathodes on a lithium ion cell. And several companies have been actively attempting to build cars powered by conpressed air for quite some time. We at EcoGeek have been excited about them. The two biggest of these companies are MDI, a French company and Tata Read more

Junichi and Toru – the ‘Tokyo Two’ This will be the first blog Toru and I have written together, as up until recently our heavy bail restrictions have meant that we could not be in the same room or even talk to each other without a lawyer present. The verdict in our trial is approaching, and on Monday September 6 we will know what our fate is. We don’t really know what the result would be, all we know now is that it is going to show the status of Japanese democracy. Read more

When the German Minister of Economics and Technology recently endorsed a Genetically Engineered (GE) potato, he said “no” to public opinion, “no” to the health and safety concerns of scientists, “no” to biodiversity, “no” to farmers’ livelihoods and “no” to German food security.   The only things he said “yes” to were the demands of the potato’s owners, the chemical giant BASF. The minister, Rainer Read more

At the Pasadena Convention Center, the Women in Green Forum is bringing together professional women (and yes, a few men) from various industries and functions to discuss topics from finance to fashion. Yesterday afternoon, women with sustainability leadership roles at AEG, Interface, and Walmart shared ideas on what can be done to get one’s organization to move responsibly towards achieving that triple bottom line. Read more

In the context of accounting, an asset is defined as any item of economic value that a corporation owns, especially those that can be converted to cash. Examples include land, equipment, inventory and the like. Intangibles, such as patents, trademarks and goodwill (only recorded during times of acquisition) can also be quantified for the balance [...] Read more

Get ready for super-charged solar cells! MIT researchers announced this week that they have developed self-assembling solar cells that can be broken down and rebuilt repeatedly, much like plant cells. The solar cells constantly renew themselves, which means the technology could ultimately lead to longer-lasting commercial cells. Read the rest of MIT Develops Self-Assembling Solar Read more

We love seating arrangements that inspire people to play, but these stools designed by Marina68 are especially awesome thanks to their quirky nature. Set side-by-side or stacked on top of one another, these charming little stools look like a swarm of cute critters ready to run around the room. Each Tupa Stool is compact, easily movable — and best of all — made from recyclable cork, which makes them a stylish and sustainable way to add a bit of fun to your living room. + Marina68 Read more

At TreeHugger we like cork, that warm material that can be harvested without chopping down trees, is fully renewable and biodegradable and can be shaped into many funky objects apart from stoppers to keep the wine in the bottles. The designers at studio Marina68 in Barcelona have worked with this local material and created a series of furniture, that embrace craftsmanship and eco-friendly materials. Have a look below for some of our favourites….Read the full story on TreeHugger Read more

photo via 350.org Big props to David Letterman for bringing on Bill McKibben earlier this week to talk to Letterman’s 4 million nightly viewers about global climate change and Bill’s 350.org project. 350.org has a savvy campaign to get the White House to put solar panels back on the roof after Ronald Reagen had them taken off in the 80s. Dave asked some sharp questions about nuclear power and political inaction, and Bill, as always, was ready with sharper answers that added some Read more

Method continues it’s expansion of eco-cleaning products and has released its first laundry detergent. Just looking at the bottle you know it’s going to be different, it’s an unusual shape and has a pump on the top proudly stating that “4 PUMPS = 1 WASH” and that this 300ml bottle is equal to 25 washes. Impressive stuff. Method Laundry Detergent has a patent-pending formula which “seeks out dirt and stains” and means that you only need to use a Read more

I know we have a lot of readers from Southern California. Sure the weather is great, and the people are generally friendly, but for me it is just too crowded and congested to ever call home. Plus, for such a progressive place, there is a surprising lack of good public transportation. Then again, California has been making big strides towards electric and hybrid vehicles, whether en masse or one municipality at a time. Give credit where credit is due, I always say. Much credit is due the Read more