Image: Teesha Dunn via flickr When New York City Council Speaker Christine Quinn announced the 59-point-plan, “FoodWorks,” yesterday, she unveiled the city’s latest move to reduce its environmental footprint, and boost the local economy and health of its citizens. The plan is designed to address all aspects of food in the city, from agricultural production through post-consumption…. Read the full story on TreeHugger
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Back in the 60′s the Nutone Kitchen Center was all the rage in high-end kitchens; The idea was that you would have a pile of different appliances and one motor to serve them all, built into the kitchen counter. But in the end it didn’t make a lot of sense as electric motors were relatively cheap. But what if you do not want to use electricity? The mechanism is going to take up a lot more space and perhaps be more expensive. Designer Christoph Thetard has designed the R2B2 “to reduce private electric waste production.”… Read the full story on TreeHugger
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Image via Koostik If you’re looking for an iPhone speaker dock that is energy efficient, you’ll be hard pressed to find something that uses less than the Koostik . It uses zero. Made entirely of solid wood, it amplifies the sound coming from the iPhone’s built-in speaker, giving you louder music without needing to plug anything in. … Read the full story on TreeHugger
Continue reading …The Hidden Cost of Cheap Shrimp: Coral Reef Damage, Mangrove Destruction, Labour Abuse and Health Problems
November 23, 2010 No Comment
Cheap Shrimp: Hidden Costs (Introduction) from UBCjournalism on Vimeo . Shrimp used to be a delicacy; now they are ubiquitous and cheap. TreeHugger has noted that farmed shrimp are “one of the most destructive means by which humans produce food.” Now a new investigative report by the University of British Columbia’s Graduate School of Journalism looks at the shrimp industry in Thailand in terms of coral reef damage, mangrove destruction… Read the full story on TreeHugger
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Image via EcoFactor EcoFactor is an energy management software start-up that recently won a Cleantech Open award. It aggregates data abut your home’s energy use and gives a grade for each zone of the house. The grade reflects how sealed a building is and its energy efficiency levels. While the grade is based on the home, it of course reflects on the owner and we know there are some people who just have to be straight A students. Luckily, EcoFactor also likes straight A students. So when one efficiency-minded customer called in fro… Read the full story on TreeHugger
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Photo: Kelly Rossiter We no sooner get through Thanksgiving when the Christmas party season starts. Here is a simple recipe for roasted almonds that you can serve yourself, or take as a hostess gift. I took these nuts to a party this week and they were a big hit. Like most nuts , they are totally addictive. In fact, I’m snacking on some now as I write this. … Read the full story on TreeHugger
Continue reading …California Paves the Way for Lower-VOC Cleaning Products to Reduce Smog
November 23, 2010 No Comment
Image: Guerrilla Futures via flickr Household cleaning products in the U.S. might soon be a little greener, thanks to a new rule in California that will require companies to reformulate products so they contain fewer volatile organic compounds, or VOCs , which are significant contributors to smog—and pose health hazards for people. The new regulation will cover window cleaners, degreasers, general purpose cleaning sprays and other cleaning products you probably have arou… Read the full story on TreeHugger
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On Thursday night, Americans are thankful for what they have, and on Friday morning, many will go out and get more of it. It’s crazy, especially in these economic times, to be shovelling money into big box stores. Kalle Lasn of Adbusters thought so, and explains the logic behind Buy Nothing Day : Our headlong plunge into ecological collapse requires a profound shift in the way we see things. Driving hybrid cars and limiting industrial emissions is great, but they are band-aid solutions if we don’t address the core problem: we have to consume less. This is the message of Buy Nothing D… Read the full story on TreeHugger
Continue reading …Heatherette designer and former Club Kid Richie Rich wears upcycled eyewear by Highbrow. Photo: Highbrow Designer Jessica Sapick has long had a knack for creating accessories out of unusual materials, from wearing binder clips as barettes in grade school to handcrafting clip-on eyebrows made with recycled materials and broken and unusable eye glass frames–donated from New Eyes for the Needy , a charity that provides new and recycled eyeglasses to the vision-impaired–under her current accessory company named Highbrow
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