Life Goes On Without Cars in Vauban: "
Martin Specht for The New York Times from a terrific slideshow
Vauban is one or TreeHugger's favorite models of development, with its solar roofs, cooperative ownership, clever design and car-free streets. Elisabeth Rosenthal of the New York Times has a look, concentrating on the issue of cars. But she implies that cars have been regulated and designed out of the picture. She writes:
..."
(Via TreeHugger.)
Design In Motion: Recycling Trucks in Philadelphia: "
The Mural Arts Program of Philadelphia unveiled 10 recycling trucks decorated with bright, bold graphics inspired by the historic textiles collection of The Design Center at Philadelphia University. This project coincided with the introduction of Philadelphia's new single-stream recycling program, in which all recyclable materials can all go into the same receptacle. The trucks were unveiled by Philadelphia Mayor Nutter on a very appropriate day — Earth Day!
The Mural Arts Program of Philadelphia recruited students from the Asian Arts Initiative, Norris Square Neighborhood Project, Waring Elementary School and Wissahickon Charter School to participate in the project.
The students were exposed to the historic textiles collection of The Design Center at Philadelphia University 19th and 20th Century textiles, textile artifacts and tools that help depict that Philadelphia was once a leader in the textile industry.
(Images: Nancy Packer, Collection Curator for the Mural Art Program)
"Train Car Home in Portland: 
This rail car home in Portland was created from a 1949 Portland sleeper car. It's a surprising roomy at 807 square feet and 10 foot ceilings. Did I mention it's for sale? See the price after the jump.
The 'home' is currently listed at $225,000 at LaurieHolland. According to the Web site, since it's not technically real estate, there are no property taxes. Modern interior features include a full electric kitchen, DSL and an incinerator toilet.
Via KGW.com
(Via Re-Nest.)
"PotMaker Seed Starter: 
Want to recycle and start a garden? Try out the PotMaker – it makes plant pots out of recycled newspaper strips. It’s ideal for starting seedlings and is really easy to use – just roll newspaper strips around the form, and no glue is needed. When the plants are large enough, just plant the newspaper pot directly into the garden.
The PotMaker makes starting a garden super easy and efficient, all while making use of recycled paper.
Directions for use:
• Cut newspaper into strips.
• Roll paper around press and fold under end.
• Press into form and remove pot.
• Fill pot with soil and transplant seedling or seeds.
Available online and in most gardening stores for around $13-$18.
Top Image via Canadian Crafter
(Via Re-Nest.)
"Photo via Greenwood Metropolitan District
Wonder where your stimulus dollars are going? The Environmental Protection Agency has awarded $430 million of them to the State of New York for wastewater infrastructure projects. The grant is part of the $4 billion dollars that will be awarded to fund green wastewater infrastructure projects across the country funded under the stimulus bill passed in February...."
(Via TreeHugger.)
"#20309 - The Path to Green Energy is a new set of layers...:
The Path to Green Energy is a new set of layers on Google Earth trying to make it easier for solar and wind farm developers to figure out where they are least likely to meet resistance in their development. "
(Via NOTCOT.ORG.)
"Gathering branches surrounding a tree, artists Agnieszka Gradzik and Wiktor Szostalo use the organic material to create wicker-people that embrace the tree. That’s right, these figures are literally, tree huggers. Rather than something out of a sixties, however, the sculptures tend to resemble people from a timeless international population. At the recent 2008 UN Conference on Climate Change in Poland, visitors could stand in line with several wicker-people in an exhibit entitled ‘Lonely Tree, Lonely People’ — all waiting for its chance to show some limb-y love to the symbolically lone tree. Though its creators are based in St. Louis, Missouri, the Tree Hugger Project has a population that spans the globe.
"Greenest Eco Resort in the World Coming to California?: 
Image via Monterey Bay Shores
The 'greenest ecoresort in the world' is set to be built in Monterey, California this February. The resort, called Monterey Bay Shores, will be built on 29 acres of a sand dune that was previously destroyed by 60 years of mining. It will actively provide habitats for endangered species, boast 5 acres of living roofs, and get 30 % of its power from onsite solar and wind systems. The developers claim that 'every single detail of Monterey Bay Shores Ecoresort encompasses principles of sustainability and conservation..."
(Via TreeHugger.)
"Charles Walker and Martin Self, profs of the Architectural Association in London, hold a competition for the design of a summer pavilion. The winning entry: 'Swoosh,' created by the Mexican student Valeria García Abarca.
(Want more? See NOTCOT.org and NOTCOT.com)"
"STINGplus Nettle Fabric Wins Sustainability Award: 
Would you buy an office chair upholstered with stinging nettles? What if you knew nettle fibers are stronger than cotton and finer than hemp, and that nettles grow like weeds without the benefits of the tons of pesticides and mass quantities of water required for cotton? What if the natural fire retardant properties of the nettle fabric means your seat covering is free from dangerous brominated fire retardants? What if nettles make the most sustainable fabric ever?...?
(Via TreeHugger.)
"Rock Row Breaks Ground For LEED Certified Housing:
Los Angeles recently saw the groundbreaking of Rock Row, the city’s first Small Lot Subdivision to be certified under the USGBC’s new LEED for Homes program. Developed by Heydey Partnership, the complex is aiming to prove that modern sustainably built homes can be affordable as well. As a result, homes in Rock Row, located in an historic neighborhood in L.A., will range from $475,000 to $550,000. (more…)"
One of my favorite artists, Andrew Wyeth, died in his sleep today at the age of 91. He was well known for his painting "Cristina's World," a treasured image in my mind and the minds of many others. As part of a three-generation family of well known artists his often colorless and melancholy style is hard to forget and has left a lasting impression on many. Were lucky to have him as long as we did. His work will be missed.
Andrew Wyeth:
"I do an awful lot of thinking and dreaming about things in the past and the future _ the timelessness of the rocks and the hills...all the people who have existed there,...I prefer winter and fall, when you feel the bone structure in the landscape...the loneliness of it...the dead feeling of winter. Something waits beneath it; the whole story doesn't show."
"I think anything like that...which is contemplative, silent, shows a person alone...people always feel is sad. Is it because we've lost the art of being alone?"
google image via New York Times
Allison Arieff asks the question in the New York Times, and reminds us that we should no longer be worrying about how we are going to design communities in the future; Right now we have to worry about what we are going to do with the communities we are left with...."
(Via TreeHugger.)
"Father of 'deep ecology' dies at 96: "OSLO -- Norway's perhaps most famous philosopher Arne Naess, who invented the concept of 'deep ecology,' has died at the age of 96, his publisher said Tuesday.
'Arne was a very open-minded person, not very orthodox, and interested in many fields,' his editor Erling Kagge told AFP, confirming that Norway's foremost philosopher of the 20th century had died in his sleep late Monday.
'In addition to being an internationally respected philosopher, he had become in Norway an important public person concerning how people regarded themselves,' he said.
Born in Oslo in 1912, Naess received his philosophy degree from the University of Oslo in 1933 before continuing his studies in Paris and Vienna.
Naess, who at the age of 27 became the youngest person ever to hold a professorship at the Oslo university, was deeply influenced by 17th century Dutch philosopher Benedict de Spinoza and was drawn to theories grounded in nature and ecology.
He developed the concept of 'deep ecology,' according to which humankind is simply considered an integral part of the global environment.
'Deep ecology is a movement where you not only do good for the planet for the sake of humans, but also for the sake of the planet itself,' Naess said in an interview published on the University of Oslo's website.
Also a famous mountaineer, Naess in 1950 led the first expedition to reach the 7,708-metre (25,288-foot) peak of Tirich Mir in Pakistan.
As a pacifist and activist, Naess did not shy away from direct actions, like the time in 1970 when he joined a group of demonstrators who chained themselves in front of the Mardal waterfall on Norway's western coast, successfully blocking plans to build a dam there.
Just over a decade later he participated in a similar attempt to stop the planned damming of the Alta river in northern Norway, but the action failed.
Naess, who was the married father of two, was also the uncle of financier, mountaineer and ex-husband of singer Diana Ross, Arne Naess Jr., who died in a climbing accident in 2004."
source:'Agence France-Presse
(Via Grist News.)
" Let’s Make 2009 A Better Year for Wolves:
'
Saturday's Albuquerque Journal ran a story noting the extreme challenges facing the Mexican gray wolf (the common name for the gray wolf population in the Southwest).'' Unlike their cousins to the north, the reintroduction of gray wolves in the Southwest has not produced significant population gains.' In fact, there are only about 50 Mexican gray wolves in the wild--half the numbers that scientist hoped to reach by 2006.' The reintroduction program has suffered from a lot of problems, including poaching and the liberal culling of wolves found to have killed cattle."
Please read more of this article via this link...
Switchboard, from NRDC
I think this is a pretty fabulous idea. It looks as though it might be a bit small, but then again, a big sink full of water could get pretty heavy. Also, I'm not too sure why there are indentations in each corner...that seems like they might be rather annoying to keep clean as water would tend to pool in those. But overall I really love this idea!!! (Via Re-Nest.)"
"It's a removable sink meant to help you capture water that might otherwise be lost down the drain.
via Gizmodo
The Hostel With Wings Going Nowhere Soon: "
We wrote earlier about the creative recycling of a 747 into a hostel at Stockholm Arlanda Airport. After all, if you can't afford the five thousand bucks to sleep on a 380 to Dubai, you can squeeze into the former queen of the skies for fifty bucks if you share with two others, 'one to sleep with and one who promises not to watch.' What a great idea!
It is now two weeks from opening and Doug Lansky of the Guardian gets a sneak preview. Watch an interesting four minute video here..."
(Via TreeHugger.)
Comparable high grade steel bottles don’t have the compelling images that Earthlust has (like the ecofabulous adored owl). And, though, many aluminum bottles have excellent designs, questions about what the ‘liner’ in them really is still prevail. Earthlust bottles are made from high quality #304 food grade stainless steel, which is naturally safe unlined – no need to worry about chips and dents! The caps are made out of BPA-free polypropelene #5 (my least favorite part of these undeniably cool receptacles). Designs are printed with non-toxic paint and most of the art is limited edition, so it is unlikely that your child’s container will accidentally be taken home by the wrong kid.
For ease and convenience, each bottle comes with a high quality carabiner so that you’ll always have your stylish bottle close, whether you’re scaling a mountain or running errands. Priced from $16-$21, saving the earth (and your pocketbook) never looked so sexy!"Swedish crematorium plans to partially heat nearby town: "A crematorium in the Swedish town of Halmstad, which has been criticized for its heavy pollution, has announced plans to use the waste heat from its body-burning operations to heat its own facilities and eventually also heat other buildings in town. Cemetery director Lennart Andersson said of the plan, 'Of course it's possible that there will be some discussion about the ethics of this, but from our side, this is a purely environmental idea. There will be no difference in the ashes.'
source:'The Telegraph"
(Via Grist News.)
If they can pull this off I will sing praises in their favor!!!!
"Citing the example of Washington University in St. Louis, students at Penn State are pressing administration to enact a total ban on the sale of plastic water bottles on campus. And doing it in a somewhat humorous way like gathering to sing parodies of Christmas carols with lyrics like ‘December’s hotter than J. Lo,’ and ‘O Scorching Night’ to the tune of the more traditionally acclaimed ‘O Holy Night’.
But the question is; will it work?"
(Via TreeHugger.)
BIKE POWER: The Pedal-Powered Cell Phone Charger: "
Imagine never having to plug your cellphone into the wall again! Now you can just plug it into your bike with Oscar L’Hermitte’s ‘Watts Maker’ cell phone charger. The system consists of a small kinetic generator that provides power to your mobile phone while you take an evening ride around the neighborhood or pedal to work. This model takes about 90 minutes to go from dead to fully charged, and it produces energy as long as the wheels keep turning.
"In yet another late-in-the-game not-so-green move, the Bush administration on Friday issued a regulation that exempts factory farms from having to report to the government about releases of hazardous air pollution from animal waste.
source:'Associated Press
see also, in Grist:'The EPA and FDA send last-minute gifts to the meat industry"
(Via Grist News.)
Image credit: Sky Vegetables
"Vertical Farming Innovators Convene for Two-Day Summit
Vertical farming, or building-integrated sustainable agriculture – call it what you will – the idea of commercial or residential buildings that can produce a significant proportion of their residents’ food needs is certainly an attractive one on paper, though the world is currently short on working prototypes of any scale. From Mithun architects’ vertical farm in Seattle to..."
(Via TreeHugger.)
image source
"For all of those who think drafting behind transport trailers is a great way to save fuel, take a pass on the chicken trucks. A new study by scientists at Hopkins' Bloomberg School of Public Health has found that following them can result in elevated levels of bacteria in and on your car, including bacteria that are resistant to antibiotics used to treat humans.
Although the scientists stayed at least three car lengths behind the transports, the National Chicken Council accused them of 'tailgating.'..."
(Via TreeHugger.)
"Seabrook Mixed Use Community: An Example of New Urbanism, and Somewhere I'd Love to Live: 
Green, mixed use communities are popping up all over the country - emphasizing an intelligent combination of housing, recreation, shared space and community involvement. Seabrook mixed use development, is located on the beautiful beaches of Washington State, just 30 minutes from Olympic National Park.
Comprised of traditional, modestly sized (770 sq. ft and up) singled houses placed in clusters with shared green space, the town is almost too perfect. With the abundance of footpaths and low traffic, cars are quickly replaced with bicycles - even mentioned on their Web site 'What's with the bikes?'
Though it is masterfully marketed via the Seabrook Web site, they pay careful attention to the environment while they build. Native plants are used throughout the properties, crushed oyster shells line the alleys, driveways and walkways and houses are built with sustainable materials. Homes come outfitted with the most current and energy efficient appliances, and much of their building uses local reclaimed wood. All trees removed from the site are milled locally and put back into the landscape, the few lawns are shared and cared for organically, as is the whole landscape. And they're slogan, 'nothing is greener than something lasts,' is quite true.
Cottage rentals are available for vacationers and it is much of a vacation destination. But I could imagine living here or retiring here, once my days of DIY are over.
But green paradise doesn't come cheap starting in the low $400k for a 770 sq. ft. cottage.
Seabrook via the Seattle Times "
(Via Re-Nest.)
Good old salt n’ peppa get a face-lift with these sexy shakers from Branch Home. Handmade in Brooklyn, these culinary companions will take the focus off any cooking mishaps with their clean lines and classic stature. The salt shaker is made from reclaimed poplar wood, treated with a low-VOC milk paint and the pepper shaker is made from reclaimed walnut wood. Both have a natural cork stopper. In traditional colors, the shakers go with any dining décor while still putting a little sass into your seasoning.
Presented in a recycled-paper gift box, at $56 the pair are a savory treat for the tabletop – and any deserving foodie on your holiday list." (Via ecofabulous.)
"artist rendering: FPL
There are bigger solar projects in the works , but the new Martin Next Generation Solar Energy Center near Indiantown, Florida can make a couple of ‘first’ claims (for the time being at least): It is the largest solar thermal plant outside of California; and, is the first hybrid solar power facility in the world to connect to an existing combined-cycle natural gas power plant.
Construction on the 75MW solar thermal plant began yesterday, with the plant expected to come online in 2010. More..."
(Via TreeHugger.)
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