From Beer and Wine Bottles to Recycled Glass Furniture

Glass makes such a beautiful recycled material for countertops and furniture – there’s just something about its sparkle that makes it stand out as an eco-friendly choice. And, there’s plenty of it out there – just think how many beer, wine and other glass bottles get thrown away all across the country where recycling facilities aren’t available (or people are just too lazy).

A company called Green Grove Design debuted a new type of recycled glass material International Contemporary Furniture Fair last week. Robal Glass is made of 100% recycled glass encased in clear, soy-based resin for a durable surface that’s also beautiful and modern.

Designer Scott Grove produces interior and exterior furnishings, art and accessories using Robal Glass as a primary material. Current available colors include Cobalt, Amber, Polar, Tundra, Caribbean, Prairie, Ocean, Forest and Jungle; custom colors can be created.

“I’ve always been intrigued by new materials, and Robal Glass sparkles with a three-dimensional aesthetic that draws you in,” said Grove. “To be a part of this new venture, creating and designing beautiful pieces from what would have been industrial and consumer castoff is particularly gratifying and adds an entirely new level of cultural responsibility to my work.”

Link [Green Grove Design] via [Earth 911]

Everyday Objects Transformed into Eco Art

When you find yourself with a pile of cardboard toilet paper rolls, what do you do with them? Throw them in the recycling bin or compost pile, use them to grow seedlings in the spring or give them to your kid to be turned into an art project. But artist Yuken Teryua shows how these mundane objects can be transformed into surprisingly beautiful art that inspires and amazes.

Yuken’s ‘Everyday Objects’ series consists of items like pizza boxes, a McDonald’s bag, flags, shopping bags, plastic bottles and other things that would have otherwise ended up in the waste stream. Silhouettes of trees are a common theme, emphasizing the connection between these throwaway objects and the natural world. Don’t read too much into Yuken’s use of these materials, however. The Japanese artist prefers to leave politics and polarizing ideas out of his work.

From Inhabitat:

The artist shows a knack for seeing potential in every day objects to become something eye-catching, and believes that while artwork is a reflection of the artist’s beliefs — it is also important that artwork engages its viewers.  Yuken says:

I feel that my work shouldn’t only have the function of conveying the artist’s message. My works have a right to simply be beautiful or offer any kind of attraction.

Yuken’s recycled papercraft art is especially beautiful, with delicate branches seeming to spring organically from such unexpected places. Check out all of his work at YukenTeryuaStudio.com.

Link [Inhabitat] + [Yuken Teryua]

The Bizarre and Amazing Found-Object Sculpture of Nemo Gould

A centipede made of old bundt cake pans. Nightmarish rabbits built from car parts, antlers, wheels and real dentures. Statuesque, alien-like creatures masterfully cobbled together from the randomest bits of junk you can imagine. This is the artwork of Nemo Gould, a sculptor who uses all found objects to create often-interactive works that are mesmerizing in their uniqueness.

From Nemomatic, Nemo Gould’s website:

With years of accumulating post-consumer waste and a lifetime of absorbing pop culture imagery, Nemo Gould has been creating his signature style of kinetic metal and found object sculpture for over 20 years. Old vacuum cleaners, dead bugs, used dentures and sewing machine motors all find their unerringly rightful place in his surreal creatures and abstract sculptures, which have attracted museums, galleries and eccentric art collectors throughout the Bay Area and abroad.

Of his work, Gould says,

What makes a thing fascinating is to not completely know it.  It is this gap in our understanding that the imagination uses as its canvass.  Salvaged material is an ideal medium to make use of this principle.  A “found object” is just a familiar thing seen as though for the first time.  By maintaining this unbiased view of the objects I collect, I am able to create forms and figures that fascinate and surprise.  These sculptures are both familiar and new.  Incorporating consumer detritus with my own symbology, they are the synthesis of our manufactured landscape and our tentative place within it– strong and frail at the same time.

Get a fascinating look into the process of creating these wondrous works in the ‘News’ section of Gould’s website.

Link [Nemomatic]

DIY: Make An Eco-Friendly Valentine’s Day Card

This Valentine’s Day,  give your special someone a gift that’s personal and eco-friendly. In this video, New-York based artist/designer Shiho Masuda shows you how to transform a mailing envelope and magazine pages into a 3-D Valentine’s Day card.

Let’s Talk About (Eco)Sex – A Step By Step Guide to the Perfect Green Date

You’ve been working so hard lately trying to ‘save the world’. You feel it’s time to let your hair down and have a healthy, precious dose of passion. It is Valentine’s Day after all. Whether you want to keep your own ethics in check or are on a mission to woo the greenest batchelor(ette) in town, EarthFirst.com offers you exclusive green-hued sex tips!

Staying in is the eco going out:
1. Woo with some homemade sexual desire-laden dishes. You will automatically cut your carbon emissions by limiting your travel to the restaurant. It’s time to make your kitchen the sexiest eco diner in town.  Buy good quality food from a local, organic store that can provide you with all the aphrodisiacs nature offers. Avoid the oysters as that increases the shortage burden on seafood stocks. Instead, go for the seasonal options of pumpkin and squashes in winter and get busy on the strawberries in summer. Always have a healthy dose of onion and garlic, and make sure you finish with a serotonin-laced fairly traded chocolate dessert for that stimulating alkaloid sugar rush. Dark chocolate is thought to have more anti-oxidants and boost blood antioxidant levels by nearly 20% and is not as energy intensive in its production!

2. Set the sensual scene. Make sure you’ve set up a sexy Eco Boudoir before the meal and turn off those electricity guzzling lights and whisper sweet nothings by candle light. Purchase some lovely sustainable, vegan soy candles that won’t disturb your dinner with black smoke (unlike most tea lights). Soy candles burn cooler than other candles so they last longer to help keep the anticipation thrills of the evening running strong.  If you want some sparkle, LED solar powered fairly lights will also do the trick. Turn off the telly (at source, not standby) and get some world loving chilled tunes on. Digital radio station Chill FM has some very happy vibes, or if you really want to impress, hire a local quartet to serenade you at the table. Prepare to make your own music as you surprise your lover with the Pants to Poverty good pant world of Fairtrade, organic cotton underwear.

3. Get wet. Save water and bathe together or have a shower a deux. Why not use a timer to really notch up the gear into something quick and steamy? Indulge in some organic pleasures with essential oil based products that stimulate your senses, such as rosemary, bergamot, patchouli and fresh citrus scents. Tea tree and mint can add to the tingling sensation too. For other ways to stay moist why not reach for the lubrication? British company Yes! bring you the world’s first and only Soil Association certified organic range of intimacy products that are also Vegetarian Society approved. Using pure plant gums to replace the usual glycerine or silicone ingredient base, they are available in both oil and water based formats and perfect for green glideability.

4. Protect yourself, protect the planet. If you’re not ready for an organic sprog bounding around just yet and not too sure about the au naturale withdrawal method, then you will want a latex condom, made from the sap of the rubber tree. Cut out condoms containing additives that thwart biodegradation and those with toxins such as polyurethane (also known as PU).  Why not give the rubber tappers in South Asia who make your condoms a fairer deal by purchasing some brightly coloured French Letter condoms? Condomi have also got Vegan Society approved (occasionally coconut flavoured) condoms in their Virtual Skinwear range that is also biodegradable. Whatever you do, don’t flush the remnants of your evening’s passion down the bog. Other contraceptive measures such as The Pill have been reported by the University of New Brunswick to alter the hormones of fish in the water, so you may want to look into other options such as the coil or diaphragm.

5. Get frisky with nature. Avoid plastic, sweatshop manufactured sex toys and opt for ethical wooden objects instead, such as FSC certified spanking paddles from UK based Coco-de-Mer. You can even recycle your rabbit and other sex toys if you so please.  If you fancy sharing further thrills, then why not embark in some eco porn? German based activists have created F**k For Forest (FFF), a registered, not-for-profit online website where erotic activists all over the globe will give you some frisky forest fun and ensure all the money goes back to various ecological projects.

Words: Jen Marsden
Eco sexpert Jen Marsden is a UK based writerand author of the Green Guide for Weddings

Hot Green Gear: The Naked Binder

Whether you’re a student, a professional, or just trying to organize your important paperwork, 3-ring binders are a must. Too bad most of them are made from cheap plastic and fall apart fairly quickly, leading you to throw them away more often than you’d like. But the next time you find yourself in need of a new one, check out Naked Binder, a company that makes a series of great-looking 3-ring binders made from 100% recycled board (97% of which is post-consumer waste).

Naked Binders contain no plastics, no decorations, no vinyl – and they’re completely recyclable. They come completely naked (bare board), wrapped in Graphite Gray paper or with a spine wrap of durable library-grade 100% cotton book-binding cloth applied with water-based glue.

The Project Binder, with the cloth-wrapped spine, comes in your choice of 8 colors. The Architect Binder is made to fit larger paper – up to 11”x17”  – and can be purchased with or without a spine wrap. Recycled paper tabs are also available.

Check it out at NakedBinder.com.

Link [Naked Binder]

High School Marching Band Goes Green

When the Amador Valley High School Band isn’t making music, they’re making the world a greener place with help from the Go Green Initiative.

According to their site,

The Go Green Initiative is a simple, comprehensive program designed to create a culture of environmental responsibility on school campuses across the nation. Founded in 2002, the Go Green Initiative unites parents, students, teachers and school administrators in an effort to make real and lasting changes in their campus communities that will protect children and the environment for years to come.

Keep up the good work kids!

The World’s First Carbon Neutral Cell Phone

Motorola has unveiled the world’s first carbon neutral cell phone, the Renew W233. Tackling the massive problem of e-waste, Motorola designed the Renew W233 to be the first certified Carbonfree cell phone on the market with 100% recyclable housing made from recycled water bottles.

Inhabitat reports that an astounding 426,000 cell phones are retired every single day in the United States, with most of them ending up in landfills. That is definitely a mind-boggling amount of waste, and as we’ve seen, e-waste isn’t pretty and is killing thousands of poor residents in developing countries where the waste is dumped.

From Inhabitat:

Motorola’s Renew W233 cellphone features an admirable set of sustainable features that directly address the phone’s carbon footprint and life cycle. By partnering up with Carbonfund.org Motorola offsets the energy to manufacture, distribute, and operate the phone by investing in renewable energy sources and reforestation. Once the phone reaches the end of its life cycle it can be easily recycled by placing it in a prepaid envelope that is provided in the box. Additionally, the phone’s packaging consumes 22% less material and the manual is printed on post consumer recycled paper with soy-based inks.

It’s about time that companies begin thinking about where their products will end up once their conventional usage is completed. After all, how can we as consumers be responsible for properly disposing of such items?

It’s nice that this phone has a recyclable housing, and it’s a commendable step forward for Motorola, but we’ve got to start demanding that manufacturers take responsibility for ALL parts of their products. Otherwise we’ll never stop the mountains of toxic e-waste from accumulating.

Link [Inhabitat]