Green Environment

Opine away. Via cartoonist Stephanie McMillan

If your walls are looking a bit bland, how about lighting them up with this glamorous LED wallpaper by Mestyle? Spotted at ICFF at during New York Design Week, this innovative application of LEDs caught the eye of the Inhabitat Team with its subtle but stylish glow. The illuminated wallpapers are available as a collection of 22 unique designs, each depicting a different theme. Read the rest of Lights Up Your Walls with Mestyle’s LED-Embedded Wallpaper Permalink | Add to del.icio.us | digg Post tags: green home decor, green interiors, Handcrafted Wallpapers, High Tech Wallpaper, ICFF, International Contemporary Furniture Fair, LED lighting, LED wallpaper, Mestyle, Modular Lamp, new york design week

A floor lamp, bedside lamp and reading lamp all in one, S7 is a versatile new lighting design by Structures. Founded by sailor turned designer Nicolas Pichelin, Structures developed the fascinating and flexible LED lamp to have an interchangeable head which can be rotated 360 degrees. This ultra versatile lamp is being sold by Ameico is one of our green picks from New York Design Week this year. Read the rest of Structures Showcases Its Snakelike S7 LED Lamp at New York Design Week Permalink | Add to del.icio.us | digg Post tags: "energy efficiency", Flexible LED Lamp, green lighting, ICFF, International Contemporary Furniture Fair, Modular Lamp, new york design week, New York Design Week 2013, Nicolas Pichelin, S7 LED Lamp, S7 Push and Play Lamp, Snakelike LED Lamp, Structures

Imagine taking 6-20 plates of food and dumping them in the trash, perfectly fresh and edible. Off they go to the landfill. Obviously, none of us would behave so wastefully. And yet that’s precisely the effect each time any of us consumes meat, since the vast majority of the calories consumed by a chicken, pig, or other animal goes into keeping that animal alive (or into producing bones, blood, and other parts humans don’t consume). Only a small fraction of those calories is turned into flesh. The vast inefficiency of funneling crops through animals means that eating meat is –according to the United Nations – “one of the major causes of the world’s most pressing environmental problems, including global warming, land degradation, air and water pollution, and loss of biodiversity.” via Bruce Friedrich: Eating As Though the Environment Mattered.

With the warm weather comes a plethora of farmer’s markets that sprout up every spring. They can be an overwhelming experience, with so many stands and fresh produce to navigate. You may find yourself puzzled and going home empty-handed, or on the other hand, buying foods you’re unsure how to use, leading to waste. So what’s a shopper to do? Here are my tips for making your trip to the farmer’s market cost-effective, successful, and fun. Go in With a Plan Get More Bang for Your Buck Be Adventurous Don’t Be Afraid to Ask Questions via Rachel Berman: Foraging the Farmer’s Market.

The Retyrement Plan is a collection of outdoor weatherproof furniture items created from old, discarded automobile tires and recycled plastics. Anu Tandon Viera creates a woven upholstery of recycled plastic wrapper waste over a ‘frame’ of tires salvaged from old scooters to discarded trucks. The “virtually indestructible” ottomans are part of a collection that includes occasional chairs, pouffes, charpais and floor cushions made from well-traveled wheels, salvaged fabrics and reclaimed wood and bamboo. + The Retyrement Plan Permalink | Add to del.icio.us | digg Post tags: Anu Tandon Viera, automobile tires, car tyres, recycled furniture, Recycled Materials, Recycled Plastic, retyrement project

Read the rest of Moooi’s Brilliant Heracleum II Chandelier Blossoms With LED Leaves Permalink | Add to del.icio.us | digg Post tags: "energy efficiency", Bertjan Pot, green events, green home decor, green lighting, marcel wanders, Moooi, new york design week

Google X, the tech giant’s top secret experimental branch, recently announced that it will take over Makani Power, a startup that develops wind turbines that fly through the air like a kite, rather than being mounted on massive poles cemented into the ground. The acquisition is just one of many significant investments Google has made into renewable energy technologies, and indicates that airborne wind turbines might soon be ready to move out of the experimental phase and into commercial reality. Read the rest of Google X Buys Airborne Wind Turbine Company Makani Power Permalink | Add to del.icio.us | digg Post tags: "clean energy", "wind turbine", 'kite power, Airborne Wind Turbine, Google, google x, makani power, renewable energy

Well here’s some news: radiation emitted from wireless devices such as cell phones and routers prevents seeds from sprouting; i.e., life from living. Thanks to David Kofahl for passing this one along: “The students placed six trays filled with Lepidium sativum, a type of garden cress into a room without radiation, and six trays of the seeds into another room next to two routers that according to the girls calculations, emitted about the same type of radiation as an ordinary cellphone. Over the next 12 days, the girls observed, measured, weighed and photographed their results. Although by the end of the experiment the results were blatantly obvious — the cress seeds placed near the router had not grown. Many of them were completely dead. While the cress seeds planted in the other room, away from the routers, thrived. The experiment earned the girls (pictured below) top honors in a regional science competition and the interest of scientists around the world…” read more: Student science experiment finds plants won’t grow near Wi-Fi router | MNN – Mother Nature Network.

Following CAP’s piece yesterday that details exactly what it means to use gasoline to travel this Memorial Day weekend, here is an infographic that shows the cost of Big Oil. Gas prices are rising in the Midwest and spot crude oil prices for the West Texas Intermediate benchmark is nearly $5 per barrel higher than last year at this time. The oil industry uses high prices to make big profits, spends them to keep their tax breaks, and then pushes for more dirty, unconventional oil like Canadian tar sands — which will not have any impact on gasoline prices.