Cardboard: Music To Your Ears

Two types of cardboard can be recycled: flat cardboard, which is typically used in cereal and shoe boxes, and corrugated cardboard, which has a ruffled layer between the two flat pieces of cardboard and is often used in packing boxes. Check out these audio gadgets that come packaged flat and require assembly, for the geek in you.

Serato lovers, can you handle this?  Human powered record player by GGRP Sound.

Cardboard boombox for your iPod by Suck UK.  Comes with speakers and 4 AA batteries, which I’m sure you’ll want to replace with rechargable batteries.

The cross radio by Ewa Bochen.

To see more cool gadgets made from cardboard, visit Eco Friend.

Refurbished Kicks By Gabriel Dishaw

Nike shoes made from tossed computer bits and electronics.  Junk art at its finest.

Gabriel Dishaw

Recycle Obsolete CD’s (And More) At Best Buy

I’ve dropped off batteries for recycling at Best Buy before but I didn’t know they accepted other items such as cd’s, vaccums and fans.

From their website:

Regardless of where you bought it, what brand it is, or how old it is: bring it to us. We’ll make sure it’s properly and safely recycled. It’s all part of our Greener Together™ program.

And we’ll take just about anything electronic, including TVs, DVD players, computer monitors, audio and video cables, cell phones, and more. Most things are recycled absolutely free, with a few restrictions.

• Three items per household per day.
• Nearly everything electronic, including tube TVs and monitors up to 32″, flat-panel TVs and monitors up to 60″, peripherals, DVD players, home and car audio, cell phones, MP3 players, and cables.
• Desktop or laptop computers with the hard drive removed. See this Geek Squad video for Do-it-Yourself instructions, or we will remove it for $9.99.
• Small electrics, fans and vacuums.
• No cost to the consumer.

What about the plastic cases that the cd’s come housed in?  Check out Green Disk to learn more about getting rid of tech trash.

Intolerable Beauty: Portraits Of American Mass Consumption By Chris Jordan

Cell phones #2, Atlanta 2005 44 x 90″

Crushed Cars #3, Tacoma 2004 44×60″

Recycling Yard #6, Seattle 2004 44×59″

Haunting and thought provoking comes to mind when viewing the photographic works by Chris Jordan, a Seattle-based photographer and environmental advocate.

Every day, 426,000 cell phones are discarded.

Photographer Chris Jordan heard statistics like that and wondered “what, exactly, does that mean? What does that number look like?”

His answer resulted in a unique photographic document that puts into perspective precisely how much is thrown away by otherwise responsible citizens.

I love his work. Check out Running the Numbers and Midway: Message from the Gyre

I have to admit, while house cleaning recently, I was tempted to throw away my Sonicare toothbrush. On the Phillips website, they claim you can recycle the battery and they listed Best Buy and Radio Shack as places to take them to. Well guess what? They fucking lied! I went to both places and my ass got denied. I was so frustrated, I just wanted to toss it. But I came home, read how to take out the damn battery myself and then took it to an e-Cycle drop off. Total pain but I felt good for making the effort.

Please take the time and effort to recycle your gadgets. Don’t toss them in the trash! The electronics don’t recycle themselves. You buy ‘em, you take them to e-Cycle heaven.

Source Lost In A Supermarket

This Should Be Good For The Landfills

Wired reports that CBS has embedded a video ad in Entertainment Weekly. The ad is called a “VIP (video-in-print) promotion” and it works similar to the audio greeting cards. Wired says it works better than Esquire’s e-ink cover did, but the one downside to the ad is that it is loud and there is no volume control.

Let me see.. a 2-5 minute promo and then a lifetime in a landfill. Makes total sense.

Source Wired

Posted by thuy

Samsung Reclaim Eco-phone

The Reclaim is created from 80 percent recyclable bio-plastic material, its packaging is compact and made from 70 percent recycled materials and printed with soy-based inks. Samsung offers only an electronic manual for the phone, available on the Sprint website, in an effort to save paper. It also includes a more efficient Energy Star phone charger.

Two dollars of each Reclaim purchase will benefit Nature Conservancy’s Adopt an Acre conservation program. Sprint also announced efforts to support other green initiatives. It has established environmental design standards and as a corporation it has pledged to reduce paper usage by 30 percent over the next five years.

With technology today, consumers upgrade their phones after 1-1.5 years. That’s a whole lotta electronic waste. Cell manufacturer’s need to take note. Until then, I’ll be patiently waiting, Blackberry.

Source Ecofriend

Posted by thuy

Recycled Camera Strap

Love these camera straps by Photojojo, made from salvaged seat belts of junked cars. They also made guitar straps out of reclaimed belts for Wilco and TV on the Radio.

Posted by thuy

What’s The 411? And Having Technical Difficulties

Hey kids, I always throw up a picture or vid with my posts but something’s broke- it’s either wordpress or my brain- so I’m currently trying to fix that shit. And by “fix that shit” I mean having a noontime cocktail while staring at the screen and wondering why it’s being like that.

Be back soon. For now, please use your imagination- the picture I was going to use was the one of Obama and his fine self walking out of the ocean in Hawaii, dripping wet and..damn, I’ll stop here.

Obama declares June National Oceans Month. The Daily Green

Paul McCartney and Yoko Ono urge for ‘Meat Free Mondays.’ Think you could do it? Winnipeg Sun

Tila Tequila writes anti-fur post on Global Grind and Russell loves her for it. See his post here.

Pasadena gets solar powered trash can-compactors. Must LA always be last? CBS2

Oooh Target stores get busted for dumping hazardous waste. Green Biz

Sitting on your ass collecting unemployment? Start training for ‘green’ jobs now. Just Google it damnit.

Posted by thuy

iRecycle – Earth 911.com iPhone App

iRecycle is an iPhone app that helps you find over 100,000 recycling and disposal locations in the U.S. for over 200 materials where you can drop-off your old cell phones, water bottles, cans, motor oil, and other recyclables. Use iRecycle to get directions and find out what else they accept.

Features:
- Find additional information for each location like hours of operation, other materials accepted (hey, maybe you can recycle all those plastic bags from under your kitchen sink), their Web site, etc.
- Call locations directly from search results
- Auto-complete saves time typing so you can spend more on finding a location convenient to you
- Check your search history to replay old search results

With information provided by local governments, industry insiders, organizations and everyday consumers, you can recycle hundreds of products from packing peanuts to computers. Find out where to go using your iPhone and the free iRecycle app.

This 3rd Party App is available at the Apple iTunes AppStore

Earth911.com

Posted by thuy

The Secret Life Of Cell Phones

Cell phone companies need to make it easier to recycle the cell phones they manufacture. Many consumers would like to do the right thing, if they only knew how.

Watch this video to learn about the life and death of cell phones.

Remember you can drop off electronics at your local Goodwill for free. They will e-cycle it responsibly or you can try to get some bucks for them from Gazelle.

source ecoscraps

posted by thuy

Louis Vuitton: Your Wish Is Their Command

Louis Vuitton is happy to create almost any custom piece, if you’ve got the cash. Last year Karl Lagerfield bought a custom LV trunk to hold his 20 iPods. And now a Chinese gentleman has commissioned something a little more grandiose, and just a little more strange.

The client “wanted to be able to watch television and offer coffee to his friends wherever he traveled in the world, including the remotest desert,” Louis Vuitton’s Patrick-Louis Vuitton recounts. “We agreed to put two solar panels linked to a battery for the flat-screen TV and DVD player, two-way radio, tuner and coffee machine.”

The one-of-a-kind trunk, which is covered in the label’s iconic Damier canvas, took a year to complete and costs tens of thousands of dollars.

One person who probably won’t line up for an exclusive LV trunk is the brand’s creative director, Marc Jacobs. He commented at the recent Met Costume Institute Gala that he doubts trunks will ever make a comeback.

“I don’t think there’s anything practical about traveling with a trunk,” he said. “Luxury travel is traveling with a toothbrush. That’s it, end of story. The people who really live luxurious lives don’t need to pack. They’ve got stuff wherever they go.”

I can’t knock anything with a solar cause but I’m totally laughing at the image of homeboy on a deserted island with this trunk. Seriously?

Source Earth First

Posted by thuy

Fairfax District Goodwill Grand Opening

I’m so excited about the Goodwill that just opened up down the street. I dropped in on the morning of the grand opening and the place was bumping. Balloons, music, families, hipsters and contests.

One thing I noticed was there weren’t any tags on the clothes. Boo-ya! That means not wasting millions of paper price tags as well as the plastic tags they use to connect the price tags to the clothes. They have signs that feature a flat price for the different styles of clothing. Brilliant.

I talked to the manager on my way out and he informed me that they do free e-waste recycling too. You just pull up to their back parking lot and drop it off.

Guess what I did last night? Started going through my stuff to donate and all my dead electronics to recycle. Clearing clutter feels so good.

Once again, I love my hood!

It’s on Beverly/Hayworth. One block west of Fairfax.

Posted by thuy

10 Ways To Change The World Through Social Media

Citizen journalism, open government, status updates, community building, information sharing, crowdsourcing, and the election of a President.

Editor’s note: This is first guest post from Max Gladwell.

Our children will inherit a world profoundly changed by the combination of technology and humanity that is social media. They’ll take for granted that their voices can be heard and that a social movement can be launched from their laptop. They’ll take for granted that they are connected and interconnected with hundreds of millions of people at any given moment. And they’ll take for granted that a black man is or was President of the United States.

What’s most profound is that these represent parts of a greater whole. They represent a shift in power from centralized institutions and organizations to the People they represent. It is the evolution of democracy by way of technology, and we are all better for it.

For most of us, social media has changed our lives in some meaningful way. Collectively it is changing the world for good. Given the pace of innovation and adoption, change has become a constant. Every so often we find the need to stop and reflect on its most recent and noteworthy developments, hence the following list.

Please note this is not a top-10 list, nor are these listed in any particular order. It’s also incomplete. So we ask that you add to this conversation in the comments. If you’d like to Retweet this post or take the conversation to Twitter or FriendFeed, please use the hashtag #10Ways.

1. Take Social Actions: The nonprofit organization Social Actions aggregates “opportunities to make a difference from over 50 online platforms” through its unique API. It recently held the Change the Web Challenge contest in order to inspire the most innovative applications for that API. The Social Actions Interactive Map won the $5,000 first prize. The result is a virtual tour of the world through the lens of social action. “People are volunteering, donating, signing petitions, making loans and doing other social actions as we speak — all over the world. To capture the context of the where, this project uses sophisticated techniques to extract location information from full text paragraphs.” You can also join the Social Actions Community, which is powered by Ning…which now boasts more than one million individual social networks.

2. Twitter with a Purpose: This list could be exclusive to Twitter. The micro-blogging sensation was featured on our first two lists (a three-tweet), and it’s certain to be a fixture. From Tweetsgiving, the virtual Thanksgiving feast, to the Twestival, which organized 202 off-line events around the world to benefit charity: water, it’s become the de facto tool for organizing and taking action. Tweet Congress won the SXSW activism award, and celebrity Tweeps Ashton Kutcher and Kevin Rose Tweeted their two million followers about ending malaria. Max Gladwell recently initiated the #EcoMonday follow meme as a way to connect and organize the Green Twittersphere.

3. Visit White House 2.0: Inside of its first 100 days, the Obama administration has managed to set the historic benchmark for government transparency and accountability. The President’s virtual town hall meeting used WhiteHouse.gov to crowdsource questions from his 300 million constituents, complete with voting to determine the ones he’d have to answer. All told, 97,937 people submitted 103,978 questions and cast 1,782,650 votes. The White House continues to raise the bar with its official Facebook, MySpace, and Twitter channels. In so doing President Obama is not just setting the standard for state and local government in the U.S. He’s establishing the world standard. The Obama administration is spreading democracy not by force but through example. Because you don’t have to be an American citizen to be a friend or follower of White House 2.0.

4. Claim your Zumbox: What happens when all mail can be sent and delivered online to any street address in a paperless form? That’s the big question for Zumbox, which has created an online mail system with a digital mailbox for every U.S. street address. And while the answer to that question remains to be seen, it promises to be as liberating as it is disruptive. A key quality for Zumbox is that it’s closed system much like that of Facebook, only instead of true identity it’s true address. This will enable people to better connect with their communities including their neighbors, local businesses, and the mayor’s office. The primary agent of change, though, might not be that this uses street addresses but that it enables direct and potentially viral feedback, which is a virtue that e-mail and the USPS do not offer. The first methods are to request exclusive paperless delivery and to block a sender, but others are certain to evolve such as real-time commenting and ways to share mail with friends, family, and colleagues. Welcome to Mail 2.0. (Disclosure: Zumbox is a client of Rob Reed, the founder of Max Gladwell.)

5. Host a Social Media Event: This is the year of the social media event. No meaningful gathering of people is complete without an interactive online audience, especially when it’s so easy and cost effective to pull off. Essential tools include a broadband connection, laptop, video camera, projector, and screen. Add people and a purpose, such as entrepreneurship. Promote it through social media channels, and you have a social media event. A recent example in the green world is the Evolution of Green, which was hosted by Creative Citizen, a green wiki community. It celebrated the launch of a new Web property, EcoMatters, while also establishing a new Twitter tag. By posing the question, “How can we go from green hype to green habit?” and including the #GreenQ hashtag, it sparked a conversation between attendees and the Twittersphere in real time. Thus was born a new mechanism for getting answers to green questions via Twitter.

6. Travel the World: More than anyone else, Tim O’Reilly knows the potential for social media to change the world. In his opening keynote at this year’s Web 2.0 Expo, he called for a new ethic in which we do more with less and create more value than we capture. This provided the context for SalaamGarage founder Amanda Koster, whose presentation followed O’Reilly’s. The idea is that social media has enabled each of us to have an audience. Whether through Twitter, Flickr, YouTube, or a personal blog, each of us can have influence and reach. What’s more, it can be used for good. SalaamGarage coordinates trips for citizen journalists (that means you) to places like India and Vietnam in conjunction with non-government organizations like Seattle-based Peace Trees. The destination is the story, as these humanitarian journalists report on the people they meet and discoveries they make. Their words, images, and video are posted to the social web to gain exposure and because these stories just need to be told.

7. Build It on Drupal: You may not have noticed, but the open-source Drupal content management system (CMS) has quickly become the dominant player on the social web. While we still prefer WordPress as a strict blogging application, Drupal has emerged as the go-to platform for building scalable, community-driven Web sites. It powers Recovery.gov, a key part of President Obama’s commitment to transparency and accountability. PopRule uses it as a social news platform for politics. And Drupal will soon become the platform for Causecast, a site where “media, philanthropy, social networking, entertainment and education converge to serve a greater purpose.” This is especially significant because Causecast CEO Ryan Scott is transitioning the site off of Ruby on Rails because Drupal has proved more efficient, user friendly, and cost effective. (Disclosure: Max Gladwell founder Rob Reed is co-founder of PopRule.)

8. Green Your iPhone: Looking for an organic diner within biking distance that has a three-star green rating? There’s a app for that. It’s called 3rd Whale, and you can download it for free. (Except that the star rating is actually a whale rating.) Complete with Facebook Connect, this iPhone app locates green products and businesses in 30 major North American cities. It uses the iPhone’s dial function to select a category (food), sub-category (restaurants), and distance (walking, biking, or driving). In Santa Monica, this might give you Swingers diner for its selection of veggie and vegan fare. You could then get directions from your current location using the iPhone’s built-in Google map, rate your experience on the three-whale scale, and write up a quick review. 3rd Whale recently released a new feature that integrates green-living tips, which can show how much energy or waste you’ll save by taking a given action.

9. Unite the World Through Video: Matt’s dancing around the world video inspired many to tears. Today, more than 20 million people have viewed his YouTube masterpiece, where he performs a kooky dance with the citizens of planet earth. The most recent example of this approach is Playing for Change, which connects the world through song. The project started in Santa Monica with a street performance of the classic Stand By Me and expanded to New Orleans, New Mexico, France, Brazil, Italy, Venezuela, South Africa, Spain, and The Netherlands. The project was superbly executed via social media, complete with a YouTube channel, MySpace, Facebook, and Blog. It’s received tremendous mainstream media exposure and also benefits a foundation of the same name.

10. Rate a Company: The conversation about corporate social responsibility (CSR) takes place across the social web on blogs, Twitter, and YouTube, but a central hub for this information and opinion is still to be determined. SocialYell seeks to address this by building an online community around the CSR conversation, where users can submit reviews of companies together with nonprofit organizations and even public figures like Michelle Obama. The major topics are the Environment, Health, Social Equity, Consumer Advocacy, and Charity. The reviews are voted and commented on by the community in a Reddit-like fashion with both up (Yell) and down (shhh) voting. The site is relatively new and still gaining traction, but there’s no question that a resource like this is needed to shine a bright light on CSR and and other related issues.

11. Publish a collective, simultaneous blog post on a universal topic: As Nigel Tufnel might say, this list goes to eleven. Let the #10Ways conversation begin…

Final note: This is Max Gladwell’s third list of “10 Ways to Change the World Through Social Media.” The first was posted a year ago today on Sustainablog.org, and the sequel followed five months later. If a single headline can capture the Max Gladwell raison d’etre, this is it.

Posted by Max Gladwell

You Got Me Hangin’ On The Telephone

Loving these fair trade bracelets made out of telephone wires.

The Zulu women making these beautiful bracelets are dedicated to helping themselves by gaining the skills and knowledge they need to support themselves and their families. Generating income to be able to receive basic education, health education, and HIV/Aids support is a key part of their innovative program.

Cop them at Original Women

source ecofabulous

Posted by thuy

Nicole Richie For The Enough Project

Whoa, that’s heavy. Go to her website to learn more.

www.enoughproject.org

Source Perez Hilton

Posted by thuy

Greenster

Going green means different things to different people. For tuner RUF it means cleaner cars and in this case, cars also painted in green. RUF has developed the eRUF Greenster with Siemens Corporate Technology. The eRUF explores many of the themes being investigated by automakers such as fewer C02 emissions and electric propulsion.

The Greenster, like its name suggests, is designed to look like a roadster vehicle of yesteryear complete with plaid seats. But the tech speaks to the 2000′s interest in green technology.

Going further than that the eRUF does something quite new in that it is fitted with a bi-directional network connection that not only allows its battery to be recharged in less than an hour on a 400-volt power outlet but also lets the car return energy back into the power network if needed. The system is called eDrive.

RUF will start producing the eRUF in small series by 2010.

Lovin’ the 915-Targa-style car. That shade of green, not so much.

Source cnet news

Posted by thuy

Electric Love Affair

Yesterday, President Barack Obama announced $2.4 billion in new grants for electric vehicle developments, which will come from the $787 billion in stimulus funds.

Obama is making my yes yes hole do the electric boogaloo..

And it goes without saying, I’d hit it in the back of that plug-in beauty.

Source Huffington Post

Posted by thuy

Dildo’s, Solar Panels, Butt Plugs – Oh My!

Randy Polumbo‘s sculptural bouquets of cast glass dildos and butt plugs seduce the viewer visually, then surprise him/her once the content is clear. They bounce between beauty, absurdity and playfulness and at the same time address environmental issues, as many of these kinetic sculptures are solar powered.

Polumbo’s grotto, a 30 foot installation, has traveled across the US. It featured at the Burning Man Festival in the Black Rock desert of Nevada and at the Bakehouse Art Complex in Miami.

The stunning techno ‘flowers’ are created with illuminated sex toys. They bring to mind sea plants in a corral reef – underwater tubers or anemones. Viewers are drawn into a space where perception is altered in subtle ways. The proverbial doorway to the subconscious opens a little wider in Polumbo’s glowing garden.

There is also irony and humor at play – dildos that you might only think of in the context of a sex store, are no longer defined by their functionality. The eroticism becomes a celebration in a sense.

See his flickr acct

Posted by thuy

24 Goes Green

24 Going Green PSA – Kiefer Sutherland

Jack Bauer can take me back to CTU and torture me any ol’ time.

Posted by thuy

WTF Is Going On With TWC Internet?

TWC is making me want to kick my laptop or rip my modem out of the wall. Jen and I have been having horrible internet service for the last couple months but it’s been really bad for a week now.

Don’t these people know we have blogs to scour and posts to write?

Anyone else experiencing this?

I need to take a note from CK Louis. I take it all back, everything is amazing!

Posted by thuy

Goodbye Blackberry…?

Although the debate over blackberry vs. iphone rages on (Team Blackberry over here, in case you were wondering). Something even more revolutionary has hit the streets.

The just-released Motorola Renew, offered through T-Mobile, is the “world’s first carbon-neutral cell phone,” with 100 percent recycled packaging, plastic components made from recycled water bottles, and an energy-sipping power system that offers up to nine hours of talk time.

It also boasts a basic music player and a Micro SD memory-card slot. The call quality is excellent due to a CrystalTalk noise-reduction technology. It is extremely compact (4.4 x 0.6 x 1.8 inches) and featherweight (3 ounces).

Best of all it’s MAD cheap!!

$9.99 with service at T-Mobile.

Shop 4 it here.

Source nymag

Posted by jen

Escape To Alcatraz On The Hornblower Hybrid

The Hornblower Hybrid uses power generated by two ten-foot-tall wind turbines and a photovoltaic solar array covering the awning on the top deck. That power is converted and stored in battery banks that power the navigation tools, lighting and other electronics on board the vessel.

The HH also has Tier 2 marine diesel engines. These cleaner, fuel-efficient engines reduce the amount of diesel fuel used, emissions and overall carbon footprint.

The vessel also contains a number of other environmentally friendly materials. The carpeting contains post consumer recycled materials and is recyclable. The countertops are made from recycled vodka bottles- HOLD UP! Did I just read that correctly? RECYCLED VODKA BOTTLES? Who is the genius man behind this and where has he been all my adult drinking life?

Oh snap, ya’ll are gonna have to go to the site to read what else this modern day Love Boat is all about. You know the drill.. I got some research to do.

Google search gods don’t fail me now.. please let him be single..and tall.

Alcatraz Cruises

Posted by thuy

Fairfax District Electronic Waste Recycling

Once again, I love my hood!! There will be a free electronic waste disposal at Fairfax highschool on the corner of Melrose and Fairfax this Saturday. If you can’t make it this weekend, you have two weekends per month during the month of March and April to start gathering up any broken or outdated ipods, cameras, shredders, tv’s, vcr’s and whatever other things you have sitting around collecting dust.

The processing of e-waste in developing countries causes serious health and pollution problems due to lack of containment, as do unprotected landfilling (due to leaching) and incineration. Reuse and recycling are promoted as alternatives to disposal as trash.

And feel free to stop by my place after doing your good deed. I’ll reward you with some organic moonshine and yummy vegan cookies.

Posted by thuy

Shepard Fairey For Earth Hour

Once again Shepard is lending his hand for another good cause. This time it’s for Earth Hour.

Earth Hour is an annual international event created by WWF (The World Wide Fund for Nature/World Wildlife Fund), held on the last Saturday of March, that asks households and businesses to turn off their non-essential lights and electrical appliances for one hour to raise awareness towards the need to take action on climate change. It was pioneered by WWF Australia and the Sydney Morning Herald in 2007, and achieved worldwide participation in 2008.

Earth Hour will next take place on Saturday, March 28 2009 at 8:30pm, local time.

One hour, no lights, no electronics… let’s do it.

source Good

Check out the Earth Hour website for deets.

Posted by thuy

My Google Search Is Hurting The Environment?

So according to some smart Harvard physicist dude, my two google searches above used the same amount of energy as boiling water for a cup of tea. 7 grams of CO2 to be exact.

Normally this might be something that would give me “green” guilt but hey, at least we’re not all polluting the air by driving to the library to do research. Damn, remember those days?

A single cheeseburger has a carbon footprint of around 3,600 grams – over 500 times larger than a Google search. Excuse me while I go Google how many grams my veggie burger generates.

Update: Google has responded to The Times article, stating that a single search is actually equivalent to a mere 0.2 grams of CO2. The blog post also details some of Google’s efforts to further green technology as well as the energy efficiency of its own data centers.

Source Greenbiz

Posted by thuy

Less Plastic

I recently set out to get a larger memory card for my camera and while browsing all of the different brands my eyes fell on this package and I was sold immediately. Once I ripped the packaging open, there was actually still quite a bit of plastic on the inside between the cardboard, but at least it wasn’t around the whole freakin’ thing.

Now, if only they could get the amount of paper down used for the rest of the package for an item that’s a bit larger than my thumb..

Posted by thuy

Eco Gift Festival

What: Get your eco-friendly holiday shopping on. There will also be several performances and speakers throughout all three days. Check out our favorite lady, Arianna Huffington, who will be a keynote speaker on Saturday at 2:00 pm.

Where: Santa Monica Civic Auditorium. 1855 Main Street. Santa Monica, CA 90401

When: December 12 & 13 from 10:00 am to 8:00 pm. December 14: 11:00 am to 7:00 pm

Cost: $ 10 per day

Website: Ecogift

Posted by thuy

Put A Cork In It

I’m all about the blackberry but if you are one of the few who rock the iPhone (with its many glitches and problems), you might want to at least step your game up with a sustainable cover to protect this inferior form of communication.

JAVOedge has introduced an iphone case that is “made out of cork which is a sustainable material because it can be continually harvested without killing the tree.

The cover slips over the back of your iPhone to protect it from bumps and fingerprints. Cutouts have been made in the cork for easy use and access to the camera, volume control and audio jack.”

When your iPhone inevitable dies, crashes, or freezes up, hopefully you will come back to your senses and scoop up the latest blackberry.

BLACKBERRY 4 LIFE!!!

Source green daily

Posted by jen

Cellphone, Computer, Printer, TV, Ipod..

Watch CBS Videos Online

If you own any of those things mentioned above or any other type of electronic in your office or household, watch this video. So that means each and every one of you reading this right now should be pressing play.

Electronic waste is no joke. Most of the e-waste from the states is shipped illegally to Asia where labor workers (including women and children) disassemble the pieces for gold and metals. Field sized piles of monitors and scrap pieces are burned daily and the fumes from the chemicals that are released through the process are toxic, polluting the air, soil and eventually getting into the water stream.

Women that work in the field have the highest level of miscarriages and birth defects. Cancer is also a high probability. Much of the work is carried out by children, commonly using only rudimentary tools and with no protective equipment.

I’ve donated appliances to E-waste recycling events with the belief that they were not being shipped overseas and were being recycled safely here in the United States. I feel bamboozled. It’s sad and disturbing that people are capitalizing on the green movement.

Props to the 60 Minutes reporters for fighting back against the Chinese gangsta’s. Read what the accused recycling company (Executive Recycling) had to say about the allegations here.

Source Cnet

Posted by thuy

Apple Goes Green

Don’t run out and buy a flashy new MacBook just because you’re tryin’ to keep up with the Joneses. We all know by now that acquiring more unnecessary goods is definitely not a greenie move.

However, when your current computer crashes and burns (hopefully you backed up all of your bootleg music and x-rated pictures of your boo), you can rest assured that Apple’s newly refreshed line of MacBooks, MacBook Pros and MacBook Airs are going for the green.

Earth Friendly features include:

• All models are made with highly recyclable aluminum and glass, which is free from mercury and arsenic
• The 15-inch MacBook Pro consumes only 18 watts of power while in idle with the display on
• The MacBook backlit LED display uses 30 percent less power than before
• Due to the new unibody enclosure, Apple can reuse more materials for other products

Will You Answer That Call?

How hot is this PSA of Eva Mendes and Scarlett Johansson encouraging people to recycle their used cell phones in a bid to lessen CO2 emissions by limiting the energy needed to create new phones? Muy caliente!

Click here to learn how and why.

Posted by thuy

Recycle Your…Uh..Dildo?!

Yes, that was weird to type and no I don’t have any witty, informative or opinionated commentary on this so instead, I’ll insert the mission from their website for your reading pleasure. Happy Friday everyone! xx

You can recycle your bottles, cans, and paper products, so why not sex toys?

Recycling Sex Toys

Finally there’s an environmentally friendly way to dispose of used or broken vibrators, dildos, butt plugs, and other sex toys. Our service offers a means to recycle and re-purpose toys that you no longer want or are no longer usable. It also gives you a way to get a return on your sex toy investment.

Simple and Easy

Simply drop your toys off at one of our collection centers, and we’ll reprocess the rubber and silicone into new sex toys and refurbish any salvageable vibrators. Any other materials left over will be responsibly recycled. Forget to take out the batteries? No problem! We’ll recycle those too.

Help the Planet

Now, when you get rid of your ex-girlfriend’s strap on, your ex-boyfriend’s butt plug, that worn out pocket pussy or broken Magic Wand, you’ll be doing a favor for the environment. You can know that you’ve done one more thing to cut consumer waste, reducing landfills and the leaching of toxic chemicals into our soils and ground water.

Earn Rewards

Not only do we make recycling your sex toys simple and convenient, we also offer rewards as an incentive. For every used toy you turn in, you can earn credits toward the purchase of any of our exclusive line of post-consumer sex toys. The more toys you recycle, the more you can buy. Being green was never this much fun.

I think I know what my next tattoo is going to be. Their recycle symbol. Stamp tramp!!!

Posted by thuy

Breakin’ It Down: E-Waste

Electronic waste, “e-waste” or “Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment” (“WEEE“) is a waste type consisting of any broken or unwanted electrical or electronic device. Recyclable electronic waste is sometimes further categorized as a “commodity” while e-waste which cannot be reused is distinguished as “waste”. Both types of e-waste have raised concern considering that many components of such equipment are considered toxic and are not biodegradable.

Electronic waste is of concern largely due to the toxicity and carcinogenicity of some of the substances if processed improperly. Toxic substances in electronic waste may include lead, mercury and cadium.

Every time we toss out our electronics, we’re dumping on the poor. Please make an effort to recycle your gadgets, computers, televisions, ipods, etc..

wikipedia

Posted by thuy

iwood x iphone

Check out this eco-friendly protective cover for the iphone made from eco-friendly wood. It’s definitely a viable alternative to the traditional plastic cases which as we know by now, take more than a lifetime to biodegrade. Not only will this company hook up your iphone, but they’ve got your itouch and ipod ‘covered’ as well. Check out miniot.com for more details.

Posted by jen

All Day Every Day

Woody Allen once said, “In Beverly Hills, they don’t throw their garbage away – they make it into television shows.” Well, Planet Green debuted today and I will gladly waste my time watching anything on this channel about garbage, composting, recycling, gadgets, food, drinks, cars, beauty, fashion…I’ll stop here but basically, it covers EVERYTHING under our beloved sun about going green and it’s on 24/7. The one show I really love is Alter Eco, with Adrien Grenier. It’s really informative and covers a lot of ‘green’ spots in L.A. It’s about time. Floss Angeles, RISE UP!

That’s about all I can write for now…need to get my sustainable crack fix and get back to the boob tube. Yea, it’s that serious.

Posted by thuy

The Story Of Stuff

Consumerism. As Americans, we are all guilty of it. Purchasing goods and consuming materials in excess of our basic needs. It seems like objects that we purchase nowadays are made to last a minimal amount of time before we are wanting the newer, better, faster, cooler version. Cell phones, ipods, computers, clothes, etc. Watch “The Story Of Stuff” in its entirety here and hopefully you’ll think twice before buying the latest craze when your current one is still working perfectly fine.

Posted by thuy

Lets Talk About Sex Baby

Remember that Sex In The City episode where Miranda, Charlotte and Carrie go into a sex shop and discover the RABBIT? It vibrated at the shaft area, was pink and soft with rotating pearls and then… there were the fluttering ears! It was all the rage back then and still is to this day- ahem, or so I heard.

Do you know what it takes to make up that soft mound of pulsating, hunka hunka burning love? The infamous Phthalates, PVC and lots of of other nasty ass chemicals. And you stick that where??? Well breathe easy, there are plenty of ‘green’ but still pink versions made, minus the toxins… Where, you ask? At Babeland.com. Their model, The Rabbit Habit, is sheathed in 100% premium Elastomer, a high-quality material that is both latex and Phthalate free. It’ll set you back a benjamin but it’s worth EVERY penny- ahem, or so I heard. Oh and don’t forget to use your rechargeable batteries ladies!

Posted by thuy

AT&T Says, “Reach Out & Touch Someone.”

A few weeks ago I went to AT&T to have some phone issues resolved and while waiting to be helped, I noticed this box where you can drop off your old, working or non-working cell phones. When you donate your used cell phones to Cell Phones for Soldiers, your phones are either reconditioned and reused — or they’re disposed of in an environmentally friendly way. Best of all, the proceeds provide free phone cards for U.S. military families.

According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, electronic waste (e-waste) is accumulating almost three times faster than ordinary household trash. I’m sure all of you have a few broken or outdated phones sitting around in a drawer somewhere waiting to be delivered to electronic heaven. Take them to their pearly white gates and help the soldiers so they can “reach out & touch” their loved ones.

Note: Low quality pic shown above snapped with cellphone.

Posted by thuy

Beware of Barracudas and Cobrasnakes!

In a continued celebration of Earth Day festivities, we decided to hit up the Barracuda store (on Melrose Avenue in L.A) for a launch party in honor of legendary graffiti artist, Claw Money’s, latest project. She has teamed up with the good people over at Boosted Mobile’s Artist Series and created a line of low toxicity, vegan approved, artificial leather mobile carrying cases. The collection includes fanny packs, laptop cases and backpacks which come equipped with nifty pockets for your blackberry, ipod, iphone etc.

We shopped around, had a cocktail, and bumped into man about town, not to mention photographer to the famous (and to the not so famous), Mark Hunter (aka The Cobrasnake). We were stoked to find out that he doesn’t own a car, he bikes to photography gigs, and created a line of recyclable totes. Yay Cobrasnake!!!

Posted by jen

It’s Everywhere You Look

I visit these two sites several times a day on a daily basis. Who better than Google and Yahoo to change their themes to coordinate with the big day..for millions of viewers to see all across the world. Holler!

Posted by thuy