Ecoscraps

The LivinginPeace Project combines travel, art and education into a sustainable business model that is self-sufficient, energy efficient, environmentally responsible and socially empowering.

The project includes a backpackers’ hostel (www.rongobackpackers.com), a motel complex (www.karameamotels.com), a gallery (www.globalgypsy.com), a community radio station, permaculture farm and eco-tourism adventures. It is run by a group of dedicated, enthusiastic, positive volunteers from all over the world. Read the rest of this entry »

These earrings, made from recycled bottle caps, are cute and give you a chance to tell others about the cause. Says the artist:

My designs hope to spread positive messages not only in the image design, but with the interaction you will have with others when you wear them. More importantly, they are a small donation to Mother Earth by helping conserve her resources.

You can find tons of designs on her website, and the prices are extremely affordable. On top of being recycled, she donates part of her profits to The Adelante Foundation, which helps women living in poverty.

Larry Page, co-founder of searh engine giant Google is planning an environmentally-friendly mansion, according to reports.

Page’s green-certified home should be 6,000 square feet, hardly modest for most folks, but only a bit over half the size that he could build on the lot, according to Palo Alto Online, the website for Palo Alto Weekly, which uncovered the plans.

The home will also reportedly have solar panals, “paving that lets the rain seep through,” eco-friendly building materials, and more. Still, can a mansion ever TRULY be green?

Image via wikicommons.

As it has been said, necessity is the mother of invention. In this case, that invention is reportedly a tasty-cake baking oven in Liberia, Africa.

As described on afrigadget.com, by Luca Varaschini:

I passed some time with the ladies while they were preparing western-style food for everyone: rice, beef stake, pasta and potato salad. Then they started stirring what would have to be two cakes for the dessert, and I started wondering how they’d be able to bake them, since the only cooking apparels in the big warehouse were these coal pits on the ground. Read the rest of this entry »

Organic bedding is better for the earth and you health. If your local home store doesn’t carry organic sheets in the colors you want, check out these seven online sources:

1. Green Home Environmental Store: Sheets start at just $26, and you can also find green duvets, covers, mattress, and beds.

2. Heart of Vermont: They have sateen, flannel, percale, and chambray sheets, as well as organic matress pads and other organic products.

3. Kushtush Organics: Based in Phoenix, this company has a number of awesome organic sheets in unique colors and designs.

4. The Natural Sleep Store: As their name implies, this website has tons of organic bedding lines.

5. Pure Rest Organics: They have not just sheets, but also blankets, pillows, covers, mattress pads, comforters, and infant bedding.

6. The Clean Bedroom: There are organic sheets in tons of colors and styles at this website.

7. EcoBedroom: Along with baby bedding, this site also sells natural blankets, comforters, shams, duvet covers, and more.

Got a great place to order organic bedding online? Leave a comment!

Image via sxc.hu.

Donating your old shoes may seem gross, but Soles4Souls gives consumers a non-smelly option.

This is about more than recycling - it is also about safety and health. When someone in a developing country doesn’t have shoes, they could step step on something that causes infection, and even death. According to AboutMyPlanet,

There are plenty of people in Canada and the United States who need shoes, and they provide those shoes. In fact, after the large disasters of Hurricane Katrina, Hurricane Rita and the Asian Tsunami, Soles4Souls donated over one million pairs of shoes.

Of course, not every pair of old shoes qualifies! Kids grow out of shoes really quickly, though, and almost everyone has a pair of shoes in their closet that they just don’t like or wear often. Consider recycling them with Soles4Souls.

Picture via sxc.hu.

10. Top 10 Renewable Tech Gadgets By Michelle Bennett–posted on Cleantechnica, May 5th, 2008

9. Top 10 in Green You Should Follow on Twitter By Maryanne Conlin Milker–posted on Ecopreneurist, February 3rd, 2009

8. My Top Ten Quick, Healthy, Sustainable Snacks by Megan Prusynski–posted on Eat. Drink. Better., June 13th, 2008

7. The top ten office environmental pet peeves and why Xerox went green By Olga Orda–posted on Green Options, July 16, 2008

6. Top 10 Electric Cars Coming to the US in 2009/2010 By Nick Chambers–posted on Gas 2.0, January 15, 2009

5. Ten Ways to Eat Local, Seasonal Food All Year By Bryan Luukinen–posted on Eat. Drink. Better., September 29th, 2008

4. Clean Energy Intro: Top 10 Alternative Solar Uses By Michelle Bennett–posted on Cleantechnica, February 25th, 2008

3. The Nature Conservancy: Top 10 Ways to Help Save Our Oceans By Jonathon D. Colman–posted on Green Options, June 21, 2008

2. Top Ten Water Saving Tips By me–posted on PlanetSave, October 22, 2008

1. Ten Winning Ideas for Change By Becky Striepe–posted on Ecolocalizer, January 17th, 2009

Ten takeaways from this post: conserve water, buy local, drive a green car (if you have to drive at all), eat well, stay informed, stay active, be the change you wish to see, use renewable energy, consume less, and of course, read Green Options Media (which itself has been mentioned in a few lists, such as Environmental Graffiti’s “Top Ten Environmental Blogs“, Webecoist’s “25 of the Greenest Blogs“, and Read Write Web’s “Top 35 Environmental Blogs“)

Did you know that you can go green even while you sleep?

According to Furniture Today, the Specialty Sleep Association wants to set guidelines for how manufacturers market “green” mattresses and other natural sleep products.

The SSA said its ultimate goal is to create a certification program based on “existing legitimate standards” and programs as well as sleep industry-specific terms and standards for mattresses and bedding. Among other challenges, the SSA will define terms such as “green,” “natural,” “all-natural” and “organic,” it said.

An upcoming conference in Florida is planned to help define green rules for the sleep industry.

In the second annual Radical Innovation in Hospitality Awards competition, sponsored by the John Hardy Group and Hospitality Design (HD) magazine, an oil rig hotel & spa took top honors (and the $10,000 prize).

The winning design came from the Houston office of Morris Architects.

“The Rig is much like the ICEHOTEL. It’s that kind of unique experience. We were trying to create a hospitality experience that is unique and fully rounded, and interesting enough that people are interested in doing it. The work with the Rig is not to make it a one-liner, but to prove it as a serious proposition—really investigating it,” Douglas Oliver, the firm’s director of design, says.

Morris Architects estimates 4,000 oil rigs will be abandoned in the Gulf of Mexico within the century.

Source: Jetson Green and Hospitality Design

A company in London has struck a deal with the London Fire Brigade, scoring a win-win. EaKo takes old hoses off the fire department’s hands, turns them into products — bags, wallets, place mats, belts and more — and then sells them, splitting the proceeds with the Fire Fighters Charity.

EaKo’s Web site says:

EaKo is constantly thinking about waste. The instant we met the London Fire Brigade we fell in love with their old hose. Although we started in London, EaKo now collects hose across the UK and in order to thank Britain’s Brigades, 50% of our profits go back to the Fire Fighters Charity. We scrub away all the soot, grease, and everything else that builds up after 25 years of active duty, and in the process reveal a truly remarkable, truly green textile.

The company also reclaims waste coffee sacks, scrap sail cloth, used air-traffic control flight strips, repurposed sunglasses and optician’s boxes, pewter for our belt buckles, and decommissioned office furniture textiles.

Photo: EaKo