Ever wished that you could put in just a bit more insulation in your jacket? That’s the idea behind the really stylish and cool looking Gatherer Jacket by Merrell. The translucent jacket comes as a shell with no insulation, but is equipped with a number of zippers throughout its body where the wearer stuff the jacket with whatever insulation material is on hand. Shredded paper, pine needles, fallen leaves or yesterday’s newspaper - the Gatherer offers endless ways to keep warm with some creative recycling of found objects.
June 30, 2008
June 30, 2008
There’s nothing quite like renewable energy on-the-go, and Voltaic makes solar power a stylish accessory with a hot lineup of solar powered bags to charge your mobile gadgets. We’ve been impressed with Voltaic’s products from the get go, and with their ongoing efforts to amp up the sustainability factor in their bags like boosting the power in their Generator laptop bag and going to 100% post-consumer recycled PET plastic based fabrics. One of our all-time favorite bags is the durable Voltaic Backpack which just may be the ultimate sustainable summertime sidekick and a must have for the eco-geek on the go. And this week, you can win a free Voltaic solar backpack, just for reading Inhabitat!
ENTER TO WIN A FREE VOLTAIC BACKPACK by signing up for Inhabitat here >
June 30, 2008
Hey lovely Inhabitat readers!
If you’ve been reading our website over the past week, you may have noticed that we are running a Summer giveaway contest with lots of great prizes to inspire you guys to sign up for our fabulous Inhabitat weekly newsletter. As if receiving our wondrous newsletter weren’t a prize enough in itself, we’re offering some special incentives this week to make signing up with us that much more appealing to you. We’re giving away a free solar power backpack by Voltaic Systems (value $250), some hand-crank LED emergency lanterns from Freeplay (value $45), and some lovely Inhabitat schwag, including our hand-printed organic T-shirts and tote bags (value $40).
The drawing for the grand-prize solar backpack may be random, but you can narrow your odds down to 100% and DEFINITELY win a t-shirt if you sign up for our newsletter right now >
June 30, 2008
Are traditional bikes a bit too pedestrian for you? Ben Wilson recently unveiled a sleek monocycle at this year’s XXIst Century Man Exhibition in Tokyo. Wilson’s pedal-powered prototype one-ups those tendentious “bi-cycles” with a single center-seated wheel. The elegant nimbus may not provide for the smoothest ride, but it more than makes up for it via its pure awesome appeal.
SUSTAINABLE STYLE: Vote for Elmidae Eco Fashion!
We love smart green design competitions here at Inhabitat! Any opportunity to identify and support bold original talent is a mission that we take pretty seriously. Earlier this spring, we were onsite to judge and serve as a sponsor for Project Earth Day, and just this week a design pal gave us a great tip regarding the Chicago based fashion designer, Abigail Glaum-Lathbury, a June 2008 finalist in the Ideablob Design Competition. We wanted to give our reader’s a first-hand opportunity to see and vote on Abigail’s fabulous, eco-friendly fashions. Her label, Elmidae, needs your vote in order to close in on the possibility of winning a $10,000 award!
Read on for details on how you can CAST YOUR VOTE to make this rising design star a key player on the sustainable style circuit>>>
SUSTAINABLE STYLE: Ecoist recycled MTA map clutch
We love our mass transit art here at Inhabitat, but never envisioned it as something that you could flaunt dangling off your wrist. The Ecoist MTA clutch is a colorful and cute way to navigate city streets in sleek sustainable style. Made from 100% repurposed NYC subway maps, this wristlet clutch is perfect for urban jaunts and lightweight toting. A trash-to-treasure accessory such as this is not only an eco-friendly way to repurpose materials, but also serves as a streamline, incognito way to stash personal belongings!
SUSTAINABLE STYLE: Recycled Fashion from Si:Su
In 2005, after graduating from the Institute of Art and Design in Swansea (UK), three Welsh designers founded Si:Su, a beautiful range of womenswear clothing and accessories all made from recycled and reclaimed vintage textiles. Sustainability was woven into the eco chic design philosophy from the start, reflecting shared concerns of Si:Su design trio Helen Stew, Hanneke Van Ryswyk and Rachel Bryan for minimizing waste, as well as the fashion industry’s footprint on the environment. With fresh styles that easily cross seasonal boundaries, Si:Su is defining summer with pretty yet practical designs, gorgeous prints and an undeniably feminine eco-sensibility.
CitySol: Music, Art and Solar Fest this weekend in NYC!
It’s officially summertime, and that means that the sustainability music/event smorgasboard CitySol is in full gear this weekend in NYC’s Stuyvesant Cove Park! Intended as a creative, multi-disciplinary coming-together of alternative ideas, as well as an educational outlet for sustainability solutions, CitySol features workshops, panel discussions, live concerts, and comedians listed alongside green art installations. Of the three panels to be conducted this weekend, two focus on sustainable design and the future of NYC: “From Temporary to Permanent: Sustainable Design for Solar One” and “Interactivism: A Conversation about the Practical Intersections of Design” on Sunday, June 29, which will break down the morphing combination of grassroots advocacy and interactive design.
If you are in town this weekend, do not miss the dynamic line-up and the opportunity to immerse yourself in some CitySol eco love!
Squint/Opera Depicts Future Life in Flooded London!
As part of London Festival of Architecture 2008, award-winning media production studio Squint/Opera depict London life in 2090, long after sea levels have risen from global warming. In a conversation with Inhabitat, Squint/Opera designer Nick Taylor explained how these images predict that humans will adapt to changed landscapes; “the images are optimistic and reveal that far from being a tragedy, the floods have brought about a much-improved way of life to the capital city.”
GRID HOUSE: Maximizing Green Space in Urban Infill
Moto Designshop recently finished schematics for this beautiful modern residence situated on Pine street in Philadelphia. The Grid House packs a highly efficient floorplan into tight quarters, maximizing daylighting and ventilation via an abundance of open green spaces. The entire front and back façades open to infuse interior spaces with fresh air while the home’s flowing floor plan ensures a seamless transition between rooms. An elevated front garden preserves the residence’s interaction with the street while concealing an underground garage.
INHABITAT SUMMER CONTEST: Greener Gadget Giveaway!
The emergence of hot summer weather and sun-worshiping has inspired the latest and greatest Inhabitat contest: Summer Green Gadget Giveway. Over the next two weeks, we are giving away a bunch of great prizes to Inhabitat readers, all in the spirit of summer fun. And unlike some of the other competitions we’ve run in the past - this one is pretty easy to enter and open to everyone, regardless of design talent or time. All you need to do is register and signup to subscribe to Inhabitat through our weekly newsletter!
The grand prize giveaway is a super hot Voltaic Solar Power Backpack (retail value $250), which can charge all of your personal electronics on the go. We’ve also got hand-crank lanterns, Inhabitat tote bags and and truly green organic Inhabitat T-shirts! The lucky winners will be announced in our July 3rd newsletter, and it’s easy to get in on the green gadgets action. Read on for details on how to score one of these great summer giveaways…
PREFAB FRIDAY: La Reserva by Sebastián Irarrázaval
This stunning prefab in Colina, Chile, is the work of Santiago-based architect Sebastián Irarrázaval. Despite its unique form, it is not meant as a custom design but rather a housing solution that can take shape repeatedly. Constructed of concrete, steel and timber, the 120 square meter structure (1290 sq ft) lives large with a simple geometric that is at ease with the surrounding landscape.
PR FOR THE PLANET: Al Gore’s WE Campaign
Earlier this spring, Al Gore launched the $300 million dollar “We Campaign” with a slick green logo and website to support his non-profit organization The Alliance For Climate Protection. Through advertising and green partnerships, the three-year campaign aims to further educate the public about the crisis, call for the U.S. to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions and ask for solutions from our elected officials. If you haven’t yet found your place in we, read on to learn more about how we can solve it.
Fog & Dew Collectors for clean drinking water
Alon Alex Gross’s fog and dew collectors provide a low-tech way for people in arid, developing regions to collect drinking water. Gross uses design to show users how individuals can come up with their own answers to ecological and technical problems. His method fuses the ancient methods of fog harvesting and dew collection with modern improvements such as super light materials and internet connectivity.
Canada’s Shimmering Solar Collector Sculpture
Earlier this week Cambridge, Canada welcomed a stunning new interactive sculpture that casts a shimmering set of lights against the night sky. Constructed atop a sun-dappled hill, Gorbet Design’s Solar Collector sweeps the skyline as a gracefully ascending corona of light-laced beams. The interactive installation serves as a conduit for both solar energy and creative input, soaking up sunlight and simple web-based controls throughout the day. Upon nightfall the installation synthesizes its stored reserves into a glimmering light show.
CHERRYPAL: World’s Most Affordable Green PC
CherryPal is taking cloud computing mainstream in a big way with a soon to be released green personal computer. This green PC comes in a small, affordable package weighing just 10.5 ounces and consuming no more than two watts of power. The triple-core processor only has one fifth of the components of traditional computers, boots-up in 20 seconds, and promises to be faster than Vista and mac’s OS-X.
Historic German Town Laying Down the Solar Law
Despite the typical cloudy weather, Germany has become a solar energy powerhouse fueled in part by government measures to reduce greenhouse gases and bring more renewable energy into the grid. Voluntary solar arrays are common throughout the country on barns, residences and in large solar plants, but a new law proposed in Marburg, Germany, is making solar a legal requirement on private and commercial buildings.
CAR FREE NYC? NYC tries ‘no car zone’ near Inhabitat HQ!
The beauty of living in a place like New York City is that you don’t need a car for ANYTHING. When I left California five years ago to move to NYC, I sold my car and never looked back - it was one of the most freeing moments of my life. Most New Yorkers - especially those in Manhattan - get by just fine without cars and rely on public transportation for mobility. And everyone knows that streets are more pleasant for walking, biking and shopping when cars are taken off the road. So it makes perfect sense for NYC to try out a no-car zone in Manhattan. Just because Mayor Bloomberg’s congestion pricing plan was shot down in the spring doesn’t mean we’ve called off our dreams of a traffic free future.
Even though it’s a baby step, a new summer proposal has us excited about the possibilities of moving in the direction of a car-free Manhattan. A new initiative called SUMMER STREETS is an attempt to turn parts of Manhattan into a haven for pedestrians for 3 days in August.
Astro Boy Mural made from Recycled Subway Tickets!
Astro Boy, Japan’s favorite mid-century anime android, was recently immortalized in a stunning metro ticket tableau at the Shinjuku Takashimaya department store. The pointillist portrait is composed of scores of recycled subway tickets folded into black and white squares to create a pixel-perfect rendition of the iconic robot as he ushers in a new era of public transportation. Created to celebrate Tokyo’s new Fukotoshin subway, the mural measures 10′ by 7′ and is composed of a staggering 138,000 tickets.
Bird, Bat and Bee Houses from Up-cycled Catalogues
In a bid to creatively recycle waste materials, London auction house Phillips de Pury & Company has partnered with Adventure Ecology to invite a list of international artists, designers and architects to “up-cycle” the auction house’s waste catalogues and packaging into new habitats for the declining numbers of bird, bat and bee species in urban environments.
NYC sprouts waterfalls thanks to Olafur Eliasson
Danish Icelandic artist Olafur Eliasson advocates that folks learn to Take Their Time, either at his current MoMA retrospective or for the viewing of his upcoming NYC Waterfalls project. With all spigots finally a-go, this $15 million dollar environmental installation project is set to launch on the banks of NYC’s East River and NY Harbor this Thursday, June 26. The wunderkind artist plans to have four freestanding waterfall sculptures awash in cascading water that will fall from heights of 90 to 120 feet. Touted to be the next best thing (economically) for the city since Christo and Jeanne-Claude’s saffron-colored Gates Project in Central Park, we will leave up to you as to whether you think that ‘waterfall chasing’ merits extra points for NYC’s Mayor Bloomberg as he moves to green our urban shores.
California’s Environmental Performance Labels for New Cars
The state of California passed legislation last week that will mandate the use of ‘Environmental Performance’ labels for all new cars sold in the state. Each vehicle receives a ‘Global Warming’ and ‘Smog’ score ranging from 1-10, 10 being the cleanest. It’s hard to imagine that a person buying a Hummer will be suddenly shocked at its low EP score and rush over to the hybrid dealer, but it may clear things up for the novice environmentalist and weed out potential greenwashers.
TRANSPORTATION TUES: Electric Car Share Program for Paris
Remember Vélib, the Parisian bicycle rental service? Well, get ready for Autolib! Paris Mayor Bertrand Delanoë announced plans to provide 4,000 electric car-share vehicles for in-town transit by next year. As part of the city’s Autolib program, the EVs will be located at several spots around Paris and available for drivers looking to make short trips around town.
TRANSPORTATION TUESDAY: Antro Solo gets 150mpg
Hungary is not the first place that comes to mind when thinking about cutting edge green vehicles, yet. If the creators of the Antro Solo have their way, the country will be synonymous with green machines by 2012. The Antro Solo is a solar, human and gas-electric hybrid vehicle. It looks like nothing else out there, and has a fuel efficiency of more than 150 miles per gallon!
DB Clay’s Fresh Eco-Friendly Wallets
Portland-based db clay recently celebrated its 10th birthday by unveiling its latest lineup of eco-chic wallets, and they’re all awash in in the vibrant hues and textures of summer. The visually evocative portefeuilles are billed as pieces of pocketable art, and each comes complete with a story that inspired its creation. Db clay’s slim and sturdy billfolds are waterproof, printed using environmentally friendly inks and dyes, and constructed out of a specialized material called “Tope” that touts a bevy of eco-friendly features.
Solar Energy Cogeneration Solution from SolarWall
Solar photovoltaics are, depending on the day, between 8-15% efficient meaning much of the sun’s energy’s is lost as heat. While solar thermal systems offer a way to harvest this heat energy for heating water or interior spaces, this option has usually displaced the electricity generating PV on rooftops. A new system from SolarWall, the SolarDuct PV/T, offers a combination of solar photovoltaic and solar thermal in one assembly providing a means to heat and power from the sun with one product.
INHABITAT SUMMER CONTEST: Green Gadget Giveaway!
Summer is finally well under way and we are looking forward to getting a chance to appreciate the great outdoors and soaking up some summer rays. Any of you who have been reading Inhabitat for awhile probably know that we love to run contests here on this website, and now its time for a new one - in honor of summer!
For the next two weeks, we are going to be giving away a bunch of fabulous summer-related prizes on Inhabitat to our loyal subscribers: including a Voltaic Solar Power Backpack (retail value $250) and hand-crank lanterns (for camping and other outdoor activities), along with Inhabitat tote bags and T-shirts for all your beach going. Who doesn’t love free stuff - right? Interested in winning an awesome solar-power backpack that can charge all of your gadgets on the beach? Read on….
Coal Fired Power Plant Turned “Eco-Dome” in London
There is nothing quite like a creative redux on a post industrial site. When done right, innovative reuse and repurposing of obsolete structures can set some pretty amazing examples for a sustainable future. One such model conversion is taking root in the newly unveiled plan for Battersea Power Station in London. Once a coal-fired electric plant (and defunct for near 25 years), this industrial icon is getting a 21st century makeover to become a mixed use development that produces renewable energy.
Slovenia’s Gorgeous Honeycomb Housing Complex
This stunning seaside structure bursts free from the all-too-frequently stale stock of public housing projects with its dynamic array of brightly shaded cells. Taking its cues from the modular honeycomb clusters of a beehive, the complex was constructed as a low-income residence for young families and couples in the industrial district of Izola on the Slovenian coast. The striking development boasts beautiful views and makes smart use of solar shading and natural ventilation to regulate its interiors all year-round.
SUSTAINABLE STYLE: Terra Plana Green Summer Shoes
With sizzling summer days now just around the corner, it is nice to know that there are some cool green alternatives to standard summer footwear and the ubiquitous beach sandal. Terra Plana has a great new collection of spring and summer offerings that not only will lighten your carbon footprint, but also let you ‘go barefoot’ with the protection and support of their eco friendly designs. Following on the ingenuity of last year’s Dopie, the new Vivo Barefoot is the next generation of sustainable, back-to-basics shoe design. Add to this a true medley of green materials, and you have a winning combo for the coolest shoes on tap.
INHABITAT is looking for a NYC blogger
Hey NYC readers-
Any of you want to write for Inhabitat? We are currently looking for an awesome new blogger based in the Big Apple to put his or her excellent writing skills to work in improving the world through the power of good design. Interested? Read on…
SUSTAINABLE STYLE: John Patrick ORGANIC Resort 2008
It’s not always evident these days what it means to celebrate ‘resort wear.’ With temperatures shifting globally and weather patterns completely out of whack, the traditional notion of resort fashion and glamorous jet set travel has, in some respects, gone by the wayside. More ‘attuned’ fashion designers are adapting by creating sustainable, trans-seasonal collections where customers can enjoy their wardrobe investments throughout the entire year, regardless of destination or agenda. Such is the case with designer John Patrick ORGANIC and his gorgeous Resort 2008 Collection. It’s no surprise that ORGANIC is an exotic medley of sustainable textiles combined with impeccable down home tailoring. Who better to turn to when it seems as if we are at our last resort for sustainable fashion and truly sound eco-solutions?
Walker on the Green: Artists Create Eco-conscious Mini Golf
Golf courses are notorious for water consumption, pesticide use, and unforgivable outfits. There is a modern movement to correct or minimize some of these wrongs - the Audubon Society names some 2,300 golf courses in its Cooperative Sanctuary Program, and many modern courses have integrated IPM and native plants. The vast majority, however, remain a green carpeted water suck. This aspect was not overlooked by artists participating in Walker on the Green. An artist-designed mini-golf course, this project takes eco to the greens at the Walker Art Center’s Minneapolis Sculpture Garden.
Recycled Plastic Environmental Art Installation by MSLK
We are always hunting high and low for innovative ways to reduce and reuse the plethora of plastic bags in our midst. The New York-based design firm, MSLK, is currently proposing an innovative and creative way for Inhabitat readers and concerned citizens to link together “2,663 bags” - the alarming amount of bags consumed every second in America - by having folks donate their unwanted plastic sacs to the 2.663 Urban Tumbleweed Project. The jetsam and flotsam of modern life can now be used to visualize just how crucial it is to curb our consumption and laissez-faire attitudes towards the ubiquitous shopping bag.
Read on for details on how you can participate and put household plastic bags to good use for this collaborative crusade>>
