We talk a lot about sustainability and design here at Inhabitat, but something we’ve never talked about before is the sustainability of life as a design student. Design school is intense and competitive, not to mention full of noxious chemicals - and it can often be trying to lead a sustainable, balanced and healthy life while in design school.

Core77 recently put together a great “Hack2School Special” — full of tips and tricks for getting through design school. Because my focus is sustainable design, I decided to contribute my thoughts on how to make the design school lifestyle more sustainable. Here’s what I wrote…

READ MORE >

As our country celebrates its 231st birthday today, many of us are planning a fun-filled day of barbecues, sun, and fireworks. Whatever your level of patriotism towards the good old U.S. of A., we can all do our best to protect our beautiful earth by keeping green in mind for the holiday. Here are a few ways we can all make our star-spangled banner a bit more green.

READ MORE >

Green Graphic Design: Step 1, Your Printer and You

Printers and Graphic Designers have long lived in entwined chaos, each attempting to interpret the electronic wizards living within their individual computing systems. Logic suggests that adding environmental concerns to this equation will only serve to exasperate this already malfunctioning system. Fortunately for Green Graphic Designers (and printers), these days are long gone. Gone are the days we send our designs into the ether hoping to receive perfect pieces of printed matter on the other end (…right).

The green path of the future involves getting intimate with your favorite printer.

READ MORE >

Here at Inhabitat, we frequently focus on the latest green designs or sustainable products, but on occasion we come across wonderful publications that absolutely deserve to be brought to our readers’ attention. Building Green by Clarke Snell & Tim Callahan provides green-minded home builders with 615 full color pages of meticulous writing, sequential how-to photos, and basic building logic. This book chronicles the process of building a small picturesque getaway cabin constructed of cob, cordwood, strawbale, and alternative wood framing for the individual walls – and then they cap it with a green roof!!

This book is for anyone considering truly green residential construction. What makes the book so successful is that the two authors come at the project from two different perspectives; one from the alternative (can we say hippie?) point of view, and the other from a more rational, slightly skeptical, seasoned contractor. And for less that $20 this tome of green how-to is a sweet deal!

READ MORE >

(Nasa’s Aerogel material, which it uses to collect space dust - also makes a great insulating material for your house!)

Since we’ve recently discussed energy consumption and indoor air quality on Inhabitat, we figured now would be a great time to talk about insulation. Don’t run away! We realize that insulation is not a sexy subject matter. Nevertheless, insulation is crucial to your energy consumption, comfort, health, and ultimate happiness - so don’t flee just yet…

READ MORE >

The very root of what makes a home green is how effectively it responds to its surrounding environment. You could say that this has defined the primary material pursuit of mankind for all time – building better shelters to keep us warmer, cooler, and drier. Many of the native building techniques employed centuries ago are still reliable in similar climates today, and used as optimal models for environmentally conscious architects. However, since global acceptance of the air conditioner in the 1950s, the benefits of responding to a unique climate have been left by the side of the road.

READ MORE >

Welcome back to Green Building 101.

Last week we covered how to select an environmentally responsible location for your new abode; this week we’ll begin discussing ways you can improve upon any home site. The SUSTAINABLE SITES section of USGBC’s LEED for Homes Program outlines various “green” opportunities for reducing the negative impact your home has on the environment. The great thing about these principles is that most can be implemented anytime, regardless of whether you’re still in the design process, or if you’ve been in your home for a lifetime.

So without further ado, here are five measures you can take to create a more sustainable site:

READ MORE >

Photo: Richard Reames, Arborsmith

There are houses built in trees and then there are treehouses. Last year, we had one of our first encounters with a home literally made from trees, using the art of weaving (and sometimes grafting) trees together to form structures — a practice ecological designer, Richard Reames, called “Arcorsculpture.” The Fab Tree Hab was one of the design entries for the Index: awards, emerging from the genius of a crew including MIT architect Mitchell Joachim and our friend, Javier Arbona of Archinect. The project description emphasized consideration of whole systems (and ecosystems) in creating a truly sustainable built environment, rather than a piecemeal approach that could yield uncertain longterm outcomes.

READ MORE >

If you are looking to see a good thriller this summer, forget about The Omen remake, and go see An Inconvenient Truth.

READ MORE >

Last September, we published a “How To” for making your own biodiesel. We had huge response (mostly positive, some critical).

Since then, gas prices have continued to rise, and things are not getting better where oil resources are concerned. Because of this, we’ve decided today to repost our recipe for biodiesel. Since the initial posting it’s been tweaked slightly in response to some reader feedback.

Read on to learn how you can have a healthier, cheaper, more environmentally-friendly ride.

.

READ MORE >

You may have seen this blogging around recently, since the indomitable Rebar collective staged a brilliant urban intervention in San Francisco last month by rolling out some sod and building a mini park in a metered parking space. My friend Gregory Kellett, who assisted in the production of Rebar’s video documentary, sent along a link to their trailer, which is now available for viewing at the Rebar website and shouldn’t be missed.

With many thanks to Matt Passmore and his Rebar brothers, we share with you some simple instructions on building your very own temporary urban park in a parking space. Just be sure you pay the meter. There’s no such thing as free rent…

READ MORE >

The best gift I received this year for Xmas was the ReadyMade book: How to Make {Almost} Everything: A Do-It-Yourself Primer. Thanks to my generous sister, I now hold the secrets to creating chandeliers from water bottles, recycling those annoying plastic cd covers into wall art, and making good modernist use of discarded shelves.

The Readymade book is everything you’d expect from the clever creators of ReadyMade Magazine. It’s handy, resourceful, funny, and provides countless hours of entertainment, diversion and inspiration with a whole new slew of projects that have never been published in the magazine. Whether or not you actually find the time to try out any of the recipes in the book, ReadyMade’s philosophy that you can improve your life by reusing, recycling and making more out of less is truly inspiring.

READ MORE >

Who knew lawns would go from epitomizing the American dream to embodying all manner of evil? Blaming both human and natural failings, many homeowners have embraced the idea of lawn-eradication. Last week, it was the lawn-pavers; this week, it’s the lawn-eaters.

Edible Estates is the brainchild of Fritz Haeg, who has made it his mission to replace the water-guzzling, pesticide-drenched grasslands of American front yards with functional, fruitful plots filled with all things edible.

READ MORE >

If anyone still needed proof that world oil resources are diminishing, staggering gas prices have now confirmed it. Now, even as our wallets grow skinnier and SUV sales drop, I can’t help but wonder how deeply this new reality is penetrating the American psyche.

Proponents of alternative fuel are fervently pursuing a viable, abundant source of fuel that will maintain our mobility without harming the earth. At present, biodiesel is the most available, affordable and easy-to-use alternative to gasoline. It is made out of either used cooking grease or virgin vegetable oil (corn and soy being the most common). The process of refining oil into biodiesel is quite simple, and the resulting fuel can be used in any diesel engine with no modification to the vehicle itself.

Below is a how-to recipe for brewing your own biodiesel. I have compiled it from several sources over the last few years and have followed it myself many times with great success. Read on to learn how you can have a healthier, cheaper, more environmentally-friendly ride.

READ MORE >

I’ve always coveted my friend Melissa’s fabulous terrarium, which is the centerpiece of her stylish, cozy Brooklyn apartment. I’ve secretly wanted one of my own for ages, and recently realizing that some artsy terrariums can sell for thousands of dollars, I decided it was high time to learn how to make my own on the cheap. After much pleading, I’ve finally managed to convince Melissa to spill her terrarium secrets…

READ MORE >