Constructing A Simple Greenhouse Can Be An Enjoyable Task If You Have The Help Of Greenhouse Plans

If you like gardening, then learning how to build a greenhouse may provide you lots of satisfaction. You might be wanting to put together a greenhouse to protect your plants from the cold, or you might perhaps basically want to get an early jump for the planting period. No matter what the purpose, obtaining a greenhouse is wonderful for everyone who enjoys gardening.

Source: Organic Vegetable Gardening | 13 Mar 2010 | 10:59 am EST

Adding Color To Your Summer Garden

For color and beauty in the garden, Hibiscus cannot be beat. Mine are the giant strain of rose mallow, tall-growing, well-branched plants that produce many enormous five-petaled flowers ranging from red to rose, shell-pink to white with crimson eye.

Source: Organic Vegetable Gardening | 13 Mar 2010 | 9:15 am EST

LED Bulbs Are Energy Efficient And Last Longer

Light emitting diode bulbs or LED bulbs are most known for lighting up the numbers on a digital alarm clock or the timer or digital temperature gauge on the microwave or stove. They can be used for lighting up the environment as well. Electrons are used to create the light instead of burning a filament as in a traditional incandescent bulb. LED lights never become too hot to handle.

Source: Organic Vegetable Gardening | 13 Mar 2010 | 8:27 am EST

Tone Tubby: Hottest New Speakers Are Made of Hemp

There’s no denying that the cannabis sativa plant has played a huge role in the music industry for decades, but this newest usage might be the most surprising: hemp speakers. And in the case of Tone Tubby, using hemp as one of the main materials isn’t just a gimmicky nod to the love affair between weed and rock n’ roll – it’s all about the sound.

Take apart a speaker and you’ll find that one of the most essential elements to sound quality is just a cone made out of paper. But what if that paper cone were to be made with a material that retained many of the same qualities, but was stronger and more durable? John Harrison, maker of Tone Tubby speakers, claims that hemp cones give music more tone and make it sound fuller and more polished.

Harrison isn’t the only one who hears a little something extra in these speakers: he counts music industry greats like Carlos Santana, Neil Young, Metallica and Tom Waits among his best customers.

But you hardly have to be an axe slinger to appreciate these babies. You can “hemp your ride” with Hemp Hop speakers, which bear the slogan “Nothing hits like hemp!”

Or, if you’re not keen on the implicit connection with illegal activities, perhaps you’d prefer the same line of speakers under the name “Green Thunder”, marketed toward adults rather than the teen-to-twenties set.

So how did Harrison even come up with the idea for Tone Tubby? “There might have been some hemp involved,” he joked to Wired.

Image: Tone Tubby

Source: EcoSalon » decor | 12 Mar 2010 | 2:48 pm EST

Growing Orchids Indoors – 3 Crucial Points To Remember

Caring for orchids can be harder than expected, but watching them wilt or suffer while in your care is much harder.

Source: Organic Vegetable Gardening | 12 Mar 2010 | 9:56 am EST

Tips For Advice For Taking Special Attention When Eradicating Poison Ivy

Poison ivy is a serious thing. To discover any growing near your home or on you property means that you need to handle the problem as soon as possible before someone is harmed by it. This is not just any other unwanted plant, it requires special attention and special precautions. Consulting first with a gardener or landscaper might be in your best interest.

Source: Organic Vegetable Gardening | 12 Mar 2010 | 7:08 am EST

Enjoying Window Garden With A Year Round Color

Like hundreds of other plant lovers, spend many happy days in their flower garden. But, always when the last chrysanthemum had been cut down by killing frost there was the dreary time, between late fall and spring, when all growing things were withered and no flower bloomed.

Source: Organic Vegetable Gardening | 12 Mar 2010 | 4:54 am EST

Dealing With The Lawn When Back Off Holiday

It's nice to get away every now and again but the weather is always dull when you get back. At least the dull weather is good for plant growth but when you get home and put the kettle on you're greeted with a jungle of a lawn.

Source: Organic Vegetable Gardening | 11 Mar 2010 | 4:03 pm EST

Poison Ivy Identification And Methods To Get The Itch And Pain To Stop

Poison Ivy is a vine that is usually found growing up trees in the woods. The vine looks raggy or hairy and from the vine grows leaves in clusters of three almond shaped leaves. These leaves are light to dark green and do not contain any thorns. They are usually smooth and shiny and turn red in the fall. The leaves produce an oil called urushiol which, if touched, can cause a nasty rash.

Source: Organic Vegetable Gardening | 11 Mar 2010 | 10:39 am EST

Electrolux Vacuum Cleaners Are State Of The Art When It Comes To Technology

The name Electrolux has been around for a long time and the company produces superb vacuum cleaners and Electrolux is one of the most popular brands on the market. This company was one of the first to mass produce domestic appliances and it also built the very first Electrolux vacuum cleaners in the early 1900's

Source: Organic Vegetable Gardening | 11 Mar 2010 | 6:03 am EST

3 Ideas Pertaining To Landscaping Your Own Yard

Landscaping generally is a very massive undertaking, taking up a lot of time and energy. Yet before you hire that specialized landscaping designer, follow this advice which can save you both time and money.

Source: Organic Vegetable Gardening | 10 Mar 2010 | 6:52 am EST

Lay Lady Lay

Gone are the days when organic bedroom textiles meant white or cream solids from an allergy store. The stuff is in full bloom as we embark on spring design. It’s full of knit, felts, clean cottons, bamboo, hemp and other eco weaves. Pure plus chic? Finally, something I can truly dig.

Here are new finds we love:

Flax, silk, cotton and hemp duvets and and ed skirts from Zia and Tia combine organic sustainable elements in both monochromatic and rich color options (pick from the pile), adding exotic elements to your room. Custom quality and a bit pricier than most. Think henna tattoo for the linens. $400 to $750.

The Kalamkari bed cover and shams collection from Viva Terra weaves the floral and fern motif in natural indigo on pure white sun-bleached organic cotton, using gentle Ayurvedic dyes extracted from plants and roots in a process dating back 400 years, $45 to $99.

Red Coral Organic Duvet Cover and Sham, Pottery Barn, $25 – $110. Our coral reefs may be disappearing but this gift form the sea still thrives in textile design and takes you to a resort mindset even in rainy, winter weather.

Bungle in the jungle, baby, with the organic and highly exotic Desert Retreat Leopard Duvet, $143 to $223, from Ralph Lauren Spa. This is an animal print we can live with.

Placid shading and stonelike textural originality from VivaTerra, the exquisite Felted Stone Lumbar Pillow by renowned South African textile designer Ronel Jordaan, $198.

Anthropologie is waking up to organic – finally – in its BoHo fashion, introducing new organic cotton sheeting evoking ferns, flowers, berries and vines. Sets are $68 to $268.

Source: EcoSalon » decor | 5 Mar 2010 | 5:56 pm EST

Leslie Hoffman of Earth Pledge Takes Shelter

“An unremarkable house can become a beautiful, sustainable shelter,” says Leslie Hoffman, President and Executive Director of  Earth Pledge.

She’s proving it with her own island development. The project is described on Hoffman’s Gimme Shelter blog as “a showcase for environmentally responsible building practices, sustainable products and brands and creative talents.“

What else makes this house sustainable? “Community,” she says.

I caught up with Hoffman recently and asked her a few questions about the project. Here’s what she had to say:

How did you find the Shelter Island property?

I have had the place for close to 10 years. It has served me well, I have become part of the community, I established my garden and grew it over the years, and have shared the house with friends. During this time I have thought a lot about how it could be improved, without making it substantially bigger, reusing as much of the old building as possible, and addressing issues, such as the fragile local aquifer, that are important in the community.

If sustainably designed, then why demolish the building and start anew?

The original structure was 2×4 framing on an uninsulated slab. The decision to re-frame the main section of the house addressed the need for insulation under the floor and also increased increased insulation in the walls and roof. The old section that remains is principally the garage and two guest bedrooms.

Will you have monitoring systems for people to see how your home is doing?

I am not installing monitoring equipment per se, but will certainly be monitoring fuel and electricity usage. My work on green roofs at Earth Pledge has included building three monitoring stations, so the results can now be applied without replicating the scientific work, which is costly.

What are some parts of the project you’re really excited about and why? Are you using your house as a testing ground for anything?

Each project that I have done has been a learning experience, so I know that Gimme Shelter will “teach” me – and hopefully others. I am super excited about the indoor/outdoor integration of this project. In summer, when most people want to come and visit, the house can be opened up to literally become part of the outdoor living spaces, and vice versa. The new product developments – including advanced green features such as water and energy saving – are amazing. I am also looking forward to having solar thermal panels to heat my hot water and radiant heating (I have had PV generating 5 kW of electricity for almost 7 years) and I am also really keen to explore cooking with an induction stove.

Tell me why you picked Steve Hoffman as the architect?

Steve, who is no relation to me, is married to a friend. They visited me on Shelter Island a number of times, and he became interested in the project. I had been grappling with some issues about the project, most notably the roof lines. Steve came up with the concept of the shape of the house, and reorganized some of the interior space use. When I saw the shape, it screamed “water catchment device” to me. This became central as we developed the garden integration and considered the impact of storm water runoff on a coastal site.

Talk about home being one of the basic necessities for living. How is your home that and more?

For me – beyond providing shelter – this place represents an opportunity to share what I know and how I live – with my friends, my community and the millions of Americans who live in typical mid 20th century housing who might want to upgrade their homes while integrating new (and more sustainable) principles into their lifestyles. As an example, I believe that more gardeners in the world will make the world a better place. When you experience the pleasures of the process and product of living with a garden, you are more likely to actually do it. This house and its renovation are providing me with a vehicle for sharing with what is hopefully a broad reach.

Top image: Computer generated image of Hoffman’s Gimme Shelter Project

Source: EcoSalon » decor | 3 Mar 2010 | 1:48 pm EST

10 DIY Tips for Redecorating on the Cheap

It’s tough to re-feather the nest during hard times. That’s why the home design industry is struggling not to be nailed shut while weathering the storm. But you can make subtle changes to your decor that won’t add up to big spending. Here are a few tips we recommend:

1. Reface Rather Than Replace Cabinets

Innovative companies can work with your existing wood and reface those cabinet doors with sustainable woods rather than trashing and starting anew. Read this post for more tips for the kitchen cabinet facelift.

2. Swap Decor with Family and Friends

You don’t need a piano and I don’t need that daybed in the TV nook, so let’s trade and recycle our stuff and get what we really need. It’s a match made in eco heaven when it doesn’t cost you a dime to swap decor, especially with people who have a good eye like you do, and are low on storage space. It’s how they did it in the olden days before widespread consumer waste and climate change. Here’s more.

3. Baby Steps Can Equal Full Grown Changes in a Room

Rearrange the furniture, buy a few new pillow covers, paint a wall. These easy fixes will refresh your pad without sinking lots of cash. As you’ll discover in this handy how-to post, it can all be done for under $30.

4. Repurpose Excess Upholstery Materials

Those fabric rolls are not doing anyone any good just sitting in the closet. Cut them up and redirect them to your interiors for pillow covers, framed art, bedding, even wall coverage like the picture shown above, if you have enough for adequate padding. See these great ideas for repurposing your excess.

5. Clean Before You Replace

Perhaps that rug can come clean with eco spot remover techniques. Why rip it out if it’s still useful? Another option is to cover a damaged section of the carpet by layering with a small, affordable area rug, one made of eco fibers that won’t cost the same as new carpeting or a large are rug. Go shagging for answers here.

6. Seasonal Accents Make Great Distractions

A collection of seasonal organic blooms and greens from your garden, lanterns, greeting cards, photos and tablecloths – they all can act as happy distractions in a room that is begging for a redux. Don’t have a garden? Head to the farmers’ market, the flea shop, the vintage shop in your hood, and spend little to stage your spaces with renewed charm. Head over here for inspiration.

7. Paint can Perk it Up

Even a dingy clawfoot tub can look ultra modern and cool by finding the right low VOC paints and giving the bath a new coat. You will find sprucing up furniture with paint can be a great cheap fix that refreshes your spaces.

8. Be a Thrift Shopper

It’s no wonder second hand shops in cities nationwide do well during hard times. These are outlets that actually offer discounts while more upscale sights like 1st Dibs are peddling vintage treasures that cater to those with lots of spare cash. Do some research and check out the shops in various neighborhoods to find out where nifty castaways are being parked.

9. A Room of Her Own

Sometimes just carving out one room of your own in your dwelling can suffice until you have a bigger budget to fix up the place. Are you craving that Project Runway sewing room? How about a closeted dressing room out of a spare bedroom? Having a blast doing just one space for yourself can be very rewarding, even if it is a multi-use corner for working, painting and reading. Own it with visuals on the walls and a fun rug that speaks to you. Experts say you will accomplish the most in a space you gravitate towards.

10. Spa Makeover

So you can’t afford to tear out the old tile and tired tub to make way for stone and steam. Use zen decor touches and nurturing elements to turn your blah bath into spa bath: Ideas include indulgent, organic towels; sensuous beeswax candles in an array of holders; yummy creams and oils displayed in a vintage tray; and my favorite Nob Hill Day Spa element – a large pitcher of spring water filled with sliced cucumbers or lemons and a pretty glass.

Image: Elle Decor

Source: EcoSalon » decor | 1 Mar 2010 | 2:00 pm EST

Eco Yachts: Can Bloated Boats Ever Be Green?

They’re a potent symbol of excess: bloated floating mansions that stir up the calm waters of the ocean, pump out CO2 and suck up fuel like there’s no tomorrow. But those poor beleaguered billionaires who seek refuge on the high seas aren’t about to give up their luxury yachts.

Still, in an increasingly eco-conscious world, many yacht owners are realizing that they’d better shape up or ship out – at least, on the surface. Enter Ecoyachts, a web-based consulting and service company for yachters who want to go green…ish.

Ecoyachts posits itself as a one-stop shop for eco-friendly yachting supplies, services and information.

“Whether you are building, own, operate or manage a luxury sailing or power yacht, Ecoyachts will help you discover innovative products and services to compliment your yachting experience and at the same time contribute to improving our environment,” reads the site’s mission statement.

But is it good enough for luxury yacht owners to load up on recycling bins, homeopathic first aid kits, filtered tap water and organic upholstery? What about sustainable wood decks, waste water recycling systems and non-toxic finishes? Do all of these things add up to a real step forward, or are they just lipstick on a pig? After all, the oceans are in bad enough shape without the harm that gigantic pleasure crafts can do.

Sure, going green doesn’t have to mean giving up all the pleasures of life, and Ecoyachts’ aim to help the industry reduce its environmental impact is a noble one. But if yachters really wanted to go green, they’d at least downsize – or switch to sailboats, which do everything that fancy hybrid/solar/biodiesel yachts can do, but with the original renewable resource: wind.

Image: Ecoyachts

Source: EcoSalon » decor | 23 Feb 2010 | 1:11 pm EST

Pet Peeves in Decorating: When Design Goes to the Dogs, Leopards and Zebras

I love my dog more than frozen yogurt or vacations at the Four Seasons resort in Punta Mita, and that is saying a hell of a lot. But I have a pet peeve about styling decor with images of animal friends, like my precious Pug. I won’t accent a chair with a silkscreen pillow of his highness like the ones available at Etsy or commission pet portraits to join our family dynasty of oils on the walls. To be fair, the same goes for my aging arthritic cat, Audrey Jane. When I want to recall her placid, green glassy eyes and wanton yearning for a dead spider, a lovely photograph will suffice.

Animal ambiance is just not my cup of kibble. The ubiquitous practice of borrowing from both the domestic and wild animal kingdoms for home decor should be buried for good. Herewith, my top pet peeves in decorating:

Oil Memories

Remember when our little equestrian, Pepper, took the fifth prize in stadium jumping on Liberty Bell? Remember when old Harpo escaped the wrath of the kids by resting on the deck? If you don’t, you must have forgotten to order a large oil portrait from that digital photo. It’s just like a real painting, except it’s not. Think paint-by-numbers and a perfect 10 in sappy.

Antler Furniture

Home on the range for the deranged. Cover your bases with something other than dead animal cartilage, the chateaux version of Euro trash. There is eco wood, repurposed metal, and dozens of other surfaces that make a more uplifting statement in the eclectic, well appointed space.

Genuine Skin Rugs

Whether cowhide, zebra or bear, these genuine floor skins give me the willies. Vendors like Hollywood Love Rugs say sales of the rugs are up. But the chic factor takes a back saddle to the tacky factor. Sheepskins that don’t require slaughtering the source are less offensive. Faux is the way to go, a way of saying I dig your stripes and spots without placing coffee tables on the real thing.

Leopard Print Fabrics

Even when it’s high quality, such as this upholstery velvet  from Old World Weavers, safari glam is just pretentious and cheesy, evoking Out of Africa set design in this English Regency ottoman. It went out with leather rhinos from Abercrombie & Fitch.

Trophies on the Walls

Is a Scalamandre room any richer with an African trophy mounted on the toile wallpaper? I get a headache just looking at taxidermy treasures, even though some designers argue they cannot forgo them when styling upscale rustic lodges or taverns.

Main Image: Flock Home

Images: Seattle Times, Guaranteed Portraits, Scalamandre, 1st Dibs

Source: EcoSalon » decor | 22 Feb 2010 | 4:12 pm EST

Richmond Olympic Oval represents green gold for buildings

Gold medals are not handed out for architectural design, but the environmentally friendly speed skating arena built for the Vancouver Olympics is being called a winner by the bladed athletes who will compete there this month. The Richmond Olympic Oval, considered the signature building of the Games, contains salvaged wood damaged by a pine-beetle infestation and has a massive roof shaped like a wave. "We compete in some nice ovals that have been built as Olympic facilities in the past," defending 5,000 meters champion Chad Hedrick of the United States told Reuters. "This one here obviously outdoes all of them. They went big on this.

Source: Sustainable Housing and Green Building News - ENN | 13 Feb 2010 | 9:31 am EST

Gardens in Glass: Make Your Own Upcycled Terrarium

Like bell bottoms, leisure suits and The Hustle, terrariums were totally groovin’ in the 70s but seemingly fell off the face of the earth as the clock struck midnight on January 1st, 1980. But if feathered Farrah Fawcett hair can come back, so can these gorgeous gardens in glass – they’re riding a wave of renewed popularity right back into our homes.

What makes the modern-day incarnation of terrariums so very 2010? Upcycling glass containers like mason jars, jelly jars, wine bottles, glass teapots, spice bottles and even light bulbs. There’s virtually no limit to the kind of container that can be used, as long as it’s mostly enclosed.

Terrariums are little worlds within themselves, providing a high humidity environment for plants that might not otherwise survive very long in your home. It may seem strange that plants can live inside glass without constant exposure to air, but when the conditions are right, they actually need very little fresh air. The amount that gets exchanged when you open the lid to water them is enough.

All you need to get started are these materials, many of which you may already have:

• Glass container
• Activated charcoal (the kind sold at pet shops for aquariums)
• Pea gravel
• Potting soil
• Moisture-loving plants
• Decorative stones, moss, or figurines (optional)

Assembling your terrarium is fairly simple. Horticulture expert David Trinklein of the University of Missouri suggests washing your container in hot, soapy water and drying it thoroughly, then lining the bottom with a thin layer of gravel for drainage. Next is a ½ inch layer of activated charcoal, which will filter the air. Add at least 1-½ inches of moist, high quality growing medium rich in organic material and then you’re ready to insert your plants.

For visual interest, choose plants of various heights and colors that all have roughly the same needs. The easiest way to accomplish this? Head out to your backyard and see what you find – moss is a great choice for beginners. Trim off any damaged parts, place the plants in the soil using long tweezers or a stick with a wire loop attached to the end, and gently tamp down the soil. Try to keep the leaves from touching the glass to prevent rot.

Mist the inside of your terrarium and let it sit for a day before misting again. Once the water has evaporated off the leaves, you can cover the container.

Of course, figuring out just how to fit all of these materials and plants into oddly shaped containers like light bulbs and wine bottles can be tricky – there’s an art to it. Check out these tutorials for all the details:

• Mason Jar Terrarium – Craftzine
• Inverted Jar Terrarium – Design Sponge
• Wine Bottle Terrarium – Dr. Vino
• Lightbulb Terrarium – Instructables

Now, proudly put your terrarium on display in indirect sunlight and get ready to ignore it! The best part about these little glass gardens is that you can have the blackest thumb on the block and still maintain healthy plants with just a spritz of water every now and then. The larger the container opening, the more frequent it will require watering – but closed terrariums may not need water for up to six months.

Hopelessly craft-challenged? You can still get in on the terrarium trend. Handmade goods purveyor Etsy.com has a smorgasbord of terrarium offerings, including the moss terrarium by Greenbriar and light bulb terrariums by Tiny Terra, pictured above.

Photos: Greenbriar, Tiny Terra

Source: EcoSalon » decor | 12 Feb 2010 | 2:00 pm EST

How to Reduce the Fumes

A fresh coat of paint can change a room from dreary to divine. Stains, sealants, caulks, and adhesives help you build everything from a new bathroom to a bookcase. But all these useful products can also introduce unhealthy chemicals into your home and your body. Low-VOC paint The biggest culprit is VOCs, or "volatile organic compounds," a large class of chemicals that readily evaporate at room temperature. If you walk into a room and notice that new-paint smell, you’re breathing VOCs. Paints, stains, sealants, caulks, and adhesives release the highest levels of VOCs when wet. But even when they feel dry to the touch, they may keep releasing these gases for days, weeks, months, even years. Meanwhile your upholstery, carpets, and drapes act like sponges, absorbing VOCs and releasing them over time. While not everyone may be bothered by exposure to these gases, they can be a serious health risk for people with chemical sensitivities, asthma, or other respiratory conditions.

Source: Sustainable Housing and Green Building News - ENN | 10 Feb 2010 | 7:50 am EST

The Dish on Whiner and Diner’s Vintage

“Honey, the dog’s wine crate is empty – can you refill it for him?”

Banish thoughts of pooch-pampering gone mad. Fido isn’t polishing off that bottle of cheap Beaujolais deemed unfit for the dinner table – and that’s a relief because if he was doing so, you’d be poisoning him. What your dog really needs is a bowl of water, and a recycled wine crate is what’s on tap.

Wine crates used to be invisible and unloved – nothing but cheaply-made (read “virgin wood”) boxes to lug bottles of plonk around in. Now we’re wising up. They’re tough, they polish up gorgeously, there’s a huge supply of them (less so since they became recycle-hot, so nowadays you have to look around), and there are a million and one things to do with them. Free-standing wine cart? Light box? You name it.

Not that Fido gives two shakes of his tail for anything right now. He’s happily got his nose jammed in one of Whiner & Diner’s range of recycled wine crate pet feeders. Pick a height, pick a color to match your room (or Fido’s coat), pick a style and your order is ready, completed with recessed, removable stainless steel silver bowls.

Or of course you could try making your own – but just think of the terrible trial of having to drink all that wine. Appalling. Still, Fido’s depending on you and you can’t let him down. Corkscrew at the ready!

Images: trentroche and Whiner and Diner

Source: EcoSalon » decor | 4 Feb 2010 | 2:33 pm EST

Hold Your Breath: Liquid Glass Changes Everything

Here at EcoSalon we love glass – and we’ve spent years celebrating its use in milk bottles and gorgeously translucent tableware, its almost magical ability to be renewed and reshaped by the elements into something truly sublime. We want glass to shove past plastic and regain the well-deserved status it’s enjoyed for the last thousand years. Frankly, we can’t wait.

But nothing has prepared us for this.

A German company called Nanopool has secured the patent for a new type of glass – in spray form. It’s being called liquid glass, and it’s laid down in an unbelievably shallow coating (less than 30 molecules thick) that acts like no other surface we’ve ever heard of. Yes, it’s glass, and therefore water-resistant and easy to wipe down – but it’s also thin enough to be flexible and breathable. (Yes – air-permeable glass). If that weren’t enough, it blocks UV, resists heat and forms a surface bond that’s difficult to break, making it potentially as hard-wearing as its large-scale counterpart.

Where could it be used? Answer: absolutely everywhere. It will revolutionize decor. It could be used on any surface (being glass, it is chemically inert) including clothing, and the manufacturers are claiming that it will virtually eliminate the need for scrubbing because most stains will be prevented from forming in the first place. It will make household surfaces much more resistant to bacteria and grime, and keep medical equipment squeaky-clean. It can even be used to protect wood against termites and vines against fungal diseases.

So far, so world-changing. (Seriously so). But there’s one big question mark. Let’s not forget this is airborne silicon dioxide, and there’s a very ugly medical complaint associated with it – Silicosis, also known by the grotesque name of Potter’s Rot. When crystalline silica dust is in regular contact with our lungs (say, if we worked in a mine), it lodges inside them. Hard-wearing, water-resistant and so on? These marvels now become curses – and silicosis is currently untreatable and therefore irreversible.

Liquid glass is an incredible breakthrough – but let’s hope it’s applied to our products before they reach our hands. If not, the consequences could be quite literally breathtaking.

Image: amagill

Source: EcoSalon » decor | 3 Feb 2010 | 12:00 pm EST

Deloitte: Best Practices for Going Green

What do you think of when you hear Deloitte? You might think of a professional services firm or Big Four auditor. Today, the company has also put a big green stake in the ground, both looking internally to green its operations and as an offering in its consulting practice. Two aspects of this work are worth noting: Deloitte’s internal green team, working to engage employees in sustainability, and its Green Sync™ tool. I had the chance to have an e-mail exchange with Thomas Dekar, vice chairman of Deloitte LLP, regional managing principal of the North Central Region and corporate responsibility officer for the Deloitte U.S. Firms. He shed some light on the origins of Deloitte’s programs and offerings. Read on to learn about Deloitte’s best green business practices for engaging employees in sustainability.

Source: Sustainable Housing and Green Building News - ENN | 1 Feb 2010 | 2:03 pm EST

Eco Retailer to Donate Up to $10,000 to Haiti Artisans

In his State of the Union address, President Obama praised the millions of Americans who are helping strangers in Haiti with quake relief efforts that extend from high profile celebrity telethons to boxes of first aid supplies. Our sister company, eco-retailer VivaTerra, has joined in the effort by donating up to $10,000 in profits from the sale of its Haitian-made products to aid 500 artisans and their families.

The money will be sent directly to Caribbean Craft, an organization set up to employ and give assistance to the talented crafts people who produce some of VivaTerra’s most loved products from a fair-trade workshop in Port-au-Prince. These original crafts include uplifting holiday angels to papier mache birds and oil drum tree-of-life sculptures.

“At VivaTerra, our first instinct has been to do whatever we can to help in the wake of one of the worst conceivable tragedies in memory,” says Bonnie Trust Dahan, a founding partner of the company. “The terrible devastation has struck close to home and we’ve learned form preliminary reports that it claimed the lives of at least four of the artisans in [our] workshops, as well as their families.”

The materials they employ in their designs – recycled newspapers, discarded oil drums and emptied cement bags – help fulfill VivaTerra’s mission of reducing waste and reusing our abundant resources to heal the planet. That mission began when the company was founded in 2004 with the commitment to encourage local artisans with a retail site and product catalog that would provide an audience for their imaginative handmade creations. Haiti is among the several countries worldwide where VivaTerra has formed bonds with local artisan workshops where a future of hope comes in the form of the fair trade industry.

Source: EcoSalon » decor | 29 Jan 2010 | 11:00 am EST

Earthquakes and the Future of Haiti

The aftershock sequence of the magnitude 7 earthquake that struck near Port-au-Prince, Haiti, on Jan. 12, 2010, will continue for months, if not years. The frequency of events will diminish with time, but damaging earthquakes will remain a threat. It is essential that the rebuilding effort in Haiti take into account the potential for, indeed the inevitability of, future strong earthquakes. Haiti is cut by two major plate boundary fault zones. Over the past three centuries, earthquakes comparable to or stronger than the recent one have struck Haiti at least four times, including those in 1751 and 1770 that destroyed Port-au-Prince. It is also not just Haiti that has this potential.

Source: Sustainable Housing and Green Building News - ENN | 25 Jan 2010 | 4:40 pm EST

UK planning to reintroduce insects

When one thinks of reintroducing wildlife, one usually thinks of big charismatic mammals, such as wolves or beaver, or desperate birds like the Californian condor. But the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB) in Scotland is going one step further to save the UK's unique ecology with plans to reintroduce four species of dwindling insects.

Source: Sustainable Housing and Green Building News - ENN | 19 Jan 2010 | 6:56 am EST

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