It’s amazing how creative people are. Within minutes of each other I came across two seperate web sites offering art out of things which would otherwise be thrown away. The first such site is Junk mail gems a site which offers products made from junk mail. They have wallets, bags, beads and more. The above photo shows a selection of their fridge magnets.
The other web site offers fish mosaics created out of beer caps at Art Buzz.

“If there’s some compelling reason you can’t just quit the job, pack up, and spend the rest of your days in waders with a rod and a bottle at the ready, perhaps a compromise is in order. Maybe if you were to hang one of these bottle cap fish on the wall behind your desk you’d feel better. When the river calls silently out to you, cast your eyes across the office to this ultimate trophy fish and remember the things that matter.”

Instructables has a tutorial on how to use glossy brochures as book covers. Brochures are usually nicely decorated and they’re free so they make good covers. This is an easy tutorial that anyone can do.

LightCap - Solar Powered LED Light & Water Bottle by SolLight.

This very cool water bottle doubles as a night light or camping light (or power outage light). You can switch the light from white to red depending on how much light you need. It needs about 4 hours to recharge in the sun and will work for many hours. Very handy for kids who wake up to have a drink of water throughout the night (like mine).

If you ride a bicycle and have little children or other heavy loads to carry Bakfiets are an absolute dream come true. Bakfiets are cargo bikes mostly used in the Netherlands only unfortunately but hopefully their use (and availability) will one day be more widespread.

(Update) If you live in Australia Cheeky Transport is getting ready to become a dealer of these bikes which is great news.

Photo via The Bakfiets Cargobike blog

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South African artist Heath Nash not only creates these and other excellent items but he creates them out of used plastic containers. These lamps are certainly an inspiration and Heath has won many awards for his work.

Heath isn’t only concerned with the environmental impact of his work but also with the possibilities of educating and involving the local community. Collaborating with the traditional craft-based skills of local residents he has managed to create an ethical company with a truly contemporary sensibility.

Via Style will save us

There is a pretty sobering doumentary here about a phenomenon called global dimming. It’s caused by the pollution particles sent into the air lessening the amount of the sun’s energy that is reaching us. Basically it has slowed down the effects of global warming. While this may sound like a good thing it naturally isn’t, in the sense that it has caused a great deal of problems (such as the drought in Africa) and perhaps has made us feel as if global warming’s effects are further into the future then they really are.
You can watch the documentary here.

Beware of two things, one is that it is 50 minutes long so you need some spare time. The second warning is that there is a rather gruesome scene within the first two minutes so listen to the documentary with your eyes closed for the first few minutes if you don’t want to see it.

Ecology begins at home is an excellent free ebook full of tips on living in a way that has a less harmfull impact on the world. It’s easy to read and has tips which everyone can use in their daily life in order to do their bit for the environment.

He talks about saving energy, using less, reducing, re-using, recycling, keeping our food miles down by eating food produced locally and closer to home, taking personal responsibility for doing our bit in the world.

Ecology begins at home (PDF) via Small revolutions

Risign Phoenix Design has a good article about the energy use of monitors depending on what colours they are displaying on the screen.

White and bright colours (especially in background) can use up to 20% more power then black or dark colours.

The site also encourages people to switch to using LCD computer monitors if they are still using CRT monitors as they use a lot less power.

Green design Via Hugg

Sanyo in Japan has announced the world’s first washing machine which not only offers a waterless air wash to replace having to send clothes to the dry cleaners but it also recycles water when you are using it’s water cycle. The super washing machine also dries clothes and kills bacteria.

With ‘AQUA’, which is the world’s first*1 washer/dryer to utilize ozone, which enables ‘reduction of water’ and ‘recycling of water’, SANYO has broken away from conventional thinking and is offering a completely new cleaning technology.

Aqua via The Sietch Blog

Although vertical gardens are certainly not a new idea, they are a somewhat forgotten one and a bit of a rarity these days. They do have quiet a few advantages aside from their beauty such as space where otherwise there may not be any for gardening. You can even start one inside the house if there is enough light.

Although a living wall is something you can create by yourself there are starter systems you can buy which make it a little bit more convenient to begin. One such place is Eltlivingwalls.com where one panel sets you back $40+shipping.

Eltlivingwalls.com via Inhabitat via Hugg