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.