Sometimes, all you need is to take an existing design, and give it a twist.

In every house in the world there is a drawer. In the back of that drawer you’ll find: string, brightly-colored elastic hair ties, stubs of candles, 3 amp fuses, paperclips and many other fundamental building-blocks of the modern universe.

And if that drawer is large enough, there’s part of a bakelite light fitting – the inspiration for Shangia designer Zhili Liu’s new lighting range. Those with a soft spot for our feathered friends (a certain …

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There’s a sad sight. After they’ve lugged your belongings from one corner of the world to the other and obviously won’t last another mile, the final stop for your careworn companions is the trash. There’s no alternative. It’s a fact.

Nonsense, says the team at Junktion!

If you’re keen to make your life a trashless one (particularly on Tuesdays), there are many ways to upcycle your garbage – but there’s a limit, surely? There are some items …

Tags: art , chairs , decor , design , furniture , junk , recycling , sofas , sustainable , tables , trash

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Mention refrigerators to a room of environmentalists…and you’ll notice a sudden chill in the air.

That’s hardly surprising. Once a luxurious marvel, the fridge has become an essential, invisible part of our modern lives. There’s one in over 99.5% of all American homes. It may have revolutionized food storage, but at a lamentable cost to the environment (most notoriously via CFCs released by crumbling fridge insulation)…and to our electricity bills. Before those fine folk at Energy Star rolled their sleeves up, fridges were the most power-hungry appliances in the home.

So, …

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Think you’ve heard every creative and inventive way to go green? Here are some sensible suggestions – but if your tastes tend towards the wackier end of the green spectrum, you’ll have a blast with the following ideas.

The Slime’s Where All the Flavor Is

They’re nutritious, free range, a touch rubbery, and have graced the plates of Europeans for thousands of years. Instead of picking the snails off your lettuce, why not add them to your salad? High in protein and low in fat, …

Tags: bizarre , going green , strange ways to go green , weird ways to go green

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If you’re still chuckling from the weirdest of 2008’s green building designs, pop some popcorn and pull up a chair before you check out the Dragonfly – it’s a 600-meter-tall wing-shaped skyscraper filled with self-sufficient offices and vertical gardens. Would you be happy to see this against the Manhattan skyline?

New Zealand comedian Mike King has been talking green for a while now, yet that didn’t keep him promoting the pork industry – until he …

Tags: eco-footwear , food industry , heirloom tomatoes , lifestyle , prefab houses , science , vertical gardens , wind turbines

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Would you drink the condensed breath of your coworkers?

The EcoloBlue 28 Atmospheric Water Generator, which I first saw at Ave Natura, is a marvel of green ingenuity. Using nothing but a tiny current of electricity, it’s an office cooler that fills itself up over time, no water supply required.

That’s because the EcoloBlue fills up by wringing moisture from the surrounding air. The device filters the water, renders it bacteriologically safe (according to the water quality lab reports on EcoloBlue’s website) and gurgles the …

Tags: cooling , green , innovation , office , recycling , technology , water

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At last, an endangered species that deserves to be – the battery hen.

Free range eggs may be significantly more expensive, but that’s not stopping shoppers plucking them from the shelves while turning their noses up at caged hen eggs.

This is yet another example of how ethical consumerism rules the roost in today’s marketplace (okay, enough with the chicken puns). Thanks to the hard work of people like British TV chef Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall and the patrons of the Battery Hen Welfare Trust, the appalling living …

Tags: animal rights , eggs , ethical , farming , free range , organic , wellness

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In the future, rising sea levels are going to drive people out of their low-lying communities and up to higher ground. But you might not know it’s going on right now.

As Luanne reported recently, the government of the Maldives is facing the prospect of inundation with admirable foresight by moving to a carbon zero economy by the end of the next decade and adding a splash of green to its luxury status.

The country is also going to use future profits to fund a wholesale relocation of the population …

Tags: climate change , environment , marine conservation , oceans

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We’re already well into May – and that means it’s National Bike Month. To celebrate our favorite mode of transportation (sorry, Segway, try again next year), here are a few reasons to put feet to pedals.

Did you know…

…that cycling is almost comically efficient? You’re getting around 3 times as fast as walking but burning the same amount of energy. You’re like a car that does …

Tags: bicycle , cars , cycling , health , pollution , transportation

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