Despite a general consumer slump, the eco marketplace is sizzling as stylish shoppers continue seeking earth friendly products. In fact, when it comes to green, demand is up.

That’s why stylish home eco retailer, VivaTerra, has announced a fresh new website design, complete with the latest social-media friendly tools and helpful shopping features. The new site design is bigger for easy reading and selecting, and better, with more ways to view and share products via the most accessible and popular social-media channels. Click to view an attractive, user-friendly flash interface updated frequently with new products and specials.

A noticeable enhancement is also in the ways you can browse and shop: by category, product, style (modern, zen, colorful, rustic) or materials (stone, silk, reclaimed wood, bamboo). Also in the shop for section: the newest items, seasonal featured products and great specials.

The re-design also gives us shoppers access to VivaTerra’s Facebook and Twitter pages, as well as links to email and bookmarks – making it easier than ever to share favorites or wishlists. It’s a clever and creative update that only enhances VivaTerra’s continued focus on eco living with style. Check it out!

Note: VivaTerra is a corporate sponsor.

When the sustainable design movement first started, rolled paper jewelry and gum wrapper bags were plentiful. You have to start somewhere, right? Turn the clock forward to this collection of paper jewelry, created as a collaboration between KEZA and Rhode Island School of Design (RISD) students Jenny Lai and Lindsay Perkins.

The RISD designers participated in the collection to help empower women who were formerly sex workers by helping them set up their company and develop skills in making paper jewelry.

KEZA, a fashion company dedicated to assisting businesses in East Africa with the intention of improving the lives of women there, consider themselves a “people-inspired fashion company.”.

For this particular collection, KEZA highlighted a Rwanda cooperative that creates paper jewelry.

In conjunction with KEZA, Lai and Perkins spent all of summer 2009 in Rwanda working with the artisans to make the paper jewelry you see here.

And you thought paper jewelry was sooo amateur.

Tons of DVDs go unmeasured by the EPA into the solid waste stream each year, even though they can be recycled through entities like Second Spin (which we wrote about in August of this year). While Netflix, iTunes and Hulu reduce consumer demand for piles of the silver plastic, as long as DVDs remain profitable, studios will continue to make and sell them.

Thankfully, one startup, Torch Films in New York, is lowering their waste output and raising the bar for the manufacture and distribution of new discs by using a lightweight format called Flex DVD. It’s manufactured by CD Digital Card, a subsidiary of Zoba International in Rancho Cucamonga, California.

The studio’s first feature, Marina of the Zabbaleen, a documentary by Engi Waseff, is now sold as a “Flex disc” following a Tribeca Film Festival debut in September 2009. Using 50% less polycarbonate material than other DVDs, the Marina… DVD and sleeve package are 100% recyclable and are made of 95% recycled materials.

Chief executive Tim Hobbs and finance chief Ori Dov Gratch, who co-founded Torch Films and gave this new format a chance in the market, spoke to EcoSalon about what it takes to greenlight efficiency in an industry known for excess.

Tim Hobbs and Ori Dov Gratch holding a Flex DVD

From the start was Torch Films intention to be a “green” studio?

Tim: I’m not going to lie about it. When we first started this business, our goal was just to support and release high quality, if low budget films from talented, responsible people who otherwise might not get a chance. We didn’t have a focus on green operations, a particular genre or anything besides bringing a systematic approach to our projects.

So what inspired your efforts to release a lower-impact DVD?

Tim: Marina of the Zabbaleen is what inspired us to take environmental initiative here. The film itself, as you may know, is a cinematic documentary about seven-year-old Marina, who lives in a garbage-recycling village outside of Cairo. It’s a portrait of her family and childhood, and about this community. They are entrepreneurial people, not activists but people who are recycling for survival. They have built a system we could learn from here in the U.S. At their peak levels, they recycle 90% of everything. They collect and manage Cairo’s garbage, and have one of the highest rates of recycling in the world. I have to credit the Zabbaleen and Engi Waseff, the director of this film, for giving us motivation.

Did it cost your business a great deal to produce more ecologically sensible DVDs vs. traditional?

Tim: The disc is not any more expensive to make than the older types of DVDs. The tough questions from a business perspective were about finding the more efficient technology, understanding if it worked, and how well it has been tested. There’s always a risk adopting the new. Other film studios might be wary to make a massive release on this 50% lower-impact, flexible new type of disc. [He holds a disc sample up and bends it.] But we liked the manufacturer’s reputation, and their comprehensive playability studies.

Ori: Let’s get nerdy for a minute. We had a feeling this was meant to be after we learned that Flex DVD in lab testing was compatible with 99% of players out there, including game-consoles that play DVDs. After we did our own share of bland research about things like disc drive technology, packaging, inks and how well different types of DVD cases sell at retail, and even tested the discs ourselves, we were ready to go. We kind of brag about this on our website and in our marketing materials. The 5% of material that is not from-recycled is a non-toxic, biodegradable clay coating that makes the disc and case printable. It’s a very, very thin layer of clay. All the ink we’ve used is soy-based, even on the DVD itself. We’re a first to use this format, and take it this far, and we love that.

Do you have hope Hollywood will catch onto this notion?

Ori: We’re not the first to control our waste output in general, though we are doing more than others have before. Disney released Wall-E in fairly green packaging. We view that as a leading step. We hope they and others keep shifting to more environmentally and socially responsible methods. But for large studios we realize it may take time. We’re a lean, new organization so we can do these things, and make it part of our company in the first place.

Tim: We’re not green experts, but we’re in touch with them. We have sent this DVD out to industry people for review. We just qualified for Academy consideration in 2010. So people have seen it. If they want to follow our example, great, but we’ll never tell other studios how to run their business.

Has there been resistance from anyone about your selling this film on a new format and in a non-standard case?

Ori: The film industry being full of characters, we’ve encountered some disbelief and resistance. But this DVD is about mankind leaving a smaller footprint. The more we tell people about what we want to do, the more people seem to want to help us.

Tim: Our package is not the smallest possible, to be fair. As a studio and distributor, we have an obligation to directors, and investors in our business to market our films, get them to audiences, and make money while inspiring people. The DVD we offer has to be able to stand in a wall slot at a store. In that way, we encounter resistance. Shoppers, when we tested out the notion of just using a small square package, thought the DVDs were promotional materials, and would just take them for free. Or they wouldn’t notice them at all. So, here we are, making something that holds its own at retail and begins to change expectations, with a 50% lower impact than any other DVD we’ve seen in a store.

What’s next for this film or for Torch Studios?

Tim: During the making of this film, the Zabbaleen community was hit hard by swine flu the H1N1 virus. The government in Cairo required them to slaughter their pigs, which had been instrumental in processing food-waste. We’re looking for ways to help the Zabbaleen become more profitable, and to make up for the loss of their resources. We donate 10% of retail sales of this film. But we’re looking to do more through our network, which includes a lot of social entrepreneurs. We’re also working on our next two releases, which aren’t documentaries or green. But their packaging will be.

Has greening your business changed your lives? How?

Ori: We have both become fanatical about recycling personally and at the office. I’m more aware when I’m looking at ingredients in grooming products what my own impact is, and slowly shifting my purchasing habits.

Tim: I’m semi-vegetarian, and as a New Yorker tend not to collect a lot of possessions or drive a car. So I feel like my footprint was already lower than your average American. But we found this out through research for the DVD-release – the U.S. Postal Service is greener than other shipping services – so I now go to the post office as my default. And switching to cups and bottles that are reusable, not disposable, was big for me.

Image: The Artifex

Realizing that most people have a go-to spot for reading, adding Be Sweet’s boucle mohair throw is a cozy addition to any book nook where extra warmth is needed.

Blending fuzzy and nubby with smooth and sleek, we love that it’s fittingly called the Heaven & Hell throw and that it doubles as a shawl if you need to run to the bus stop or head out for groceries.

The company that makes the yarns and the throw is also pretty lovely.

What was once a wholesaling venture selling handmade items to bi-coastal boutiques in Northern California and upstate New York, Be Sweet’s products can now be found in over 200 boutique stores all over the world. From actual clothing patterns to mobiles, cushions and flags, founder Nadine Curtis has reined in a stable of designers both in the US and abroad to create functional yet artistic works of art for the home.

Be Sweet also collaborates with several job creation programs in South Africa by giving artisans the confidence and the means to support themselves and their families. Comprised of 200 villagers of the Xhosa tribe, who live in Cape Town, the artisan group is able to utilize weaving skills with mohair, bamboo and organic cotton yarns into fabulous accessories and home goods.

Be sure to read about how Be Sweet also donates a portion of its profits to the Shaw Park School, a primary and secondary school in the Eastern Cape many of the villagers’ children attend.

Kaiser Permanente is prescribing big doses of sustainability in the sixth season of its $50 million Thrive ad campaign.

Two new ads – Emerald Cities and Connected – reinforce the health care provider’s commitment to the planet by dramatically reducing paper use – no small task for an industry long married to countless charts and forms. For most of us, being ordered to “Fill this out” is as rote as, “Hop on the scale,” and just as painful.

The Emerald pitch describes how Kaiser is allowing patients access to their own medical data via Kaiser Permanente HealthConnect, the world’s largest civilian electronic health record.

Not just a handy core tool for patients, the online system is apparently saving thousands of trees annually. And, as of September 2009, Kaiser estimates its members completed six million doctor’s visits without using one gallon of gasoline. Guess they got the help they were seeking by going online.

“We will be entirely paperless by 2010 and these ads illustrate how we are doing our part in some way to help the environment,” I’m told by Lisa Ryan, Director of National Advertising at Kaiser. “Having a healthy environment creates a healthy community that helps individuals thrive.”

In these appealing ads, actress Allison Janney, the KP spokeswoman since 2004, drives home the point in her now familiar, smooth-as-a-surgical-glove delivery:

“By putting an end to paper medical records, we have ushered health into the digital age.”

To paraphrase the tagline: I think that I shall never see, a 62-page medical report as lovely as a tree.

“Our ode to trees talks to the fact that when you have online capabilities and a way to connect, it  does eliminate the need to drive to a facility or to an office visit,” says Ryan.

The Connected spot highlights the convenience of securely e-mailing your doctor, checking your medical records, reviewing test results and booking appointments online. This spares not just trees but the stress of being forced to listen to bad “music” after being placed on hold the second your doctor’s receptionist answer the line.

Kaiser clinicians are digitally connected to each other, which ultimately helps them stay connected to  members. The closing line of the ad summarizes, “At Kaiser Permanente, we believe that if knowledge is power, shared knowledge is even more powerful.”

Personally, I have struggled to attain the elusive power of shared knowledge while advocating for loved ones at hospitals where overworked, impatient doctors seemed agitated when pressed for too much info. Getting them to return phone calls was even harder. Then again, my family doesn’t use Kaiser. Maybe their doctors are more generous.

“Our primary care physicians are at center of who we are and we have great accessibility in person, on the phone and email,” says Ryan. “Ive had great experience with my own doc whom I have spoken to on the phone and through email. All of our new alternative ways to reach out and stay connected really help.”

I was glad to see the green connection extends to its Thrive website, which give readers tips on being “thriving communities” by buying locally-grown food, using fewer shopping bags, making their own cleaning supplies and avoiding exposure to chemicals in the home.

Ryan told me all of this effort, including the ad campaign, has been an extension of proven sustainability practices at Kaiser’s newly-built facilities, such as centers in Modesto and Santa Clara, using solar panels, pavement treatments to recycle run off water and friendly denim material in the walls as green insulation.

“The advertising is a great bridge between the sustainability message and the innovation of who we are,” Ryan  says. “It was a huge undertaking to go digital and to retrain the care staff, but it all speaks to our overall concern with the health of individuals and the community. ”

Prior to the green thrust, Kaiser treated us to daily ads on prevention, reminding our unhealthy nation that the more we exercise, eat well and get screened for diseases, the less we will have to spend on health care.

I think the ads resonate with the radio-listening masses facing poor health along with a poor health care system that has yet to be reformed.

With $50 million invested in the message, let’s hope Kaiser proves to be one of the needed cures.

Images: Kaiser Permanente, Wiki

You gonna eat that? Research published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences found that once planted in the wild, genetically modified organisms, such as bio-engineered fruit, grain or vegetables can change native, wild plant neighbors’ DNA. In the future, food activists worry, you might not even have a dietary choice.

A flurry of news stories, blog posts and Tweets have “cropped up” in recent weeks around this study and related events. Even teenagers are dialed into the debate over the merits and dangers of GMOs, says Jenny Kessler, who founded and directs the Garden Program at The Automotive High School in Brooklyn, New York.

Kessler teaches English, ESL and a class called “Food, Land and You.” Through this coursework or participation in the Garden Program, Automotive students learn about farming and industrial agriculture and gain hands-on experience cultivating and cooking food.

“Some of my students agree with economist Jeffrey Sachs that genetically modified crops should be used to alleviate world hunger now, since they can grow on depleted land in bad conditions,” Kessler says, “but most are concerned that GMOs aren’t tested enough before they enter our mainstream food supply. Or they worry that modified seeds and cross-pollination will make natural products scarce and expensive, or even extinct.”

The Garden Program group (as seen on Flickr.com/autogarden) wishes for – after a personal visit from Anna Lappe or Michael Pollan – better information about the effect of modified crops on human and plant health, and to inspire Americans to buy more locally produced food.

Basic reading:

“A report by a team from the United States and China appears in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, [where] researchers point out that gene flow between crops and their wild relatives is common and difficult to contain. They note concerns that wild plants could, as a result, gain genetically engineered resistances. And these could affect the natural balance in their environment.” -VOA Special English Agriculture Report transcript

“While disease-resistant crops have been a boon to commercial farmers, ecologists worry there might be certain hidden costs associated with the modified crops. There is concern in the ecological community that, when the transgenes that confer resistance to viral diseases escape into wild populations, they will (change) those plants…and impact the biodiversity of plant communities where wild [plants] are native.” -US News And World Report feature

“Bayer CropScience AG is responsible for financial damage sustained by Missouri farmers when their rice crops were contaminated by genetically modified seeds, the growers’ lawyer told a federal court jury in St. Louis…Testing of one of the ‘LibertyLink’ [rice] strains at Louisiana State University was completed in 2001. While there has never been a specifically identified contamination event…studies suggest an event of cross-pollination with ordinary rice or a mixing of regular and genetically modified seed occurred then.” -Bloomberg news story

“The number of people affected by food shortages is starting to rise again. Is the solution a new biotech version of the Green Revolution, or a green Green Revolution based on organic farming?” -BoingBoing.net opinion, discussion

“The debate over genetically modified crops has flared up in India, where critics have stalled the commercial release of insect-resistant eggplant, despite recent approval from the country’s biotechnology regulatory committee.” -Scienceline.org news feature

“This week the Royal Society, the UK’s national academy of science, called for an extra £2bn to be spent on research into global food security. In order to achieve the estimated 50% increase in food crop production that will be required by 2050, the society is calling for a grand plan that involves developing…crop varieties using conventional breeding and genetic modification.” -Small Cap News profile of the company Futura Gene

Further resources:

”..Say No to GMOs” Natural News blog opinion

The website of The Center For Food Safety (CFS) a D.C.-based organization that lobbies for slow food, organic and sustainable farming practices, and against “harmful food production technologies.”

Food activist Anna Lappe’s website

Economist Jeffrey Sachs’ official bio, including recent news by and about him

Changemakers.com GMO competition page soliciting “solutions that educate consumers about what they’re eating, and the effect their food choices will have on the environment and society”: includes profiles of the winning ideas (via Ashoka.com)

Editor’s note: This is the second installment of EcoMeme, a column featuring eco news, tech and business highlights by new EcoSalon writer and columnist Lora Kolodny.

Image: liangjinjian

The casting call went out last January, not to big Hollywood agents but to animal shelters and rescue groups across the country.

Looking for four-legged crooners, black and white, who can get along with others on tour, do the old soft paw on stage, and won’t leap off into the audience when they hear the sound of applause.

Dozens of shelter dogs got the parts for the The 101 Dalmatians Musical including Rascal, a puppy with a broken leg found on the side of the road. Like the others, he has been given a new leash on life by getting to reside on a Florida ranch and travel in a celebrity tour bus while the show begins a national tour this month, starting in Minneapolis.

Animal trainer, Joel Slaven, told the Associated Press it was tough finding dogs to cast for the show.

Apparently, following the release of the popular live-action Disney “101 Dalmatians” in 1996 there was a rush on Dalmatians as  family pets, a role not suited to the breed. After the cute puppy stage, many new owners abandoned the dogs which flooded  shelters. Since then, canine rescuers are protective of the animals being exploited.

“When the movies came out, they were over-bred and that made the breed, which already has some health problems, even worse. People got the dogs, couldn’t afford the vet bills, found the dogs untrainable, or that they didn’t get along with kids. Shelters, Humane Societies and rescue groups don’t want anyone to use these dogs for entertainment, and they don’t want to help someone who’s going to do this again,” Slavin said.

I guess they came around when Slavin convinced them the animals would be treated like divas and dapper, leading men. Training the newbies like Rascal (above) involved helping the choreographer stage a three-minute finale of all dogs performing a dance routine to a tune by composer Dennis De Young of Styx fame. I hear it’s “jaw dropping.”

But instead of using the Dalmatians throughout the show, their parts are primarily played by actors, as in the musical Cats.

Images: Bree Bailey, The 101 Dalmatians Musical

Designer Juliane Camposano in a Rosel shrug

Sustainably-designed knitwear isn’t something new, but really fashion-forward knits are.

Rosel designer Juliane Camposano is one of those trendsetting knitwear lines to watch.

Camposano grew up in Northern Germany, on the North Sea, where knits were commonplace garb. She says an additional influence to create came from her Aunt Rosel, a fashion designer and illustrator for a Berlin fashion house in the 30s.

What really interested me about Camposano (besides the fact that she makes a boogie suit) was that she wanted to design a line that didn’t irritate her skin, creating options for people wanting warmth without the itch.

I caught up with Camposano recently. Here’s what she had to say:

How has your quest for skin-sensitive knitwear helped you evolve as a designer?

It has defined me and still does in many ways. Since there are very limited eco-friendly fibers currently on the market I have to work around what’s available which affects how I design the pieces for a collection. The choice of yarn determines the fit of the design. And I also constantly search for the newest and latest eco yarns out there which has turned into the quest to find the latest in yarn technology available. This R&D is something I never thought would influence how and what I design but has become an integral part.

What do you mean by the “creative exploration” influence of your Aunt Rosel?

My great aunt Rosel was an incredibly progressive woman for her generation, a mother of four with a career as a fashion illustrator and designer in pre-war Berlin. The war forced her to relocate to the North Sea shore with her family. I remember spending endless summer days at her house. On Sundays, stores in Germany are closed – time is spent in family circles. Rosel was an amazing hostess, always impeccable in manners and style with large sunglasses and hats, just like Jackie O. Her style was completely effortless. I would spend hours exploring her closet finding gowns, boas, Chanel suits, the most amazing hats and bags. Her incredible ease of style inspires me to this day in my quest to create effortless, comfortable fashion.

60s and 70s lifestyles and values were pretty far ranging. You say you were inspired by them. How? And how does it translate in your designs?

In the 60s and 70s movements, people expressed values that mattered to them: global peace, the sexual revolution, the first green wave. This hippie movement inspired many worldwide to be part of a cause and purpose. In a way we’re reliving history with multiple wars going on and the big green/eco movement inspiring everyone to change their values and lifestyle. That is what inspires me, to be part of this movement, to be able to make a difference with what I do. My designs are inspired by shapes from that era but with a modern twist of sustainable luxury.

The other day, I pulled my bicycle up to one of those nouvelle food trucks that are all the rage in these parts and ordered myself a delicious, healthy, organic falafel. While a group of us was standing on the sidewalk devouring our lunches, impromptu conversations among strangers just naturally started. I ended up talking to the guy who ordered just after me. We chatted throughout our lunches before sharing a cordial goodbye.

I thought later: “That was revolutionary. This is not something that happens in a restaurant, or the sandwich line at the Subway down the street. This is special. This is what community looks like.” And all because we found ourselves sharing the public space of a city sidewalk.

But it wasn’t just the fact that we shared a conversation. It was the substance, as well. Our talk had turned to the man’s co-op childcare group, which I was fascinated to hear about (and I don’t even have kids!). He was telling me how it worked and how great it was. That it’s a totally democratic process. That it takes a lot of time – the host family cooks for all the kids every day, and there are a lot of meetings – but the rewards are well worth it.

It got me thinking about the grocery co-op I belong to. How the meetings are really long, and sometimes difficult, but strangely rewarding, too, because of the valuable relationships you end up building with the people in the group through having to sit in a room together and hash out differences.

According to lawyer-authors Janelle Orsi and Emily Doskow of The Sharing Solution: How to Save Money, Simplify your Life, and Build Community (Nolo Press 2009), “Some people worry that sharing will end in the loss of friendly relationships if something goes wrong. We believe that the process of working through the potential problems in advance, and communicating openly about concerns when they arise, actually strengthens bonds between friends, neighbors, and fellow sharers of all kinds.”

In our highly individualistic society, in which selfishness is a kind of virtue, and anything, from our coffee drinks to our RSS feeds can be customized to meet our specific, personal, quirky needs, there’s an opposite sort of revolution going on.

This revolution requires us to talk to, negotiate with and accommodate others, as well as sometimes to state and defend unpopular opinions, while compromising in the end. This is called sharing and cooperation. It’s something we all learned in preschool and it’s hard work. It’s so much easier just to meet our own needs. But that’s not going to work much longer.

If we are going to continue to live on this increasingly crowded, hot planet, we’re going to have to learn to share. It’s not just nice. It’s necessary.

Once I started thinking about sharing, I started seeing it everywhere. It’s the central theme to both the bartering and the Urban Foraging movements. And it’s nothing new. After all, there have always been co-ops, swap meets, and carpools, but there also seems to have been an explosion this past year. And the rise of social networking is making it easier than ever to share.

I think this trend is sparked partly by us coming up against the wall of our economic system’s vast limitations and partly by the realization that we can’t just keep consuming and growing the economy and not consume and grow ourselves right out of existence.

Maybe we can look at the economic and environmental problems we are in the midst of as an opportunity to redirect selfishness and as an impetus for turning our individualistic society around.

To that end, here’s a rundown of 15 of the coolest sharing concepts and resources I’ve found to inspire you:

Recently launched is Shareable, a network of people committed to making life shareable. From the about page: “We cover the people, places, and projects that are bringing a shareable world to life. And share tools and tips to help you make a shareable world real in your life.”

Coworking: In which a group of people share an office space and all the amenities like printers, tea, tables, chairs, but have their own workspace. Some are permanent and some are drop-in based. Here’s a sort of coworking clearinghouse and The Coworking Institute.

Software: From Linux to open office, open source electronic resources are created by users for users.

Yard sharing: Don’t have time to garden but would like the benefits? Share your yard with a neighbor or neighbors. Hyperlocavore and Sharing Backyards are both sites that help people find and link up with others who want to start yard sharing in their communities.

Childcare: From organized co-op preschools to informal neighborhood babysitting co-ops, people all over are sharing the responsibilities of raising children. Because after all, it does take a village. Here’s a site to help you get started.

Stores and Farms: Here’s a directory of cooperative stores and buying clubs. CSAs have been around for a while and they are a form of sharing. Many of the earlier ones required members to work some hours on the farm. Then there’s cowpooling, in which you buy a whole cow with your neighbor. It’s green because the whole animal gets used, not just the prime cuts you find in the grocery store.

Cohousing: Cohousing is often like other housing, where everyone has their own private space, but the residents all consciously choose to share public space, meals, childcare, activities, or whatever they decide. This cohousing website is for people who are in cohousing or want to be in cohousing to help them share information and resources.

Cars: Having a car when you need it and not having it when you don’t is the beauty of car sharing. There are many types of car shares from informal, free and community- or neighborhood-based to businesses like Zipcar and City Car Share. Here’s a page with listings in each city.

Bikes: Popular in Europe, the idea is catching on here with varying levels of success. Shocker! Sometimes the bikes get stolen. The Bike Sharing Blog compiles information on bike sharing from everywhere.

Travel: Like to travel, but lack the money for a hotel? Or have the money, but would rather see the “real country”? Try Couchsurfing.org.

Seeds: Preserving biological diversity and making friends are two benefits of seed swapping. You could easily save seeds among friends and neighbors. There’s an informal neighborhood seed swap that sometimes sets up at my local farmers’ market.

Homesharing: Different from cohousing, this concept is for seniors to connect with one another and share houses, resources and companies. Kind of like roommates for the older set.

Skill Sharing: Brooklyn Skill Share is a network of people sharing knowledge. Another knowledge sharing organization, Bike Kitchens are places where people can go to learn to fix their own bikes and share tools.

Dinner: Frugal Foodies are loosely organized, rotating groups of people that cook dinner together once a week.

Borrowing: Neighborrow facilitates borrowing of tools, books and other household items among neighbors.

We do this in an informal way, since we share a lawnmower with our friends. We got the lawn with the house and didn’t want it and we got the lawnmower for free from a relative. Why buy a lawnmower for a lawn we don’t want and why make our friends do the same? So we share (at least until we can transform it all into an edible landscape).

We also share a car in our household among two and we belong to a grocery co-op that requires us to work 2 1/2 hours per month.

What kind of sharing are you involved in? What’s out there in your neck of the woods that I missed? Please share your information in the comments below.

For more ideas on how you can make your life more communitarian, check out the Sharing Solution Blog and book.

Image: a4gpa

Porcelained out? Carve your niche with an alternative sink for soaking up greener materials like certified teak, bamboo, recycled metal and glass and friendly painted ceramics. You can even experiment with poured concrete with 50% recycled fly ash, as seen in the striking orange basin by Jeremy Levine Design.

Here is a handful of other options we rounded up:

From William Garvey’s Fusion Line of handmade sinks from certified teak grown in the mixed deciduous forests of South Asia.

Spotted at the Story Hotel in Stockholm, these decorative ceramic bowls make brilliant bathroom basins.

Recycled aluminum and brass vessel sinks from ECO round out the eco bath and are paired well with a bamboo plywood or stone tile counter top.

Handblown recycled glass emerges as sensuous craft for the bath with the clear tortoise trim Classic design (above) and Ocean shell (below) from Bear Creek Glass.

Main Image: Jeremy Levine Design