A Coconut Home for the iPad
by: Yanko Design, 2011-01-27 15:41:01 UTC

The coconut tree perhaps is the most giving tree in all of nature. What I mean is that every part of the tree is used in some industry or another. So it makes complete logical sense for young designers with an eco initiative to come up with an iPad cover made from materials sourced from the coconut tree! This is the story of Econut, a cover that blends back into nature after serving its purpose to the iPad.

Designers: Cho Youg-jo & Jeoung Jun-tae

----------

Yanko Design
Timeless Designs - Explore wonderful concepts from around the world!
Yanko Design Store - We are about more than just concepts. See what's hot at the YD Store!

3 Ways to Profit from Sustainable Consumption and Redefining Ownership
by: Design & Innovation | Design | GreenBiz.com, 2011-01-25 13:00:00 UTC

 Sustainability is sparking creative thinking in different methods of owning, leasing, renting and selling back products.

Fujitsu's Plastic-Free Mouse Designed for Composting
by: Design & Innovation | Design | GreenBiz.com, 2011-01-25 21:21:58 UTC

 Fujitsu is expanding its use of non-petroleum-based materials with a new mouse featuring a compostable shell.

NIDO Portable Shelter offers safe refuge to the homeless
by: The Design blog, 2011-01-28 04:17:56 UTC
Leenakomarraju:

With rapid changes in weather condition due to global warming, natural calamities, such as floods and earth quakes, have become the order of the day, forcing the masses to leave their homes and move to rehabilitation camps or other safer places. Providing refuge to the homeless, Dominican Republic designer Amanda Cuello collaborating with Cynthia Ventura and Tulio Feliz has come up with a portable shelter dubbed the “NIDO” that provides adequate space to preserve the privacy, while ensuring safe retreat to residents.

Comprised of two main modules, one for sleeping and storing essential belongings and other one for hygiene and physiological needs, the creative shelter is big enough to accommodate the basic needs of entire family, for it can be extended by adding more dormitory modules to the base unit. The collapsible structure wraps in a 1m x 80cm x 30cm module for easy transportation. Easy to install, the compact and lightweight unit can be moved to remote areas and used continuously over a period of time. Though the NIDO is essentially designed for homeless, but it could also be of great importance for campers and modern nomads.

[Cheers Amanda]

Grillage by Francois Azambourg for Ligne Roset
by: Dezeen, 2011-01-28 15:38:08 UTC

Cologne 2011: French brand Ligne Roset presented this folded mesh chair by French designer Francois Azambourg at imm cologne in Germany last week. (more…)

Farm Hacks - How Open Source Farm Technology Can Help Small Farmer Succeed
by: Mother Nature, 2011-01-14 16:00:35 UTC
The average farm requires $4 worth of buildings and equipment to generate $1 in annual gross sales. In other words, a farm generating $300,000 in annual gross sales is, on average, operating with roughly $1.2 million in equipment.

Is Mango Wood the New Bamboo?
by: TreeHugger Design, 2011-01-30 19:41:23 UTC
Cluster of mango trees pre-harvest. Photo by Sapiens Solutions via Flickr From bikes and floors to sheets and t-shirts, bamboo is well-known as a popular green choice because as a fast-growing grass, it's a renewable material. Hemp is also considered environmentally smart for a variety of products including its wood. Mango trees are also fast-growing and another Read the full story on TreeHugger

China's Wind Speeds May Slow 12% Over The 21st Century
by: TreeHugger Science, 2011-01-27 20:51:00 UTC
photo: Land Rover Our Planet/Creative Commons In case you missed it--though how you could is somewhat beyond me--China has overtaken the United States in wind power installations, just beating out the US with an estimated 40,000 MW of installed capacity at the end of 2010. But according to new estimates of the effect that climate change may have on average wind speeds, China may be... Read the full story on TreeHugger

Incredible ‘Garbage City’ Rises Outside of Cairo
by: Inhabitat , 2011-01-29 23:00:18 UTC

This unbelievable city piled high with trash is a real place called Garbage City, outside of Cairo in Egypt. It’s populated by a community of workers called Zabbaleen, who personally collect, sort, reuse, resell or otherwise repurpose Cairo’s waste. Recently several photographers have trained their cameras upon the city, and now we see what it would really be like to live in the aftermath of our own consumption.

Read the rest of Incredible ‘Garbage City’ Rises Outside of Cairohttp://www.inhabitat.com/wp-admin/ohttp://www.inhabitat.com/wp-admin/options-general.php?page=better_feedptions-general.php?page=better_feed

---

Permalink | Add to del.icio.us | digg
Post tags: cairo, cairo city made from trash, Cairo Garbage City, Cairo slums, Cairo Wall-E, copic christrians, eco-art, egypt, egypt copic christians, Egypt's Garbage City, Egypt's Trash City, egyptian copic christians, Egyptian Trash City, environmental art, garbage city, green design, human wall-e, Photography, slums of Cairo, sustainable design, Trash city, wall-e, waste management, zabaleen

Why Dow is Putting Nature on the Balance Sheet
by: Greener Design, 2011-01-24 18:28:15 UTC

Today’s announcement by Dow Chemical that it will launch a multi-year effort to measure and track the business value of ecosystem services represents a small step for a company, a giant leap for critters of all kinds.