Quieter crisps revisited

Good news! Frito-Lay, the crisp company have reintroduced their compostable crisp packets. I wrote about their new bags a while back when the backlash hit. They bought this clever change about in 2009 but a few, some would call them 'idiots', complained that this green idea was too noisy and it was 'ruining' their crisp eating experience. So Frito-Lay took their made-from-plants bags off the market (except in more open-minded Canada) and returned to plastic packets.

But now, after months of research into how to reduce the decibels of their SunChips bags, they have cracked it. Using two layers, joined together with a rubber like adhesive to help absorb the sound, these new biodegradable bags are around 10-15 decibels quieter.

In Canada the big switch is taking place whilst in America only Ready Salted are being replaced with the new, quieter bag as an experienmental platform. If no noise is made about the swap, then all their flavours will become wrapped in doubled-layered, rubbery plantness and not plastic.
Lets hope that this positive step forward is accepted by those picky, pathetic, sound-sensitive Americans that kicked up such a fuss last time.

Flushing Nemo (over-rinsed dish, asphyxiated fish)

It’s easy enough to tell people to use less water and turn off the taps when you’re not using them but to actually get the message through can sometimes be a bit harder. Designer Yan Lu has come up with a, slightly non-fish friendly, new idea to get the significance of water saving into people’s minds.

His new wash basin, Poor Little Fish, features a sink below a fish bowl complete with live fish swimming happily around and around and around. As you use water, the fish bowl slowly drains away – although never completely, reminding you in quite a vivid way of your H2O consumption. But before you get too distressed about the poor little fish, the water draining away from his bowl isn’t actually washing your hands and gurgling down the plug hole. Your water comes from the mains whilst his drains into a hidden reservoir. After the tap is turned off, the fish bowl slowly refills.

Even though the fish is in no danger of being sucked down the plug hole, I can’t imagine he’s all that happy at his ever changing water level at home. Any design that makes people rethink their water consumption is fantastic and although we think this idea is fab as a concept, it’s not the most practical of solutions.

A less scaly concept is the +-Water meter. Easily slotted onto your tap, this design doesn't just tell you how much water you've used but converts it into how much money each splash will cost you. Measuring water usage in terms of pounds rather than litres is so much easier to comprehend and much more likely to get you saving not only your pennies but also the planet, one hand wash at a time.

(Spotted on Yanko Design)

Bottle Building

Following on from my post about Taiwan’s unique recyclingsystem, I’m popping back there (not literally unfortunately) to gush about another clever Taiwanese project: the first fully functional recycled building.

Joint with its obsession for fast food comes Taiwan’s capability to drink its way through 4.6 billion plastic water bottles each year. Even with its daily musical rubbish trucks bundling away the recycling, only 4% of plastic bottles get recycled in Taiwan leaving behind enormous amounts in rubbish bins and floating about in the ocean. The Far Eastern Group, inspired by their designers love of bottled tea, picked this ecologically frowned upon material for their upcycling project of rather large proportions. The ecoARKPavillion in Taipei.

Made from 1.5 million recycled PET bottles (taken straight from the Taiwanese Waste Stream), this 130m by 40m, nine story construction takes a lot of plastic out of the dump, recycling it into a beautiful, transparent and eco-friendly building. The plastic bottles are moulded into honeycomb, geometric Polli-Bricks that slot together with no gaps. The solid structure is strong enough to withhold typhoons and earthquakes – perfect for our recent, unreliable weather conditions.

The bottles can be filled with air to deflect heat keeping the buildings cool or packed with sand or water to absorb sunlight and warm the inside. The outside is coated in a fireproof laminate to prevent fire hazards, with the inside sporting the normal smoke detectors and sprinkler systems found in normal brick and concrete buildings. Lit by sunlight during the day and energy saving LED lights at night, this building is very low in new carbon. It even houses a falling screen of rain-water to act as air conditioning.

We all see rubbish being kicked about the streets and plastic bottles can be found blown into every corner and caught up in any bush all over the country. Stubbornly strong, they withstand a lot of scuffing, rolling and bashing showing only a few scratches as evidence. If we know that PET bottles don’t decompose then let’s use this to our advantage and make stuff with them!

Recyclicity

Recycling is bigger than ever and you can find a recycled version of many household items; toilet roll, tissues, glass bottles, notebooks, pencils and plastic bags (not that we condone plastic bags!) In Enschede, in the Netherlands two architects, Jan Jongert and Jeroen Bergsma of 2012Architects, have taken on a larger item and built a recycled house. Made from discarded local material, found using Google Earth to scout out the surrounded 9 mile radius, the team first collected their building materials then designed the house. 

Using a process that they have named recyclicity, they scoured the area for anything that could be recycled, upcycled and reused to build a house and everything in it. 60% of the structure is made from reclaimed materials whilst 90% of the interior was found and remade. Jongert and Jeroen even leafleted the neighbourhood asking for broken umbrellas to transform into lighting.

The idea sprung up when Jongert and Jeroen were studying at university, using recycled materials to create small scale models. Why not move this up to a larger dimension? Villa Welpeloo is the culmination of this idea and whole lot of recycling.

At first glance this beautiful recycled house looks like most newly-designed modern homes with crisp lines and spacious layout. When you look a little closer however the uniqueness of the design pops out. Open the white fronted kitchen drawers and the side reveals its previous life as advertising boards, turn on the lights and see the skeleton of umbrellas holding the bulb aloft.

The steel framework of the building is constructed from disused machinery of a nearby textile mill and clad wood scrapped from 600 dismantled cable reels, heat treated in a natural Dutch weatherproofing technique known as the PLATO process.

Only designing the house after the materials have been found could make for a messy looking building but the upcycled house is the perfect blend of architectural beauty and mass recycling.

 

(Spotted on Dwell) 

http://www.dothegreenthing.com/blog/the_all_consuming_house_built_with_the_help_of_google_earth 

Green Valentine's

You can’t keep denying it. It’s almost here. Valentine’s day can be as wasteful as Christmas and has the added bonus of only being for the loved up. Topped only by Christmas, Valentine’s Day encourages the most cards to be sent - about a billion being posted every year. Consider this a guide to a green-hearted alternative Valentine’s Day (and we don’t mean bitter and jealous).

 
Cards


If you are feeling so inclined to send your loved one a card this year then why not swap your physical card for an e-card. Better yet, send the one you love - or anyone in fact - a body warming Green Thing Valentine.


If you love opening envelopes (especially when it doesn’t contain a bill) then consider cards made from tree-free paper. Paper made from wood is actually a relatively new concept. Whilst paper made from rags came into production in China in the 2nd Century, wood based paper was only discovered in 1844. Thomas Jefferson’s draft of the Declaration of Independence was written on Hemp paper, made by Benjamin Franklin’s mill. True story.


Paper can be made from bananas, mangos, cotton, elephant poo (bacteria and smell-free), straw, coconut, jute and bagasse (the remaining pulp from sugar cane), just to name a few. The possibilties are endless.

If an elephant poo card just isn’t special enough, carve your own card. A personal, fun and sustainably sourced wooden’ card’ that you scratch your own message into. Just be careful when carving, you don’t want to spend Valentine’s Day in hospital.


Flowers
If you’re saying it with flowers, try and find ones that have travelled the least. With most flowers being flown over from Europe, Africa and South America the carbon cost of those few pretty petals is gigantic. How about felt flowers?

They’ll never wilt and die and will last for years, helping you to stick with what you’ve got.


Another idea is buying seeds and planting them for your own bouquet of flowers next year. Or plant a tree if you feel your relationship is going to last long enough to see it fully grown. Awww.


Other Unconsuming Gifts

If you don’t want to consume but would like a little something to show your feelings, how about adopting love? Adopt A Word have put the word Love on eBay to sell to the most romantic soul (well, the highest bidder) with all proceeds going to I Can, the children’s communication charity. Maybe try being more original and adopt a word that means something to you.

Oxfam Unwrapped is always a great idea for presents that don’t cost the earth. Buy a gift that gets given to a worthy receiver and won’t be forgotten by the following year. For the book lover, buy a child’s school books for a year. For the sun worshippers buy solar panels. For the animal lover buy a goat for a village. There are tons of fun and useful gifts that will lend a helping hand where it’s needed most. Besides, nothing says I love you more than a hygiene set and a goat.

 10% of engagements happen on Valentine’s Day. If V-Day is going to be the day for popping the big question, why not opt for a beautifully hand-crafted, wooden ring.

Vintage and reused rings are another fantastic option. But be careful when reusing. Your grandmother’s old ring – a definite, heart warming yes. Your ex-wife’s old ring – a suddenly single no.


Activities

How about a romantic night in for two? Seasonal veg is a yummy way forward. Add some organic wine and a bamboo picnic set and you’re all set for a loved up meal. Don’t forget to plug out and use candles to light your Valentine’s Day. Or better yet, do it in the dark.


If you’re celebrating away from home consider traincation. With so much beautiful countryside in Britain there’s no need to fly off somewhere else, it’s all on your doorstep (or at least the train stations doorstep).


Many love stories have blossomed from walking. Gusty and Ford, for example. Wherever you are and whoever you’re with, go for a walk, ride your bikes and explore new places.


So forget the overblown, carbon costly and consumerist declarations of everlasting love. Find that special someone, and have an all-consuming special day.


Ps- Don't forget if you’re creating human heat then be safe; use an organic, carbon neutral condom.

http://www.dothegreenthing.com/blog/green_thing_s_guide_to_a_green_valentine_s

The Dress That Pollinates

 The bees are dying. Not the Isle of Wight band, but the little buzzy insects. It’s a hard campaign for most people to sympathise with. Nobody looks back fondly on the day they first got stung by a bee. But nevertheless, bees are essential to the growing of a third of our foods. Plus, honey is delicious.

The decline in bees has received some serious attention recently with the general consensus being that ‘something must be done’.  The fact about humans dying out within four years of bee extinction buzzed through my mind and, after a little Wikipedia research I came to the conclusion that this ‘fact’ wasn’t quoted by Einstein and may not be 100% correct. But the truth remains that due to less flower populated areas and more pesticides being used, the bees are having a tough time and it’s in our interest to help them.

Insect lover and artist, Karen Ingham, has designed a collection of dresses to give the bees a helping wing. With designs inspired by scanned electron microscopy images of plant pollen grains linked to endangered pollinators and coated with a nectar replica, these clothes will attract the buzzing insects and feed them some much needed energy. In simple terms, the dresses have a bright and crazy pattern that resembles the pollen in flowers that is so attractive to bees. Once attracted, the bees receive free food that enables them to buzz off and pollinate plants. 

A quick bee fact: they feed on both pollen and nectar.  Nectar gives them energy and pollen gives them nutrients. So whilst they may not be pollinating the dress, they will be eating up energy to fly off to pollinate our food for us. The clothes are aimed at increasing the number of bees by feeding and promoting repopulation. Not sure a bee-encouraging dress is suitable for work? Not to worry, Karen has produced both day time bee dresses and night time moth dresses. An insect for every occasion.

Whilst we may want the bees to live, we probably don’t want them to live on us. The Pollinator Frocks can be hung outside like regular washing to attract bees with minimal bee-on-human contact. They are also going to be hung at a variety of events in different environments to raise public awareness and test their efficiency.

Wearing bee food isn’t the only way to help save the bees though. There are honey websites, bee-friendly flowers, wild bee-houses and of course, having a beard of bees. Sainsburys also lives up to its nectar points promise and keep bees too.

So this summer, let’s all be a bit friendlier to the bees.

P.S Treating fabric with bee food isn’t the only way to reuse material. Send us your old unloved tshirts and we’ll help them become Saved.

(Spotted on Inhabitat) 

http://www.dothegreenthing.com/blog/the_dress_that_pollinates

Turbine Tunnels

Check out one of the design entries for this year’s GE Ecomagination Challenge. On first glance it’s your standard road tunnel but a closer look reveals its energy creating potential. The CitySpeed Turbine designed by Alessandra Rapaccini and Giacomo Sanna can help create energy for cities by utilising the strong air currents within the tunnel to power turbines. These modular turbines generate energy in the same way that a windmill does, only without the extra space that a windmill needs. This new design can be put into action in existing tunnels and is a great urban solution to producing energy.

The CitySpeed Turbine can work in both train and car tunnels. With hundreds of thousands of cars, trains and even bikes travelling around cities every day (202,000 passing through the Holland and Lincoln tunnels in New York every 24 hours) the possibility for inner city power production is gigantic.

http://www.dothegreenthing.com/blog/turbine_tunnels

Born To Walk

Here is Do The Green Thing's new Born to Walk video. Its fantastically fun and (hopefully) will get you all thinking about, and actually participating in, walking. So get going!