Non Toxic Vision

Their Moon Shot and Ours by Thomas Friedman

China has at least four game-changing investments going on:

1. building a network of ultramodern airports

2. building a web of high-speed trains connecting major cities

3. bioscience, where Beijing Geonomics Institute ordered 128 DNA sequencers from the US. Giving China the largest number in the world to launch its own stem-cell / genetic engineering industry and

4. proving U$ 15 billion in seed money for the country's leading auto and battery companies to create an electric car industry.

And this is just the beginning. Read more about this great article publisched in Suday Opinion in The New York Times on September 26, 2010.

The best looking recycling bin ever

The lates newsletter of the MUG - Manhattan Users Guide featured the best looking recycling bin I have seen to date. The Interior Architect and Designer, Gianluca Soldi, has always been in touch with the environment and has designed the Ovetto bin, a practical and stylish design that meets the needs of domestic waste separation in order to educate the population to correctly dispose of waste in order to be able to consequently recycle it. The Ovetto bin which stands for Recycling Egg, is an object of interior design that unites functionality, design, and environmental education. Each of the compartment of the Ovetto recycling bins has holes for air circulation. The Ovetto recycling bins fit easily in modern homes and offices and is a great gift for anyone who wants to show off their 'green engagement'

Ovetto recyling bin

Eco Fashion: Going Green at FIT in New York

The Fashion Institute of Technology (FIT) is dedicating its current show to GREEN.

"...Going Green, is an exhibition exploring the evolution of the fashion industry's multifaceted and complex relationship with the environment.  By examining the past two centuries of fashion’s good—and bad—environmental and ethical practices, Eco-Fashion: Going Green provides historical context for today’s eco-fashion movement. 

Presented chronologically and featuring more than 100 garments, accessories, and textiles, the exhibition uses contemporary methods for "going green" as a framework to study the past.  The objects displayed touch upon at least one of six major themes: the re-purposing and recycling of materials, fiber origins, textile dyeing and production, quality of craftsmanship, labor practices, and the treatment of animals.  Curated by Jennifer Farley and Colleen Hill, the exhibition features some of the finest examples of 21st-century sustainable fashions by current, cutting-edge labels, including Alabama Chanin, Ciel, Edun, FIN, and NOIR..."

Read more about this great exhibition

DJ Spooky needs your help

DJ Spooky is a writer, an artist, and a digital media theoretician. He's starting a digital media and contemporary arts lab on a remote island in the South Pacific, and is setting up a kickstarter campaign to help defray the startup costs. In tandem with islandsfirst.org, a United Nations affiliated non-profit that focuses on the needs of South Pacific islands, Dj Spooky plans on setting up a situation where cultural exchange between artists from different geographies can take time to do residencies on the island and create projects with local artists and creatives in conjunction with an agenda that focuses on sustainable arts practices.

The Funds – Anything you contribute will cover the construction of an initial ‘outpost’ on-site, a feasibility assessment and design of the first phase solar electricity systems for one village and three new structures between now and May 2011, when our first invited artists will arrive.

In December, local leadership, DJ Spooky, Engineers Without Borders and the Vanuatu Pacifica Foundation have arranged for R. David Gibbs, a New York-based solar and energy engineer with remote-location experience, to undertake a feasibility study with local renewables engineers, village electricians and tech trainees. The first goal is to replace diesel generators with solar PV and thermal systems that can power villages and initiate the design of the Tanna Center for the Arts’ off-the-grid retreat, cultural preservation and eco-education facility.

You've probably noticed we're starting at $10,000 here on Kickstarter but with $20,000 we can complete the solar design phase, engage local craftspeople to build the initial structure(s) and create an ‘outpost’ that allows us to invite collaborators from around the island and the world to begin realizing this vision. Everybody's help with a little or a lot is welcome, needed and much appreciated!

Learn more about the project