green living
-
![]()
![]()
The architecture of hedonism: Putting the pleasure into green living
Bjarke Ingels.This interview originally appeared in The Dirt. Bjarke Ingels is founding partner of Bjarke Ingels Group (BIG). Ingels, rated as one of the 100 most creative people in business by Fast Company, is also a visiting professor at Harvard University Graduate School of Design. Q. You’ve been calling for a new approach, “hedonistic sustainability,” […]
-
![]()
![]()
Ask Umbra: How can I de-stink secondhand clothes?
Send your question to Umbra! Q. Dear Umbra, I strive to reduce/reuse/recycle, but as someone who is sensitive to chemicals, purchasing used clothing presents problems. Sometimes soaking the clothes in borax or vinegar, and washing as much as a dozen times (in less toxic, unscented detergent) fails to remove the ferocious stink of the previous […]
-
![]()
![]()
Live your tiny house fantasies by renting one on AirBnB
The highest-rated listing on AirBnB, the site that allows you to rent homes, apartments and other temporary quarters as an alternative to staying in a hotel, is a tiny house. The Mushroom Dome Cabin in Aptos, Calif., sports a loft bed under its geodesic dome roof and is in walking distance of a grove of […]
-
![]()
![]()
Spray coating makes your stuff last forever so you can buy less of it
If you watch one video today, make it this one — the shot of chocolate sauce sliding off a pristine pair of white tennis shoes looks like pure CGI. But it's real. As Tuan Nguyen explains at SmartPlanet, what you're looking at is a new type of spray-on silicon coating that dries into a nano-scale […]
-
![]()
![]()
Ask Umbra: Is it bad to leave a window open when the heat is on?
Send your question to Umbra! Q. Dear Umbra, When I was in college, I had a friend who thought she was eco-conscious, but she used to crank the heat and then leave the windows open for “fresh air.” Years later, I dated a woman who lived in a building where the heaters were stuck on […]
-
![]()
![]()
Instead of buying kitchen gadgets, why not share?
If you’ve ever looked at a wedding registry, you might have a sense of how many uni-tasking kitchen appliances there are on the market. Most kitchens have more gadgets than they can hold, and most people aren't using their canning equipment/bread machine/cider press very often. So wouldn't it make more sense to share? In Portland, […]
-
![]()
![]()
The kitchen of the future runs on leftovers
The kitchen of Philips Design's "Microbial Home" turns food waste into compost and cooking gas. Organic waste gets thrown in a "bio-digester," where specialized bacteria processes it into methane gas to fuel the range. Then the remaining solid matter is turned into compost. So the peelings from a potato might provide the heat to cook […]
-
![]()
![]()
Use peer pressure to make your friends go green
Peer pressure gets a bum rap -- you hear it and you think of vaguely threatening junior high schoolers going “come on man, what are you, chicken?” But it’s not always bad news. For instance, peer pressure works to change the environment -- when people see their friends and neighbors going green, they’re more likely to change their habits. This infographic gives a taste of how that works; for more instructions on the science of peer pressure, check out the whole thing.
-
![]()
![]()
Climate change is the reason kids don't go outside anymore
Only one in 10 kids goes outside every day. It's hard to see how this is possible, unless the other 90 percent are Morlocks, but maybe shuttling between the front door and the air-conditioned interior of mom and dad's SUV doesn't count.
