EcoSalon | Conscious Culture and Fashion » gadgets

The Beige Report: Greenwashing Makes Us Feel Dirty

Luanne Bradley — Wed, 04 May 2011 17:57:11 +0000

ColumnGreen marketers want us to believe in their products while hiding their dirty laundry.

To listen to the marketers, it’s a brave new green world of products out there. But greenwash is greenwash and Burmese teak is bad news no matter how you slice it. A gas hog SUV is still a planetary parasite even with a hybrid emblem. And some of the so-called sustainable successes are merely bad ideas passed off as alternative chic.

We pulled a handful of products for you to take a closer look at.

Curtain Call

Many are pondering the utility of the Energy Curtain,the solar-powered alternative to the window blind. It is designed to store energy all day to switch off lights at night. But since it has to be drawn all day to charge up, you have to turn on lights inside to get the electric glow when it goes dark. Maybe it’s best to use natural light during the day, and as little power as possible at night.

Less Packaging, Higher Price

Touted for 24% less packaging and more concentrated powder for smaller scoops, the new Ultra Tide simply doesn’t do the trick, according to users who say it’s the same chemically enhanced powder as the old one except they shrunk the box and raised the price. Boxes that are bite-sized are great, but it’s still the same harsh formula for fighting stains. In other words, it gets under your skin in a bad way.

Green Thumbs Down

For those desperately in need of seeing green in their cubicle, the USB powered Mini Greenhouse from DreamCheeky has arrived, letting you grow your own marigolds with the artificial soil and seeds provided. Fresh, faux or freaky? As Mainstreet points out, the so-called good green system calls for a PC with Intel Pentium 4 operating at 2.4 gigahertz or faster, at least 128 megabytes of RAM, a Windows compatible soundcard, a CD-ROM drive, plus a specific type of display adapter capable of Microsoft Windows XP. Yes, installed on your Windows PC, you can monitor nature at work (sans the sunlight). Really?

It’s A Wash

The Swiffer Vac mopping system may appeal to us slobs who are looking for a quick clean-up in our dirty nests, but the non biodegradable, plastic cleaning mop isn’t actually greener than the old tools, despite claims of saving gallons of hot water. Instead of the precious water, this nifty gadget uses single-use chemically-soaked cleaning wipes destined for the landfill heap. We love all the green (color) branding that tries to distract you into thinking Swiffer is really eco-friendly.

Teaked Off

You hear the floor or trays are teak and you are certain that means eco-friendly – from certified plantations, right? But when it comes to Burmese teak, logs yielding as much as $25,000 are stolen from ravaged forests and shipped to Japan, the U.S and Europe and turned into nice patio furniture. Over 24.7 million cubic feet of teak is taken from the Myanmar’s forests by Thai companies helping to finance the Burmese military government’s long border war against ethnic insurgents. While many floor companies are shunning the teak, you can still harvest it online through many sources.

Images: Torely; Cushnie et Ochs‘; DreamCheeky; Procter & Gamble; Chevrolet; Procter & Gamble; Perpetual Kid; Teakworks4U, redwood1

Editor’s note: The Beige Report is an open EcoSalon team column showcasing the most ridiculous in green design and marketing greenwash. Buyer beware.

The Insider’s Guide to Life: Vox Clamantis in Absurditas

Sara Ost — Wed, 20 Apr 2011 01:27:34 +0000

ColumnWhere we’re going, little lady, you won’t need this.

Edward Abbey had his dust and rocks from which to cry; I have my HTML. Today I hone my hypertext on Hammacher Schlemmer, proud purveyor of uselessly clever objects and distraction of last resort from the pressure earaches I always get when the plane’s about to land. One word: Skymall.

Allow me to introduce for posterity the self stirring pot. This is, of course, making the rather bold assumption that we will have posterity springing forth from the kind of stupid sires who invent things like self-stirring pots.

I discovered this marvel of ingenuity not seen since Billy the singing bass by way of Roger Ebert on Twitter. EcoSalon retweeted Ebert, helpfully adding @hammacher. (Only on Twitter will you find a movie critic, a green publication and a manufacturer of wasteful gadgets keeping company.)

The nonstick self-stirring electric pot, with its built-in autonomous spatula and virgin ore, will set you back $99.95 and civilization back a bit more, as noted by perennially snarky Jezebel and Calorie Lab. (Year ago, the latter’s publisher sagely advised a much younger me to pick up the phone before embarking on a product rant, but Scrimscher, you’ll have to forgive me this one. My hands are both too busy stirring.)

Meanwhile on the tweet, one reader, @abbesol, declared it “Lazy!” while another, @rufola, staked out the gray area: “At first glance: bad. But my Mum loves to cook and has bad arthritis, maybe this would help.”

Hammacher’s own defense was charmingly no-means-yes:

Upon further grilling (but not stirring), Hammacher explained that the product is great for those who are busy doing other things when preparing the meal. I thought stirring was part of preparing the meal, or at least a boring chore to entrust to a fourth grader. Once again, I am out of touch with what’s going on in hands.

I’m unfamiliar with the Hammacher demographic but I’m duly impressed by its cohort’s apparent adherence to cooking so many courses simultaneously at least one pot is left to a tragic fate of sink or swirl. Too many cooks in the kitchen? Try too many hands. The EcoSalon audience, by contrast, prefers to stumble along in the beleaguered darkness of doing more than one thing at the same time. And I, your fearless leader, shall stumble, as well as possibly burn, clump, stick and scald right along with you, most likely because I didn’t get off the phone. On the multitasking brink of the twentieth century, and also every century before that since the invention of cookery, we stand firm.

This is the latest installment in your editor’s column, The Insider’s Guide to Life, exploring topics such as media, culture, sex, politics, and anything else. Cheers and spellcheck!

Image: ginnerobot

9 Life-Changing Inventions the Experts Said Would Never Work

Mike Sowden — Sun, 28 Nov 2010 00:13:56 +0000

The lightbulb. The telephone. Email. If you’re a specialist in your field, there are two ways to become a household name: create something new, or claim it can never be done. If you want to be remembered on the Internet, choose the second one. Here are 9 examples of breakthroughs, inventions and innovations the experts were completely wrong about.

1. The Electric Lightbulb

Image: Marcin Wichary

“… good enough for our transatlantic friends … but unworthy of the attention of practical or scientific men.” British Parliamentary Committee, referring to Edison’s light bulb, 1878.

“Everyone acquainted with the subject will recognize it as a conspicuous failure.” Henry Morton, president of the Stevens Institute of Technology, on Edison’s light bulb, 1880.

The Brits get sniffy about American innovation (not for the first time) – and miss the invention of the century. Now our light bulbs comes in all shapes and sizes, and we’re eco-innovating faster than ever. Not too shabby for a conspicuous failure.

2. The A/C

Image: wander lima ~

“Fooling around with alternating current is just a waste of time. Nobody will use it, ever.” Thomas Edison, 1889.

Oh Tom, you were doing so well. Edison enjoyed sniping at the efforts of his rival George Westinghouse (who bought the patent for a/c transmission from Nikola Tesla), and look where it got him. Fact is, it’s easier and far more efficient to distribute power with a/c than with Edison’s darling direct current. Oops.

3. The Personal Computer

Image: OneLaptopPerChild

We have reached the limits of what is possible with computers. John Von Neumann, 1949

Somewhat wide of the mark. Along came the integrated circuit (better known as the microchip), and things went crazy. Computers have allowed our species to really connect. We can even study and regulate our own planet – and there’s still no computing limits in sight.

4. The Microchip

Image: Nokia Eco Sensor Concept phone.

“But what… is it good for?” An engineer at the Advanced Computing Systems Division of IBM, commenting on the microchip in 1968.

Hardly anything – well, apart from virtually every piece of electronic equipment in gadgets, vehicles, computer networks, power stations, homes, offices and every other conceivable part of everyday life for this century and probably the next. But otherwise, yes – useless.

5. Data Transmission

Image: anomalous4

“Before man reaches the moon, your mail will be delivered within hours from New York to Australia by guided missiles. We stand on the threshold of rocket mail.” Arthur Summerfield, U.S. Postmaster General under Eisenhower, 1959.

“Transmission of documents via telephone wires is possible in principle, but the apparatus required is so expensive that it will never become a practical proposition.” Dennis Gabor, British physicist, 1962.

A brilliant scientist, Gabor received the Nobel Prize for inventing holography – but entirely failed to anticipate e-mail and the modem. (To be fair, so did everyone else). Nowadays, entire bookshelves can be transmitted for a few cents in the blink of an eye, making scientific collaboration a truly global enterprise. And all without rockets.

6. Online Shopping

Image: i’m george

“Remote shopping, while entirely feasible, will flop – because women like to get out of the house, like to handle merchandise, like to be able to change their minds.” TIME, 1966.

It’s true that both sexes like the tactile experience of shopping in person. But e-commerce? As PayPal‘s proft margins will attest, remote shopping is here to stay – and helps get money to where it’s most needed.

7. The Automobile

Image: Cyberesque

“The ordinary “horseless carriage” is at present a luxury for the wealthy; and although its price will probably fall in the future, it will never, of course, come into as common use as the bicycle.” Literary Digest, 1899.

If only that were true. But the infernal combustion engine shows no signs of slowing – in 2005, an estimated 53 million new cars hit the world’s streets, fuelling all sorts of problems. Happily, we’re fast rediscovering the bicycle and rethinking the automobile.

8. The Television

Image: Narisa

“While theoretically and technically television may be feasible, commercially and financially it is an impossibility, a development of which we need waste little time dreaming.”
Lee DeForest, American radio pioneer and inventor of the vacuum tube, 1926.

Dream on. There are currently around 220 million “impossibilities” in the United States alone. TV is everywhere. It’s just a shame the old types are full of lead – but every year sees a cleaner version, like the new Philips Eco FlatTV here.

9. Possibility

Image: Jake Shears

“Everything that can be invented has been invented.”

Supposedly said by Charles H. Duell, Commissioner, U.S. Office of Patents, 1899 – except he probably didn’t. So the last word goes to actor and humorist Peter Ustinov:

“If the world should blow itself up, the last audible voice would be that of an expert saying it can’t be done.”

In green tech, there are some truly audacious ideas that plenty of “experts” have been quick to write off. As they relate to every day living and things you can do to help the environment, we’ll be covering them here, so be sure to bookmark us. If the history of technology offers any lesson, it’s that today’s most cynical eco experts could very well end up with egg on their faces. Naturally we’ll be diligently reporting on it all.

Further reading: 87 bad predictions about the future, courtesy of 2Spare.

Each week here at EcoSalon, the editors choose a post from the archives that we think you’ll love. The original post can be found here.

9 Life-Changing Inventions the Experts Said Would Never Work

Mike Sowden — Sat, 27 Nov 2010 18:00:25 +0000

1. The Electric Lightbulb

Image: Marcin Wichary

2. The A/C

Image: wander lima ~

“Fooling around with alternating current is just a waste of time. Nobody will use it, ever.” Thomas Edison, 1889.

3. The Personal Computer

Image: OneLaptopPerChild

We have reached the limits of what is possible with computers. John Von Neumann, 1949

4. The Microchip

Image: Nokia Eco Sensor Concept phone.

“But what… is it good for?” An engineer at the Advanced Computing Systems Division of IBM, commenting on the microchip in 1968.

5. Data Transmission

Image: anomalous4

6. Online Shopping

Image: i’m george

“Remote shopping, while entirely feasible, will flop – because women like to get out of the house, like to handle merchandise, like to be able to change their minds.” TIME, 1966.

7. The Automobile

Image: Cyberesque
“The ordinary “horseless carriage” is at present a luxury for the wealthy; and although its price will probably fall in the future, it will never, of course, come into as common use as the bicycle.” Literary Digest, 1899.

8. The Television

Image: Narisa

9. Possibility

Image: Jake Shears

“Everything that can be invented has been invented.”

Supposedly said by Charles H. Duell, Commissioner, U.S. Office of Patents, 1899 – except he probably didn’t. So the last word goes to actor and humorist Peter Ustinov:

“If the world should blow itself up, the last audible voice would be that of an expert saying it can’t be done.”

Further reading: 87 bad predictions about the future, courtesy of 2Spare.

Each week here at EcoSalon, the editors choose a post from the archives that we think you’ll love. The original post can be found here.

Image: Fabbio

Hung Up on Cell Phones

Scott Adelson — Fri, 13 Aug 2010 22:09:26 +0000

Once, for a short period of time, I had The Man by the balls. And when I say “The Man,” I mean The Man – a corporate giant who keeps us down, corners us and our pocketbooks, gives us no choice, frustrates us at every turn and manufactures, along with his product, that helpless feeling in our gut that we’re up against something unbeatable. When I say “The Man,” I mean my cell phone service provider. And by provider I mean AT&T. And for a brief shining moment, my contract was f’in up. Booyah!

In fact, though it seemed to pass in a heartbeat, it was more than a brief period that I enjoyed the pleasure of having AT&T over a barrel. (Provider. What a generous title.) My Golden Era lasted two years (ironically the same amount of time they make you commit to those inane contracts which ensure you that you are joined at the mobile hip for a full, glorious sentence.)

The freedom – both real and imagined – was extraordinary. When I received my monthly bill, I’d simply have a gander and pick out those charges that I really just didn’t think were fair. “That call to Eastern Europe cost how much?!” ” I thought I had unlimited texts!” “You mean I wasn’t covered for Internet usage?!”

All it took was a simple call and a moment for the front-line customer assistant to figure out who I was – an off-contract customer, An Opportunity for Customer Retention.

“Sir how can help you? Are you ready to re-up your contract?”

“Um, no, I’m shopping providers right now and will be making a decision very soon, but in the meantime, there’s this thing on my bill”¦”

“Oh dear, Mr. Adelson, I am so sorry! Just give me a moment here and”¦ there now, all those nasty charges have just been deleted. So about your contract”¦”

“Oh hey, gotta run. Thanks though! You just kept me from jumping ship! Back to you soon on the contract thing!”

Such sweet pleasure.

But how real was it? In the end, was it a mere illusion of freedom? Just a voice on the other end of the line telling me what I wanted to hear? Did I have Him or did He have me?

On the can-we-really-get-along-without-certain-gadgets front (here we’re talking the penultimate gadget; the Cell Phone), I’ve recently seen a few articles fly by on the power of living without. What would it be like to be off the grid completely, beholden to no cell-phone Man?

Joel Stein, writing for Bloomberg Businessweek, posits that the “Luddites may actually be power brokers,” and that “not having a cell phone means that the world has to run on your time.”

In the article, he sums up what we’re up against: “Everyone has a cell phone now. There are more than 280 million mobile subscribers in America, according to the Federal Communications Commission. According to a 2005 international study by Advertising Age, 15 percent of Americans have interrupted sex to answer their phones. Even people who are videotaping themselves having sex, like Paris Hilton, stop to answer a call.”

Stein goes on to say not having a cell phone is a way we can take back power, noting that a few people who know power on first name basis, like Warren Buffett and Russian billionaire and New Jersey Nets owner Mikhail Prokhorov, have dumped the gadgets. (Some heavy-hitter celebs, too, have chosen to hang up.) The article goes on to tell the tales of a number of other people who have given up the habit, folks who have had enough and are not gonna take it anymore. I read each of their stories. I was impressed.

In many ways, we present a paradox of gadget infatuation. We talk about what’s cool and new, shiny and green, all with a what’s-happening-now bent. But we also talk about ways to avoid being slaves to The Man, thinking outside the proverbial box, not being afraid to “just say no” to obvious trends that aren’t healthy for you. Recently, I posted a story about the green and not-so-green aspects of the iPad, in which I posed a question of awareness regarding our decision to buy any gadget: do you need it or do you want it?

This question – and freedom from gadgets and the Men and Women who service our addictions – is something I wrestle with almost every day. And while I’m happily a later-than-some adopter when it comes to toys and I think I do a pretty good job distinguishing between my needs and wants, I will say this when it comes to certain products: When I fall, I fall hard.

Which brings me back to my cell phone moment in the sun. Oddly, it was a moment in the sun that brought it all to an end. I was sitting on my balcony, doing some hardcore Ra worship, talking into my contract-free, trusty little Razor (my connection to freedom – as long as that little baby held up, I was safe). And the screen went black. Literally. It died in the heat that day, and though I cannot say exactly how long I held out after that moment, it was probably mere minutes before I realized what had to be done.

I crawled back to The Man. I took the deal on the iPhone and I smiled big when they handed it to me. So there it is. Was I really ever going anywhere? A new “provider,” maybe. But true freedom? Was I threatening the man or was I blowing in the cell phone wind? The answer came way too easy: Two years? Where do I sign?

Image: lemuelinchrist

One for the Reference Section: Green Gadgets for Dummies!

Scott Adelson — Tue, 10 Aug 2010 17:48:48 +0000

We do love our green gadgets. But though we do profess more than a passing degree of eco-acumen, the reality is (shhh!) it sometimes takes an inordinate amount of time for us to truly understand what we’re talking about. (I’m talking about me, really, but I’m passing the buck here to the entire EcoSalon team. Again, shh.) So I’ve found a book for “us”! Green Gadgets For Dummies.

Part of the now classic “Dummies” series, the book covers “everything from iPods to energy-efficient home entertainment devices to solar laptop chargers and crank-powered gizmos.” It’s written by New York Times Green Inc. blogger Joe Hutsko, who’s also contributed some seriously non-dummy stuff to Fortune, MSNBC.com, Wired, the Washington Post, Newsweek, Time, Macworld, PC World and others. His personal blog, JOEyGADGET, is also pretty cool.

The book’s basically a primer on researching and purchasing green gadgets, and also provides pointers on using what you already have in smarter, more environmentally friendly ways. It includes info on financial savings, reducing your carbon footprint and even ways to avoid “greenwashing” – being deceived by BS green PR and marketing practices. There are also chapters on green lifestyle, computer energy savings specific to both Mac and Windows, mobile phones and recycling.

The book is now a part of the EcoSalon reference library, for all of us (well, for me) to use when needed.

5 Stylish Recycling Stations to Fit Any Space

Susan Johnston — Tue, 08 Jun 2010 16:54:01 +0000

Ever since Re-Nest posted this stylish recycling station, we’ve been craving a chic solution of our own. Recycling isn’t one-size-fits-all (natch), so we’ve rounded up five recycling options to fit any size space.

Flip Lid Recycler (pictured above)
Simplehuman is known for their sleek, yet practical designs, so we weren’t the slightest bit surprised to find several options on their website. This one has two inner buckets for sorting trash and recyclables. It also comes with a five year warranty.
Front Load Recycler
At just $29.99 a piece, this recycler is probably the most economical option outside of DIY. Available in black or grey, they also come stackable, so you can rearrange them according to your needs.
Premium All-in-One Home Recycling Center
This gadget may resemble a desktop computer, but it’s actually a super-cool compaction system capable of crushing cans, bottles, and jugs, saving you space. Other notable features include a one-step foot pedal, a recycle day reminder, and an odor eliminator on top.
Top Mount Recycling Double Bins
If you’re going for a minimalist kitchen, then keeping recyclables out of sight may be your best bet. These 35-quart bins can be concealed inside a sliding cabinet for easy access. Here’s another hidden recycling option from Organize-It.
The DIY Option
All you DIYers no doubt have a fabulous system for keeping recyclables nicely sorted and organized. Apartment Therapy shares one option using a Crate & Barrel media console and some colorful bins. Here’s another system courtesy of Re-Nest.

Tell us! How do you handle your recycling? Do you keep it hidden or incorporate it into your home’s decor?

5 Solar-Powered Gadgets We Love

Lisa Hoover — Wed, 12 May 2010 19:56:15 +0000

I’m just a wee bit crazy for all my electronic devices, but all the expensive power they use? Not so much. Solar-powered gadgets are the perfect answer, sucking energy from the sun instead of money from my pocketbook. Here are five of my favorites:

YAYA Power Solar Portable Charger

Perfect for charging cell phones, iPods, video games, and other electronic devices, this baby is definitely something you want to keep in your handbag for emergency charges. It has its own solar panel to draw juice from the sun, but on cloudy days you can can still recharge devices with it via your car’s cigarette lighter or a USB port on your computer.

Ripe Radish Solar Energy Lawn Lamp

How cool is this? Forget those boring black, plastic solar pathway lights. Nab a batch of these solar lamps that collect power during the day and glow red an night The center is a hollow flowerpot perfect for holding young radish plants. If there’s a cuter way to light your lawn, I haven’t seen it.

Solar LED Address Numbers

These nifty address numbers attach to the front of your home and glow for eight to ten hours each night after collecting energy from the sun. Two LED backlight the number cutouts so they’re easy to read, and the entire affair is made from weather-resistant anodized aluminum so it will last a long time. This gizmo beat numbers glued to a mailbox, hands down.

Voltaic Generator Solar Laptop Charger Bag

I’m in love with this bag. Made from recycled soda bottles, this laptop charger doubles as a computer tote. Solar panels on the outside generate enough power to charge the custom-designed battery pack in only five hours. It includes adapters for laptops, phones and other handheld devices, and can even be configured to adapt to the unique MagSafe port on a MacBook. The charger bag may not be much to look at, but functionality, it is to die for.

Solar Bluetooth Car Speaker

Forget fiddling with those goofy-looking Bluetooth cell phone ear pieces, slap this puppy on your windshield and chat on speakerphone. This car kit features call waiting, voice dialing, redial, and more. It stores 200 phone numbers and has a built-in rechargeable battery that provides up to 14 hours of talk time – perfect for those extra long car trips.

Image: david.nikonvscanon

Eco Shiny! 7 New Green Cell Phones, Apps & Gadgets

Stephanie Rogers — Thu, 15 Apr 2010 19:16:52 +0000

Back when car phones were suitcase-sized and small portable telephones seemed impossibly futuristic, cell phones were far from a necessity. Fast forward twenty years, and it’s hard to imagine life without them. But along with all the convenience has come mountains of toxic electronic waste and heavier energy consumption. Could phones with sustainable wood cases, apps that encourage renewable energy use or even chargers that convert WiFi signals to energy be the answer? Check out these seven brand-spanking-new phone innovations and decide for yourself.

AT&T ZERO Charger Slays Vampire Energy

By now most of us know that, as long as they’re kept plugged in, phone chargers are notorious for continuing to draw power even when not in use. But it’s annoying to constantly unplug chargers, especially when outlets are located in inconvenient places. AT&T has come up with an interesting solution called the ZERO Charger, which zaps that vampire draw by shutting down automatically when your phone isn’t actively charging. It’s not available quite yet, but you can sign-up to receive an email as soon as it’s available in stores from the AT&T website.

LG Goes Green with Remarq QWERTY Phone

The newest green cell phone to hit the market is the LG Remarq, a slider handset with a full QWERTY keyboard so you can get your text on a whole lot easier. The Remarq is made from 19 percent recycled plastic, contains no hazardous materials, and 87 percent of its parts can be recycled once it has lived out its (regrettably short, as with all cell phones) life. Other eco-features include a low-energy charger and an app to measure your carbon footprint. The phone also has a 1.3 megapixel camera, a MP3 player, a microSD card slot, stereo Bluetooth and a personal organizer. Get it May 9th for $19.99 with a two-year Sprint service contract and a $50 mail-in rebate.

RCA AirPower Charger Steals Energy from Wi-Fi

So maybe you zapped those energy-sucking vampires at home, but when you’re out and about, how can you power up your phone without plugging it in? Be a vampire yourself. The RCA AirPower Charger actually absorbs energy from WiFi signals – whether they’re your own or not. Some might call that stealing, but hey – you’ll never have a dead phone.

Originally developed as an emergency power supply, this technology is still being refined and RCA hasn’t explained exactly how it works other than to say that the portable device would be fully charged after about six hours of exposure as you pass through or hang out in hotspots.

iPhone App Measures Wind Speed

You’d have to be really dark green – and a bit of an eco geek – to need this app, but hey, when it comes to iPhone apps, there really is something for everyone. Just hold your iPhone into the air with the microphone pointed in the direction of the wind for at least 20 seconds, and the app will calculate the wind speed based on the decibel level. It’s potentially useful for people who use small mobile wind turbines to provide power on the go.

NTT DoCoMo Touch Phone Made of Surplus Wood

Perhaps the most annoying thing about modern gadgetry for eco-minded people is all that plastic. It’s impossible to avoid completely, but some new phones are cutting it back dramatically. The NTT DoCoMo is a touchscreen phone with a case made from sustainable surplus wood, from trees cut during thinning operations to maintain healthy forests. It also contains no artificial colors or paints, has a slim profile and a smooth and shiny surface.

Roto Charger Powers Your Phone with Your Muscles

Why plug in a charger at all when you could simply use the power of your own muscles? Okay, so the Roto Charger isn’t practical for everyone, but this manual wind-up charger – developed for use off-the-grid and in remote places – could definitely cut back your electricity consumption. For a wind-up device, it’s actually unusually efficient, providing 30 minutes of standby time or three minutes of talk time for every one minute of winding.

Recycle Your Old Phones at Target for Earth Day

Got a bunch of old cell phones, MP3 players or other small electronic devices sitting around waiting to be recycled? Take them to your local Target. The retail chain has launched a new recycling program in all of its U.S. stores in honor of the 40th Earth Day. Target is a bit late getting into the recycling game, as this is the first time they’ve offered any kind of recycling bins at all, but it’s a welcome change. They’ll also be taking used printer cartridges and the requisite paper, glass and plastic.

And starting soon, consumers will have a much bigger incentive to recycle old phones – money. A new venture called eRecyclingCorps, founded by former executives at Sprint and Radio Shack, will partner with wireless carriers to offer credit toward a new phone when old ones are turned in for recycling.

Images: Pink Sherbet Photography, ATT.com, Sprint.com, DVICE.com, EcoGeek.com, Ecofriend.com, Envirogadget.com, Patrick Hoesley

The Lust List: 10 Susty Spring Things We Love

Luanne Bradley — Mon, 12 Apr 2010 20:08:11 +0000

A well contained prefab home that would elevate my life; a robin’s egg blue clutch; a pair of ethical Frye boots to kick up my heels around town. Yes, I’m jonesing for these pretty and practical pleasures as I venture outdoors after a long winter’s rest from buying.

I’m in Lust with these 10 finds:

Prefab Envy/Adam Kalkin’s Maine Container House

This inventive and affordable prefab space ($125 a square foot) is a house to flip over, and I would happily trade my 1920 mold-charmed and energy sucking craftsman cottage for Kalkin’s reclaimed shipping container dwelling in Brooklyn, Maine. He assembled it in 2003 with a dozen orange shipping containers stacked in a T-shape and replaced steel panels with picture windows overlooking the peninsula and Blue Hill Bay.

CB2 Sawyer Green Adirondack

They’ll set me back $250 each, but would nicely complement my prefab house. Also, I desperately need new outdoor furniture because the chewed wicker settee and rocker are no longer charming, but sad. The new green outdoor chairs from CB2 have that rugged and iconic upstate New York allure reworked in certified eucalyptus and finished in a cool gray wash.

Cat on a Hot Tan Pouf

It’s probably the best $50 I will ever spend as Audrey desperately seeks warmth in our tundra home. They say cats never exit the Thermo Kitty Heated Crinkle Sack, except for meal and litter box duty. The energy efficient four watt heater is a year-round cat magnet for hanging. My 16-year-old Audrey deserves one and I’m a bad mommy if I don’t get it soon. Her kidney disease is slowing her down.

Crib for my California King

I’ve been on the hunt for an upholstered bed that could be placed against my bay window for a better feng shui flow in my room. The tufted Rowan bed from Cisco Brothers boasts eco construction (elusive as heck in a fabric bed ) with legs of reclaimed wood, hemp webbing, jute and burlap frame finishing, and sustainable chemical-free fabrics. It even comes in my size. I love the soothing gray shade.

Hang Ten, Seat Six

Is it my awe for Shaun White, my childhood in Malibu or simply the sexy walnut veneer that has me hankering for this Stax Chair from Skate Study House? It’s molded from three skate decks and bonded plywood and boasts a hot mid-century low-rise aesthetic, great for seating extra guests.

A lot of Crock

It ain’t a fancy feast, but easy slow meals are all the rage and I need a crock to be in. I like the designer Series Smart Pot because it defies the old jalopy style of the kitchen staple and is programmable, automatically shifting to warm when the cooking is done. It is made of stainless steel and costs $50. In answer to your next question, YES! I’m registered at Crock-Pot.com.

Wind Up Revolution Media player

If I’m gonna break down and join my other family members by splurging on a player, I’m wildly attracted to the idea of one minute of winding for 40 minutes of play. I waste enough batteries on my digital camera. Newer Revolution models by Trevor Baylis are available for £129.95 at It Must be Green, and can be shipped from the UK.

Leeanne’s Additions

What do Project Runway winners do with the money? Some sneak into oblivion while visionary Leeanne Marshall went green with a new Spring/Summer 2010 eco collection “Basic Math” with halter and strapless origami-inspired garments of organic cotton, silk and hemp. Ecouterre tells us four of five designs will be produced as ready-to-wear in April, while the other pretty pieces seen here can be custom ordered from Marshall’s Etsy store, Leanimal, from $140 to $525.

Ethical Fryes

The classic harness clunkers we wore with thrift drop dresses in the Eighties are back – way back! I’m lusting after a new pair of harness ankle boots, but a new pair from Zappos is $210. I’ll go vintage at eBay if I can find a size 9.

Kisslock Clutch

In pink or blue, I need this clutch for Spring and love the Asian-inspired bird on a limb design printed from the art of Karin Grow on cotton and silk with reclaimed bottles for batting. $80 at Etsy’s Brina Edelman Designs.

Image: Architecture and Hygiene, Etsy