A round-up of what we’re reading right now.

Did you know that the original fountain drink at McDonald’s was only a mere 7 ounces? A look at the history of soda sizes. [Via Mother Jones]

A handy guide to sorting out all the health statistics you should know, like how much your blood pressure should be and exactly how many drinks constitutes “in moderation.” [Via Greatist]

No need to lose faith in humanity when there are inspiring children making a global impact. [Via TakePart]

There are a lot of amazing women in the world. Here are 60 extra amazing ones. [Via Fast Company]

A trip through Spain, one tapas at a time. [Via Afar Magazine]

For those with a peanut butter obsession, you might not want to miss out on these Peanut Butter Meringues. [Via Big Girls Small Kitchen]

Overpriced bling is so overrated. Check out this quick DIY guide to colorful, gold tube bracelets. [Via HonestlyWTF]

Make a batch of no bake raw brownies and you just might make some new friends at the same time. [Via Girlie Girl Army]

Image: Keoni Cabral

The post Link Love: The History of Supersizing, Inspiring Women, and Eating Your Way Through Spain appeared first on EcoSalon.

A round-up of what we’re reading right now.

Do you know what’s in your food? What’s really in your food? Some pesticides to start with. [Via TakePart]

It’s summer; if you don’t start bike commuting now, when will you? This guide will get you started. [Via Women’s Adventure]

Guess who is the latest purveyor of Hermès knockoffs? Hermès employees of course. [Via Refinery29]

Aggressive in ankle boots? As it turns out, your shoes really do say something about your personality. [Via How About We]

Being uncomfortable is what soul searching is all about. [Via Elevation Outdoors]

If that summer road trip has you craving a good microbrew, this map will point you in the right direction. [Via Pop Chart Lab]

Creativity killers are everywhere, can we add Facebook to the list? [Via Co.CREATE]

Image: Luca Violetto

The post Link Love: A Guide to Bike Commuting, Hermes Knockoffs and Creativity Killers appeared first on EcoSalon.

A round-up of what we’re reading right now.

Nothing says summer travel like a good glamping tent. Or 16 of them. [Via CasaSugar]

Think global, drink local. [Via Ethical Ocean]

The average American is spending over 20% of their grocery budget on processed foods. [Via Mother Jones]

No one said summer cookouts couldn’t be healthy. [Via Small Kitchen College]

Get thee to an outdoor theatre immediately. [Via Flavorwire]

The latest in internet time-waster… no wait… inspiration: Pinstagram. [Via Mashable]

Nothing goes hand in hand like farming and new media. [Via GOOD]

If you’re simply getting up, eating breakfast and leaving for work, you just might want to rethink things. The mornings are primetime for, well, everything. [Via Fast Company]

The post Link Love: What Americans Are Eating, Tents for Glamping and the Value of Getting Up Early appeared first on EcoSalon.

Über-human folds in industrial and home design.

Foraying into the foldy discipline of origami design once more, let’s take a look at a few bends that have captured the design world – in both market and imagination.

The first comes care of bendables expert Pleat Farm, a perennial favorite of ours, for whom folds hold more than cornered materials. They just might hold the answer to everything, according to some. But in the case of design student Christophe Guberan of Ecole Cantonale d’art de Lausanne (ECAL), it’s not entirely clear why the crinkle conjoins. In other words, it folds therefore it is…what? Cool seems the most sensible adjective for it.

He created the Hydro-Fold inkjet printer, which prints paper that pleats into 3D foms. It works by printing a mixture of water and ink that causes the paper to bend along the wet lines and humid areas.

The forms are created via a computer program that generates patterns for different configurations.

Issey Miyake, meanwhile has been avidly folding and creasing technology-driven art and fashion since the 1980s (he did Jobs’ turtlenecks, too – entirely pleatless yet visionary). The designer’s latest collection is not that of clothing or even cloth, but an LED lighting series made from recycled PET plastic bottles.

He’s working in collaboration with Italian lighting brand Artemide on the project, a forward-thinking solution for our plastic water bottle problem.

Finally, from German designer Elisa Strozyk a wooden blanket made usable from giving chips of wood the multi-faceted geometric treatment.

The blankets are among a larger Accordion Collection, which also include wood pleated into lighting fixtures and origami cabinets.

The designer states, “[the wooden textiles are] between hard and soft, challenging what can be expected from a material or category. It looks and smells familiar but feels strange, as it is able to move and form in unexpected ways.”

Images: Elisa Strozyk; Pleat Farm; Fast Company; Elisa Strozyk

The post The Bendables: Origami Design Tackles 3D and Waste appeared first on EcoSalon.

#takeacreativepause
Why Boredom is Essential for Creativity
by Martin Lindstrom at Fast Company

#getonit
11 Reasons to Stop Dreaming and Start Planning Your Round the World Trip
by Adam Seper at BootsnAll

#americanpropoganda
How Did Japan Come to Prefer Wheat Over Rice
by Nadia Arumugam at Slate

#weshouldalleatwell
It’s Time to Make Sustainable Food Less Elitist
by Sarah Parsons at GOOD

#leavebrooklyn
11 Steps for Writing The Great American Novel
by Jim Behrle at The Awl

The post Boredom, Globetrotting and Your Great American Novel appeared first on EcoSalon.

Curating the very best reads weekly from our daily recommendation engine, We Heart This.

#onegarmentatatime
How One Label is Fighting Fast Fashion
by David Zax at Fast Company

#helikesflorencetoo
Barack Obama Just Joined Spotify
by Noreen Malone at New York Magazine

#mendonthaveto
When it Comes to Business, Women Who Ask Get Ahead
by Ilene H. Lang at Forbes

#homegirlcafe
A Restaurant That is Changing Lives
by Laurie Kaufman at Organic Authority

#thenewdigitalreality
Plug In Better
by Alexandra Samuel at The Atlantic

Want more? Catch all our recommended reads in the We Heart This section, updated daily. Want to tip your editors? Send links to tips@ecosalon.com

The post Fighting Fashion, Asking Nicely and Plugging In Smarter appeared first on EcoSalon.

Does it take a celebrity to speak for the majority of Americans?

Oscar-winning actor Matt Damon has been in the news quite a bit lately, and it’s not because he’s promoting a new movie. Damon, who is low-key about his personal life, comes on strong when he’s passionate about a political issue or a philanthropic cause. He has lit up the blogosphere, YouTube, print media and even late night television with his recent, high profile interviews on his philanthropy, Water.org, and his opinions on the state of education in the U.S. today and the recent U.S. debt agreement.

How much weight should we give celebrity opinions? People (and especially children and teens) are often swayed by celebrity endorsements and strive to emulate them, so when celebrities talk, many people listen. As a society, we eat up what they are wearing, what they are doing and who they are doing it with. Sometimes that means we are treated to diatribes about tiger’s blood, an episode of couch-jumping, or homophobic jokes during a stand up comedy act.

Celebrities don’t have to worry about being re-elected; they can simply say what they believe, whatever that may be. Damon’s opinions have gotten so much attention that outspoken Democrat Michael Moore has commented that he should run for president.

The July/August issue of Fast Company profiled Damon and the nonprofit organization Water.org that he co-founded with Gary White. Water.org is working towards providing safe drinking water to people in developing countries. Ellen McGirt described Damon’s immersive involvement in the organization as far and above the level of normal celebrity cause spokesperson. Damon has turned himself into a “development expert.” McGirt explains that, among other things, Damon can talk knowledgeably about microfinance with rural bankers, give reports from the field at the annual Clinton Global Initiative, and has personally thanked donors like Pepsi’s Indira Nooyi. Damon has also put in the time researching, studying and listening to experts in the field and visiting the very people it affects. This has garnered him a level of quiet respect.

Damon has been in the spotlight before for his opinion. A staunch Democrat, he supported President Obama during his campaign, but recently professed his disappointment in Obama’s handling of some key issues, including education, the Afghanistan exit strategy, and the Wall Street crisis. “I no longer hope for audacity,” he told Piers Morgan in a March 2011 appearance on his show.

On July 30, Damon gave an inspiring speech during the Save Our Schools march in Washington D.C. referencing his mother, a professor of early childhood education, and his public school education growing up. He described how he learned because he wasn’t taught to perform well on a standardized test, but was taught by teachers who were “empowered to teach.”

“This has been a horrible decade for teachers. I can’t imagine how demoralized you must feel. But I came here today to deliver an important message to you: As I get older, I appreciate more and more the teachers that I had growing up. And I’m not alone. There are millions of people just like me.

So the next time you’re feeling down, or exhausted, or unappreciated, or at the end of your rope; the next time you turn on the TV and see yourself called “overpaid;” the next time you encounter some simple-minded, punitive policy that’s been driven into your life by some corporate reformer who has literally never taught anyone anything, please know that there are millions of us behind you. You have an army of regular people standing right behind you, and our appreciation for what you do is so deeply felt. We love you, we thank you and we will always have your back.”

Following this speech, a journalist and cameraman baited Damon and his mother, saying that teachers needed incentive to put in effort and that ten percent of all teachers were probably bad. Damon shot back, “Ok, but maybe you’re a shitty cameraman.”

Soon afterward, Damon was back in the news after the debt crisis was resolved, voicing his disappointment with the result.

“The wealthy are paying less than they paid at any time else, certainly in my lifetime, and probably in the last century,” he said. “I don’t know what we were paying in the roaring 20’s; it’s criminal that so little is asked of people who are getting so much. I don’t mind paying more. I really don’t mind paying more taxes. I’d rather pay for taxes than cut ‘Reading is Fundamental’ or Head Start or some of these programs that are really helping kids. This is the greatest country in the world; is it really that much worse if you pay 6% more in taxes? Give me a break. Look at what you get for it: you get to be American.”

Is Damon a rich celebrity? Yes. Should his opinion mean more because he has a high profile? Maybe not, but in a time when people who aren’t lobbyists or wealthy donors have a hard time being heard by those in government who are supposed to represent their interests, it’s what we’ve got.

Image: JustJared

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