The best of EcoSalon’s stories this week.

For Nina Katchadourian, a lavatory isn’t just a practical necessity – it’s an artistic portal to the 15th Century. Check out (but perhaps don’t emulate) her Lavatory Portraits in the Flemish Style.

You’d think recent history, and the revelations emerging from climate science, would have wised us up to the danger of our fossil fuel abuse. But alas – it seems to be the one habit we can’t kick. Stephanie Rogers offers up suggestions for curbing this cheap fuel dependency.

Victory gardens helped win a world war – and now they’re helping fight a new battle, on behalf of a beleaguered biosphere. To cheer them on, activist designer Joe Wirtheim has crafted a series of posters that evokes a wartime aesthetic for a more modern cause.

Every wondered where nail polish came from? The history of nail art dates back a whopping 5,000 years.

Finally, it’s incredible to think that Star Trek is nearly 50 years old – and that 1966 was an era with a very different view on racial relations. All rise for the lady behind the first interracial kiss on television, Nichelle Nichols!

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