The ecologic plates, bowls and serving dishes created by VerTerra are made from palm leaves.
But it鈥檚 not only the material that is ecologic. The production process is free of chemicals and glues and, according to the company, approximately 80% of the water used in the steaming and pressing process is recycled.
Also, the products are compostable and can be used to make fertilizers at the end of their lifecycle.
To order, simply go to VerTerra鈥檚 website. A 12-piece set starts from US$ 25.
VerTerra was founded in 2006 by Michael Dwork. On that same year, they were granted two US$100,000 awards to boost their project.
I saw this chair in a blog called Eco Spirit, written by Portugal-born Maria and Wilma. I liked the chair so much that I had to talk about it here. Purupu, as this children鈥檚 chair is named, is made from a new material called DuraPulp.
DuraPulp is a mixture of paper pulp and biodegradable plastic created by a company called S枚dra PulpLab, which results in a waterproof paper as resistant as wood, steel or hard plastic. The new material boasts the best features offered by paper: it鈥檚 cheap, light and organic.
The chair made from this material was introduced during the 2009 Milan Design Week and was designed by Claesson Koivisto Rune, a company founded by three Swedish designers and architects鈥擬arten Claesson, Eero Koivisto and Ola Rune.
鈥Transformer鈥 is a system created by designer Chun-wei Liao and allows you to use cardboard to make from pendants to little stools.
Objects manufactured with this system use a flat sheet of cardboard and several pyramids that can be attached to the main sheet to create an original form. The system was launched during this year鈥檚 Milan Design Week.
Source: iGreenSpot
This piece unites the functionality of a lamp with plant pots, bringing a little more green to the interior of a house. The lamp uses a special light bulb created by Osram, called Floraset, which promises to stimulate plant鈥檚 growth.
Introduced during the 2009 Milan Design Week, this piece was created by Laura Fiaschi and Gabriele Pardi, designers from the Italian studio Gumdesign, for Tredicidesign.
Source: ArchiPortale
This is this week鈥檚 slogan of two top US retailers specialized in custom t-shirts and other items, in celebration of Earth Day. During this entire week, whenever you buy a Threadless tee or any Zazzle product you will be donating US$1 for the PlantABillion.org and AmericanForests organizations, respectively.
This creation by artist Yuken Teruya gave us an idea for what to do with the cardboard toilet paper cylinders that Juliana and I have been saving for the past few months. We have already saved 30 cardboard cylinders that will be used to decorate our home, just as in Yuken鈥檚 project. Another cool suggestion, made by our friend Denise Rangel, is to reuse the rolls as wire holders.
Rodrigo Barba
Inventor Knut Karlsen has done this at home and teaches us how to do it. He installed photovoltaic cells in rechargeable batteries, which allow these batteries to be continuously charged, particularly when exposed to direct sunlight.
This solar charger is still relatively weak, but its inventor has plans to improve his project to recharge batteries in a more efficient way and to include a device that notifies users when the battery if fully charged.
Find out more at SunCat, Karlsen鈥檚 website, and check out his flickr photo gallery on the project.
Rodrigo Barba
A Timeline built by the Ecofriend website shows the evolution of several technologies that make use of renewable energy sources.
Did you know that the first wind turbine was built in 1868? And that the Egyptians were the first to develop the technology for building dams in 2750 BC? Do not miss the opportunity to visit “The evolution of renewable energy”.
Tip: eco.microsiervos
Rodrigo Barba
A very interesting graph developed by Seed magazine shows the increase in the urban population versus the decrease in the rural population. See the enlarged graph. The graph is part of a series produced by the magazine on the 鈥淪tate of the Planet.”
Rodrigo Barba
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