William McDonough: The Wisdom of Designing Cradle To Cradle

I have to admit that i'm actually quite embarrassed that i haven't posted about William McDonough before now.  His book Cradle to Cradle is pretty much THE sustainability bible as far as how things should be designed in the future. It's an amazing read and he's truly a visionary in the field.

For a quick taste, check out this talk he gave in 2005 for TED.  It's only about 20 minutes and make sure to watch until the end as he describes one of 12 sustainable cities that he was asked to design for the Chinese government.  Pretty unbelievable stuff.

Special thanks to Lacey for sending the link.

Live Sustainably

Dave

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Unscrew America!

Probably not what you were expecting it to be. Check out this wild Monty Pythonesque site for all sorts of info on L.E.D.s and CFLs. If the music gets a little much you can turn it off in the lower right hand corner.

Live Sustainably

Dave

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Leave it to the Brits

My buddy Augie sent this site to me a while ago and i'm finally getting around to posting it.  It's called How Can I Recycle This, but it's really a guide to finding uses for all sorts of things as opposed to recycling or trashing them.  

Have too many After 8 Dinner Mint Boxes lying around? Fear not, apparently they make great filing cabinets for seeds.

And what to do with all those pesky plaster foot molds you have left over from making orthotics (come on you know you have them)? Their solutions ranged from doorstops to lawn ornaments to using them inside other shoes to help keep the form.

Not all the ideas are the best, but it's lighthearted and actually has some good ideas.

Check it out, I know I will.

Live Sustainably

Dave

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Building Outside Of The Box...with Wind!

This is pretty cool if you ask me.  The picture you are looking at is the Bahrain World Trade Center in....Bahrain. It's the first modern building to incorporate wind mills in the structure of the building. The turbines, which will operate 50% of the time, will generate approximately 15% of the buildings energy.  While this is only a small percentage of the energy the building will use, I like the fact that it was designed with a sense of sustainability in mind and still looks pretty cool.  Now replace those windows with solar panels and this thing could cook!  Check out the video here.

Live Sustainably

Dave

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Santa Monica Alt Build Expo

For anyone who lives in Southern California or who will be in town the week after next, this is a must attend. Very cool event that will get you quickly up to date on the latest and greatest in "green" building opportunities. If you're planning a project this is a great way to see what's out there and if not, it's just a great way to start thinking about things.

Live Sustainably

Dave

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