The Collage Foundation: Eco-Goods


	Solio Portable Solar Charger Finally. A way to make your iPod greener. This pocket-sized gizmo folds out to reveal 3 solar panels. Point them at that big yellow orb in the sky. Eight or so hours later you're rock'n'rolling (or whatever beats are on your pod). The Solio even has its own battery for extra juice. Use that to run your mobile phone, ipaq or other various gadgets. The CO2 emissions from energy used to make your Solio have been offset through a treeplanting program, like. And the precious metals required for the circuitry were purposely not sourced from the African Congo due to unethical labor practices. Built with recycled and recyclable materials.
	Hanging Lamp by Jordi Piera and Juantxo Agudo TreeHugger stumbled upon this hauntingly beautiful (we swear) hanging lamp in the window of art and design gallery Saladestar in the Gracia area of Barcelona. TreeHugger likes about 3% of all things made out of old recycled products since often the craft is underwhelming and they seem, well, like things made from old junk. Once in a while, they nail it though and this hanging lamp made from old yoghurt containers and compact fluorescents is a great example.
	Kiri Houndstooth Curio Shelves Rustic, but with a geometric twist that adds modernity, these Kiri Houndstooth shelves are great for displaying small vases, knickknacks, or that snow globe collection you just can't get rid of. Kiri wood, also called paulownia wood, is a sustainably-harvested, fast-growing wood that's also known for its lightweight strength and stability. The rough-looking finish is achieved by first burning and then waxing the ashes back into the wood, which highlights the natural grain.
	Stapless Stapler If a stapler doesn't use staples, then shouldn't it be called a stapless? Or maybe an unstapler? We'll leave that one to the linguists, but for the time being, we'll refer to it as the manufacturers do, as a "staple-less stapler". Instead of using the tiny pieces of metal that add up to lots of waste, this ingenious little device joins your papers by punching a small, neat hole in your documents and folding the remaining flaps together for a secure binding. No paper is torn off of your sheets and there's nothing to toss out or pry apart with your fingernails. So simple, but so smart.
	Enlightenment Environmental Design The gorgeous furniture from Enlightenment Environmental Design, such as the Baum bed seen here, are made from naturally felled trees, discarded lumber and even donated wood whenever possible. And by mid-2005, EED will have transitioned exclusively to sustainable woods and plywoods. The group also prefers to use basic beeswax and tung oil finishes, to keep things clean. Lighting, which is interestingly incorporated into several pieces,... is also green, with transformers that are very low draw, fit in the palm of your hand, andare rated to last ten years, but easily last 20, According to John Willke, EED's head honcho. "We also consider our work sustainable from other standpoints in how we view what we do including socially and spiritually."
	Organic Ketchup Prevents Cancer! There's more good news about organic foods. In recent study, scientists from the Agricultural Research Service in Albany, California analyzed 13 different ketchup brands for their lycopene content, and surprise (not really) the Organic brands had more. Lycopene, an antioxidant that for years has been known to have protective effects against breast, prostate, and pancreatic cancers, is found in cooked tomato products like tomato sauce and, yes, ketchup. So how great is it that researchers are actually trying to distinguish between brands? The more research that comes out proving the superiority of Organic products the better. This comes on the heels of recent reports on the British study proving the higher vitamin content of Organic milk. The best of the ketchup bunch were the brands with the darkest color, which I figure, are most likely the most concentrated and the thickest, too. I'm a fan of Annie's brand.
	MechoShade EcoVeil Shadecloth MechoShade calls it "the revolutionary eco-effective solar shadecloth." They spent six years developing the project with Cradle to Cradle eco-bigwigs William McDonough and Michael Braungart, achieving a three dot rating on their sustainability scale of five (though no product has got all five dots yet). Instead of the PVC typical to shadecloth, EcoVeil uses EarthTex thermoplastic olefin yarn coated in more of the same polymer, allowing the whole shebang to be melted down into new shades with no degradation of quality (MechoShade takes the cloth back so you don't have to rely on the local recycling center having the right facilities). The mono-material approach also means any cut-off in the factory can be immediately reused, reducing the potential landfill waste by a million pounds. For now you can pick from the eight colors with a 5% openness to the basket weave; more options will be introduced as the company phases out its PVC solar shadecloth in favor of EcoVeil. If you're counting on big windows for passive heating, cooling, and lighting, it's nice to be able to cover them in something besides a pile of PVC.

Donate