Earth Day is tomorrow – and our inboxes are already filled to the brim with marketing gimmicks and greenwashed products. In a sad turn of affairs, the environmental message behind Earth Day has been drowned out by marketing bravado and buried beneath mountains of “eco” tote bags and redundant reusable bottles. We’ve shared what we think are the 5 dumbest Earth Day gimmicks – and now we want to see the worst examples of Earth Day greenwashing that YOU have ever run across. Leave a comment below with the most audacious Earth Day greenwashing gimmicks you’ve seen and we’ll publish the most deplorable!

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Post tags: earth day, earth day 2013, earth day gimmick, earth day sale, eco incentives, Environment, green design, green products, Greenwashing, is it green, sustainable design, Waste

A few years ago, I sat down with Cameron Sinclair to talk about his recently-launched Open Architecture Network. He describes it as a “gift to the design community” with a simple mission: “to generate design opportunities that will improve living standards for all “by providing an open-source platform through which anyone can view, post, share, and adapt sustainable, humanitarian-based, scalable solutions. The idea that designs and all associated documents can and should be shared within the decidedly proprietary architectural industry is truly innovative, and could very well aid in the reshaping of the entire architectural profession into a more socially-focused and responsible vocation. Read on for a full transcription of the interview.

Read the rest of INTERVIEW: We Talk with Architecture for Humanity Founder Cameron Sinclair

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Post tags: Architecture for Humanity, cameron sinclair, Cameron Sinclair Interview, Interview with Cameron Sinclair, Open Architecture Network, open source design, TED 2007, TED prize

We at Inhabitat are bona fide prefab lovers. And while we tout the benefits of the prefab process every day, it’s also important to step back and examine the potential of the prefab market, its opportunities, and how it can be maximized to produce even more sustainable, affordable, and high-quality structures. Toby Long, of CleverHomes, has been one of prefab’s pioneers with the MiniHome and NowHouse. I had a chance to sit down with him and discuss the prefab “movement,” and how he sees it maturing in the future.

Read the rest of INTERVIEW: We Talk With Prefab Home Architect Toby Long

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Post tags: Clever Homes, CleverHomes, eco design, geen home, green building San Francisco, Green Community building, green design, heron's head park, Interview with Toby Long, LEJ, Literacy for Environmental Justice, Living Classroom, Prefab Architect, prefab architecture, prefab home, sustainable design, Toby Long, Toby Long AIA

The first day of Hanukkah is this coming Sunday – so why not celebrate the season with a batch of delicious vegan, gluten-free sufganiyot jelly donuts? We’ve rounded up our favorite recipe for these traditional treats – and they’re guaranteed to taste better fresh out of the oven than any pastries purchased at the store. Check out our complete how-to recipe with pics after the break!

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Post tags: chanukkah, cooking, DIY, gluten-free donut, green holidays, hanukkah, how-to, Inhabitots, jelly donuts, recipe, sufganiyot, sustainable food, vegan donuts, vegan jelly donuts

Peanut butter cups are a sought-after staple for trick-or-treaters, but store-bought varieties are loaded with preservatives and artificial flavors. This halloween, make your own delicious vegan peanut butter cups by following our easy recipe! These scrumptious treats are made from fresh, whole ingredients and they’re guaranteed to satisfy the most ravenous of ghosts and ghouls.

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Post tags: cooking, dessert recipes, DIY, food, green halloween, how-to, peanut butter cups, Peanut Butter Cups recipe, trick or treats, Vegan Chocolate Peanut Butter Cups, vegan cuisine, vegan recipes

A few years ago, I had the opportunity to talk one-on-one with Leo Marmol of Marmol Radziner about prefab architecture and sustainability. I asked him about his trajectory as a designer, and what opportunities he sees for prefab to have a larger impact on a wider, more affordable market. His response was thoughtful and optimistic, and provided some great insight into the mind of a forward-thinking and increasingly green designer. Hit the jump to watch the interview or read below for the full interview transcription.

Read the rest of PREFAB FRIDAY: Interview with Leo Marmol of Marmol Radziner

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Post tags: desert architecture, Desert Prefab, eco design, green design, green prefab architecture, Leo Marmol, marmol radziner, palm springs, Prefab Homes, Steel Prefab, sustainable design, sustainable prefab architecture

The TECLA chair, produced by Portuguese firm TECLA Studio, is characterized by the simplicity of its smooth lines, which result in a minimal and elegant form. Two angles and a vertical bar come together in a central panel, leaning forward to achieve a better conform in the sitting position. The chair is composed of solid wood, lacquered in white, and its interior has been filled with corkwood — a sustainable material. The corkwood covers and surrounds the entire chair, and its texture gives a sense of continuity to the material. The end result is a good contrast between the white and corkwood natural color and texture, making it elegant by the use of natural materials.

+ TECLA Studio

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Post tags: "green furniture", "natural materials", Cláudia Sá Lima, cork, cork chair, cork tree, cork wood, corkwood, eco-friendly furniture, modern furniture, renewable resources, Tecla Chair, Tecla Studio, Telmo Roriz

As Halloween approaches, it’s time to start carving jack o’ lanterns and concocting fabulous costumes. And as we do so, it’s worth remembering why it’s always best to create DIY costumes with materials found around the house or in thrift stores, and use the innards of those pumpkins to cook delicious seasonal treats. The infographic below shows how much waste is generated each year in the UK while celebrating annual holidays like Easter, Halloween, Valentines Day and Christmas. See the full graphic after the jump!

The article above was submitted to us by an Inhabitat reader. Want to see your story on Inhabitat? Send us a tip by following this link. Remember to follow our instructions carefully to boost your chances of being chosen for publishing!

Read the rest of INFOGRAPHIC: How Much Waste Is Generated in the UK by Major Holidays?

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Post tags: christmas card, christmas toys, easter eggs, food waste, holiday celebrations, holiday wastage, paper recycling, pumpkins halloween, Recycled Materials, valentines day cards

Art Meadow has designed a green-roofed Museum of Industry for the site of the former Norristown County Prison in Pennsylvania. For 150 years the County Prison has remained an impermeable object in the suburban fabric in Norristown, PA, but the proposed Norristown Museum of Industry powerfully reimagines how this site can be transformed into an underground educational center, illuminated by rooftop light wells and featuring an elevated green park for the local community. Art Meadow’s design was an entry in the Stewardson Memorial Competition, and was described by the jurors as “subtle and moving.”

The article above was submitted to us by an Inhabitat reader. Want to see your story on Inhabitat? Send us a tip by following this link. Remember to follow our instructions carefully to boost your chances of being chosen for publishing!

Read the rest of Former Prison in Norristown, Pennsylvania Reimagined as Green Roofed Underground Museum of Industry

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Post tags: adaptive reuse, art meadow, community park, green roof, matthew hoffman, museum of industry, norristown, pennsylvania, prison redesign, prison tranformation, rooftop light wells, stewardson memorial competition

Czech company KOMA MODULAR‘s newest design store, located near the town of Lüneburg, Germany provides storage, office and sales space all in one compact building. The building is made from recycled shipping containers, and it provides live/work space that is highly flexible and it can be moved or adapted to fit the user’s needs. Large windows in the showroom fill the room with natural light, and the second floor is offset, leaving enough space for a large terrace. The current owners is a young design engineer who focuses on interior furnishing.

+ KOMA MODULAR

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Post tags: Cargotecture, design store, germany, Koma Modular, Lüneburg, modular housing, prefab design, recycled shipping containers, shipping container, shipping container architecture, shipping containers

Israel-based designer Eli Chissick’s Wood Con Fusion series transforms unassuming pieces of fiberboard, veneer and Formica into an array of bold furniture pieces. Each table, cabinet and bench begins its life as a seemingly useless pile of off-cuts on a carpentry studio’s floor, destined for the scrap heap. Chissick sorts and collects these pieces before pressing them into sheets which are used to create unique pieces of sustainable furniture. The Pil Table (pictured above), is crafted from recycled pieces of oak and wenge, while the neat rolling Marmalade coffee table gets its bright, retro colors from salvaged Formica.

+ Chissick Design

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Post tags: chissick design, eli chissick, formica waste, industrial waste, Recycled Materials, salvaged materials, salvaged wood, waste materials, wood con fusion, wood offcuts, wood waste

Since the first waves of rock n’ roll rebellion in the early 1950s, music and fashion have shared an inextricable bond. While fashion has often informed music, music has in turn inspired fashion as the two work in chorus to define cultural alliances, subvert societal norms, express rebellion and discontent, and of course, to simply have fun. Drawn from all facets of the music industry — from the rocks stars to the discarded cassette tapes that once played their albums — here are nine eco-chic music-inspired fashions.

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Post tags: casette tape tie, casette tapes, devo x macbeth, eco fasion, EDUN, green clothing, Gretchen Jones, lisa vaglund, mp3 button, mp3 players, music fashion, music icons, music style, nico fashion, playbutton, rainbow winters, rock fashion, sound charge, subversive fashion, tape reels fabric, tent project, trikoton

Read the rest of [ours]: Help Kickstart a New Book On the Hyper-Localization of Sustainable Architecture!

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Post tags: "eVolo", "sustainable architecture", Green Building, green building book, IBE, kickstarter, ours

Designer Willem Heeffer created a new interior for Helsinki-based travel agency Elamysmatkat, and one of the stars of the show is a beautiful chandelier made from recycled skis! Elamysmatkat reached out their many Facebook friends to donate the skis, which Heeffer then used to create the colorful recycled lamp. The fixture serves as a great interior decoration for the office and it immediately shows what they are all about: fun, daring and winter sports!

+ Willem Heeffer

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Post tags: Elamysmatkat, green design, green lighting, Helsinki, recycled chandelier, recycled light, Recycled Materials, recycled ski chandelier, recycled sporting goods, sustainable design, sustainable lighting, Willem Heeffer

Designer Seung Han Lee‘s Cultural Chair is an elegant recycled seat that explores the difference between eastern and western cultures. Its colorful composite form is made from a mixture of recycled newspaper and rice glue. According to the designer: “The difference between East and West interests me greatly. In particular how the difference in perception leads to a different understanding of objects and a difference in approach to design.”

+ Seung Han Lee

The article above was submitted to us by an Inhabitat reader. Want to see your story on Inhabitat? Send us a tip by following this link. Remember to follow our instructions carefully to boost your chances of being chosen for publishing!

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Post tags: "green furniture", cultural chair, green chair, green design, green interiors, recycled furniture, Recycled Materials, seung han lee, sustainable design, Sustainable Interiors

Designer Seung Han Lee has developed a clever multifunctional chair that does double duty as a storage rack for magazines. Dubbed the Magazine Rack Chair, the space-saving design features a series of slots that provide the perfect place to put half-read zines, ensuring that you’ll never lose your place. The magazines also provide the chair with a colorful pop that changes with your monthly rotation.

+ Seung Han Lee

The article above was submitted to us by an Inhabitat reader. Want to see your story on Inhabitat? Send us a tip by following this link. Remember to follow our instructions carefully to boost your chances of being chosen for publishing!

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Post tags: "green furniture", "sustainable furniture", green chair, green design, green interiors, magazine hanger chair, magazine rack, magazine rack chair, magazine storage, multi-tasking furniture, multifunctional furniture, seung han lee, sustainable design

Blank Studio‘s Xeros Residence (from the Greek for ‘dry’) turns an opaque face towards the intense western afternoon sun in Phoenix, Arizona, while more exposed faces to the south and east are shielded by a layer of woven metal shade mesh that permits daylighting. The long, narrow lot precipitated a tall form with a petite footprint to maximize the site space for low-water vegetation. An in-depth profile of this beautiful modern home can be found in Edition29 ARCHITECTURE 009 for iPad.

+ Blank Studio

Via Edition29 Architecture

The article above was submitted to us by an Inhabitat reader. Want to see your story on Inhabitat? Send us a tip by following this link. Remember to follow our instructions carefully to boost your chances of being chosen for publishing!

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Post tags: "sustainable architecture", Arizona, blank spaces, blank studio, green architecture, Green Building, green design, lisa Trzebiatowski, matthew Trzebiatowski, natural ventilation, phoenix, sustainable design, xeros residence

In 2011 CO2 Bambu was awarded with a historic contract to build 82 bamboo-based homes in Rosita, Nicaragua as part of the Hurricane Felix reconstruction effort. Up until then, the options available to the municipality, regional government and funding NGO had been either concrete block homes or timber homes, however CO2 Bambu emerged with an innovative design that uses local, native Guadua bamboo as its core building material. Fast forward to early 2012, and not only did CO2 Bambu deliver all 82 houses, but it also built the largest bamboo processing factory in Central America, trained a cadre of builders, technical supervisors and civil engineers, and achieved formal recognition for Guadua bamboo construction from the Nicaraguan Government’s Ministry of Transport and Industry.

The article above was submitted to us by an Inhabitat reader. Want to see your story on Inhabitat? Send us a tip by following this link. Remember to follow our instructions carefully to boost your chances of being chosen for publishing!

Read the rest of CO2 Bambu Brings Low-Cost, Low-Carbon Bamboo Housing to Nicaragua

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Post tags: bamboo architecture, bamboo houses, co2 bambu, green architecture, Green Building, green design, green materials, local materials, renewable Bamboo, renewable materials, Sustainable Building

Bloot Architecture recently collaborated with mypizzaoven.nl to develop a kiosk-like temporary pizza buffet that comes complete with a built-in greenhouse. The design is fully sustainable; you can cook without electricity and grow your own toppings for the pizza. When the kiosk is closed, the building works as an elevated greenhouse. When it is opened the plastic greenhouse slides up and the sides of the building turn into a bar filled with ingredients for pizza, like tomatoes, zucchini, peppers, and herbs. The pop-up project is set to be constructed in Hoofdorp, the Netherlands, and it won a Dutch architecture competition organized by Podium Voor Architectuur for De Dag van de Architectuur (National day of Architecture).

+ Bloot Architecture

The article above was submitted to us by an Inhabitat reader. Want to see your story on Inhabitat? Send us a tip by following this link. Remember to follow our instructions carefully to boost your chances of being chosen for publishing!

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Post tags: bloot architecture, green cuisine, greenhouse, kaskiosk pizza buffet, mypizzaoven.nl, sustainable food, temporary architecture, the netherlands, urban agriculture, urban gardening

Artistic wood-turner Jonathan Leech lives and works in the north west of England. He produces a wide range of large, distinctive, wooden bowls from local, sustainably-sourced timber. Jonathan first began working with wood in 2005, when he joined the workshop of Cumbrian furniture-maker Danny Frost. As he spent more of his time working on the lathe, his initial interest developed into a passion and soon he was hooked! The natural beauty of his rural surroundings is a constant source of inspiration and this is reflected in his work. Each piece is hand-made from locally-sourced timber, obtained without damaging the environment – for example from fallen or storm-damaged trees.

The article above was submitted to us by an Inhabitat reader. Want to see your story on Inhabitat? Send us a tip by following this link. Remember to follow our instructions carefully to boost your chances of being chosen for publishing!

Read the rest of Jonathan Leech Hand-Turns Beautiful Bowls From Sustainably-Sourced Cumbrian wood

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Post tags: green design, green housewares, green interiors, green materials, green products, jonathan leech, locally sourced wood, reclaimed wood, sustainable design, Sustainable Materials, sustainably sourced wood