Earlier this year Inhabitat’s Emily Pilloton highlighted the insightful video ‘The Secret Life of Cell Phones’ produced by environmental nonprofit INFORM, Inc. Now we are pleased to announce the launch of their latest video, The Secret Life of Paper. It explores the environmental impact of the paper production industry, focusing upon forest destruction, global warming, and the complexities of paper recycling.

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Post tags: Paper, paper making process, secret life series, The secret life of paper

Responding to current economic, social and environmental crises, London’s NEF (the new economics foundation) have recently launched plans for “The Bigger Picture: A Festival of Interdependence,” a series of creative activities and events, including lectures, film screenings and art exhibitions, beginning in autumn 2009. The festival will culminate in a large-scale, public event in central London on 24 October 2009 (11:00AM-18:00PM) when an interactive, living exhibition will be staged in the dramatic post-industrial setting of the Bargehouse on London’s South Bank.

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Post tags: A Festival of Interdependence, London, NEF, new economics foundation, sustainable economy, The Bigger Picture

After an energetic launch in 2008 that saw a huge mix of designers, strategists, chemists, policy writers, clients and agitators, the Greengaged sustainable design hub returns for its second year at the Design Council for London Design Festival 2009. Following the unveiling of a new website, Greengaged co-founder Sophie Thomas (also of thomas.matthews) announced that five guest curators had been selected to each invent and host a day based around their expert subject arena. “This year brings an exciting program where we will be mixing it all up once more building on emerging themes from last year,” explains Thomas.

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Post tags: Anna Gerber, Dan Epstein, Ed Gillespie, Greengaged, John Grant, London Design Festival 2009, Michael Pawlyn, Sustainability, sustainable design

The Firewinder is an innovative outdoor light solution, powered entirely by the wind! Inspired and developed by young British inventor Tom Lawton, the Firewinder spins as the wind blows, turning into an eco-friendly night light. Lawton developed the light with a wish to highlight the invisible beauty and endless resource of alternative energies, and what a great job he did! Find out more about the Firewinder light here, and get your hands on one from the Guardian EcoStore for a mere £99.95.

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Post tags: energy efficient lighting, Firewinder, green design, LED lighting, Light, London Design Festival, Renewable Energy, sustainable design, Tom Lawton, Wind Power, wind powered lamp

Pitched to be this year’s most talked-about climate change film, The Age of Stupid is a new movie from director Franny Armstrong (of McLibel) and producer John Battsek (of One Day In September). In this epic tale, Pete Postlethwaite stars as a man living alone in the devastated future world of 2055, looking at old footage from 2008 and asking: why didn’t we stop climate change when we had the chance?

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Post tags: Age of Stupid, Climate Change, Film, franny armstrong, futurism, global warming, green design, john battsek, movie, notstupid, RSA, sustainable design

Here at Inhabitat we are big botanical architecture fans, but we also love seeing ideas that stand to add an extra bit of foliage to our lives. So, if you are a fan of Patrick Blanc’s Vertical Gardens or even Mass Studies’ Foliage Covered Botanical Building and you fancy your very own extra bit of wall-mounted greenery, the team behind ELT Easy Green have the perfect solution in a whole range of beautiful Living Wall products. Their beautiful modular panels are made from 100% Recyclable HDPE and they’re a great way to add a little bit of green to your home.

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Post tags: ELT Easy Green, ELT Living Walls, green, Living Walls, plants

Recently the Green Marketing Manifesto by John Grant was announced as the winner of the Environmental Award at the 2008 British Book Design and Production Awards. Designed and delivered by sustainable innovation practice More Associates, the hardback book reflects its content by reducing its embodied carbon and waste impact through its production methods.

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Post tags: Book Design, environmental, Green Marketing Manifesto, John Grant, More Associates, Publishing

Hay may be for horses, but straw bales also make an excellent sustainable building material. Constructed by former accountant Carol Atkinson, The Straw Bale Cabin in East Yorkshire is the UK’s first straw-bale holiday home! The cabin has been built with locally grown straw and other renewable materials, and it generates its own energy with a micro wind turbine, solar panels and a whole host of other eco-friendly features.

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Post tags: energy efficient building, Green Building, local materials, straw bale home, sustainable building materials, sustainable design

Founded in June 2007 by Nicko Williamson, Climatecars is London’s eco-alternative cab service. Although the popularity of cycling around the UK capital is significantly rising, the Climatecars service is sure to help improve awareness to many Londoners who still need to use taxi services. With an ambition to combine ecology, economy and innovation, the Prius hybrid car service cuts the carbon footprint of iconic black cab rides from 243g/km to 104g/km.

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Post tags: cab, car, carbon emissions, Climatecars, London, taxi, Travel

We are big fans of Reestore here at Inhabitat – over the last year we have showed you Annie, the shopping-cart-turned-chair and Silvana, the washing machine drum-turned-table. Just when we thought their eco-ideas couldn’t get any better, the latest member of the Reestore family has blown us away! Meet “Deborah”, the recycled airplane wing desk!

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Post tags: deborah desk, deborah recycled airplane wing desk, green design, recycled airplane wing, Recycled Materials, reestore green design, sustainable design

Salvaging materials and signs from ten-foot-high, thirty thousand pound scrap piles, Rhode Island based artist, Boris Bally has created a magnificent collection of reclaimed metal products! From tables and chairs, to kitchenware, photo frames and house numbers, Bally’s experimentation with recycled signage really illustrates the potential elegance of this otherwise discarded aluminum.

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Post tags: Aluminum, Artist, Boris Bally, Metal, Metalwork, Reclaimed, Salvaged

Here at Inhabitat, we have a soft spot for all things green. But we have to make an exception for this rather colorful “Christmas tree” that took center stage on the ground floor reception at communications agency, AMV BBDO throughout the month of December. The rescued dead tree was given new life with the help of graphic designer Alex Ostrowski and illustrator and set maker Hattie Newman who thought to embellish the branches with colorful paper leaves.

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Post tags: Alex Ostrowski, Christmas, Hattie Newman, Installation, London, Tree, UK

Founded by designer Sarah Ratty, Ciel is a UK-based environmentally conscious fashion label with a festive party style, and a celebrity client list to match — including Cate Blanchett, Sienna Miller, and Zoe Ball. The current Fall/Winter collection features shimmery evening satin looks, super soft organic cotton t-shirts, and cozy, hand-knit items to warm the body on the chilliest of days.

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Post tags: Ciel, eco-fashion, environmental fashion, Ethical Fashion, green fashion, London designer, recycled fashion, Sarah Ratty, sustainable style, UK green fashion

We are seeing some significant achievements in environmental change — and we hope that with public art works like this large-scale environmental art installation by French art duo HeHe (Helen Evans and Heiki Hansen) that greater eco-consciousness will characterize 2009. Last February, HeHe installed a Nuage Vert, or “Green Cloud”, across the skies of Helsinki. The installation used laser tracking to project a green illumination onto the chimney emissions of the Salmisaari power plant. The illumination adjusts its shape and size to the contours of the vapor, reflecting the electrical consumption of residents in Ruoholahti and neighboring Lauttasaari.

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Post tags: eco art helsinki, eco-art, environmental art, environmental art helsinki, Green Cloud, HeHe, heiki hansen, helen evans, Nuage Vert

Reducing waste by reusing beverage cartons, Swiss-born Tanja Burgdorfer’s “Recycled Magic Wallets” creatively makes use of what would normally be discarded. With a little bit of elastic and a few staples, Tanja turns old beverage cartons into contemporary and useful wallets for the environmentally-conscious consumer. Current selection in her etsy shop shows luscious fruit prints. Each wallet is entirely hand-crafted and is available ready-made or bespoke upon request.

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Post tags: Mayari, recycled beverage cartons, Recycled Magic Wallets, Tanja Burgdorfer, upcycled magic wallets

We’ve shown you lots of inspired eco takes on the traditional Christmas tree this holiday season, but this one takes the cake! This gorgeous “Ice Tree” sculpture is made from 300 recycled water bottles suspended in the air. Created by graphic design studio Paprika, the provocative installation is hanging in the window of Montreal’s furniture store Domison throughout the holidays. We love how the inspired sculpture casts and reflects beams of light, creating an eye-catching display that raises awareness of the possibilities of recycling.

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Post tags: Domison, eco-art, green design, green holiday, ice tree, paprika design studio, recycled bottle Xmas tree, recycled christmas tree, recycled mineral water bottles, recycled water bottle christmas tree, sustainable design

With Christmas just around the corner (a mere 4 days away!), it has probably crossed your mind that wrapping presents is not the eco-friendliest practice. That’s why we’d like to share a couple of ways you can eco-ify your wrapping technique this holiday season. The first is presented by London-based design recruitment agency, Represent, who shares with us twenty different tape-free ways to wrap your gifts, through their project Future Present.

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Post tags: bobo wrap, eco chic wrapping, eco christmas, eco friendly christmas, eco friendly wrapping, eco wrapping, Future Present, patricia lee bobo, represent design agency

High-quality and low-volume is the MO of textile product line, Zumos. In producing what they call “pocket products”: scarves, ties, tablerunners and document carriers that all feature a pocket, the line also stands behind quality production that offers fair income to the workers that create them. The line is a collaboration between Norwegian designers Heidi Strøm and Johan Rye Holmboe, and a team of Maya Tz’utuhil weavers from San Juan La Laguna in Guatemala. ‘Zumos’ translates to strength, essence, vigor and vitality– qualities inherent in the women who make the products and also in all of the products. Fabulous!

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Post tags: Design Without Borders, Eco Textiles, Guatemala, guatemala textiles, guatemala weavers, Heidi Strøm, heidi strom, pocket products, pocket scarves, pocket table runners, pocket ties, Zumos

These gorgeous pieces of FSC certified wooden furniture were created by German design company Woodloops. Founded in 2003 by product designer/carpenter René Mueller and forester Nina Griesshammer, Woodloops strives to “covey our original views to common behaviors, weaving known circumstances into new and curious concepts”. We love the way their furnishings celebrate the integrity of raw materials, showcasing the wood grain and unique features of each piece.


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Post tags: "sustainable furniture", Forest Stewardship Council, fsc-certified furniture, german fsc, green design, sustainable wood furnishings, Woodloops

Alexena Cayless of British design collective Farm Designs recently exhibited her wonderful fly-tipped furniture collection at Eco Age and Beyond the Valley in London. Alexena scours the streets for unloved and discarded furnishings and then gives them a brand new lease of life. These white-washed pieces serves as blank canvases for Alexana, who is interested in the interaction of human memory and furniture.

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Post tags: alexena cayless, beyond the valley, discarded furniture, eco age, farm designs, fly-tipped furniture, flytipping furniture, london design fesival, re-invented furniture, salvaged furniture