What makes a good life? This was the question that the Heinrich Böll Foundation asked a series of artists from Cambodia, Thailand, Nigeria, Myanmar and the Czech Republic. With the question in mind, the artists generated works that look at water issues, food issues, consumer goods and general contentment. In an series dubbed SurVivArt, their program features everything from sculpture to an international happiness survey.

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Post tags: art and global issues, design for poor communities, eco-art, green art, green design, humanitarian art, SurVivArt, The Heinrich Böll Foundation's

There is a certain etheral winding line that often surfaces in artist Andy Goldsworthy‘s work – If you’ve ever seen the documentary “Rivers and Tides,” visited the de Young Museum in San Francisco, or watched a snake move through the grass, you know the line. Last year this familiar form surfaced again in San Francisco as Goldsworthy created “Wood Line” – a winding trail of fallen Eucalyptus trees that gracefully curves through the forests of the Presidio.

Read the rest of Andy Goldsworthy’s ‘Wood Line’ Installation Made From Fallen Trees Snakes Through the Presidio

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Post tags: Andy Goldsworthy, Andy Goldsworthy installation, Art, eco-art, environmental art, forest, green art, green design, Life, Presidio, Presidio Park Trust, sculpture, site-specific art, sustainable design, Wood, Wood Line, woods

Last year, we covered the efforts of Stan Engelbrecht and Nic Grobler, who set out to turn stunning portraits of cyclists in South Africa into a spectacular book. It appears that their fundraising efforts on Kickstarter, and elsewhere, have paid off, and it is now possible to own one of several volumes from their Bicycle Portraits series. These books feature photos of South Africans and their bikes — depicting a population of people of all colors, sizes and walks of life. Each portrait is also paired with an individualized watercolor by South African artist Gabrielle Raaff, which shows the location of the bike and its owner.

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Post tags: bicycle portraits, cycling culture, kickstarter, Photography, public transportation, South Africa, transportation issues

Even when you’re in a city surrounded by water, the movement of tides can become invisible. Artist Stacy Levy took the fluctuation of tides and amplified them with a series of giant Tide Flowers. Created to “bloom” around abandoned posts of long-gone piers, these blossoms wilt at low tide and open fully at high tide, creating a whimsical commentary on a very powerful — and imminent — natural force.

Read the rest of Stacy Levy’s Tide Flowers Bloom With the Rising Waters of the Hudson River

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Post tags: art commission, eco-art, ecological art, hudson river valley, hudson river vally trust, husdon river, sculpture, sea level rise, stacy levy, tide flowers, water issues

With her sculpture Melting Point, artist Stacy Levy created a simple but dynamic work that responds to our changing environment. It may look like a chandelier of honey, but what it actually comprises of is a series of glass globes containing different types of vegetable oils that react to fluctuating temperatures. The oils cloud and clear depending on the air outside, making a dramatic statement on our rapidly changing world.

Read the rest of Stacy Levy’s ‘Melting Point’ Sculpture Responds to the Changing Climate

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Post tags: Climate Change, Installation, melting point, outdoor sculpture, pennsylvania, stacy levy, vegetable oils

It might look like an unchanging giant stone museum piece, but this map of Pennsylvania’s water systems is very much alive. When it rains, the intricate carvings of the state’s creeks and rivers fill with the runoff from a nearby building, creating a living, miniature watershed. Artist Stacy Levy created this sculpture for the arboretum at Penn State, and every bit of it reflects the local landscape of the Pennsylvania Bluestone — from the tiny rivers to its source rock

Read the rest of Artist Stacy Levy’s ‘Ridge and Valley’ Is an Interactive Watershed

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Post tags: arboreutum, outdoor gardening, pennysylvania, ridge and valley, sculture, stacy levy, water issues, Watershed

Read the rest of Field of Light: Bruce Munro’s Stunning LED Forest Springs Up in Bath

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Post tags: Art, bath, bath museum, bruce munro, eco-art, energy efficient lighting, England, fiber optic fields of light, field of light, forest of light, green art, green art installation, green design, green sculpture, LEDs, light garden, light-emitting diodes, sculpture, sustainable design, UK

Read the rest of Feast on Fantastical Food Art Landscapes for Thanksgiving!

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Post tags: art made with food, Carl Warner, eco design, eco-art, edible landscapes, food art, food photos, Foodscapes, green design, sustainable design

Read the rest of Altered Landscapes at the Nevada Museum of Art Shows Humans’ Impact on the Environment

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Post tags: #aeconf, A + E, A+E, Altered Landscapes, environmental art, environmental photographs, landscape futures, Nevada museum of Art, Nevada Museum of Art photograph, NMA

As suspect as this wooden contraption may appear, it’s not full of attack soldiers — but rather it was recently being used as a vehicle for communication. This is Not a Trojan Horse traveled with artist Amy Franceschini and writer Michael Taussig around the Abruzzo region of Italy, serving as a message carrier between the traditional agricultural communities set in the mountainous Italian region.

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Post tags: center for art and the environment, FutureFarmers, Natalie Jeremejinko, Nevada museum of Art, This is Not a Trojan Horse

Read the rest of ‘Landscape Futures’ Exhibit at the Nevada Museum of Art Explores Our Relationship With Technology

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Post tags: #aeconf, A + E, A+E, BLDGblog, chris jordan, eco-art, Geoff Manaugh, landscape futures, Nevada museum of Art, NMA, patricia johanson, the Harrisons

Fog is moisture. And in some places in the world, it’s the only kind of moisture. This is true in the Atacama Desert — the world’s driest desert — which runs along the west coast of South America through Chile and Peru. In the Atacama it never rains – it’s been compared to Mars, and has even been used as a location for shooting otherworldly scenes for television shows. For the past several years, architects have been exploring the possibility of collecting water from fog in order to supply nearby villages, and the Nevada Museum of Art currently has one of these concepts on display — a series of white fog-collecting towers.

Read the rest of Towering Fog Garden Harvests Water From Thin Air

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Post tags: "water collection", atacama desert, fog collecting towers, fog collector, Fog Garden, fog harvesting, fog towers, green design, mist harvesting, Nevada museum of Art, social design, sustainable design, Water Issues, water issues

Circuitry really is the new root system, no? Wires connecting us all over the planet. So it’s inspiring to envision the coming work of artist Bruce Munro: a field of glowing orbs growing up out of Longwood Gardens, connected by a series of fiber optic “roots.” Moreover, the orbs will contain tiny glowing fibers themselves, each glowing a different hue. It’s similar to some past work by Munro, but no less otherworldy in its concept. Read on to discover more about this ethereal work.

Read the rest of Dazzling Light Installation by Bruce Munro Set to Sprout at Longwood Gardens

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Post tags: Art, bruce munro, bruce munro light installation, fiber optics, forest of light, landscape design, LEDs, light art, light garden, light installation, Longwood Gardens, sculpture, Urban design

The Vitruvian Man is typically used as a symbol of the human relationship to geometry, to proportion, and to civilization. So Greenpeace decided to enlist artist John Quigley to install this massive symbol in the artic — about 500 miles from the North Pole. Depicted as fading away into the advancing tide, the Melting Vitruvian Man is meant to draw attention to dwindling sea ice – this year Arctic ice retreated to the third smallest area on record.

Read the rest of Gigantic Melting Vitruvian Man Calls Attention to Vanishing Arctic Sea Ice

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Post tags: arctic ice art, artwork, Climate Change, eco-art, environmental art, global warming, green art, Greenpeace, ice installation, john quigley, john quigly, melting vitruvian man, north pole, sustainable design, vitruvian man

“Dig into the groove!” If you want to be spinning jams into the afterlife, get your ashes pressed into a vinyl record. As an alternative to anaerobic decomposition, UK-based company And Vinyly offers the chance to speak to loved ones though recordings, dance mixes, thematic compilations, or the pop and crackle of ash on vinyl. And all for a mere $4,000. Read on to learn more about Resting In Vinyl.

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Post tags: and vinyly, burial, cremation, Death to vinyl, green design, halloween, records, Recycled Materials, Rest in vinyl, sustainable design, viny record pressing

In the movie “The Dilemma,” Vince Vaughn and Kevin James are challenged with the task of making hybrids sexy – namely, they must create a system that makes electric vehicles growl like muscle cars. Now a team of Latvian engineers are seeking to do something similar — but they’re not making something that sounds like a sports car. They’re making a vehicle that performs like a sports car. The OSCar eO will drive through deserts and over some of racing’s roughest terrain in an international race for electric recognition. Read on for more about the eco-car that’s not afraid of epic deserts!

Read the rest of Electric OSCar Gears up for Grueling Race Across South America

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Post tags: dakur, electric car, electric racecar, electric vehicle, ev, green design, international car racing, Latvia, Latvian engingeers, OSCar eO, race car, racecar, speed racing, sustainable design, sustainable transportation

We have to admit that when we saw the title of Christopher Steiner’s book, we scoffed a bit. Twenty dollars per a gallon of gas seems like an outrageous, unfathomable price, even when you’re a believer in peak oil. But part of the beauty of Steiner’s book is its ability to track the effects of ever-more-scarce oil in believable detail. Whether the author’s predictions of local food, high-speed trains and alternative plastics are correct, they are excellent illustrations of the pervasiveness of petroleum.

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Post tags: $20 per gallon, alternative energy, book review, christopher steiner, eco book, eco read, green book, green design, green read, inhabitat book review, oil, sustainable design

If you’re interested in art that uses nature as its medium, there’s no better place to get your fill than Land/Art New Mexico. The event may be over but the gathering was commemorated with this vibrant book by the same name. Written by Lucy Lippard, William Fox, and Nancy Mithlo, it’s a collection of giant photographs and in-depth essays documenting and analyzing the state of land art. Read on to discover all you’ve missed . . .

Read the rest of BOOK REVIEW: Land/Art New Mexico

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Post tags: A+E, book review, earthworks, eco-art, environmental art, green design, Land/art, Land/Art New Mexico, Lucy Lippard, Nancy Mithlo, New Mexico Museum of Art, spiral jetty, sustainable design, William Fox

There were a range of factors that made COP16 different than its predecessor COP15. For one, it was held in a tropical paradise as opposed to a frozen northern metropolis. But more changed: the organization of the event, the layout of it, the expectation. For COP15 we talked to Ian Garrett of the Center for Sustainable Practice in the Arts to get his perspective on the arts and culture surrounding the talks. For COP16, he’s traveling with Inhabitat writer Moe Beitiks, who went ahead and picked his brain. Read on to learn about art, climate change, Conferences of Parties, and the very real role that logistics play in last year’s talks!

Read the rest of INTERVIEW: Ian Garrett Compares the Culture of COP 16 and 15

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Post tags: cancun, cancun mexico, center for sustainable practice in the arts, Climate Change, cop16, copenhagen, cspa, eco-art, environmental art, global warming, green design, ian garrett, sustainable design, UN climate change conference

Conspiracy! Author James Hoggan realizes the ridiculousness of that word, asserting that it “strains credulity and is offensive in its own right.” Yet the massive media sway that he details in his book Climate Cover-Up feels like something a squinty, scruffy, clipboard-wielding man would accost you with. It turns out that most of the oft-quoted global warming skeptics are not climate scientists, and are not published in credible scientific journals. They are funded mostly by think tanks which are, in turn, funded by fossil fuel companies. “There are conspiracies aplenty,” he writes, ” documented and undeniable.” The central conspiracy here is the perpetuation of global warming uncertainty. His book puts out the serious details.

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Post tags: book review, Climate Cover-Up, Conservative Think Tank, Conspiracy, DeSmogBlog, eco book, green book, Heatland Institute, inhabitat book review, James Hoggan, Public Relations, Richard Littlemore