Stop Junk Mail. Be Eco Friendly. Do Good. The GreenDimes Blog

The Art of Junk Mail

Make art out of junk mail.  That’s what the artist Schimmel has done. She has created quite gorgeous mosaics out of recycled junk mail and greeting cards.  I would have never fathomed that such beauty could come out of quite literally, “trash.”

      

(2 pieces of Shimmel’s art made out of recycled junk mail: portraits of Venus and Twiggy)

In her own words from her Web site, “I am a rabid recycler – I am compelled to utilize unusual resources to create my art. To reuse materials – and give others’ images and words new life in my work.” I recommend that you check out her entire collection on her Web site: Schimmelart.com. You really have to see it to believe it. 

For those of you who are “crafty,” here’s a How-to Recycle Junk Mail into Art……on A Little Hut Blog.

And for those of you who prefer to shop, check out the Junk Mail Gems web site, where you can buy wallets, bookmarks, gifts, and other necessities which have all been made out of junk mail.

Whether making museum-quality portraits or funky magnets and fun wallets, there’s no limit to what you can do with your junk mail.  Now, I’m convinced that creative people can make something beautiful out of anything…even ugly and annoying junk mail.

~Melissa

The Air Car: 2010

(Credit: Zero Pollution Motors)

On AutoblogGreen, I saw this cool post by Wayne Cunningham about the Air Car.  The Air Car runs on compressed air and is expected to be commercially available by 2010.  An innovation developed by an ex-Formula One engineer, Guy Nègre, one version of the car has a top speed of 96 mph and will go 848 miles on 8 gallons of fuel.  However, the car does create some emissions at high speeds, because that it when it requires some gas. 

The Air Car uses compressed air to push its engine's pistons. The Air Car was developed by The MDI Group, which received funding from Indian car maker Tata Motors to build the car for the Indian market. It is reported that up to 6000 Air Cars will be cruising the streets of India this year. Zero Pollution Motors intends to market the Air Car in the U.S.

To refuel your Air Car, you will need access to a gas station with custom air compressor units or you will need to plug into the electrical grid and use the car's built-in compressor to refill the tank.  Although this still isn’t an "emissions free" vehicle, the carbon emissions per mile of the Air Car are much less than any gasoline car on the market.

For more info about how the Air Car works (and scenes of France), check out this “Beyond Tomorrow” video about the Air Car:

I’m looking forward to this….the next invention should be air chocolate cake (with zero calories….or only some calories when eaten at high speeds.)

~Melissa

A Cool Green Gift for the Music Fan in Your Life

Here’s a new spin on recycled gifts (not to be confused with re-gifting, which may be a topic for another day).  Designer Jeff Davis rescues vintage LPs and makes them into hip coaster sets! Each coaster is cut from the center of an actual vintage LP record and has the original label intact. The coasters are protected from moisture with a clear mylar seal. Each set includes a clear case and 6 coasters in a wide variety of artists/bands/music styles with a diverse selection of label colors. Jeff’s fun, recycled creations have been featured in numerous museum exhibits and magazines throughout the world.

 

By rescuing discarded records and creating them into fascinating works of functional art, he also has created vinyl bowls (shown here) and snack trays which can be used for dry snacks or just for a cool decoration.  What I really like is that you can even choose your preferred music genre: rock essentials (artists such as The Police, Eric Clapton, YES, Santanna), crooners (Nat King Cole, Sinatra and Dean Martin), jazz, country or 70s/80s pop.

Whether you need a gift for a music fan, for an eco-geek (that would be all of us at GreenDimes), or for the person who has everything, these recycled gifts are a great idea. You can purchase these recycled "art pieces" at the Modern Artisans web site.

~Melissa

The Great Green Race

(Why Buzz and Woz are driving to the South Pole)

What happens when you combine a famous, award-winning documentary filmmaker, an astronaut, a millionaire and an executive director with a passion for helping the world become a better place?

…(drumroll)

You get Apollo 11 astronaut, Buzz Aldrin and Apple co-founder, Steve Wozniak driving alternative-fuel vehicles to the South Pole. You get an educational exhibit for kids on the use of alternative fuel. You get the ZERO SOUTH Expedition of 2008.

Sneak Preview: Selected in response to the demands of the expedition, this vehicle will be made to be green (although in this picture, it looks white).  It has been prepared and outfitted to go to the South Pole using only alternative fuel.

“The 1024-mile journey to the South Pole will take 12 days using four different types of alternative fuel vehicles driven along a U.S. developed traverse route,” explained Nick Baggarly, executive director of the ZERO SOUTH expedition. Fans of the film, Who Killed the Electric Car?, (which premiered at the Sundance Film Festival), will be glad to know that Chris Paine, the director, will be filming the adventure. Paine said it will be a demonstration for vehicles running on bio-fuels, hydrogen fuel-cell, and on electric batteries.

During the expedition, Buzz and Woz will be available via e-mail to communicate with students (or you and me) around the world. Following the 12-day traverse to the Pole, the actual vehicles used during the expedition will be converted to (should we say recycled?) polar traverse simulators and taken to U.S. schools and museums for two years to educate youth on climate science, alternative fuels, and the importance of the earth’s Polar Regions.  During the tour, kids can climb inside an alternative-fuel vehicle that actually traveled to the South Pole and experience a virtual expedition which unfolds on LCD panels retrofitted in the windows of the vehicle.

This expedition will open the eyes and broaden the minds of school kids around the world about energy-efficiency. It will truly be a different kind of Polar Express for your kids this year. “We’re showing kids a new world,” said Baggarly. “You’ve got to earn their respect and the next generation of scientists and engineers need to be excited about taking on some of the challenges.”

In the meantime, how about enjoying a cool hydrogen-fueled toy car as recommended by Treehugger.com.

~Melissa

Adopt A Snow Man

Weekly Eco-Oddity Series

Sanj's Pic  (Top) Luna's Pic (Middle) Kendra's Pic (Bottom Right) [Pics blurry b/c enlarged, clear on site]

So yesterday, I blogged about some fairly weighty stuff.  So we need to lighten it up.  Some creative person out in LA started a snowman orphanage website called saveasnowman.org

It's really quirky.  Not even 100% sure what it does.  I think if you 'adopt' a snowman, it'll go toward global cooling projects to save the snowmen.

The snowmen's families have all 'melted.'  They have hobbies, and likes/dislikes.  Some snowmen 'found' near glaciers were born around the dawn of time.  Stuff like it.  Pretty fun way to think about environmental concerns.

Enjoy, and comment who has the best Snowman: Sanj, Luna, or Kendra?

Biodiesel from ‘waste chocolate’?

Whoa, whoa, whoa. Who coined the term ‘waste chocolate’? Obviously none of us here in the GreenDimes office…

Anyway, I read a sweet (ha ha) article today about ‘the first carbon neutral journey across the Sahara’-which in and of itself is a really cool thing. But that’s not all, folks- the Ford Iveco Cargo truck carrying two adventurers from England to Timbuktu is being run on chocolate. Mmmm, that sounds like my kind of adventure.

The 4,500 mile journey will likely take three weeks and be fueled entirely on cocoa butter extracted from a confectioner’s ‘misshapen’ chocolate ‘rejects’. I digress, but the words misshapen and reject don’t belong as adjectives of chocolate. Really, it’s offensive.

Not offensive, however, is using waste to fuel transportation. And just think about how good the streets would smell if we were all burning chocolate instead of gasoline.

Mmmm, yummy environmentalism… I like it.

-Kendra

Wash Your Car and Save 100 Gallons of Water

GreenDimes Weekly Eco Oddity Series

Besides the Zoolander models that hosed down their car with gasoline, I’m not sure if we ever need to hose our car again.   Our resident Four Star General Manager Dan (I’m such a brown nose… or is my nose brown because I’m Indian) heard about this on NPR.

According to Eco-Touch, you just spray the biodegradable goop (they probably use a better word for goop) and wipe.   It’s cheap, and they say the chamois that come with it make excellent stocking stuffer (no, they don’t).

However, every bottle saves an average of 800 gallons of water.  That’s water that mixed in with traditional car wash detergents and oils that pollute our rivers.    Now tough jobs you still gotta go to the pros.

I don’t know what you’re going to do with your 800 gallons but I was thinking a house-sized waterbed…

Junk mail and water don’t mix,

Sanjiv

Toy Laptop Better Than Real LapTop...and Greener!

The Weekly GreenDimes Eco-Oddity Series

Besides stealing the Cingular logo, the XO laptop (not a toy at all) is absolute steal at $399, where you get not one, but two for $399 for a limited time through the holidays. 

“I received one, where’s the other one,” you may be asking.  The other goes to a child in a developing country.

“Are you kidding me?  One goes to my child and the other helps educate another in the developing world.”  Yep.    Don’t believe me? Check out Leslie Stall’s 3 minute Q & A following her piece on the XO laptop on 60 minutes.

Developed by an MIT gang of philanthropic marauders, you can drop it, plunge it into your bathtub, see the screen in direct sunlight, jump on the web via their stronger Wifi?  Forget about the kid, I want one!

And it’s green.  According to Stefan, our GreenDimes engineer & and close lover (sometimes uncomfortable close) of all things eco-tech, the XO requires less than 2 watts of power, that's 10% of the energy used in a standard laptop.

Why are you still on my blog?  Go get one.

Your Junk Mail Divorcee,

Sanjiv

Saturday Eco – Oddity

Be afraid.  The Indian GDP growth rate is far outpacing the U.S., screaming at 10% versus 3%.   Is my parents’ home state’s growth due a boom in infrastructure, mass outsourcing, or a focus on engineering and technology? No, it’s because of the bamboo microscope!

[Silence]

Okay, so I lie.  But this New Delhi biodegradable baby (hmm, never saw piles of microscopes in landfills) goes for $4 versus a conventional one which runs for $150 – and that’s the sale price.  In India, it offers those students who can only afford to learn concepts a chance to apply these concepts with a nifty scientific tool.   For cash-strapped U.S. schools, it may not be a bad option either.  And it's light, which is great because you never know when you need to take a bacteria sample.

Oh and what’s this have to do with junk mail?  Well, how else can you read the junk mail’s fine print?

-Sanjiv

http://www.nature.com/nm/journal/v13/n10/full/nm1007-1128a.html

Thanks  Stefan (our engineer) for the story.