Work by Helmut Smits
Blown-up plant labels in nature reserve Het Bossche Broek emphasize the richness of flora and question what ‘nature’ in the Netherlands actually implies. Labels by Helmut Smits. Photos by Lotte Stekelenburg.
Building it Better
As a set designer in the film and photo industry I am concerned with the amount of waste generated in these industries. I applaud the efforts of the BIG!NYC, otherwise known as “Build It Green-NYC” a not-for-profit organization that salvages materials from a variety of buildings about to be demolished or remodeled in New York [...]
Antarctica in NYC
An invitation for an event in NYC tonight from Harmonizer DJ Spooky: Hey you all – as you may know, I have a new book out about Antarctica, The Book of Ice. You are invited to an exclusive pop-up event with pre-production Antarctica prints and 3D maps at a special price. Celebrate the 100-year anniversary [...]
Postcard from the Farm
Greetings from the farm in Garza, Costa Rica where it is hot and humid. We’ve officially returned to the Nicoya Peninsula for the winter season where we were blown away by these beautiful plants: fresh ginger (gingibra in Spanish) from the huerta (garden) in Garza! That ginger goes into making a vodka infusion (see below) [...]
Rerip
Wondering what to do with an old or broken surfboard? Rerip it! Rerip is an organization that strives to keep boards out of landfills. Founded by Meghan Dambacher and Lisa Carpenter—San Diego residents and avid surfers—and run by a team of volunteers, Rerip sets up drop off locations for people to leave unwanted boards, fins [...]
NYC Trash Talk
A few weeks ago there was an interesting article about the amount of trash we create in NYC and the ways in which our recycling program lags behind other cities. “Environmental advocates call recycling the weak link in the city’s green agenda, even after legislation was passed last year to overhaul the 1989 recycling law [...]
Nautilus News
“A horrendous slaughter is going on out here,” said Peter D. Ward, a biologist from the University of Washington, during a recent census of the marine creature in the Philippines. “They’re nearly wiped out. The culprit? Growing sales of jewelry and ornaments derived from the lustrous shell. To satisfy the worldwide demand, fishermen have been [...]
Gail Potocki
“I know of no other artist who wields insight, emotion, and intellectual heft—not to mention gorgeous technique—to examine the environmental ills besetting us today. Gail Potocki‘s landscapes are catastrophes unfolding before our eyes—in the sea, in the air, and on the land. Yet her human subjects, shattered and vulnerable, are creatures of exquisite hope… precisely [...]
Bright Lights
Started in 2008 by two young architects in Seattle, Graypants design studio creates elegant lights from discarded cardboard. They also make chic chairs, lamps and other objects from scrap materials. This company succeeds in living up to their product’s description: “Graypants scrap lights: creating a brighter now.”
Bottled Up
I’ve always been charmed when recycled bottles are used as eco-friendly design details, but I was blown away by the school in the Philippines constructed earlier this year using bottles. How cool! According to Good Magazine, “The bottles are filled with adobe, made from local mud which sets like concrete, and layered within a steel [...]
Design for The Other 90%
Of the world’s total population of 6.5 billion, 5.8 billion people, or 90%, have little or no access to most of the products and services many of us take for granted; in fact, nearly half do not have regular access to food, clean water, or shelter. Design for the Other 90% explores a growing movement [...]
Tim DeChristopher Update
photo by Daniel Rolnik (Argot & Ochre) Earlier this month Tim DeChristopher started serving his prison sentence; he is now in a correction facility in California reportedly doing well. He writes updates to Grist blog if you want to hear from him. If you want to be in touch with him, send correspondence here: Tim [...]
Bat Tower
Almost a year ago, the University at Buffalo’s Joyce Hwang installed this twisted bat house at Griffis Sculpture Park in Southwestern New York state. Bat Tower stands about 12 feet tall, with walls of finished plywood panels arranged in a ribbed, accordion-like pattern. The conspicuous design, unusual for a bat house, serves a purpose: Hwang, [...]
BirdScraper
Zhong Huang recently took third place in the Animal Architecture awards with plans for a BirdScraper in New York City. The massive structure designed to house birds should address the problems faced by our feathered friends. “Over 90,000 birds die every year by crashing into skyscrapers because lights inside the buildings attract birds flying right [...]
Dumpster Design
New Jersey-based recycling and upcycling design studio, TerraCycle, recently renovated their offices using all sorts of trash. Walls were built from old bottles. Chairs were re-covered in Capri Sun pouches. And, yes, a ticking clock made from pregnancy tests. See more images and the full story here.
Cyclone Lounger
You can almost hear the “click clacking” of Coney Island’s famous Cyclone roller coaster when you look at the white laser-cut metal base of this lounge chair. One of several items in Uhuru‘s Coney Island Line, this piece is crafted from reclaimed wood from the demolished iconic boardwalk. “The Ipe, first installed on the boardwalk in [...]
Ultra-Ex
Ultra (Urban Long Term Research Area) scientists have found an interesting use for vacant urban lots—they study “bird and insect populations, watershed systems, soil nematodes and urban farming” in these abandoned areas. According to the Times, “Ultra-Ex advances a forward-looking mission: to document the ecological benefits that vacant lots might provide and to redefine the [...]
The Last Mountain
Don’t miss this moving documentary about a passionate group of citizens who are trying to stop Big Coal corporations in Appalachia. Still showing at theaters throughout the U.S. and available for purchase on DVD. “The central front in the battle for America’s energy future, with enormous consequences for the health and economic prospects of every [...]
Underwater Art Installation
Artist Jason deCaires Taylor is a former scuba instructor who’s found a novel way to reduce tourists’ footprints on Caribbean coral reefs: create a new reef. Using marine-grade cement designed to foster coral growth, deCaires Taylor sculpted more than 400 life-size human figures and submerged them 30 feet underwater. The sculpture installation—strategically located near the [...]
Tim DeChristopher Sentencing
Tim DeChristopher, who was convicted by a federal jury in Salt Lake City on March 3, 2011, will be sentenced today. The Utah environmental activist who disrupted a federal auction when he bought almost $1.8 million of oil and gas leases (with no intent to pay) in 2008, was found guilty of disrupting a government [...]
The Reclaimed-Wood Bowls of Alex Downs
Brooklyn-based artist Alex Downs makes bowls out of rummaged scrap wood that he glues together then carves with a chainsaw on a giant spinning wheel. It’s a high-octane version of pottery “throwing.” When he works, bits of wood fly through the room and sometimes even lodge themselves into the walls. The end results are beautiful [...]
Feasts in the Fields
For more than a decade, Jim Denevan—artist, chef and surfer—has staged amazing outdoor dinners with his roving culinary adventure, Outstanding in the Field.
State of the Ocean
A high-level international workshop convened by IPSO met at the University of Oxford earlier this year. It was the first inter-disciplinary international meeting of marine scientists of its kind and was designed to consider the cumulative impact of multiple stressors on the ocean, including warming, acidification, and overfishing. The 27 participants from 18 organisations in [...]
