Has anyone else noticed energy monitors are getting sexier by the minute? And none are more gorgeous than Delroy Dennisur's, which is unfortunately just a concept for now.
As other monitors, it calculates how much energy you're guzzling, and how much you can expect your electricity bill to come to, thus eliminating that awful shock when you open the letter to discover you won't be able to afford groceries for the next month.
As the amount of energy you use increases, the leaves pictured on the Power Conscience unit will grow, and even turn yellow and start to rot as you waste our planet's precious resources. Eco-friendly? Yes. A visual incentive to waste electricity just to see the leaves grow? Absolutely.
(via Gizmodo)
Events and happenings
If, like me, you're tired of having turkey and all-butter mince pies advertised to you everywhere you look, then you might want to pop along to Animal Aid's Christmas Without Cruelty Fayre on Sunday. There will more than 80 stalls there, from a range of organisations including Viva!, PETA, Plamil Foods and the Vegan Society.
I really enjoyed last year's event, chomping my way through such delights as vegan fudge, vegan trifle (positively orgasmic, for the record!) and, of course, vegan turkey. I also picked up a lovely selection of Christmas cards from different animal charities. It was definitely a very good antidote to the meat-obsessed mainstream Yuletide marketing we're all subjected to.
The fayre runs from 10am to 5pm in Kensington Town Hall.
Related: Green things to do this weekend: tree planting days, Fair Trade fair and more.
What can I do?
Christmas seems a good time to remind people to use charity search engines. But remembering to always visit the same page just doesn't happen and frequently people are put off by the idea of changing settings on their browser. Fear not! Shiny Shiny is here to make it really, really easy and take away any excuses for failing in your good intentions.
Some sites, like LetThemKnowItsChristmas.com and ClickNow.org offer quick links to help you set them as a homepage, but many let you add them directly to your browser's search bar. Below are some quick tips for adding charity search engines to your search bar, and adjusting the settings so that you use them automatically, all year round.
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Fashion & accessories
The '80s are remembered for shoulder pads, the '90s are remembered for rave and the noughties are definitely going to be remembered for eco shopping. There are no excuses for not shopping organically when nearly every High Street store offers an organic alternative. Any store that doesn't becomes on a par with a restaurant that doesn't offer a vegetarian dish, just not good enough!
Bargain High Street retailer H&M are upping their game in Spring by offering a wider organic range. The collection will now include underwear and outerwear for women, men, teens, and children. However, the eco range will not mean hiked up prices, "Naturally our customers are concerned about the environment, but it’s also important that garments are up-to-the-minute trend-wise. Romantic styles combined with sporty influences are key this autumn with the use of denim as a complementary fabric," says H&M's head of design Margareta van den Bosch.
For the latest fashion news check out CatwalkQueen.tv
[source]
Fashion & accessories
This is a great use for those chick-lit novels with that have pretty covers but are tedious as hell to read!
Rebound Designs created this cute clutch out of a book of Christmas stories, but there are over 100 other book bags here. My faves are the Nancy Drew bag, the adorable Just Cats bag. For the true intellectual are the Webster's New World Dictionary bag or even the Complete Works of William Shakespeare.
This is a great use of vintage materials, and I love almost all the designs...but with the amount I cart around, I think I'd have to wait till they make one out of War and Peace!
[Via Great Green Goods]
Friday fun
There are plenty of entries in the green calendar this weekend, and as you might expect, green Christmas fairs are cropping up everywhere. I've included a few of these from around the UK, plus a tree-planting day for more out-doorsy types.
Central London
Head into town for some ethical shopping and MP-spotting at the Fair Trade Fair, taking place in Parliament Square. The UK's 'oldest fair Christmas event' has loads of participants on board, and runs from 12-5pm on 1st and 2nd of December at
Westminster Central Hall, Parliament Square, London SW1.
Swansea
The Swansea Christmas Green Fayre takes place on Sunday 2nd December, at the National Waterfront Museum. This will be a good one for foodies, as the green fayre's stalls will be joined by Waterfront's monthly Local Produce Market, but there's more than just mouth watering organic treats on offer here: you'll find craft stalls, tools for self-sufficient living, Oxfam charity stalls and ceramics. The event promises to be 'bigger and greener than ever', and judging by the success of last year's event, I'm sure it'll will be. You can see some pictures here.
Continue reading >>
Green gadgets
It might be argued that the greenest way to live is without a laptop, but many find themselves unable to do their jobs without a great deal of dependence on technology. If you still want to do your bit, why not protect it with a recycled case? There are plenty around, and now Shoreline has launched a brand new range of eco-conscious laptop sleeves and jackets made out of 100% recycled plastic drinks bottles. One laptop jacket might be made out of elevent 16oz bottles and saves 7650 Btu (British thermal units) compared to manufacture of virgin fabrics, which Shoreline claims is enough to power a laptop for 149 hours.
Shoreline has set itself a target of producing a totally green production line by the end of 2008; this marks the first phase of that self-imposed commitment. The Shoreline act2 website allows you to track energy savings - in Btus - and product provenance for every item. The range includes seven sizes of laptop jackets and two sizes of laptop sleeve in Storm Blue, Toasted Almond and Jet Black, with prices ranging from $24.99 to $39.99.
[via Shiny Shiny]
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