Old billboards for new outdoor gear

Do you enjoy riding, surfing, skiing, boarding, biking, hiking, skating, climbing, running, walking, swimming...? Ever thought about the impact that the products you use for this sports have on the environment? For the outdoor freaks of Green Guru Gear this was the first concern and the first step in establishing this brand.

Being aware of the fact that thousands of billboards are produced annually with just a short period of use, they decided to recycle the colorful, strong and water resistant vinyl material to produce new outdoor gear. All purses and bags are beautiful 'on of a kinds', as no billboard piece is the same.

Definitely have a look at it: www.greengurugear.com

Vers sound system: refreshing sounds and beautiful design

Give your iPod and extra boost with the handmade sound system of the Vers!

This sound system is not just a jewel itself, the rich and clean sound are top of the bill.
The wooden walls of the cabinet are made of a rigid, environmentally friendly wood fiber material preferred by most high-end speaker manufacturers. Any trees that are harvested are replanted. In the end, the wood used in a Vers system replaces 80% of what could have been plastic.
But there is more: The Vers products use less energy compared to other sound systems and are produced with less to no toxic components.

Vers on sustainability: "In our view, no product is truly ‘green’. Any manufactured product requires energy and resources to produce, transport and operate through out their entire life cycle. While ‘green’ is the all-important guiding vision, ‘less brown’ are all of the 100’s of small steps made along the way that get you there."

Love that...

More info and sales: www.versaudio.com

How to grow your own fresh air...

Today I saw a short film of the remarkable speaker Makal Meattle (New Delhi) about how to grow your own fresh air.

After profound study he and his team discovered that just by using 3 different, very common plants in your house or building, you could provide yourself with enough natural fresh air to live. Even if you would find yourself is a closed bottle, you would still have enough oxigine to survive.

The natural life-saviours are the Oreca plant, the Mother-in-Law plant and the Money plant. Together they can cause amazing results: an increase of human productivity of 20% and a reduction of energy requirements in buildings by 15% because of no need of fresh air.
The importance of these kind of studies is clear, thinking about the 4% increase of energy requirements by the next decade, the fact that 40% of worldwide energy is used in buildings, 60 % of the worlds population will be living in buildings and there is a growing preference of working in airconditioned areas.

Thank you Makal Meattle!

See the full film on TED.COM using this link

A beautiful story

A beautiful story is a shop, or shall we call it a beautiful market, with a range of interesting products being either social or ecological produced. Each piece has a slightly different look, because it is based on true hand craft and often produced with recycled material.

The shop offers wonderful accessories (such as the so-called Lucky Bracelets made of re-used material, that brings fortune to you and the craftsmen in Nepal), bags and purses (such as the brand RagBag which are produced of gathered plastic and gives more than 60 rag pickers in New Delhi a job) and fashion items (as from the brand Rambler, with t-shirts made from and for homeless teens).

Just have a look around the website. For sure you do not know what to buy first, simply because all brands are worthy. From the inside and the outside...

eco friendly Yoga

As a huge fan of Yoga, I have to admit I never thought of using a eco-friendly mat. And I am ashamed of that...
Yoga is certainly not about getting body and mind in balance, whilst using products that ruin the worlds nature balance in the first place.

So all the yoga lovers out there, who are still thinking about buying a mat, have a look at www.yogashop.nl for the Eco Yoga Mat from the lovely label Love Generation.
The mat is 100% photodegradable, contains no heavy metal, is chlorine-, pcv- and latex free and hypoallegenic. The comfortable 6mm thick mat is available in different colours. Delevered with free carrying strap. Namaste!

Wonderful Dutch Fashion Webshop: watmooi.nl

Yes, I could't resist the bag as well... Said to be Oprahs favourite shopper... so hey!
Did you know by the way that we are consuming one million plastic bags a minute?! Who says I am a shopaholic?

To be honest, more interesting is where I bought it:
www.watmooi.nl, a lovely dutch webshop, is selling the most beautiful, elegant and fashionable clothes, bags, accassories. Of course all clthes have a positive background, some being ecological, others fairtrade.

And last but not least, watmooi.nl also sells ecofriendly GREEN STOCKINGS!!

Green Search System: Forestle.com

Just about finishing up my standard grid for this blog I received a notice from my brother about a new, great and green initiative: Forestle.com.
As for who believes in signs, that must have been one...

Forestle says: ''Save 0.1 yd² / 0.1 m² of rainforest with each search you do at Forestle. So far we have already saved over 206,122.9 yd² / 188.502,5 m² of rainforest!''

I saved the search system to my mac and it seems to work perfectly. As I have not used it to much I cannot tell you if the search results are as good as the other providers, but hey.... every time I search the web my day seems a little brighter. 0.1 yd2 per search!
Helping the climate change never has been that daily and easy.