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Thanks Swiss Miss!
Happy Rainy Wednesday!
Niki
Author Archive for niki
Good Afternoon SuperForest!
I just read this article in the NYTimes and I thought I would share what this great school is doing, in the hopes that it will inspire other schools and teachers to do the same.
Photos by: Piotr Redlinski for The New York Times
Beginnings Nursery School in Union Square, NY, which enrolls children 18 months-5 years old, transformed their brownstone attic into a Material Center. At The Center, they collect trash, clean it, and organize it so teachers and students can re-use it for art projects.
“A class of 4- and 5-year-olds recently turned a pile of corks into a fleet of boats that the children tried out in a fountain in Madison Square Park.
“Every school has its own version of a supply closet, but I don’t think this is the same thing,” said Robin Koo, a studio art teacher at Beginnings.
With thousands of loose objects on display, the Materials Center is organized as precisely as a research lab. Metals, plastics, wood and fabrics each have a designated section. Natural materials overflow from bookcases, including seashells, snakeskin coils and an unidentified animal skull that mysteriously showed up last week in a Pampers wipes box…..
Jane Racoosin, director of Beginnings, said the found objects were used to encourage children to represent their ideas through exploration, part of the Reggio Emilia educational approach that has been adopted by a growing number of American preschools. Teachers stop by the Materials Center every day, with no limit on what they can take back to their classrooms.”
I love that a 5 year old said the following:
“I like building stuff,” she said. “If you throw everything away, there will be just a big pile of garbage, and you won’t have anything to make collages with.”
Beginnings Nursery School is setting a great example and teaching kids, at this young and impressionable age, important lessons that we, as adults, are still trying to learn.
Happy Thursday!
Niki
“In 2007, 2.2 million people took part in the world’s first Earth Hour in Sydney Australia. Just one year later, 50 million people in 370 cities and towns, in more than 35 countries worldwide switched off their lights for Earth Hour.
Earth Hour 2009 aims to reach more than one billion people in 1000 cities around the world, inviting communities, business and governments to switch off lights for one hour at 8:30pm on Saturday March 28 and sending a powerful global message that we care enough about climate change to take action.”
Upon registration, the WWF (the organizers of this event) will send a letter to our lawmakers letting them know how many people are participating and care about our environment.
Thanks for the heads up OZOLife!
Here’s more info at earthhour.org.
I like the idea of this being organized more often, maybe once a month? I’m sure the impact on the world’s energy consumption would be significant and once a year is a great place to start! Brings back great memories of the NYC Blackout of 2003.
Happy Friday!
n
Hi!
Just a little unknown fact:
Interesting…hmmm….
Via SwissMiss via Spoon & Tamago
Have a robotic day!
n
Good Morning!
I just saw this at Apartment Therapy and I’m always looking for new ways to bring the outdoors inside.
It’s available at Smith and Hawken.
This looks so easy to install!
It can be used indoors or out, has 90 planting cells, and is made from cedar and recyclable polyethene.
Now, if only I had light in my apt!
Happy Monday!
n
Good Morning!
We all know how wasteful wrapping presents CAN be. I always tend to go for the obvious newspaper or paper bags to wrap gifts, but there are more creative ways to make a gift fun to open. (I mean, is that the purpose of wrapping paper? Just so you have a few minutes to be curious about what is inside? Silly, but necessary, I guess.)
What I have been doing this year is making little drawstring bags out of excess fabric and putting the gift inside, which can then be used as a purse for little girls. I have been making a lot of gifts for kids so the little purses will definitely be reused. (I wish I took pictures to post, but I keep forgetting to and I already gave them away!)
The above video is via Whole Foods Market who advocates reusing their store bags as gift bags since they are made of 80% post-consumer recycled PET bottles. They are now being sold in small gift sizes.
Then, on Inhabitat today, I noticed that they posted about a company in the U.K. called Represent that started a project called Future Present:
“Every year in the UK we use more than 8,000 tonnes of wrapping paper for our Christmas presents, equivalent to 50,000 trees. And sticky tape, being non-biodegradable, prevents us from reusing those mountains of wrapping paper.”
They put together 20 great ways to wrap gifts from various designers, without using conventional wrapping paper.
Here are a few:
I really love the scarf idea and the hot/cold bags. Any other ingenious ideas you want to share?
Happy Gift Giving!
Niki
The news for recently developed ways to harness energy doesn’t stop! Just last week I posted about harnessing energy from revolving doors in a cafe in the Netherlands and about the Toyko subway stations that are harnessing energy from the floors, as people pass through.
Now, with similar technology that is being used in Tokyo, they are testing a roadway next month in Israel that can create energy from the motion of the cars on a highway.
“Engineers at Innowattech in Israel recently created a new type of road that generates electricity as vehicles pass over it! The supercharged surface is embedded with piezoelectric crystals, which transform kinetic energy from passing vehicles into an electrical current. With widespread adoption, the technology could feed energy back into the nation’s burgeoning electric vehicle grid, transforming congested roadways into a clean green source of energy.”
Incredible!
Thanks, once again, Inhabitat for the heads up!
Niki
The Magno Radio:
“Designed in 2007 by Singgih Kartono and made by hand in an Indonesian farming village, the Magno is a mix of modern and friendly old-timey styling. Made from new growth wood, meaning for every tree used in production, a new one is planted, it’s uncoated surface should be oiled periodically to encourage a deeper, more personal connection between listener and radio. FM/AM, MP3 compatible, with short wave reception. 7.5″ x 7.5″ x 4.25″
A beautiful alternative to plastic radios and a nice (but pricey) gift for that special NPR lover!
Available at the beautiful design mecca Moss for$250.
Happy Listening!
Niki
Hi Everyone,
I just noticed these guys driving down the street and I love sharing practical information about companies that are taking steps towards a more sustainable way of life.
Mean Green Trucking is doing what they can to better our environment, while providing a necessary service.
Their New York warehouse is solar powered, their trucks run on vegetable oil and they plant a tree (through americanforests.org) for every move they do. They have already planted over 1,000 trees this year!
So, if you live in NY or Los Angeles and you need help with a move, why not use these guys and help our environment at the same time?
Sounds like a win/win situation to me.
Happy Monday!
Niki
Good Morning,
I had one of those “duh” moments a couple of days ago when I saw an article on Inhabitat titled “The World’s First Energy Generating Revolving Door”.
This article refers to a cafe in the Netherlands that installed revolving doors that generates energy from the people going in and out of the cafe. This energy is then given back to the coffee shop to be used.
Here at SF, we’ve been wondering why this technology, which has been developed for some time now, hasn’t been put into effect in New York City. We have millions and millions of people revolving through subway turnstyles everyday and we could be harnessing our own energy.
Then, yesterday, Inhabitat posted about The East Japan Railway Company installing energy generating floors that will power the Tokyo Subways. They are using a technology called Piezoelectric flooring which they have been testing over the past year. Now, they have installed it in a Tokyo subway station to generate power for the ticket gates and display signs. They hope to generate enough power, in the future, to power their entire system.
I live in a major city where there is tons of waste. We never think about the fact that just by walking though doors, we are wasting energy. But now, with the technology advancing, there is a better way to generate renewable energy! We could harness our own energy by just walking through revolving doors and getting onto the subways.
Now, literally, we possess enough power that can actually make a difference. It’s amazing to see the technology, that we all knew was out there, being utilized. Step by step (pun intended), we can save energy!
Thumbs up to Inhabitat for the news and images!
Thumbs up to progress! Please, bring this technology to New York!
Niki
Good Morning!
Holiday gift giving always seems a little stressful to most and I am definitely one of those people.
Trying to find the “perfect” gift and do it in the most responsible way ends up taking up way too much of my time.
This year, I’m a fan of making gifts. There are great guides out there with various DIY ideas for holiday gifts. Here are links to a couple major guides:
Treehugger
Inhabitat
Design Sponge
Another great idea is Etsy. I’m sure, most of you, are familiar with Etsy and I love perusing the site to see what beautiful things people around the world make and sell.
I’ve been wanting a pair of gloves for my son and since I am a terrible knitter/crocheter, I thought I would see if someone on Etsy could make me a pair. I found a woman in Wisconsin who makes the fingerless gloves that I thought Ethan would actually keep on his hands. She welcomed custom orders and was awesome. She gave me tons of options, was super responsive and emailed me pictures along the way to see her progress. I loved them so much, I asked her to make a pair for me, as well!
If you need a pair of gloves (or scarf or hat) you should check out Debbys Etsy store. She was amazing to work with. I’m so excited to get them. She was really fast too!
If you do not have the time or the skills to make gifts yourself, why not support these great crafters and give someone a great handmade gift that was made with love!
Happy gift hunting!
Niki
P.S. Of course, charitable donations are amazing gifts too. Here are Treehugger and Inhabitat recommendations. We are definitely Kiva fans around here.
Good Morning!
This just caught my eye on Inhabitat:
This proposal is for a building at One Madison Avenue (at 23rd street).
“Daniel Libeskind recently unveiled a soaring green skyscraper for New York that is constructed of mostly glass and stands to be the city’s tallest residential structure at 900 feet. Dubbed the New York Tower at One Madison Avenue, the 54-story apartment building features a series of ‘sky gardens‘ cut out from its facade that provide green space and terraced balconies for residents. Terraced gardens are becoming quite popular as a means for people to have an outdoor connection, fresh air, and even a place to grow their own food.”
Here is a link to an article in New York Magazine where Daniel Libeskind discusses this spectacular building.
I normally wouldn’t post about buildings that are not in the process of being built, but the thought of living down the street from where I currently reside, high in the sky with a wonderful garden outside of my door, got me very excited!
Please bring more nature to us city folks!!
Thank you Inhabitat and Daniel Libeskind!
Have a wonderful day!
Niki
Hey!
Just saw this at the NY Times blog:
“The Sunshine state is starting to live up to its name on the energy front. Today Florida Power & Light, the state’s biggest utility, broke ground on what it says will be the first utility-scale solar investment in the state — and the second-largest of its kind in the country when it is fully turned on in 2010….
This solar thermal plant, which is located on the Atlantic coast just north of Palm Beach County, will consist of 180,000 mirrors, spread over 500 acres. It also matches solar power with an existing combined-cycle natural gas plant, so that when the sun is not shining, the natural gas can take over the work of powering the turbines….
The plant is the first of three solar facilities that F.P.L. is constructing in Florida, which the utility says will make the state the second-largest solar energy producer in the country. California is currently the largest.”
Yay for progress!
Thanks to Florida Power and Light for the image and the NY Times for letting us know!
Niki
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