Recycled Felt Pillows by diffractionFIBER

I got a great email the other day from Beth of diffractionFIBER, a pillow artist on Etsy. Each of her pillows are hand-made to order and are not only unique and beautiful, but they are also green. The designs are created with a recycled plastic bottle felt, helping to reduce plastic waste. With several quirky designs, some geek pillows with …

Sharkwater Movie Review

Awhile back I was all excited about an independent documentary coming out presenting the true face of sharks and their precarious future. Luckily it was screening in Seattle, so I was able to catch it in its full movie screen glory. I checked Netflix a few days ago and noticed that it is out and available on DVD and even …

Weekend Green Reads – Books on Sustainability

This weekend seems like a great weekend for reading, so I thought I would share some upcoming green books in my queue. I seem to have a sustainable design theme going, although that should come as no surprise to anyone who regularly reads my blog. Sustainability in design has always interested me, mainly because so many problems with current products …

Don’t Recycle Soda and Sparkling Water Bottles

As you may have guessed from previous posts about eco plastic bottled water and soda bottle reuse, I’m not a big fan of these ubiquitous containers. With the average American consuming over 600 cans or bottles of soda and sparkling water each year, think of the environmental impact of reducing just a fraction of that. Enter the perfect replacements – …

ECO Recycled Countertops by Cosentino

Consisting of 75% recycled content from post-industrial or post-consumer materials and held together by an environmentally friendly corn-oil resin, ECO by Cosentino countertops will keep your kitchen green. Similar to the Vetrazzo Recycled Glass Countertops, ECO is made up of recycled glass and mirror, but also includes porcelain, crystallized ash and stone scraps from regulated quarries under strict stewardship programs. …

New Soap, Old Bottle – Reducing Trash with Reuse

A great idea to help reduce the impact of discarded plastic bottles and preventing further unnecessary packaging at the same time. New Soap, Old Bottle is a company founded by Scott Amron that bottles new bulk name-brand soap into sanitized used old plastic soda bottles, plastic water bottles, and beer bottles. Packaged in America and finished with a child safe …

Atayne Eco Friendly Athletic Sportswear- Green up your Run

Having competed in a few triathlons, I am pretty familiar with the performance clothing out there. You know the stuff, the silky feeling ultra-wicking fabrics made of fancy polypropylene, polyester, and other plastic types. The process of making these clothes is not the most environmental and has prompted many companies (like Eco-friendly Patagonia) to incorporate recycled materials to help to …

Green Flooring – Eco-Leader Tile by Refin Ceramiche

Let’s face it keeping up with the “green movement” is not easy especially when replacing your tile floors. However with companies like Refin Ceramiche and new product like Eco-Leader and X-Stone, the search just became a whole lot easier. Eco-leader is a color-body porcelain tile; manufactured using 40% pre-consumer recycled material. It is this 40% recycle content which enables Eco-Leader …

Tottini – Design For Modern Green Kids

Seattle moms Melissa Maffei and Melissa Van Flandern both have a passion for the simplicity and beauty of modern design which is wholly apparent when you step into their children’s furnishing store Tottini. Brimming with bright colors and interesting shapes, your children will instantly fall in love with everything in the store, and you will appreciate the clean modern design. …

LiT Lampshades – Promoting Green Home Design

Lampshades are not usually something you think of when designing green, and it is really hard to find environmentally friendly shades. Most shades have a plastic styrene backing which in no way is biodegradable. They are then coated with toxic glue then the fabric. Let’s think what happens when this glue gets hot,….toxic glue….hot light bulb….your baby’s room….hum? None too …