Top 5 Silliest Eco-Inventions According to InHabitat

Happy Friday Everyone! It is absolutely gorgeous outside here in Toronto which is perfect for an upcoming long weekend! Not sure if it's a long weekend for you where you're at... But this Monday is a Civic Holiday here in Ontario. While I freelance full-time and therefore it's not quite a holiday for me... I may not be blogging again till Tuesday.

So here are five laughs for you courtesy of InHabitat... The Top 5 Silliest Eco-Inventions. Let me know which is your fave. I think the two solar-powered products the bra and fan hat are mine...

5. PETaPOTTY for Dogs "Just because it contains grass doesn't make it green."

4. Solar Powered Bra "that comes equipped with two-cup holders, an electronic billboard, and can charge my cell." LOL... Completely unnecessary and hilarious!

3. The Hybrid SUV "Tracing along the lines of oxy-morons like jumbo shrimp, free love or working holidays, the hybrid SUV gets worse gas mileage than most sedans and requires tremendous amounts of virgin resources to produce. This “green” vehicle certainly falls short of ever really being eco."

2. Eco Button "Plug this earth-emblazoned eco button into your computer and then press it to automatically send your computer into sleep mode. I have heard that one could achieve a similar effect by either closing their laptop or using the ever-so-complicated drop down menu."

1. Solar Powered Fan Hat "Sure to brighten your day or the planet - if only because you will be laughing and pointing at the person wearing it. It does absolutely nothing to help the environment, and one could probably produce the same amount of cooling air by waving a magazine in front of their face."

That's it for now... Have yourselves a wonderful weekend! Thanks for checking in to my site. I love to see that I am slowly growing a following. Just a final friendly reminder that the final day of my Flickr Photo Contest is this Monday ;) So get those photos in ;D

xo,

ej

May we please rewind to Friday?

Wow, it certainly feels like a while since I've last blogged. My sincerest apologies. I went to Collingwood (approximately less than 2 hours north of Toronto) for a weekend retreat... It was great getting out of the city and I returned refreshed and ready to conquer the world, starting with getting back on track with my blogging!

I shall announce my February Giveaway winner tomorrow, so please stay tuned. Meanwhile, here's last Friday's post I'd started but didn't get a chance to upload since I had visions of chasing the big yellow school bus to Collingwood. Here's to a new week and getting back to a regular scheduled blogging...

--- 20 February 2009 ---

Is it really already Friday?

My genuine apologies for my absence all week. Monday was a holiday here in Ontario... Family Day to be precise (and President's Day in US?) Then of course the shorter week caught up with me, a little bug, etc. etc., yeah I'll spare you the excuses ;)

Am off to a retreat up north this weekend, which unfortunately means that I'll be missing ecoSuave** this Saturday... Thank you again to the reader who told me about it. If you're in Toronto tomorrow and find yourself with some time... Be "effortlessly gracious and green in a social manner" and check out the party at the National Ballet School.

So parties have music, and speaking of music, do remember the classic mix tape? How was that for a segway?

Well I certainly remember them. I recall exchanging cassette tapes between friends, listening to them on road trips or individually on my walkman... Then there was of course that one mix-tape from that cute older high school crush, and attempting to dissect the hidden meaning behind each song including the one he wrote and sang! Oh memories...

All right before I continue to digress, how about an eco-friendly gadget that brings back those mix-tape memories...

Although, no I'm not referring to a memory stick in a cleverly redesigned cassette box (as shown above and available at ThinkGeek). I am referring to an actual cleverly redesigned cassette-looking contraption that plays mp3s... Check it out:


I'm not sure where you can purchase it. It may just be in its idea stage. Although an iPod is definitely more convenient to carry around your entire music collection in your pocket. I love the nostalgic and sustainable (use of of kinetic energy) characteristics. The mp3 cassette player was originally featured on ecofriend.org and toxel.com.

xo,
ej

PS - **Again, my apologies for the old post, anyone attend ecoSuave? How was it? Or what about the Oscars? Watch them last night? I missed them... How about sharing your favourite Academy Award moments?

From your OJ to your wrist watch... Reducing your carbon footprint

When I came across a NYTimes article entitled "How Green Is My Orange?" I couldn't help but want to click to read. After all, for the last few weeks I have been diligently buying big juicy oranges and making freshly squeezed OJ with my lovely ceramic juicer from my dear friend Janet --pictured above - the juicer not Janet ;)

The article refers to PepsiCo's recent concern on "How much does your morning glass of orange juice contribute to global warning?" Turns out, "3.75 pounds of carbon dioxide are emitted to the atmosphere for each half-gallon carton of orange juice." The question is, will PepsiCo start marketing this fact, and print it directly on their packaging. Do consumers care? What do you think?

I certainly do take an active mental note of packaging when I go shopping. I carry around my colourful patterned canvas bags to avoid plastic, but would I read the number of carbon dioxide units on a box? I care about eating healthy, but I don't calorie count. I'd love to hear your thoughts.

From reading carbon dioxide emissions on consumer products to, outright erasing your carbon footprint completely by simply wearing a wrist watch. Check out the eECO2 personal carbon dioxide scrubber by James Kershaw and Chad Garn. Featured at Yanko Design, "the system looks at capturing directly from the air and making it cleaner" while also telling time.

Would you wear it?

Seeing as I managed to require repair for my new wrist watch I got for Christmas already... I would! :-o

Well that's it for now. Bon weekend! Happy weekend!

xo, ej

PS - Until I figure out how to create a web widget to the left to announce current giveaways... Here's my January Giveaway, only 8 more days left!

Sending solar energy via snail mail.