This should pique the interest of any literary types out there – an eclectic lampshade created from the recycled pages of a Dutch translation of the fairy tales of Hans Christian Andersen. A perfect show stopper for your next book club meeting.
Comes sans wiring and bulb, and may feature the odd illustration. You can find it @ GreenWallNL’s Etsy shop.
Perhaps we should use the energy created by this past weekend’s Independence Day celebration to ‘free’ ourselves from the shackles of all the unwanted, unnecessary clutter clogging up our garages, storage rooms, attics, basements and minds.
Let me shine a little light on a bright new site that we can handily tap right into, called givmo.com. It’s similar to Freecycle, (which I used & loved when I helped a friend move), but there’s a big difference – Givmo is national, so you have a larger playing field.
You can donate items that you don’t need or want anymore and you can also look for pre-loved stuff. If you donate an item, the person who snags it for free, just pays for shipping — and if you find something you like, it’s free – you just pay the shipping.
Here’s how givmo essentially works – you send givmo a photo of the item, and when the item is “won” by someone who wants it, givmo sends you a shipping label. You put the item in a box, slap a label on it, and UPS takes care of the rest. Easy.
As if that weren’t enough, there’s more good karma — for every item you donate, givmo donates $1 to charity. The more you give, the more you get … and the better it feels, right? We also love how this approach keeps stuff out of the waste stream and landfills and into what I call, the use stream. Start using it and let your friends know about it, too.
(photo above: founder of givmo, Dustin Byrne)
A Tried and True Green Product Review … okay, we’ve given it a go, and here’s what we think of the reusable Hydros Water Bottle:
The concept is great: this BPA-free, made in America, reusable water bottle comes with a replaceable filter so you can turn on the tap, fill the bottle and stay hydrated while on the go. By now, we all know the planetary and monetary values of using reusable water bottles as opposed to disposable one-offs. If your pipes deliver inferior H2O, it’s key is to use a reusable bottle that will filter it.
Does it work? Well, yes, to a certain degree, and as far as I can tell. The filtered Hydros water tastes and smells fine. As stated on the company website: The new Hydros Fast Flow Filter™ reduces chlorine, chloramine, and particulates from tap water quicker than your pitcher filter. The filter is enhanced with natural, triclosan-free IonArmour® antimicrobial protection actively defending against the odor-causing bacteria found in other bottles.
Since a water testing meter was not provided, I used a TDS (total dissolved solids) digital water testing device that I happened to have (comes with the ZeroWater Pitcher) and compared 3 different glasses of water from my tap: (more…)
RSS
