Naturalism Furniture is a one-man workshop located in Atlanta, GA operated by Robert Brou, who designs and fabricates each piece himself, with painstaking craftsmanship and woodworking skill.  We’ve featured just a few of Brou’s limited edition works (he creates 12 to 14 pieces per year), many of which emit a whimsical, “Middle Earth” vibe.

Brou uses only FSC Certified sources for his wood, as well as some salvaged and reclaimed materials.

In addition to sending holiday greetings, one of my other favorite things to do for the holidays is to display a pretty wreath. If you’re tired of your typical evergreen wreath here’s a fresh take on decorative wreaths, some of these can be used year-round, others can be tucked away and re-used next year.

(more…)

• Is a weak deal better than no deal? Climate Talks End With Late Deal – bbc
• Psychedelic Gecko, Elvis Monkey and Fish That Looks Like a Gherkin Among New Mekong Region Finds – reuters
• Batten down the hatches…Billion-Dollar Disasters ‘Harbinger’ of Future Extreme Weather: NOAA – livescience
• A giant alien spaceship perhaps? Mysterious Planet-Sized Object Spotted Near Mercury – yahoo! news
• Inspired by the movie “The Cove”…Empire State Building Turns Red to Save Dolphins – ecorazzi

Create a lovely Christmas ornament from the pages of your favorite book…designer Chantelle Wilson has come up with a fresh take on the traditional Christmas ornament – she makes lovely textured ornaments from the upcycled pages of old, or new, books. For those who envision a “red” Christmas, the ornament pictured above was made from the pages of of the pages of the “Twilight” novels.

Pictured above is an ornament made from a comic book.

Chantelle is currently offering 15% off everything in her whatanovelidea Etsy shop.

(above L to R) Handmade. Stylish. Affordable. Looking to stand out from the crowd? Two cool coats from family-run Xiaoliz on Etsy: For those who love big collars and big buttons Elegant grey wool coat $95 … and Snow White Woolen coat with red accents $109.

(above) Do good and give good @ globalgirlfriend.com. These items are handmade and fairly traded … Absolutely Alpaca wool scarves – choose from 5 gorgeous basic colors $24.95/each. Sea Stone Necklace made in India, $18. Since 2003, Global Girlfriend has been featuring work by women in need, helping them to better their lives and improve their communities.

(above L to R) Green Goddess or Red Lace Panties by Who Made Your Pants – upcycled, leftover fabric never looked so sweet – £10-£15 & available in 12 colorways. find these eco undies @ bynature.uk.co

(above L to R) Rich chocolate boots (Novacas’ Zoes, $182) and Kayu handmade bamboo sunglasses, $180 – straight from Vickerey’s Green Goddess Gift List. (hey, enter our $50 Vickerey gift card giveaway – feeling lucky?) (more…)

Healthy green lifestyle etailer, Gaiam is holding their greatest sale of the year for a limited time only … 20% off EVERYTHING + FREE SHIPPING – Just use Friends11 code at checkout – gaiam.com.

If you’re looking for a special gift for your workout pal or DVD lover – be sure to check out their new Gaiam.tv with special 3, 6, or 12-month subscription offers … (it rocks, see our Tried and True Review).

Here are a few more of our favorite green toys – this time, from The Land of Nod … this site offers a nice array of sensibly priced non-toxic and eco-friendly toys, arts&crafts and clothing for tots and toddlers; some of these are now on sale and all are easy to find (under eco-friendly) on their site … give the gift of green, and have fun!

Related: “eco-friendly toys holiday gift guide – part one” from The Alternative Consumer

• Today’s feel good story…Abandoned Albino Seal Gets Accepting Home – livescience
• Indecision 2012…UN Climate Talks ‘Approaching Decision Time’ – bbc
• This is why we have regulatory agencies…EPA Connects ‘Fracking’ to Water Contamination – npr
• You need to know this…Decisions, Decisions: House-Hunting Honey Bees Work Like Complex Brains – sciencedaily
• Exporting pollution…NYT: Used US Batteries Endanger Mexico Health – msnbc/nyt

The following Guest Contributor post is sponsored by Loconuts – the makers of StuffPal …

In today’s day and age most people have their own personal media library consisting of DVDs, books, and videogames. While most people tend to borrow and lend items among their network of friends, there really  hasn’t been an organized, systematic and simple way to manage the whole borrowing and lending process. And, there really hasn’t been a simple, efficient way to keep track of what items friends own either. Well, a new social media sharing application resolves these problems. StuffPal is a free online media sharing application that allows people to catalog and show-off their collection of DVDs, books and videogames to their Facebook friends who are also on StuffPal.

Users can request to borrow items their friends have cataloged, allowing them to go green by reducing personal consumption instead of buying more and more items, which in the long-run saves the environment by reducing the demand for resources by cutting back on the quantity of manufacturing new products and packaging them, cutting back on waste ending up in a landfill. (more…)