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Paul Nosa makes "sustainable art" using a sewing machine powered by his bike. You give him an idea in five words or less, and he sews a piece of art for you. Not just any idea, though. I tried "baby punched in face" and he politely declined. How rude....read more
There's not a ton to this video. Actually there's very little. But the song is some lovely, blissful pop, and there's an interesting backstory. The standout single from All Night, Houses' first full-length, "Endless Spring" was recorded in Hawaii where sole bandmember Dexter Tortoriello spent time with his partner living off the grid. In his words: "We moved out to a little cabin in Papaikou,......read more
How cool is this? It's an orchestra conducted by the sun. Created by Massachussetts artist and musician Craig Colorusso, Sun Boxes is comprised of twenty solar-power speakers, each set to play one guitar note on loop, with the all the notes collectively making a B-flat chord. Says Colorusso: "The piece creates space. It is an environment for one to enter and exit. the footprint this......read more
German designer Markus Kayser's Solar Sinter is a solar-powered 3D printer that is a revolutionary take on the manufacturing process. The Solar Sinter uses a "sintering" technique, whereby sand is heated to its melting point, then cooled and solidified into three-dimensional glass objects. Kayser explains: In this experiment sunlight and sand are used as raw energy and material to produce......read more
Brooklyn's Big Sue, LLC is a veteran of New York City's sustainable building scene. In this episode of Brooklyn Informed, we talk to Big Sue partner Susan Boyle about one of the company's cooler projects: a Prospect Heights brewery icehouse they bought in 2004 and converted into a six-unit residential building. The structure is an excellent portrait of sustainable construction, with two green......read more
Good news for clean energy advocates, as Obama used his Saturday address to announce almost $2 billion in conditional loan guarantees to two solar energy companies. The beneficiaries are Abengoa Solar, whose planned Arizona solar plant will be one of the largest in the world, and solar panel manufacturer Abound Solar, which will build advanced panels at two new plants in Colorado and Indiana. Not......read more
Nick Gentry's floppy disk paintings are musings on throwaway culture and technological change. The London artist assembled this video of his work, scored by a track from UK beat maestro, Burial. From Nick's artist's statement: "Since graduating from Central St Martins in 2006, the focus has been to explore how technological advancement is affecting society. Throughout history,......read more
Tom Szaky is the quintessential eco-entrepreneur. While a freshman at Princeton, Szaky founded a company that recycles garbage into plant fertilizer, then packages it in discarded soda bottles. Fast forward five years, and TerraCycle Plant Food is available in every Home Depot, Target, Wal-Mart, and more than 3000 other locations. Today, TerraCycle is finding new uses for trash, creating products......read more
Feeling a little down about the state of the planet? Here's a two-minute slice of techno-optimism for you. Filmmaker Michael Marantz assembled "The Future Is Ours" from a bunch of clips he found on the net, and the result is this stirring tribute to the people pushing humanity ahead into the future. According to Marantz, "We need to be inspired by the immense possibilities of the future and......read more
If necessity is the mother of invention, then the state of the environment should be driving innovation around the world. And indeed it is. In our new series "The Big SHFT: 10 Innovators Changing Our World," we team up with Ford Motor Company to profile leading innovators who are shaping new sustainable businesses and influencing positive change around the world. Executive produced by SHFT......read more
