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Eco-Chic Decor from Bacchus-Inspired Aesthetics

Guest post by Shireen Quodosi

What comes more easily in this economy than an assortment of empty wine bottles after you’ve just thrown a smashing get-together? With the preference being on sourcing cheap entertaining ideas, most people now see staying at home with a good meal and great wine as a viable alternative to spending money on restaurants and clubs.

Wine Bottle Ideas:

There are a number of ways to reuse wine bottles. Among the more common ideas are reusing them as water pitchers, votive vases, torches, and flower bed liners. However, there are dozens of other smart options that are rarely explored.

Rewined Recycled Glassware – Get uniquely hued wine bottle glassware made from orphaned bottles left behind at local restaurants and bars.

Water Feeders – On a very hot day or when you’re away, fill the bottles of water and stick them into the pot or soil near your plant. The water will slowly percolate from the bottle and into the soil.

Wine Bottle Chandeliers – In addition to the popular row lighting and pendant lighting, Pottery Barn put together an interesting chandelier with wine bottles strung around it. Even though four dozen other people will likely have the same statement piece, at least you know it’s a unique sustainable element in your home. Plus it catches the light beautifully during the day and especially at sunset.

cape, car, cocktails, decor, design, farm, Hollywood, Home, Lighting, liquor, local, Lush, oil, Organic, recycle, recycled, reference, restaurant, reuse, style, sustainability, sustainable, Tea, water, Water Bottle, Wine, wood

Barefoot Walking and Running: Best of Both Worlds with Vivo Barefoot Sneakers

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by Starre Vartan · 09/11/09

My Viva Terras. Cute on the trail or off.

Last summer, I was walking up from the beach at Gay’s Head on Martha’s Vineyard. (They’ve renamed the place Aquinnah, but I’m sticking with the original name, thank you very much) and then headed up the steep dunes, and over the top. When I got to where the sand meets the more rocky soil, I stopped to put my Chakos back on, but then decided to go barefoot instead.

As I walked up the path, seagrasses waving in the setting sun all around me, I could feel what was beneath my feet change. It started more sandy, and warmed from the sun, then small pebbles cropped up, and as I went around a bend, I felt the ground cool and dampen and the pebbles recede into the soft, more claylike walkway. As I headed up another rise, warmth again seeped between my toes, and as I reached the road to wait for the bus, the concrete burned my feet and I put my shoes on.

On that ten minute walk, I remembered something I knew as a child, which is that you miss tons of information from the earth when constantly wear shoes. I used to spend entire summers essentially barefoot (I grew up at the end of a dirt road in the Hudson Valley) and when I was 8 I could have told you how long it had been since rain from the viscosity of the mud that pushed between my toes since I spent hours I playing in the wetland next to my house. I don’t know if I could tell you that now, though I’m certain I could learn again.

Men’s Vivo Barefoots at the Terra Plana store.

So when a couple months ago I heard about the barefoot running movement, and the new book, Born to Run, I was intrigued. The premise is that our fancy $200 uberpadded sneakers are actually BAD for our bodies when running, and can actually cause or exacerbate injury. Which makes sense if you think about the fact that we have only been wearing such contraptions for about 20 years (flat, unpadded Converse All Stars were the sneaker of choice for basketball players for years). So I went hiking with a friend in Connecticut and took off my sandals and did a bit of trailrunning with naked feet, which was fun as long as I was careful (and this forces one to focus on each step, which is interesting). And then…

book, car, comedy, decor, eating, farm, farms, health, Home, humor, kids, media, MTV, Organic, shoes, spa, style, summer, Target, Technology, trike, tv

Green on the Move

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by Katie Kish · 09/05/09

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I just moved into a new apartment with a beautiful view (see above…oolala) of North Toronto. My fiance and I are both environmental science students and live pretty eco-friendly (as much as we can). So as if moving isn’t stressful enough… add in being environmental? It becomes a mini nightmare. This wasn’t the first time I’ve moved. In fact I counted and I’ve lived in 13 different houses and/or apartments since the age of 16. That’s 13 different places in 7 years. But this was my first BIG move. I wasn’t just moving to British Columbia with a backpack on, or into university residence with my suitcase of clothes and a laptop. No, this was the big one. The big empty apartment that needed desks, beds, shelves, rugs, art, plates, cups… etc.

The first issue was that we had stuff all over. We needed to drive a UHaul to Guelph and back to Toronto to get my stuff and from South East Toronto to North West Toronto (twice!) to get all of his stuff. Stuff Stuff Stuff. Stuff that we don’t even really need, but we couldn’t just leave at our other places. Next was packing. Bubble wrap? … How eco-friendly can those tiny little plastic bubbles really be? Well, we used a lot of it. And what about furnishings? Buying all new chairs, tables and beds didn’t really seem like the right thing to do either. So, here’s a few tips I wish I would have though about before this move:

Home, Recycling, Shopping

People Won't Change for the Environment (on my campus)

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by Katie Kish · 09/03/09

A recent article outlines a pretty simplistic poll conducted in London about people’s willingness to change their behaviour for the good of the planet.

A straw poll of 15 British men and 15 British women between the ages of 25-75 in central London, showed all were willing to make small changes for the environment, such as recycling, but few would commit to more fundamental changes to behavior.

The outcome was pretty surprising. People will “try” to drive less, and others take a shot at proper recycling. But no one is ready for a change in their lifestyle. This inspired me. I was sure I could find better numbers and results here in Toronto, Canada. We are supposed to be eco-friendly up here, right?

bags, book, books, business, car, clothes, clothing, consumption, eating, Eco-Chick, electronics, Energy, Food, fur, Home, local, London, meat, News, plastic, plastic bags, plastics, Recycling, reduce, skin, style, Vote, women

Success for the Sea Shepherd; Japanese Whalers Head Home Short

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by Kimberly Jordan Allen · 04/15/09

In a statement made yesterday by the Institute of Cetacean Research, Japan announced that it made it back to the mainland with only 679 whales slaughtered, as opposed to their annual minimum of 985 killed. The Japanese fleet pointed to the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society as the primary cause for their failure in the annual hunt.

Criticized for their tactics, mocked for their motley crews, and adored for their perseverance, the Sea Shepherd holds true to the course, regardless of public intrigue. Paul Watson, noted demagogue, eco-anarchist, and purported “eco-terrorist” (a creative use of language in our opinion), leads activists out to sea on anti-whaling campaigns to intervene in the unlawful acts of poaching. Animal Planet has been recording the campaigns for the past two years, producing the popular television show Whale Wars. The show has brought international attention to the Japanese whaling fleet that slaughter the approximate one thousand whales annually in the name of ‘research.’

Regardless of opinion and conjecture, the Sea Shepherd and her crew place themselves in harm’s way to act on behalf of mammals that are unable to avoid the nets and explosive harpoons that determine their existence. According to the Japanese, the direct interventions of the Sea Shepherd are what caused the fleet’s inability to meet their quota this year. The whales are supposedly killed for scientific research but it is well known that the meat is packaged on the ships at sea and sent back to Japan for consumption.

According to Watson:

“We continue to speak the one language these whale pirates understand,” said Captain Paul Watson. “Profit and loss: we need to keep their losses up and their profits down. We will eventually beat these killers with aggressively applied economics.”

Go Sea Shepherd!!! Congratulations.