Photography is a hobby for some, an occupation for some others, a passion for some more, but for most of us, it’s the means to capture our fond memories and cherished moments. Be it nature or persona, they capture the magic around in a small frame. The arrival of Polaroid took the art of photography to a new dimension, and redefining it is the Korean designer Hwajin Jung’s flower vase.

This beautiful flower vase employs the renowned Polaroid photo ratio principle to bring a small planter with an iconic polaroid-sized frame into spotlight. Hung using a small cord wire and a clothespin, the wire holding it connects with the light illuminating the plant and bringing it to life. Isn’t it looking cute! Its design appeals to those nature-lovers who are keen on capturing the beauty of scenery in frames bringing their interiors to life.

Though not much information about this art piece has been provided by the designer, the vase would surely leave its mark on our senses because I believe most of us would want to have this lovely vase around at home. Isn’t it?

Via Jung Hwajin

Living in a desert is definitely a challenge especially if it’s in a country like Syria where winter chills are as competitive as summer swelters or the torrential rains. With a constrained choice of building materials and resources, here’s what the Syrians have come up with- the effortless, innovative and well-designed Beehive homes.

Premeditated exclusively for desert climates, these homes built of adobe brick keep the inner temperatures as low as 85°-75° F. The high domes collect all the warm air to keep it away from the occupants. Inspired by the beehive, the homes comprise very few windows to minimize the assimilation of the sun’s scorching heat in the day, and the wintry breeze at night. The roof’s continuous surface decreases the area of sun exposure and it’s sheer slope sheds the occasional downpour.

This simple architectural marvel doesn’t require skilled labor or special high tensile strength reinforcements nor does it cost big bucks and is green to the core. What more could a nature inspired awesome adobe need? Just a few affectionate residents I guess!

Via TreeHugger

Who wouldn’t love a dwelling wrapped around with scenery? An agricultural scientist, Chris Anderson and Claire Davenport wished for the same in their 10-acre wooded site an hour’s drive south of Adelaide. They laid the burden on South Australia–based architect Max Pritchard and this is what they finally got- a stunning Bridge House. Straddling a creek, the house stands on four small concrete piers anchoring two steel trusses and satisfies all the prerequisites for a home sweet home.

Precoated steel panels drape the walls and roof made of plantation pine. The double-glazed floor-to-ceiling windows provide ample winter sunlight to heat up the black concrete floor slab and in case it falls short, the wood combustion heater would take over the job. The operable windows, ceiling fans and the pressed steel louvers on the north aid ventilation and shading. The water used inside the house comes from the roof, which collects it. The house lights up using the electricity the photovoltaic cells on the roof generate. The wastewater is pumped down to 300 feet below the ground level.

The Beach House cost about $220,000 Australian (around $177,000 U.S.) to take shape and bagged an award from the Australian Institute of Architects (South Australian Chapter). The house would surely give its inhabitants the pleasure of nature and a green life away from the pacing urban world.

Via ArchRecord

Wordsworth heavily criticized the fatalistic effect of man’s decadent materialism. For the poet, the material world is what is foremost in man’s mind, preoccupying and consuming his entire being. In the process, man forgets the beauty of nature in his life full of “getting and spending.” Wordsworth’s insight into the relationship between man and nature transcends his time on earth. He saw that man’s materialistic progress will find a dire consequence in the destruction of the environment. Basing his observation on the ill effects of the Industrial Revolution, Wordsworth foresaw that man’s shortsightedness will persist and continue to wreak havoc on nature.

Nature, however, may not necessarily be as helpless as it seems. The dire consequence of man’s irresponsibility will reverse its trend. This change will not be initiated by man himself, as he is too blindly preoccupied with his materialistic pursuits. This overturning of fate will be done by nature itself. So, really, in the relationship between man and nature, man is the one that is helpless when nature turns its wrath upon its destroyer.

William Wordsworth wrote an ominous prediction of the effects of capitalism, consumerism, greed, and global economics as they have brought about environmental degradation. The price to pay is now happening. Man is already paying the consequences of all his “getting and spending” at the expense of nature that has already been destroyed. Wordsworth’s words are
perpetual and everlasting.

Today, the degradation of forest resources has worse effects on mankind than the current economic crisis. The loss of biodiversity brought about by deforestation translates to the extinction of many of the world’s flora and fauna species. Trees that absorb carbon dioxide and release oxygen are now dwindling in number. The grave effect is climatic disruption. An abundance of CO2 released into the atmosphere has caused greenhouse gases. The result is global warming and climate change.

Global warming is now a huge global issue. Rising temperatures have proven to have an adverse impact around the world. Sea levels are rising, threatening to inundate, even obliterate, small island nations and erode coastal soils. Global warming also affects rainfall patterns, contributing to heavy rain and floods in some regions, while causing droughts in others. Climate is now unpredictable and behaving both erroneously and erratically.

Developed nations like the United States and developing economies such as China contribute significantly to the greenhouse gases that cause global warming. Pollution from motor vehicles’ smoke and the burning of fossil fuels in power plants and industrial processes are the culprits. Pollution from substances like chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) and methyl bromide, coming from car exhaust fumes and burning of fossil fuels in power plants, have contributed to the depletion of the ozone layer.

Man’s greed is also affecting the seas and ocean. Overfishing has resulted in the depletion of marine resources. Other harmful fishing methods are causing the near-extinction of sea creatures. Pesticides and industrial wastes that get into the waterways are also killing marine life. These have also killed the world’s coral reefs.

I completely agree with William Wordsworth’s assumptions as I see today the proof of his angry prediction. I also agree to the fact that man has not changed his materialistic attitude and behavior, but the world has changed. Nature has been reduced to a state that is a far cry from what it used to be. I also know that nature has turned its wrath on man who is now paying the price of what he has done to nature. Environmental degradation results from the overexploitation of renewable resources due to man’s greed. Man’s pursuit of material wealth, fired by his materialistic ambitions, has destroyed nature.

Wordsworth has been right all along. Man is irresponsible as to see that he destroys the very resource from which his material wealth comes from. He has been ignorant of his destructive ways. Nature has been helpless all that time. But things have changed. Nature has overturned the situation. With nature’s revengeful wrath, it is now man that is helpless.

Each day brings with it some new green surprise. It is indeed a delight to see the number of ways the human mind can devise to work around Mother Nature without hurting her or lowering our style of life. Welcome Zweitsinn, a German word that means a second meaning. Well, an eco-friendly effort too goes by the same name that is actually a collective formed by many waste companies, designers and small German manufacturers all supported by the University Dortmund and a government foundation called DBU. And must we add, their work is true to their name.

Zweitsinn endeavors to make products, please read ‘furniture’, only out of recycled goods. If you visit their official website, you can learn the actual figures of the CO2 they have managed to save during production, without compromising on style or design. Trust us, you will be impressed.

The Zweitsinn project earned international recognition at the Colognes IMM 2009, where some of the furniture pieces were exhibited. We liked their retro inspiration that was more than evident in the massive wood pieces and integrated flower boxes. The cushion sofas are awesome!

Via zweitsinn

There is always speculation that will going green eventually mean moving around in your birthday suit? Well, that will soon be the scene if the video Pants Exposed: Know What’s in Your Kickers is anything to go by. Created by Jenny & Verity White of Eco-boudoir, this advert in public interest shows how your underpants scar nature.

The lack of sustainability in the textiles industry has been an issue with environmentalists but in all honesty, we had not expected such a sexy medium to bring awareness among the masses. And let’s be a little clear that Pretty Knickers campaign does not really ask us to go commando but it tells us to pick a better and informed alternative.

Also, we think that the video deliberately showed sexy lingerie because isn’t that the most popular kind, and from what it looks like causes maximum damage. Eco-boudoir is selling a pair of bamboo knickers for $60, which really is huge. So, we suggest that why don’t you do some research on your own and keep us posted on that too.

Via morethanprettyknickers

Werner Herzog’s film Aguirre, the Wrath of God (made in 1972) will always be counted among one of the finest and magnificent films ever made. The theme of the film and characterization of Aguirre will find a special mention for time immemorial in the history of film-making. 

Amazingly this film on greed and ambition of a man for wealth, fame and power and ultimate descent of man into self-destruction, brutality and total insanity in his mad pursuit of the same is so relevant even this day. This film has no wings of human fantasy. The expedition which goes in search of El Dorado, the land of gold and to spread word of God looks so similar to many undertaken in the human history for years. Wars have been waged, battles have been won, and man has conquered Land and Nature by simple brute force fuelled by mad ambition to rule. Also Nature too has humbled man by equal force, if not more. Another subtle important truth that comes across in the film is that religion cannot tame human greed but rather can become a manipulative tool for the strong in the ultimate conquest.

On the last day of the year 2008 when world is sinking deeper into financial crisis due to ever-dominating trait of greed and ambition of human beings, this film indeed is a must-watch for all those who want to deconstruct darkness and brutal aspects of human soul.

In what was initially a frightening and then very intriguing experience, Researchers at the University of California, Los Angeles, have concluded that peeling out an ordinary scotch tape in vacuum can generate X-rays intense enough to create an x-ray image of one of the scientist’s hands! While the initial fears were obviously about how this would affect the use of scotch tape in daily lives and if we would be affected by them, it was later confirmed that the intense x-ray production occurred only when the tape was used in vacuum.

Known as triboluminescence, this kind of phenomenon generally takes place when one causes a friction between crystal surfaces. While exactly why this is exaggerated in vacuum to produce x-rays of such high intensity is unknown for now. The scientists at the university are still working on how this could impact the field of x-ray as the basic cause of the effect is not yet known in detail.

One of the exciting and yet highly disturbing reports from the research is the claim that the high charge density generated by peeling the tape could be great enough to trigger nuclear fusion. If that is true, then we could see the unraveling of a whole new nuclear race towards nothing but destruction. For now though, nuclear fusion experts say that this would be highly impossible. Now who ever thought that just using scotch tape was this complicated… Phew!

Via: nature / zamazing

At first glance nearly everyone out there would get astounded over this headline since nobody would have ever thought of reading or writing to be such a nature savvy experience? Actually it’s an emblematic human propensity that whenever something innovative comes out of someone’s intellect we confer it awfully apprehensive look.

But this time in reality I have come across an exceptionally amazing, risk-free green novelty which would irrefutably be greeted by every single one. As it is an exquisite blend of artistically hip and gratifying green views, it would be acceptable to just about each and every faction of society.

In fact a Brooklyn-based company named “Five and a Half” has initiated a green initiative of practicing maintain able periodicals and journals in the creation of which not even a single tree or a being is debilitated. These long term preservable journals made out of sugar cane trail fibers and used off secondhand paper are apposite for all ink, paint, pastel, charcoal and graphite writing on them.

I guess that this out of box green thinking publicized by “Five and a Half” would soon become a regularized ingredient of our daily lives.

Via TrendHunter