Posts Tagged ‘plastics’

Vintage Jewelry with a “Buzz Buzz” Twist

Kristen Billings, the founder and sole designer of Buzz Buzz Designs, believes “fashion doesn’t have to take itself too seriously.” She is inspired by vintage costume jewelry pieces worn by women of the 1920’s through the 1970’s who boldly showcased their individuality and personalities through their style.

The low cost of Lucite, a type of plastic invented in the 1930’s, gave all women the opportunity to feel glamorous and look beautiful without mining the Earth or hefty price tags. Plastics can be harmful to the environment if they are not disposed of carefully, so Billings does her part to save the planet by salvaging and reusing the materials in her modern designs.

DVDs, CDs Could Fight Climate Change

A CD. (Image courtesy of Wikimedia Commons user Ubern00b.)Pretty cool: two separate groups of researchers at the annual meeting of the American Chemical Society have outlined a way to use carbon dioxide emissions as a starting material for making CDs, DVDs, beverage bottles and other polycarbonate plastic items. “Using CO2 to create polycarbonates might not solve the total carbon dioxide problem, but it could be a significant contribution,” says researcher [...]

Bamboo Reboot: IT Fair Unveils Bamboo Laptop

Bamboo. (Photo courtesy of Erin Silversmith.)Taiwanese company ASUSTeK Computer, this week, unveiled a laptop computer encased in bamboo rather than plastic. The Eco Book, on display at the CeBIT conference in Hanover, Germany, is set to go into production this June.

Environmentalism in Singapore

julie.jpgJulie Chow: Environmentalism in Singapore | The first impression most people have when they think of Singapore is cleanliness. Hand-in-hand with the anti-gum-chewing rule, it is not an unfair assumption, given the island-city-state’s patriarchal government and tropical climate (palm trees and greenery cover the island in abundance.)

Here is something that might surprise you though: Singaporeans don’t recycle. Or if they do, it’s not as blatantly apparent as in the United States. Occasionally, you’ll see a receptacle on the street that is divvied up into plastics/metals, paper and waste, but for the most part, everything gets tossed into one big trash can. Trash shoots aren’t sorted into blue recyclables and black everything-else-goes here. I remember once during the summer, I was sorting trash while at work when my boss came up to me and asked what I was doing. Apparently it’s all just trash over there — nothing specific about it.

Lately, however, there has been a growing concern in the country, due to rapid industrialization and urbanization. Over recent months, the government has been giving the country a massive developmental face lift, introducing towering high-rise apartments and chicly designed shopping plazas to rival those of Paris, Tokyo and New York City. There are more plans to introduce casinos (”integrated resorts”) and a Formula One race track — all for the sake of drawing more tourists to Singapore and boosting the country’s economy.

Green Family Values: Kid Powered Toys Harness Your Child’s Energy

If you have children, you know that they have boundless amounts of energy. It only makes sense to use this energy to power toys, and Zen Design Group has come up with a line of toys that does just that. These "environmentally friendly," kid-powered SEE Toys will be available online September 15.

SEE Toys has created five different kid-powered toys: Dyancar, Dynatiger, Dynafly, Dynashark, and Dynadolphin. SEE stands

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