Try Harder My Love

I follow a lot of online happenings. It’s a big part of my world. This rosy red morning, a poster made its appearance all over my world. Many of you have told me that you enjoy the words I post. That makes me feel happy and loved. Thank you. I am a devoted writer, and I don't write for free (except here).

It doesn’t make me happy when something I've written pops up on another post, or in print without my byline.

When I can, I send a tactful note about recognition and attribution. Sometimes it slides away from me. Sometimes it makes a difference. Sometimes it doesn’t.

Along comes Pinterest and I fall blindly in love. Head over heels, I’m pinning away. I have two accounts, one for business, and one for pleasure. Inspiration is image driven, and I cannot contain my sincere love for the luscious photographs. In the blush, I try to find the source of my image affections and share pins with my world.

I will try harder.

How about you?

Please share with love.

New Year Wishes

Photo used with permission: Juliet R. Harrison Photography, viagra ed design: Lainey Fink

Clean Air Design: 5 Cool Picks

Can clean air design change the world? Like most artists, designers create objects for our families that reflect social and environmental issues and trends. To solve a health and environmental problem such as air pollution, designers are doing their part in creating homes, clothing, cars and communities that address the crisis.

The Moms Clean Air Force has been chronicling the hazardous connection between where people live and the environmental factors that expose children to pollutants that cause significant health risks, such as lung disease, asthma, lead poisoning, cancer, reproductive impacts, birth defects, and even heart attacks. Air and water are the primary conveyances of pollutants and toxins, but exposure can also occur through contaminated soil during the fracking process.

“Good air quality is key to promoting respiratory health...The main sources of air pollution are area sources (dry cleaners, lawn mowers, etc.), mobile sources (cars, trucks, off-road equipment), and stationary sources (factories, power plants, etc.). These different sources produce different types of pollutants that can cause problems for respiratory health, cardiovascular health, and cancer treatment. Locating sensitive land uses in close proximity to polluting facilities or major roadways can raise health concerns for sensitive populations. Some pollutants tend to have a greater effect over an entire metropolitan area and others drop off fairly quickly away from the source.” ~ Design For Health

5 Clean Air Designs

1. Car Removes 95% of Ozone Toyota has developed a material that can remove 95% of unreacted ozone or ground-level air pollutants from the air when used in an ozone filter. What does this mean? The future car you drive could clean the air instead of polluting it. Read more about this at Inhabitat.

2. Breathing Walls Plants have the ability to do more than just bring a hint of nature into your home. Plants absorb carbon dioxide and release oxygen during the photosynthetic process. Researchers found many common houseplants absorb benzene, formaldehyde, trichloroethylene, and other pollutants. Plants can improve indoor air quality. DIRTT Environmental Solutions created the Breathe Living Wall system for health and energy-savings. The wall lessens the load of ventilation systems, and introduces more healthful plants into living spaces. Read more about this at Top 10 Green Building Products.

3. Clean Air Communities Smart Growth designers and planners are designing communities that include plans for driving less. “With over nine million children in the U.S. suffering from asthma and millions more Americans who die each year due to high levels of air pollution, designing communities in ways that reduce traffic and encourage healthy options like walking and bicycling are crucial.” Read more about this at Smart Growth: Healthy Communities, Healthy People.

4. Buildings Eat Smog Buildings account for nearly 40 percent of America's energy use. Much of this energy comes from coal-fired plants and other dirty sources. Alcoa created EcoClean building panels with a titanium dioxide coating that interacts with sunlight and breaks down nitrogen oxide - the smog-causing compound. The process happens naturally when rain washes off a building. Alcoa claims that 10,000 square feet of coated aluminum would have the air-cleaning effects of 80 trees. Read more about this at Good.

5. Catalytic Clothes Purify Polluted Air OK, this one is my favorite. Catalytic Clothing has created a dress that can purify polluted air through a chemical reaction on the surface of the fabric. They claim the dress can reverse the environmental impact of air pollution!

“Exposure to airborne pollutants presents a risk to human health and also has a detrimental effect on ecosystems and vegetation…The widespread introduction of Catalytic Clothing would dramatically reduce the level of airborne pollutants, thereby improving the quality of life for all members of society.”

Check out this video featuring a model wearing an air purifying dress - background track by Radiohead. Read more about this at The Ecologist.

http://vimeo.com/24560187

Can “design thinking” imbue a wide spectrum of solutions to help in the air pollution crusade? You bet. Good clean air design can change the world! Want to join designers as they connect the dots between design, the environment and our health? The Moms Clean Air Force is an innovative community of parents devoted to finding creative solutions to keep our children breathing the clean air they deserve. Please help us design a future for our children free of pollution. Thank you!

Credit: Ben Scott

Bridge Chime: Whim Of The Breeze

Making the rounds of the design blogs is this absolutely amazing public sculpture of a giant, playful wind chime. Artist, Mark Nixon has created the Chimecco bridge chime. It’s a 600-pipe kinetic sculpture that hangs below a wooden bridge surrounded by woods. Chimecco brings music to a beautiful natural habitat. The sculpture is part of the Sculpture by the Sea exhibition in Aarhus, Denmark.

"Chimecco hides silently beneath the bridge in the forest until activated by human movements or the wind causing it to sing, dance and play with the senses."~ Mark Nixon

As people pass over the bridge, the chime gently sings. Chimecco is intended to be hidden, but the beautiful shape of the sculpture, lush location, and harmonious sounds, must draw many to the bridge.

Check out the chime in action in this breathtaking 360-degree panorama.

Photo credit: Mark Dixon

Not Your Typical Tag Sale

While some sing the praises of purchasing used stuff until the cows come home (or the horses, in the case of the tag sale I attended on Saturday), I am not a tag sale extraordinaire like many of my eco-cohorts. If pressed, I would probably choose a deeply-discounted sale, or a decent consignment shop like Designer Resale in NYC, or The Closet in Boston, over rummaging through tossed out duds on a lawn. But every now and then a tag sale whizzes across my radar, and a lonely abandoned chair winks at me, or some junk jewels shimmer in my direction.

A letter piqued my interest in Rural Intelligence, a fabulous online local resource for Berkshire, Columbia, Northern Dutchess (where I live), and Northern Litchfield Counties:

Dear Friends,

Having just had a “milestone birthday” and embracing some of the ideas from the book, The Happiness Project by Gretchen Rubin, I decided to do more than clear a shelf or a closet. In my usual obsessive way, I tackled barns and attics, my studio, and the basement. Whilst I am not quite going Zen in style (far from it), I am attempting to “declutter.”

This will not be the organized, “pretty” tag sale like the one I wrote about in Veranda Magazine a few years ago, but just your classic old fashioned yard sale, with a mix of things from garden hoses to some of my beloved ribbons and silk flowers. It has been hard for me to give up some of those, but this is an exercise in editing. There is a bit of everything.

If you are around the northwest corner of Connecticut, please stop by.

Best,Carolyne Roehm

What style-guru Carolyne Roehm did not mention in her note, was that a portion of the proceeds of the sale would be donated to Women’s Support Services. I recognized this as an absolutely prowl worthy eco-mission.

Zen style or not…Sign me up!

Now to be honest, I’m only vaguely acquainted with the rules of tag sales. For instance, I read this letter on Thursday, and Saturday around 11 AM I called my friend Juliet to see if she wanted to join me. I knew it would be right up her alley because Juliet is an equine photographer and Carolyne’s address was located in prime horse country.

We meandered through Dutchess County and into Litchefield, Ct. via a healthy lunch on the porch of the Red Devon Restaurant, which is named the best green restaurant in the Hudson Valley.

Any tag sale shopper worth her weight in recycled items knows that when a sale is slated for 9-4, you show up in an empty SUV by 8am. We landed at Carolyne’s around 2pm in my little Jetta Diesel.

We wound our way up the spectacularly stately, and stunning property. (Would you expect anything less?) Juliet jumps out of the car and starts taking pics of horses while mumbling under her breath, “These horses have such a wonderful life.” Bless her equine heart, but my eyes are peeled on the people walking back to their cars with bag loads of goodies. I am now chomping at the bit - worried that we are missing the whole shebang.

one-horse

I left Juliet clicking away and headed up the path to the “sale” barns where I was greeted by a “team” of helpers. One of those helpers turned out to be my friend and neighbor, Mimi. To make an already long story short, Mimi introduces us to the energetic, and ever so stylish Carolyne, and her lovely mother. A charming and serendipitous meeting.

After filling up my little trunk with fabric scraps, a serving tray, signature wrapping paper (not so eco, but the price was right), and a bunch of other knickknacks, some of which Carolyne gave us, we headed home basking in the glow of the thrill of the hunt.

Not your typical tag sale, huh?

Credits: Rural Intelligence, Juliet Harrison Photography, Ted Fink