September Artist:

CardboardSafari

CardboardSafari is a collaboration between Chris Jessee and Luis Rodrigalvarez. Find them on Etsy here.   Their delightful works include cardboard deer, bison, and rhino trophies, wreaths, gift boxes, holiday trees and full-body animals. Based in Charlottesville, Virginia, CardboardSafari's products are earth friendly, can be recycled, and are just plain fun.


September Resources:

All on the Internet.
 
Want to learn more about how other people are greening up their lives? Check out Best Green Blogs, a rather expansive directory of green and sustainable themed weblogs, organized by diverse categories. Writers from all over the world are publishing articles and stories dealing with a wide variety of topics dealing with environmental issues and green living; and Best Green Blogs is an attempt to capture some of that independent publishing spirit.

One blog featured on Best Green Blogs was Cheap Like Me, "where ecology (living green) meets economy (frugal living). This blog explores how to redirect dollars and energy into living the good life you want. Let’s talk about how we do it, and how to do it better."

...And the big fish needs to recycle too.  Creative Recycling Resources, based in the southeastern United States, strives to be a resource to dampen corporate America's eco-print. From Creative Recycling Resources's website:

The Information Age has created a virtual tidal wave of electronic devices – including computers and monitors that become obsolete or wear out at an ever-increasing rate. The demand for newer, superior technology has increased the pace at which current devices reach the end of their useful lives. As a result, the question of what to do with obsolete electronics has become a global issue. Disposal is not the answer. Computers and other electronics need to be properly handled by a responsible recycling company rather than being sent to a waste disposal company.

I thought

America is in the midst of a greenwashing craze. We lead stressful, busy lives. Do we really have the energy to read all of the fine print before getting to the checkout line? As a compromise, we are happily seduced by catch words we associate with being eco-friendly. “Organic,” “green” and “natural” appear more and more in product labels lingo. Unfortunately, there are not enough regulations in place to guarantee those tag-words mean what we think they mean (______ is good for you/your home/mother earth!)

Researchers from the University of Cincinnati have found a good argument for taking a few extra moments to look beyond the marketing to get the facts.

Cincinnati--Although lead content in paint has been restricted in the United States since 1978, University of Cincinnati (UC) environmental health researchers say in major countries from three continents there is still widespread failure to acknowledge its danger and companies continue to sell consumer paints that contain dangerous levels of lead. 

In a new study, Scott Clark, PhD, and his team have found that approximately 73 percent of consumer paint brands tested from 12 countries representing 46 percent of the world’s population exceeded current U.S. standard of 600 parts per million (ppm) for lead in paint. In addition, 69 percent of the brands had at least one sample exceeding 10,000 ppm. With the majority of American consumer goods being produced overseas, Clark says that lead paint exposure remains a serious global health threat. […]

Interested in learning about environmentally responsible paints currently on the market?

Mythic Paint
AFM Safecoat Paint
Durasoy Enamel Paint
YOLO Colorhouse Paint

August Artist: Edina ToKodi

Eco-minded street artist Edina Tokodi is putting a new spin on green guerilla tactics in the trendy art enclave of Williamsburg, Brooklyn. Tokodi’s site-specific moss installations of prancing animal figures and camouflage outgrowths are the talk of a local urban neighborhood typically accustomed to gallery hype and commercial real estate take-overs. Unlike the market-driven art featured in sterile, white box galleries, the work of Tokodi is meant to be touched, felt, and in turn touch you in the playful ways that her animated installations call to mind a more familiar, environmentally friendly state in the barren patches of urban existence.

Description and photos from: http://www.inhabitat.com/2007/10/24/urban-moss-graffiti-by-edina-tokodi/

August Resource: ReMida



Remida promotes the idea that waste materials can be resources. The center collects, exhibits, and offers alternative and reclaimed materials, obtained from unsold stock and rejects or discard materials from industrial and handicraft production, with the aim to reinvent their use and meaning. Remida is a cultural project that represents a new, optimistic, and proactive way of approaching environmentalism and building change through giving value to reject materials, imperfect products, and otherwise worthless objects, to foster new opportunities for communication and creativity in a perspective of respect for objects, the environment, and human beings.

Remida is a joint project of the Municipality of Reggio Emilia and AGAC (the gas, water, and garbage collection utility) and is managed by the Friends of Reggio Children Association. The center distributes materials (paper, cardboard, ceramic, paints, cord, leather, rubber, wood, and so on) to teachers of infant-toddler centers and preschools, elementary, middle, and secondary schools, as well as to educational and cultural associations, senior citizens' centers, sheltered workshops for the disabled, recreation centers, and so on. Remida also promotes and organizes workshops and training courses, seminars, exhibits, and conferences.

Description and photos from: http://zerosei.comune.re.it/inter/remida.htm