Coloured Glass

"step away from that laptop, sir!"

Creepy story of the day: according to Greenpeace, your laptop is chockfull of toxic chemicals (hat tip: www.treehugger.com).

Apple's MacBook turned out to be the most contaminated; hefty quote from Greenpeace:

The scariest result of these tests won't be found in the lab, but rather in Asian scrapyards where young children dismantle these computers by hand, and are exposed to all of the toxic chemicals within them.

Ouch.

Here's the full report. And here's where to go to send a protest to Steve Jobs and HPs Mark Hurd.

don't drink the water

Just a quick note: check out this brilliant but scary piece from Slate writer Patrick Stack - on Potosì, Bolivia, one of the most polluted places on the planet, thanks to 500 years of mining for zinc, silver, lead, tin et al. A devastatingly matter-of-factly account. Telling quote:

"Next to the piles are small creeks in colors I've never quite seen before: gray, yellow, and red, with frothy piles of white sulfates on top. Running water is not supposed to look like an ice-cream float."

wonder walls

No, they're not dinosaur eggs.

The good people of TreeHugger.com dug out this fascinating piece of architecture, the J.M. Tjibaou Cultural Centre in New Caledonia, because it was among the "green architecture wonders of the world" highlighted in a BusinessWeek feature on sustainable building methods. The Tjibaou Centre is by Renzo Piano, one of our absolute favourites, and a prime example of respectful incorporation of local culture. Here's an explanation of how the structure mimics local tribal villages.

Just looking at those buildings makes me happier; but the rest of the article is quite encouraging as well, if a little technical. Seems like we're finally getting to the point where eco-friendly building is actually making economical sense even disregarding environmental benefit.  Apparently Piano was groundbreaking in this development. Go Renzo. Eating with your cutlery design, food will taste better tonight.

the green, green grass of home

yes, that's an actual wall of grass. In a German bank, of all places.

The company behind it is called indoorlandscaping; I found this green thingie over at designspotter.com, and just thought  it looked ... refreshing. Then I went to their website, and supposedly, having walls that are, you know, alive, does wonders for your air quality. Sounds nice. Also, besides using Jorge Luis Borges-quotes on their site - which wasn't quite what I expected from German eco-designers - they seem to actually have a pretty good grasp of design. This looks classy, at least.