Jigsaw modular office furniture

When buying furniture, you never know what the future will hold. From an increased workload to adding bundles of joy to your family, anything can happen. Having furniture that is flexible, sustainable, and attractive is quite difficult to find. Thankfully, there is the Jigsaw collection.

Made from top quality FSC-certified Baltic birch, the interlocking tool-free joints are easy to assemble as well as being strong. With two finished to choose from, as well as a number of available mix-and-match pieces, your work area will look streamlines and be light on the Earth. No matter what the future holds for you and your home office, you will be prepared.

PassionFly Stationery

We love it when creative entrepreneurs make beautiful products AND give back to the environment.

PassionFly is a Nevada-based fine art stationery company dedicated to preserving the beauty of natural wonders. This eco-friendly startup just informed us that they've selected The Nature Conservancy's Muddy River Project to receive its first business donation to help preserve that slice of wildness originating in Nevada’s Moapa Valley.

Passion for Nevada’s desert wetland and riparian habitats, and a desire to share the unique beauty of wild places and creatures inspired founder-designer Anne Johnson to develop her PassionFly business. 10% of PassionFly's annual profits go towards funding the U.S. wildlife conservation.

Check out Anne's artfully printed stationery at PassionFly.

LA's South Central Farm

The largest farm within LA's city limits was destroyed on June 13th after a long battle with city officials. South Central Farm, which used to sit on 14 acres of property located at 41st and Alameda Streets. Over 300 local farming families fought the eviction for over 3 years finally having a sit-in wich included stars such as Darryl Hannah. The plot of land had been bought by an industrial company for nearly $5 million and they want to put a warehouse on the land.

Other that being a sad event, why is this important? The same thing could happen to local farms all over the country. In our society, money talks and you never know when your local community garden could be the victim of such a sale. Not all hope is lost of the South Central Farm. On July 12, the Farmers and community will go to court to fight the legality of the sale of the land.

Showing your support for the farmers will help the city see just how important open plots of farming land are, whether in cities or suburbs. According to their official website, the SCF needs, "donations of new [farming] supplies and food for both volunteers and Farmers as we continue to hold down the perimeter of the Farm should earth movers come. Small bulldozers have already torn through the plots but it is far from lost."

Bicycle Film Festival

Do we really need another reason to get outside? Add this one to the list: the Bicycle Fiml Festival. Now in its sixth year, the event has been getting more popular each time around (no pun intended). With over 17,000 pedal-pushers coming out last year, the organziers are expecting to beat that number with this year's tour. Having already stopped in NYC and LA, there are still seven other cities left to be visited. Next on the list is Minneapolis in July, followed by Chicago, London, San Francisco, Sydney, Tokyo, and Milano.

Be outside, support "alternative transportation", see some good movies, and meet other cool people - what's not to love?

[Image courtesy of flickr.com user everyday_i_live]

An Inconvenient Truth

It's been along time since Al Gore has been in the spotlight. During the infamous hanging chad period, I sat at my studio desk in design school, clicking 'refresh' on CNN's website every couple of minutes, waiting for the latest in election results. I wasn't alone either. A good majority of student in studio that night were glued to their computer monitors instead of their design projects. It wasn't necessarily because we thought Gore would be a perfect president, but rather that without him, our country would miss out on intelligent insight and a genuine advocate for the future.

Well, Al, we're glad to see you back in the spotlight with your new documentary film, An Inconvenient Truth. We especially appreciate that your views on the environment are not all gloom and doom. Thank you for raising awareness about the planet in a manner that's hopeful, inspirational, and truthful.

Directed by Davis Guggenheim and featuring Al Gore, An Inconvenient Truth is now playing in theaters.

Yoga and the environment

Many environmentalists have an interest in spiritual matters. You can usually find like-minded eco-folks at your local yoga studio. Even the basics of yogic study cover the ideals of caring for the planet and all its living creatures. Why then are so many yoga studios not running as eco-friendly businesses?

The Green Yoga Assocation is addressing that question directly. As their website states "Illuminating the green basis of yoga helps us to deepen into the ultimate meaning of yoga as union. Yogis have always known that all life is interconnected, and that we must treat all beings, even the elements of nature, with tenderness and respect. Our work is to awaken this great teaching in our lives, and to share it with the world." As fellow environmentalists, we want to make sure that each action we take is one that doesn't harm the planet.

Even during your practice, there are ways to help the environment, such as with the mat that you use and the clothing that you wear. Here are some eco-friendly companies that provide yoga goodies:

+ Blue Canoe
+ Inner Waves Organics
+ Prana
+ Vickery
+ Pangaya
+ Hugger Mugger
+ Jo-sha Wipes

[Image courtesy of flickr.com user Jennifer Esperanza]

P1UON

Leave it to an interior designer to come up with jewelry as yummy as a well-designed home. My favorite is the glass Rancher Necklace, reminiscent of the jolly candy.

"Artsy-fartsy" since she was a kid growing up in the Bronx, P1UON's creator, Rebecca, makes handcrafted accessories for P1 Unless Otherwise Noted as a stress reliever and creative outlet. Her career as a corporate interior designer offers exposure to an array of inspiring materials and textiles. Each item is unique and comes from an overflowing stash of vintage and new textiles, buttons, glass, and other random materials.

And what's the significance behind the name? It's an interior designer thing.

Check out P1UON's new website for more of Rebecca's creations.

Luxury on a Budget: Biodegradable Plates

Uh-oh. The attendee list is growing and you'd hate to risk breaking your fine china for an outdoor gathering. What to do when your dinner party exceeds the number of place-settings you have? Bamboo Veneerware is there for the rescue. It's many times nicer and stronger than using paper plates. Your guests may not even know that they are paper plate alternatives, which are 100% eco-friendly, affordable, and biodegradable. Starts at $7 for a set of 4 plates and is available in matching serving trays, too.

Car sharing services

With the high price of gas, it is easy to see why a number of folks are looking for transportation alternatives. Simply owning a car can be an expensive endeavour when you factor in title, taxes, insurance, maintenance - just the thought of it makes me wallet run & hide.

Affordable, flexible alternatives to traditional car rental companies have been popping up all over the States, as well as overseas. Most of these services are designed to help those that live in the covered areas, but some can be taken advantage of when traveling as well.

+ FlexCar is available in the following areas: Seattle, Portland, San Francisco Bay, Los Angeles, San Diego, Washington D.C., and Chicago. With 6 different vehicle types and flexible rate options, this company is quite well established. They even offer rental plans for businesses and organizations.
+ ZipCar has a number of cities covered as well, including the San Francisco Bay, Minneapolis, Toronto, NYC, Boston, Washington D.C., and Chapel Hill in North Carolina. Insurance is included in your monthly rental fee, they also offer 2 different personal driving plans. You can also save even more money by joining a group or business plan.
+ City CarShare is only available in the San Francisco Bay area, but they offer a number of the same options that you can get with the above mentioned companies.
+ GoGet CarShare is the major carshare service in Australia. With over 20 locations in the Sydney and Melbourne areas, finding an available vehicle should be no problem. If there isn't a location near your place, you can register your interest on their website.
+ Streetcar has so many locations in the major UK areas, it is hrd to keep track of them all. Registering your interest for a location near you is also available on this site. The London area currently has the most locations, with Brighton and Southampton on the list as well; availability in Bristol & Oxford will soon be added.

These are some of the more well-known services, but companies are popping up in cities all over the US, so search the internet or phone book to see what is available around your home.

Have you ever used a car sharing service? What was your experience like? Know of any good services that we didn't mention? Let us know!

design:e2

Starting June 2nd, PBS will be showing a new series called design:e2. Also known as The Economies of Being Environmentally Conscious, this show tackles complex issues facing the environment by focusing on challenges, as well as solutions, by visionaries across many fields shaping the future of how we live. This ambitious project by kontent>real breaks the boundaries of traditional environmental realms. It is as much about design, technology, and the production of culture as it is about green issues.

design:e2 focuses on architecture, buildings, and the environments in which we live, work and play. Future e2 series will cover water, energy, food, transportation, botanicals, health, and textiles.

We'll certainly be watching design:e2 because it shares our green modern philosophy. It also doesn't hurt that Brad Pitt will be narrating either.