Walk into store full of gadgets and home goods, and you’re generally hard-pressed to find things like clocks, radios, calculators and lighting made with something other than plastic or unsustainably produced metal. If you do manage to score something made of wood, it’s probably a holdover from the paneling-obsessed 70s – not exactly stylish.

A company called Lexon is looking to put an end to that problem with minimalist, modern gadgets and home goods made from bamboo, corn plastic and LED lights. Items like the Mini Dolmen Radio, Dolmen LED light and Safe Calculator fit seamlessly into modern interiors, and are also purportedly eco-friendly (it’s unclear whether the bamboo is FSC certified, and then there are problems with corn, but we digress…)

Prices aren’t listed, but you can check out the whole collection on the Lexon Design website.

Link [Lexon Design] via [Alternative Consumer]

Since “going paperless” has proven to be a difficult challenge for so many companies despite their good intentions, printers are still an integral part of most offices. But even with waste-preventing practices in place, there’s still all that ink and wasted paper.

Enter the PrePeat, a new eco printer that uses zero ink or toner, and doesn’t even need fresh paper. With a special type of coated paper, the PrePeat can print on the same sheet again and again.

The manufacturer claims that the thermal printing head can erase the document and, in the same pass, print a new one on the same sheet without degradation in quality. No word yet on price, which will probably be considerably more than most of the printers currently on the market – but hey, once you factor in the cost of paper and ink it’ll probably be a great buy.

Link [Gadget Review] via [Pocket Lint]

The Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) seeks a Commercial Director for its Americas Regional Office [Seattle, WA].  MSC is the world’s leading certification and eco-labeling program for wild capture fisheries. Through its certification and labelling program, the MSC contributes to reversing decline in global fish stocks by identifying and rewarding and creating marketing incentives for sustainable fisheries.

Position Overview:

The Americas Commercial Director will lead MSC’s America’s commercial outreach team to deepen and strengthen the support and engagement in the MSC program throughout the North American seafood supply chain.  This includes work with existing partners to improve their experience and satisfaction with the MSC program while also creating new partnerships that build demand for MSC-certified seafood products.

Responsibilities:

The Director is responsible for design, implementation and management of the team’s efforts in the Americas to accomplish this, working with retailers, seafood distributors, foodservice operators, processors and importers.

The Commercial Director will also be required to develop and maintain excellent relationships with other key stakeholders within the conservation community, consumer groups and relevant government agencies.

The job holder will be an integral part of the MSC Americas’ regional team and will participate in the collective management and strategic development and actions of the organization in the region and worldwide.

Qualifications:

This is a tremendously exciting role with huge potential to make a real difference. It requires poise and maturity, exceptional presentational and communication skills, extensive business experience, excellent organizational and management abilities, proven leadership skills, and the ability to manage multiple obligations simultaneously.  See MSC for the full job description and list of desired qualifications, including 10 plus years of relevant experience.

Minimum Requirements:

Must have the right to work in the U.S; able to travel on a regular basis, up to 40%, and to work irregular hours.

Compensation:  Competitive salary, dependent on experience. 3 weeks annual vacation plus 10 holidays, health, dental, long-term disability insurance, 403B retirement plan, and option to participate in Section 125 cafeteria plan.

To Apply:

Please send resume and cover letter electronically by February 19, 2010.

Contact Information:
CD@msc.org
http://www.msc.org/

Link [Green Dream Jobs]

We’re living in an increasingly green world – but that doesn’t mean the green police are coming to take away all of the fun things in life. Or are they? A series of teaser videos from automaker Audi features dorky green police that bust people for environmentally unfriendly actions – including actual police officers idling in their squad car and drinking coffee out of styrofoam cups.

The videos are a preview for a 60-second Audi commercial debuting during the Super Bowl on Sunday to plug the A3 TDI, voted Green Car of the Year by Green Car Journal – a car that’s both green and fun to drive, according to Audi.

Check out these two (the rest are available on Audi’s Green Police YouTube channel).

If you’re on Facebook, you can watch the Super bowl ad in full right now on Audi’s page.

Link [Green Police] via [TheDailyTell]

High school and college students are more ecologically aware than ever, but a desire to help the earth doesn’t have to mean giving up your passion for art, literature, education and psychology to focus on traditionally “green” careers. More and more colleges are tying the environment to every program of study, including Vermont’s Green Mountain College.

The college’s director of communications, Kevin Coburn, explained it a bit to CTI Career Search:

“We offer the traditional majors and minors that you will find at a liberal arts college, like art, biology, history, education, psychology. If you are majoring in business, you are going to be concentrating a lot on sustainable business practices, like the triple bottom line for instance,” he said. “Every student that graduates has a very deep and broad grounding in environmental topics. Over the years we have developed a student body that takes sustainability very seriously.”

That is evidenced in a number of ways on campus, among them the Renewable Energy and EcoDesign Certificate Program, or REED, which was introduced in the fall of 2009. REED allows undergraduate students of any discipline to explore the renewable energy and green building fields. Like GMC’s ELA curriculum, the program is field-based and interdisciplinary.

While it is helpful to students who plan to pursue careers in the renewable energy or green building fields, it is open to any interested student as a means of enriching their knowledge of environmental and ecological issues. Students, in addition to receiving a certificate, can gain valuable job experience through working for credit on projects with the program’s partner companies, like Solar Energy International and Yestermorrow Design/Build School.

What an awesome approach to secondary education – this is exactly the type of mindset that we need from learning institutions, to encourage unity on issues affecting the earth.

Of course, it’s not too surprising coming from Green Mountain College, which is known for being ahead of the curve. GMC already has a “progressive program” in which students define their own educational goals, and it’s also home to the first ever distance Masters program in Business Administration with a focus on sustainable business. (There’s a distance Masters program in Environmental Studies, too!)

Link [CTI Career Search]

Some day, people are going to look back at the Hummer and wonder what the hell 20th-21st century humanity was thinking. This monster of a gas-guzzling “vehicle” favored by egomaniacs peaked during the bloated years of excess just prior to the recession and now, it’s on its way to being just as antiquated as the horse cart.

At least, that’s what artist Jeremy Dean wants to convey with his new project: a $15,000 Hummer H2 annihilated with power saws to resemble “Hoover Carts”, old cars that were reclaimed as horse carts during the Great Depression.

From Dean’s blog, Back to the Futurama, via Inhabitat:

Taking the logic of the past and putting it in the context of our current economic and environmental disaster, I am making my own satirical prediction of the future- Unless we come up with alternative fuel sources and rethink our reliance on a hyper inflated consumption based economy; we may be left with no other options than to hook our cars up to a horse.

Dean hopes to sell the work of art to recoup his life savings, which he spent on the project.

For everyone who has ever flicked off a passing Hummer, the idea of going buck-wild on one with power tools has got to be pretty tantalizing. It’s like a metaphorical castration of greedy, arrogant, planet-killing assholes – a beautiful thing in the eyes of many otherwise peaceful treehuggers.

Link [Inhabitat] + [Back to the Futurama]

Airport officials in London will have a really hard time building that planned third runway once Greenpeace is done building their “impenetrable fortress” right smack in the middle of the land intended for the project. The structure, located on one acre of Greenpeace-owned land, will house and protect airport expansion protesters.

But who’s going to design it? Greenpeace is holding a competition to find the right architect for this high-profile green building.

From Treehugger:

In fact the land is owned by more than 60,000 people. Calling it Airplot, Greenpeace bought the acre and then distributed the ownership which will create enormous legal complexities for the government when they try and expropriate. It’s an orchard and allotment garden now in the village of Sipson. Since the local council supports the anti-airport expansion battle, planning permission for the structure is likely to be granted quickly.

The competition’s brief says “This is a competition to design what could become the next front line in the fight against climate change. We’re looking for a structure that is immovable from which to block the diggers.” Engineers, artists, landscape designers and sculptors will be invited to submit proposals alongside architects. The public has also been invited to contribute their ideas. “Be creative, imaginative, off the wall.”

It’s true that if officials want the expansion to happen badly enough – and they’ve got national government on their side – eventually, they’ll probably find a way to get around this obstacle. But if nothing else, Greenpeace is causing them some major headaches and delays. It’s a fun and creative way to call attention to the issue, which is currently one of Britain’s biggest environmental battles.

Wondering why activists are against the airport expansion in the first place? It’s unnecessary, it will contribute to climate change, and it will destroy a number of communities, requiring the demolition of schools, pubs, shops and at least 750 homes. Learn more at StopHeathrowExpansion.com.

Link [Treehugger]
Photo credit: Greenpeace

Spend your spring in the sunny Carolinas! Positions are available for you to join an enthusiastic staff of instructors at the Environmental Education Center at YMCA Camp Thunderbird. We offer up to 24 different classes in Outdoor and Environmental Education that give children the chance to learn about the environment in a fun and positive atmosphere at camp.

The Environmental Education Center at YMCA Camp Thunderbird is located on the beautiful shores of Lake Wylie, SC. The camp is about 15 miles south of Charlotte, NC.

Responsibilities:

Instructors will lead lessons and activities such as aquatic ecology, forest ecology, compass, astronomy, high and low ropes. Instructors will also have opportunities to lead evening programs, assist in curriculum development, conservation projects and staff training. There are also opportunities to become high ropes head facilitators.

Qualifications:

Applicants must possess a BS/BA in Environmental Education, Biology, Education, Outdoor Education, or related field and an interest and enthusiasm for youth and outdoor work!

Compensation: As a member of the EEC staff you would be an instructor/naturalist starting at $240/ week with paid housing and meals, plus a $22/week insurance stipend and a free membership with the Charlotte YMCA. You would start our spring season beginning as soon as possible until May 21, 2010, with potential summer and fall employment available.

Internships available as well! Applicant must be pursuing a degree in the above mentioned fields. Interns earn $175/week with paid housing and meals plus a free membership with the Charlotte YMCA.

If you LOVE to work outside, have a sense of humor, enjoy working with children and being part of a team, know how to PLAY and have fun, join us!

To Apply:

Please send your cover letter, resume and 4 references (email preferred) to Annie Gresko.

Environmental Education Center at YMCA Camp Thunderbird
5 Thunderbird Lane
Lake Wylie, SC 29710

Contact Information:
Annie Gresko
704-621-7175 (phone)
704-716-4101 (fax)
Annie.Gresko@ymcacharlotte.org
http://www.campthunderbird.org

Link [Green Dream Jobs]

The ocean is swallowing their home – and it’s all due to the greenhouse gases emitted by oil, power and coal companies. So, the Alaska Native village of Kivalina wants Exxon, BP and others to pay the price for their sacrifice.

As the city of Kivalina makes plans to move two miles away because of the encroaching seas, they believe that those who caused climate change in the first place should pick up the $400 million tab. The village was protected by sea ice, but higher temperatures have caused the ice to form later and melt sooner, allowing storm surges to erode the coastline.

The villagers filed a lawsuit against two dozen defendants in 2008, which was dismissed by a federal court in San Francisco last year – but they’re not giving up that easily. Their attorney, Mike Pawa of Boston, is appealing the decision.

Kivalina’s case was based on the notion that the defendants not only directly contributed to climate change in a major way, but also intentionally misled the public about the consequences.

This sleeply little Inuit village isn’t the only entity pointing fingers this week in regards to climate. A new tape from Osama Bin Laden blasts the U.S. and other industrialized nations for causing climate change, which is beginning to brutalize the citizens of poorer countries.

Bin Laden is not exactly a figure that we environmentalists want on our side, but we can’t argue with his assertion that “drastic solutions” to global warming are necessary, and “not solutions that partially reduce the effect of climate change.”

Unsurprisingly, the terrorist mastermind doesn’t have a reasonable and rational suggestion, declaring that we must bring “the wheels of the American economy” to a grinding halt – something that probably involves explosives.

Of course, the insinuation that Bin Laden gives a shit about the environment and its people is laughable – it’s all a power ploy to lure the secular world into his extremist flock. Something deniers have been saying about Al Gore for years. Dun dun dunnnnn!

Link [The Huffington Post]
Photo credit: USCG Press

Of all the bacteria that we know by name, E. coli is among the most reviled – second only to, perhaps, methicillin-resistant staph (MRSA). It’s a nasty little bug, causing serious illness when transmitted to humans through food. But this deadly bacterium may just be the key to a new type of biofuel made from agricultural byproducts like wood chips.

California researchers, along with biofuel start-up LS9, claim that they’ve achieved a breakthrough in using genetically modified E. coli to convert non-food biomass into fuel.

From CNET:

Next week, LS9 will announce the planned location of a demonstration facility in the U.S. to convert sugar cane into biodiesel using an existing organism, said Stephen del Cardayre, the vice president of research and development at the company. That plant, which will use an existing microorganism, will open this summer and pave the way for large-scale manufacturing and sales in 2012, he said.

Its research with the University of California and the Department of Energy also focuses on a single-step biorefinery process. But researchers tuned another strain of e. coli that can work with different feedstocks, such as straw or wood. Those cellulosic feedstocks are typically harder to convert into fuel through fermentation than sugar cane or corn, but offer the potential of lower overall greenhouse gas emissions.

Considering the major drawbacks of growing plants for use as biofuel, innovations like these could transform the entire industry – if they work. It’s pretty amazing that we’ve been relying on fossil fuels all this time when we could have been using bacteria and waste products.

Link [CNET]
Photo credit: Think Geek