I stumbled upon these really cool bracelets a while ago, and they have an interesting story. First, they are all hand made, and this takes hours upon hours to do. Second, the proceeds go to support the work of artisans in impoverished regions of the world (in this case, Indonesia). Third, the cans are literally trash that people found on the side of the road. I cannot stress enough how awesome that is. To me, at least. How about to you?

I mean, think about it. The thing you’re wearing on your wrist is a neat little trinket, but that’s not the whole story. It was made in a factory somewhere in the world and shipped to Indonesia, where it sat on a store shelf until someone decided to buy it. After drinking out of it, this stranger in a foreign land tossed it onto the ground, where it sat and created a blight on the landscape. Then these people come along, pick it up, make a bracelet out of it (of all things), then they sell it to you in North America. That’s a pretty amazing tale of misuse and redemption for the little guy, and I personally think that it’s really awesome to be wearing something on your body that was trash in Indonesia a little while ago. There’s just something uber-kitschy about that. Maybe it’s just me.

Yes, I understand that there are definite concerns over getting something from Indonesia instead of something that was made in the US or Canada. However, I think it’s such an interesting tale for a can to go on, that I’m just pulled into the fantasy of it like the sucker that I am. I mean, come on. It’s hard not to just let yourself go sometimes and let yourself be taken in by the cool stories of some of the stuff you can buy for yourself. These days. This can never saw it coming.

These bracelets are a great example of this, and they are a cool, fun way to get an environmentally friendly gift for yourself or someone else that won’t cost a fortune. The basic premise of the wrist bands is that they are made out of recycled t shirts. The shirts are cut into strips or strands of fiber, woven very tightly, and then strung together to form a bracelet. The result is a great, colorful mixture of old shirts that come together to give you a very unique product that will be different from any other that you can find out there. This is especially true with these bracelets since they are made out of uniquely different source materials, meaning it’s literally impossible to get two bracelets that look identical.

I think that that’s really one of the best things about buying “up-cycled” stuff– especially clothing. Not only are you getting something that is really great for the environment, but you are also getting something that is totally unique. I never really understood why people clamber for the latest fashions in magazines, when they’re really just going to end up looking like every other person that reads that magazine. Why not be a little more unique? And at this price, it’s really easy to get something cool for a price that won’t put you in the poor house. To me, that’s a win/win situation. I know that there are lots of people in my life that would love something like this.

With all we know about the damage that our trash does to the world around us, I think it’s great that there are so many great ways to turn trash into treasure. All you need is a little creativity.

I don’t really know what to say about these notepads other than that they should have been around 15 years ago when I was still in high school. They would have been a great way to stand out in a way that would have flown completely over the head of my school mates since, honestly, I think I was the only kid my age that was obsessed with Monopoly. If only they could find a way to make the money more useful too, and I’d be in heaven. Until then, I’ll just have to deal with using these, and you better believe that I’m going to blow a wad of cash on a few once I get my next pay check.

The premise is fairly simple: use old stuff to make new stuff. The general trend with things like this these days is to make use of old stuff that is a little different or that somehow breaks the mold. As you’d expect, buying notepads made out of old came cards is a really great way to get this effect, and it’s definitely a conversation starter.

That’s one of the things that I really love about things like this is that they make it a lot easier to start a conversation with someone. Even if you’re not trying to hit on someone– just start a conversation– it seems like the automatic assumption is that if someone is talking to you that doesn’t know you, they must be an insane lunatic. This way, I can talk about the cards instead of your weird Pac Man shirt in my awkward manner, making my day a whole lot simpler and a lot less stressful.

If you are interested in something great that can satiate your lust for strange, kitschy stuff, then this is the thing for you. Even if you don’t like board games all that much, just using the old cards themselves can be a great way to feel good about keeping trash out of the recycle and trash cycle. In a world where we’ll soon be getting all of our wind energy from China, I’d say that that’s an important thing to keep in mind.

Let’s get it straight first: they’re decommissioned. Second: land mines are absolutely horrifyingly evil. Over the course of our militaristic history, land mines have been used tactically to scare the opposing army out of trying to cross a specific territory. What the vile scum that laid these things into the ground never seemed to do was pull the terrible things out and get rid of them. Since the mines weren’t laid down in countries with highly developed infrastructures, the general mentality was that they should just be left there to blow the legs off of some kids while they play soccer in an old field.

Enter the many non-profits that work tirelessly and bravely to pull these things out of the ground and make life safe again for children and farmers. After all, why should they have to live with the constant fear that the next step they take could be their last? This model of jewelry is crafted out of the metal from the old land mines that are pulled out of the ground and decommissioned. They are specifically crafted by local artisans that are given a fair shake at getting a good price on something that they work hard on, further helping the local communities that were once ravaged by these land mines.

Everyone that reads this knows that I’m a huge fan of recycling. However, what you may not know is that I’ve been involved with a few non-profits over the years that work to pull these terrible things out of the ground. This is a great way to contribute to a cause, while simultaneously buying yourself a notable conversation piece.

The one thing that a lot of people complain about with steampunk is that it is a very distinctive style that doesn’t fit in with every single type of design scheme. After all, not everyone wants their home to look like the inside of the scientists workshop in Edward Scissorhands. Some people just want a touch of the style without having to revamp the entire way their home is laid out, and for them this is a tight rope to walk on. If you want to use some of this cool style, there are a lot of things that you can do to ensure you get the most out of the style without letting it take over your life.

The best way to do this is by using things that have “elements” of the steampunk design schema without being full-blown steampunk designs. One thing that I can think of would be this chess set that has been made out of car parts. This is not only a great use of something that would have otherwise gone straight to the dump, but it is also a really cool looking design that has a sort of steampunk flavor to it. As you can see with this thing, it’s very simple to get a little of the design elements you want without having to redo your whole design scheme. This is just one of many options you have at your disposal, and I predict there will only be more as steampunk designs start to catch on even more.

When you are buying organic cotton linens, you’re not just buying something that was farmed in a responsible manner. You’re buying something that is not going to contribute to the large number of skin conditions that are being attributed to these GM products. Furthermore, you are not going to be contributing to a system that abuses foreign farmers because they can get away with it. All of these things turn out to make buying organic cotton a very responsible choice not just on an environmental scale but on a human scale as well.

One of the best types of things you can get with organic cotton is towels. Not only do they take a lot of cotton to make, but they are covering your body when it is wet and therefore more likely to develop skin irritation. Our Green House has a load of different options for you to choose from when you’re buying organic towels. They really make the whole process much simpler to follow, and it is very easy to get exactly what you’re looking for when you use their site.

The thing that I really love about Our Green House is that they make it very simple to find a lot of different products for your home, and I use them quite often. It’s great that when you need something new for your house, or want to switch a current product you use for a more environmentally friendly one, you don’t have to do a ton of research to find something great. It’s all right there.

First, there’s Patrick Grady, who is an interesting character in his own right. He’s a great guy that actually cares about his clients, which is a whole lot more than you’ll get out of other types of people. He cares a lot about the work you’ll be doing with his barrels, and he really does care about the fact that he’s giving you a worthwhile product for your money. This is very important since a lot of people just give you something quick and easy that might not work for you. This is not so with Grady Barrels.

First, it starts with a great, quality barrel. What is really cool about these barrels is that they are all recycled from food-grade barrels. Grady doesn’t buy any new barrels for the transformation into the rain barrel they will turn into. He just takes old, used food barrels and repurposes them into something more useful. He went into this more with me recently at the Good Earth Homeshow in Eugene, Oregon.

He went into the whole process with me, starting with a barrel that he has rescued from a food company. The barrel he has with him at the show is made out of a food barrel that was carrying sunflower oil before he got a hold of it. He went through the process, and what really struck me was just how much time and effort he put into the whole thing. Not only has he done something great by reusing an old barrel that would have otherwise just been tossed into a landfill, but he has repurposed it into something USEFUL that doesn’t take a lot of work to do. If you want my opinion, Grady Barrels is a great company with a lot to offer everyone.

For me, they get a total thumbs up. Arms up. Everything up.

One of the important things that people who live in apartments have to consider is the smaller space, making it impossible to escape the smell of early compost. Early compost smells, and there’s really not a whole lot you can do to totally escape that, but you can surely mitigate it. One of the best ways out there that you can mitigate the smell of early compost, while also doing a lot to make great compost, is to use a composter that is designed to be used inside of an apartment. This means that you can compost for a small garden or a container garden without having to sacrifice the air quality of your apartment.

The specific model of indoor composter I’m talking about is the Fresh Air Kitchen Composter by Full Circle. This thing is different from other types of composters I’ve seen that are designed for indoor use, but the differences are all better. It’s hard to describe the design of the thing without sounding contradictory. On the one hand, they look very nice compared to the regular old box with a bunch of old food in it. On the other hand, it does just look like the same kind of storage bins you’d find in Target or some other place like that. It’s not some kind of super-fancy thing, but it is really a great option for people that don’t think that they have the ability to compost in a smaller home.

One of the great things about the “DIY movement” is that it has made more people reanalyze the type of things they do with their lives. Help make your soils better by recycling your kitchen scraps yourself.

For my part, I am very interested in art prints. I have a few pieces of art around the house that were made by local artists, but generally a piece of art has to really speak to me for me to be willing to spend a bunch of money on the original. I’m not so much of an art freak as I am an appreciator of good art. The only problem with this is that most poster or re-print companies use a lot of really nasty chemicals when they produce their prints, meaning that it’s bringing toxins into my home and that the poster will probably be around for a thousand years after I’m dead. While that may say something powerful about the timelessness of art to some, to me it means I don’t want it in my house.

Companies like Art.com offer a great way to get the art that you want with the specifications you need in order to be environmentally friendly. Not only are the inks based on soy, but the paper is all printed on either recycled paper or paper that is sourced from environmentally sustainable sources. It may not shake the foundations of the world, but it’s a great way to get the stuff that you want in life without having to pay a million dollars for it. All this while being quite eco-friendly– I like it.

If we haven’t talked about one thing enough, that would be bags. I have to admit that I don’t really use bags all that much for anything (other than my backpack), so that may be why there’s been a marked absence of them from the blog, but here they are. It’s their time to shine, so what do they have to offer? Well, for one, they have the Oasis bag– which should be more than enough.

What’s so great about the Oasis bag is that it is obviously made out of recycled materials, but it is also so much more than that. After all, there are a lot of bags out there that are made out of recycled stuff, but that’s not enough to sell everyone on a bag. You need it to look good too, right? Well, you get that with the Oasis bag, as there are a lot of really neat different colors and patterns to choose from. This stems from a few different things, but the two most prevalent are that the bags are handmade and they are made out of different types of remnants.

Not only will your bag be made by a unique person that can put their own creative spin on the bag, but it will be made out of unique materials with different patterns. This is great because it means that you will not be carrying around a bag that is also being carried around by a dozen other people everywhere you go.