A Better Paper Plate

Disposable table-ware is a pet peeve of mine.

Don't get me wrong. It's not paper plate snobbery we're talking about here, nor a save-the-earth kind of thing. There's a time and place for Dixie-ware, and in some situations doing the dishes can simply be impractical, or downright impossible.

The problem, really, is that paper plates can be simply ugly. My never-ending tower of Costco cardboard dishes that sits somewhere in the garage might feel right at home at a picnic, but it kills me to put them out at home when every other detail has been thought through.

It's an issue of practicality over design.

In a world of ever increasing design possibilities, I have long wondered why no one has tackled this conundrum.

Except, clearly, I just wasn't looking in the right places.


This is Japanese designer Shinichiro Ogata's stunning new take on disposable table settings, by his design house Simplicity.

A fully developed line of dishes, serving trays and cups, not only is it practical, it's also biodegradable, making the need to toss it in the garbage slightly less guilt-inducing.

You can buy these over at A+R.

Sure, for the price they probably won't replace the Costco stack for every occasion. But when aesthetics matter, I can see picking some of these up.

If you're looking for modern stuff for your home, the A+R store is a dependable source for things you simply won't find at your big chain home goods store.

The Evolution of Hippy Solar Cells

I have a love-hate relationship with solar panels.

I love what they do (in theory). I hate what they look like (in actuality).

With oil prices falling along with the global economy, time will tell if renewable energy still draws the attention of our next president. That said, the solar energy industry is finally releasing itself from the shackles of outdated designs.

The biggest problem with old-school solar panels has always been the need to aim them precisely in order to get any of the sun's power into them. Hence their often haphazard placement of them with little-to-no aesthetic thought put into it.

Say goodbye to panels, and hello to adaptable and, FINALLY, more design-oriented thin-panel solutions.


While these solar coils are meant for commercial building roofs, it's easy to see how this design could be incorporated into modern building exoskeletons and even into residential buildings.

It's a step in the right direction. If mass-produced, they have the potential to be less of an eyesore, cheaper and easier to install. Assuming energy prices rise over the longer term, the economic arguments may finally develop to give building owners realistic incentives for retrofit old buildings.

The devil as always is in the details, so don't expect to see stuff like this on the massive scale we need anytime soon.

It does give hope that the technology is finally catching up with the times. It makes sense to integrate innovative solar solutions into the things we build, without having to completely sacrifice design.

Big River or Big Hose, You Decide.

This summer's Denver Water conservation campaign has been absolutely brilliant.


In case you haven't gotten the message, they're not giving up on your drippy faucet just yet!


Kudos to the clever folks at Sukle Advertising & Design for thinking outside the box this summer!

Rain for McCain

If you've been through a Colorado drought, you know how tense water rights in the American Southwest can be.

My guess is John McCain assumed the distraction of OIL! OIL! OIL! and a year of abundant snows in our mountains would be a good time to support the unsustainable urban sprawl in his corner of the dry desert southwest.

Apparently the Arizona senator thinks Colorado should be a bit more generous.

The reaction here has been averse, to say the least.

Facing a Haircut in the Mountains

With bark beetles notably browning the pine trees here in Colorado, I have wondered how ski areas were going to respond to the sheer devastation of their slopeside canopies.

One of the defining draws for Colorado, our ski resorts depend on the idyllic mountain image people have for their winter and summer holiday escapes.

With all the trees drying up and setting up the potential for catastrophic wildfires, how do the ski industry and the Forest Service intend to regenerate vegetation and protect what needs to survive?

The Colorado Independent has some answers, some of which are a bit disheartening.

The Colorado visitors see in a few years may be very different from what they might expect to see.

Normally I'm a very suaaaave flower...

It comes as no surprise for us Denver dwellers to be told to save our water.

Rarely have they done so quite as cleverly:



Check out the rest of the ads and the swag over at UseOnlyWhatYouNeed from the wet folks over at Denver Water.

Bonus points if you find the reference for this blog post title. The running toilet is pretty darn clever too.

Spread the word, brother, it's a good cause.

Guzzling Your Gas More Efficiently

From NPR's All Things Considered today:

Here's a quiz. Which saves more gas: trading in a 16-mile-a-gallon gas guzzler for a slightly more efficient car that gets 20 mpg? Or going from a gas-sipping sedan of 34-mpg to a hybrid that gets 50 mpg?

Check out the answer HERE.

You may be surprised.

Beyond changing the way I will look at buying my next car, it raises interesting questions about the metrics used by the government and the car industry in general.

When is the last time your car actually met the miles per gallon benchmarks they sell you on?

I know mine never have.

Another Katrina, Far From Home

It's easy to suffer myopia when calamity hits on the other side of the world:

Flooding in the outskirts of the Burmese capital of Yangon

In the shadow of the media slam that was Hurricane Katrina, the relative murmur with which we have reacted to Tropical Cyclone Nargis that slammed into Burma this week has been disappointing.

Admittedly, with a military dictatorship that did little to warn the Burmese people of the oncoming storm and that is now hampering international aid efforts, some might say there is little that can be done right now.

That does not diminish the fact that more than a million people are now homeless with death tolls ranging in the tens of thousands already.

Before and after satellite imagery of the devastation in Burma this week.

This devastation is quite simply another Katrina, if not worse, even if it is as far from home as you can get.

UPDATE 5/7/08: U.S. diplomat: Cyclone toll could be 100,000: Officials say corpses are floating in the water as Myanmar disaster grows

Glasslight

A clever idea from a young Australian industrial designer could change the way we look at windows in our homes, while providing an eco-friendly energy solution. According to Core77 Damien Savio has figured out a way to merge a window with solar lighting.

No word on how well you can see through the Lightway during the day, but six hours of 60w strength ambient lighting is night is pretty amazing. You can even take one of the panes and play sci-fi explorer using it as a uber-modern flashlight.

Of course, the window itself is just a concept and Savio is working on the patents and stuff (silly lawyer things). But the idea alone merits interest, even if I will probably complain about the light quality.

So far, my experience with eco-friendly lightbulbs has been anything but bright:

Our annoyingly dim compact fluorescents have been properly banished to the garage.

Mexico hit by devastating floods

Mother Nature is having a field day with us in the Western Hemisphere.

With fires scorching California last week, and a tropical storm wreaking havoc on Caribbean islands, a new catastrophe is now unfolding in the Mexico.

A week of torrential rains has left 70% the gulf coast state of Tabasco covered by devastating floods. This has devastated the state's public service infrastructure and is affecting more than a million people already.

Mexican president Felipe Calderon is calling this "one of the worst natural disasters in the history of the country."

Emergency personnel are desperately trying to evacuate people as the water levels are expected to continue rising with additional heavy rains in the next few days. Cholera epidemics are becoming a concern as food and drinking water becomes scarce.

To put the enormity of these floods in perspective, we're talking about an area larger than the U.S. state of Connecticut currently under water. As of today 300,000 people are estimated trapped in their homes, and a full half of the state's 2.1 million residents are currently affected by this massive natural disaster.

Above the Southern California wildfires

With almost ONE MILLION people evacuated in Southern California tonight, we are talking about the largest mobilization of Americans since the Civil War.

It is a natural catastophe of epic scale.

This is what happens when urban sprawl, overgrown lands, and an enduring drought converge: