Modern Bamboo Becca Stool

Don’t forget to tune into The Lazy Environmentalist’s new show tonight on Sundance. For more info, click here. In speaking with Josh, I was able to find out about some new ways to be greener without breaking the bank or my back. Here’s a list of tips and links. A lot of these will be a big fat duh for most of you, but I realized I hadn’t thought about all of these things all at once in quite some time, and that new websites and ideas pop up everyday, so I thought I’d share. Please share any of your favorite resources in the comments section.

Brave Space Design Light Block

1) Save Water! Road Runner Showerheads. I told you about this last week. It’s the shower head that starts to drip once it warms up. To keep water from getting lost down the drain, put a bucket in your shower for that cold water you don’t want to use on your tender skin. You can use it for dishes, plants, flushing the toilet, whatever. We’ve been using this trick during the Atlanta drought for the past few years.

2) Solar Energy Can Be Yours! Unless you’re Ed Begley Jr., you probably can’t spend tens of thousands of dollars on solar panels to go completely off the grid. Solar City allows you to lease the panels long term, and to lock in an energy rate.

3) Use the Internet to Find Green Solutions! You can find carpooling buddies on Zimrides. You can get rid of stuff and find free stuff at freecycle.  You can swap games at Goozex & kid stuff at Zwaggle. You can get rid of electronics with free shipping and even receive cash back from Gazelle. In some towns, you can get paid to recycle. To find out more, check out RecycleBank and then hound your elected officials to participate. I’d like to add e-decorating to the list. Keep your cost down and your decorator’s gas usage down by checking out e-decorators. I highly recommend Turquoise in Los Angeles. Speaking of interior design…

e-decorating by Vanessa De Vargas of Turquoise

4) IF YOU DECORATE GREEN, EVERYONE WILL THINK THAT YOU ARE A BETTER PERSON! it turns out that 2/3 of people who own a Prius buy it for the “hey, the car I drive tells the world that I’m an awesome person” positive feeling. You can show off your awesomeness through your home too. You can find plenty of eco-friendly products at places from here at Design Public to Wal-Mart (click here to see all of the sustainable products we carry). Google makes it a cinch these days, just add “sustainable,” “eco-friendly,” or “green” to your product searches. I’ll be sharing some of my favorite sustainable products here at Design Public on a weekly basis just to show you what’s out there. In fact, I’ll pepper a few throughout this post just to show you how hot green design can be.

k studio Dog Pillow – Even Fido can be green. Hemp material isn’t just for Woody Harrelson’s suits anymore…

A few other green decorating moves you can make: When you are getting rid of stuff, donate it or use freecycle. When you are painting, if you are in Portland Oregon you can use Metropaint to get rid of your leftovers and to buy a range of recycled paint. Not in a place with Metropaint? Treehugger has a great list of low VOC paint brands here. Participate in FLOR’s return and recycle program for carpet. Check out Plyboo for beautiful bamboo flooring. Find resources in your area who offer non-toxic finishes, fabrics, and materials like stuffing for upholstery. By the way, these are much better for your health as well. Paul Urban of Baron in NYC is dedicated to finding green solutions to high end design questions.

As for the show, I saw the first three episodes and I loved them. Tonight features a skeptical dad who needs to cut down on trash at his barbeques, and a pet groomer who learns about everything from saving water to blueberry dog facials. My favorite part so far is the hip hop stylist in episode two. He’s a trip, and it’s fun to see him outfit a new artist in eco-friendly clothing and make fun of Josh’s style.

Speaking of The Sundance Channel, is there anyone who has not caught the bizarre Isabella Rossellini’s short film series? I can’t use the title here or else I’ll get spammed by every gross website in the adult industry for using the p–no word, but they are seriously the wierdest thing I’ve ever seen. Check them out here.

Graham and Brown Mode Enchant Wallpaper. For tree huggers in more ways than one…

What are some of your favorite sustainable products and websites? Please share with us!

all photos except e-decorating from designpublic.com. e-decorating copyright Vanessa De Vargas of Turquoise LA.

Josh Dorfman turns even the most skeptical trash-generating man around with a worm composter, sugar cane disposable plates, and reducing the need to sneak bags into the neighbors’ trash cans.

In honor of The Lazy Environmentalist’s new Sundance Channel show (it premieres tomorrow and it’s really good!), I’m trying to be less lazy about being green. One thing I cannot give up is magazines. Ironically, I write a design blog and read a ton of them online, but I just can’t sacrifice the glossy pages. I am careful to pass them along or directly recycle them, but I do realize I could be helping the environment by not contributing to the use of paper and the energy it takes to deliver them. However, this week I did do a few more things to be SLIGHTLY less lazy environmentally. I think taking baby steps is a good start.

Obviously I recycle, and I try to be careful about recycling plastic and cardboard food packaging. One thing I realized is that I change out the paper towels all the time. You have to understand, my dad was a sales manager for P&G for many years, and a lot of those years were spent in paper. Thus, I don’t usually even say “paper towels”, I just say “Bounty.” I was raised hard-core on the stuff. Anyway, I go through Bounty like it’s going out of style. This week I only used it for one little microwave McMuffin kind of thing because the instructions said to wrap it in a paper towel. Otherwise, it was all cloth napkins and dishtowels for me this week. Hey, it’s something. Now that the drought is over in Georgia, I will keep my water conservation going but I don’t have to freak out about every little item that needs to go in the laundry.

The other thing I realized was that I was not recycling the little cores from the toilet paper. I’m never going to be so environmental that I give up toilet paper, but I can at least make the effort to collect the little cardboard rolls and put them in with the other boxes, newspapers, and magazines.

What are some baby steps you have taken to help reduce your impact on the environment lately? Please share them in the  comments. I’m going to keep watching The Lazy Enviromentalist to find out what else I can do. Sitting on the couch in front of a funny TV show is about the laziest and most pleasant way I can think of to educate myself.

P.S. You can take a big step by buying sustainable products. All of the sustainable products design public carries are right here.

You know what? The crazy storms and resulting outages all day made me realize I should save the The Lazy Environmentalist post until Tuesday, so that it will remind you to watch the show that night. In the meantime, let’s have a few flickr faves today! This one comes from flickr member O!Rachew! and I just love it. This sideboard is styled perfectly. It could have gone so garage-sale wrong, but thanks to the perfect aqua typewriter on the tray, a few small books, and the hot silver desk lamp, it is tres chic and has the perfect Palm Springs modern vibe happening.

Thanks to everyone who contributes to our Fresh New Spaces group. Keep showing off with us!

Last night I found myself marking “add to faves” on almost every single one of laurasmera’s pictures. I’m a HUGE fan of clawfoot tubs, especially black and white, and this bathroom knocked me out. At first I was not digging the green tile floors, but they are growing on me:

Here is another clawfoot in a much more minimal bathroom (from laurasmera as well):

Speaking of clawfoot tubs, I have been failing miserably to enlist many members in a clawfoot tub Flickr group. If you have any clawfoot tub pictures, please add them to the group pool!

Thanks to laurasmera for adding so many great shots to Fresh New Spaces.

Don’t worry, this guy won’t get in your face.

Yesterday I had the pleasure of taking part in a conference call with Josh Dorfman, a.k.a. The Lazy Environmentalist. His new show will premiere on The Sundance Channel on Tuesday. I was able to screen the first three episodes and they are really well done. I’ll explain later, as I have to run to a meeting for a bit, so in the spirit of being lazy, I’m going to give you the three laziest tips he gave me for going a bit greener at home. If you are suffering from green ennui, let me put it to you this way: THESE TIPS WILL SAVE YOU SOME CASH!

1) Install a low flow showerhead. His personal pick is the Road Runner, which goes to a drip after heating up so that you don’t waste water while you are waiting the heat. Here in Georgia where we are just coming out of a very long drought, this is an especially imperative move you should make at home.

2) Get an Energy Star rated digital thermostat for your HVAC system. The Energy Star rated models have pre-programmed settings, and often you can receive incentives for making this move.

3) Have a meatless Tuesday. Meat production and consumption has a major impact on the environment, from grazing land to waste effecting our water systems, from processing to excessive packaging. He’s not saying you have to go vegan, but taking just one day a week to avoid meat will lessen the impact you have on the environment.