CasaSugar

Love It or Hate It? Global Warming Rug

CasaSugar — Wed, 28 Jan 2009 14:00:46 -0800

While I think that the NEL Global Warming Rug (inquire for price) makes an important statement, I can't imagine displaying it in my home every day - it would just be too depressing. However, maybe products like this are the necessary kick in the pants we need to start being more proactive about climate change.

Midday Muse: Flooded London

CasaSugar — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 12:00:44 -0700

Some climate change models indicate that many of the planet's coastal regions will be underwater in the next 50 to 100 years. Deciding to put a positive spin on this rather dreary prediction, media production company Squint/Opera used a combination of photography and digital modeling and manipulation to create an altogether surprising vision of the future.

The company's images, which were presented as part of London Festival of Architecture 2008, show Londoners fishing from parking structures, playing near submerged sidewalks, and completing high dives from St. Paul's Cathedral. What's your take on these images?

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Casa Verde: Designing For Climate Change

CasaSugar — Wed, 18 Jun 2008 05:30:14 -0700

Architect Vincent Callebaut has designed a city that floats on the ocean and can house 50,000 people. Why? Given the projections for rising ocean levels due to melting ice caps, a lot of land, especially coastlines, will be under water in the 21st century. As Callebaut explains,

According to the less alarming forecasts of the GIEC (intergovernmental group on the evolution of the climate), the ocean level should rise from 20 to 90 cm during the 21st century with a status quo by 50 cm (versus 10 cm in the 20th century). The international scientific scene assesses that a temperature elevation of 1°C will lead to a water rising of 1 meter. This increase of 1 m would bring ground losses emerged of approximately 0.05 percent in Uruguay, 1 percent in Egypt, 6 percent in the Netherlands, 17.5 percent in Bangladesh, and up to 80 percent approximately in the atoll Majuro in Oceania (Marshall and Kiribati islands and step by step the Maldives islands).

To combat this loss of livable terrain, Callebaut proposes building his rather brilliant floating cities, called Lilypads. Each Lilypad can support up to 50,000 residents, and relies on a type of design called biomimicry, which uses shapes found in nature (such as the nautilus) and then imitates these designs and processes to solve human problems. In this case, the Lilypad design is inspired by the shape of the water lily. It is half terrestrial and half aquatic, and includes features such as lagoons that purify rainwater. The city relies on renewal technologies such as solar and wind power, and is designed to float on gulf coasts. Even cooler? The city's tiatium dioxide "skin" is designed to process CO₂ in the atmosphere, thus helping to reduce climate change.

While this city is still in the very hypothetical stage, I find it reassuring that there are architects diligently working on ways to deal with these possible issues. It's especially heartening when such a beautiful design is presented.

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Casa Verde: The Svalbard Global Seed Vault Opens

CasaSugar — Tue, 26 Feb 2008 16:00:16 -0800

Today in Norway, the Svalbard Global Seed Vault opened its doors to the first deposits of what will eventually be 100 million seeds from over 100 countries. Seeds such as maize, rice, wheat, cowpea, eggplant, lettuce, barley, and potato were some of the first deposits in the seed vault. The Svalbard Global Seed Vault contains the most diverse and comprehensive collection of food crop seeds in the world.

Located on the island of Spitsbergen in the Arctic Circle, the vault was built 130 meters deep inside a frozen mountain. Its purpose is to serve as a library for food crop species that may become endangered or extinct due to climate change. The Svalbard Global Seed Vault has been built to ensure the safe storage of hundreds of millions of seeds for several centuries or more. Even if the worst-case scenarios of global warming prove to be true, the vault will remain naturally frozen for up to 200 years, thanks to its location in the Arctic Circle.

To find out what happened at the opening ceremony, and for a video about Svalbard, read more.

Norwegian Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg, along with the African Nobel Peace Prize-winning environmentalist Wangari Maathai, together placed the first seeds in the vault. European Commission President José Manuel Barroso, along with numerous dignitaries and agriculture experts, also deposited seeds during the ceremony, while music was provided by Norwegian musicians and choirs. Prime Minister Stoltenberg commented that, "With climate change and other forces threatening the diversity of life that sustains our planet, Norway is proud to be playing a central role in creating a facility capable of protecting what are not just seeds, but the fundamental building blocks of human civilization."

For more information on this important project, read more at Crop Trust.

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This Just In: Al Gore Wins Nobel Prize

CasaSugar — Fri, 12 Oct 2007 09:47:04 -0700

The Nobel Peace Prize was awarded today to Al Gore, the former U.S. vice president, and to the United Nations’ Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change for their work in educating the world about the dangers of climate change. I'm so proud of Al and the U.N. for their work on this issue!

If you're wondering what climate change has to do with Casa (and your casa), consider this: Commercial and residential buildings contribute 38% of the U.S.'s carbon dioxide emissions. Carbon dioxide is the main cause of climate change, which is already causing some pretty un-fun side effects in our lives, including wonky weather patterns and increased fires.

I know: depressing, huh? But I've always believed that dealing with a problem directly is better than letting it fester and grow into a mammoth, uncontrollable beast.That's why we should all try some small, simple ways to deal with curbing climate change in your home, such as replacing incandescent bulbs with CFLs and insulating our homes better.

And just to prove to you that energy efficiency and greening our homes isn't all doom and gloom, check out this inspirational Treehugger video about a green urban home.

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Casa Verde: An Inflatable Shower Curtain

CasaSugar — Tue, 21 Apr 2009 05:30:14 -0700

French textile design and applied arts student Elisabeth Buecher designed My Shower is a Green Warrior (prototype), which fights water overconsumption by slowly inflating around you while you shower, leaving you only a few minutes to take your shower before trapping you. It uses innovative materials, printing techniques and inflatable technology to do so, but I think her experimental thinking is what's key to this design. I love that it awakens people to their behavior, allowing them to change it before the curtain inevitably traps them. It's probably too unpleasant for most, but I think it could work wonders in places like hostels or extreme dry climates, where long showers should be a luxury to begin with. Buecher also designed a shower curtain with spikes that inflate, slowly pushing you out of the shower; see it here.

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Open House: How Are You Observing Earth Hour?

CasaSugar — Sat, 28 Mar 2009 10:30:34 -0700

Earth Hour, a global event on climate change, is a World Wildlife Foundation (WWF) initiative to "turn off the lights" in cities around the world for one hour. Earth Hour encourages businesses, communities and individuals to take simple steps needed to cut their carbon dioxide emissions. This year, Earth Hour has the goal of asking one billion people switch off their lights, and thus far, over 74 countries and territories have pledged their support to do just that.

How are you observing Earth Hour? I love Solarina's Scrabble game by candlelight, but since the weather has been mild here, I think I might take a night walk in my neighborhood. Or perhaps I'll garden by moonlight. Do you have any clever, fun ideas for celebrating this eco hour?

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Link Time!

CasaSugar — Wed, 11 Feb 2009 13:00:00 -0800

Learn how to make a faux zebra hide rug. - Apartment Therapy
An ode to the delicious dining rooms of Domino's My Deco Files. - SF Girl by the Bay
Show:room is a new online marketplace for independent designers. - Decor8
Finding beautiful new uses for flower-filled eco resin. - Daily Danny
Nick Olsen of Domino starts a new blog. - Nick Olsen's Blog
What are your wildest home-decor dreams? - Simply Stated
Send a felt and fabric love letter to your valentine. - Craft
How climate change could affect the weeds invading your garden. - Forecast Earth

CasaSugar's 10 Favorite Design Trends of 2008

CasaSugar — Tue, 16 Dec 2008 06:15:04 -0800

Whether it involved experimenting with new building materials or incorporating unexpected textiles into a room's design, there were a lot of great, unexpected design trends this year. Climate change was definitely on architects' and designers' minds, including the mind of architect Vincent Callebaut, who designed Lilypads as a solution. These cities float on the ocean and can house 50,000 people to compensate for the loss of land that may occur due to rising ocean levels. Take a look at my nine other favorite trends in this slideshow. Source

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Link Time!

CasaSugar — Tue, 09 Dec 2008 15:00:08 -0800

Take a tour of this awesome Aussie pad.- AT:LA
If you're not going to stay in your apartment forever, should you compromise your decorating ideas? - Daily Dose
Find out about a great book giveaway.- Shelterrific
Check out some smart holiday decorating tips.- Simply Stated
Make this fabric scrap ornament.- Craft
Find out some important science surrounding climate change.- Forecast Earth
Danny Seo has a new line of mattresses out.- Danny Seo

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