You don’t have to be a Shrek-like Ogre, to show your ‘greenness’- I mean your concern for environment. Just buy one (or all, if you like) of these cool and innovative eco-products.

For fruit-lovers: Fruit Powered Clock

Digital clocks are in but now you don’t need to run them on batteries! A calendar & digital clock powered by fruits is the latest on shelves. You just need a banana, lemon, orange, apple or any other fresh fruit and the supplied components in this fruit-clock kit. Voila! You have an impressive-to-look-at and fully functional digiclock of your own powered by the acid in the fruits. The principle is the same as discovered by Alessandro Volta that, electric current can flow if copper and zinc are separated with an acid. Volta used the ascorbic acid in lemon juice to work out his experiments. And now, with this amazing fruit clock you can teach your kids some basic science as well! Buy one for yourself at Ecotopia.
For housewives who hate laundry chores: Laundry Eco Balls

No more detergents or fabric conditioners in your washing machines. A single pack has 3 laundry balls, which contain pellets (that produce ionized oxygen). Helps gentle cleansing, softens water, protects colors of your fabrics, saves water and can last upto 1000 washes! Available at the Greenshop. For the whole family: No Fuss Log Maker

Old newspapers piling up in some corner of your house? Turn them into long-burning logs. It saves your money and does not harm the environment also. With this log maker you and your kids can make some innovative gifts as well. This easy to use log maker can be purchased from the World wildlife fund. No wetting, no fuss; just free fuel and a whole lot of fun!

Via Channel4

It’s hard to imagine a car on 2 wheels and not with the usual car-looks for you and me. But for Özkan Koral, it is a reality. Infact, this Istanbul designer’s entry in the Peugot design contest, is a testimony of his crazy imagination molded into reality. His car is not the usual 4 wheeled vehicle but a cylindrical car that sits on its huge wheels. The car looks like a lady’s cylindrical vanity purse! Both the wheels are independently controlled by electric motors. This Ozone car (as named by its creator) has a large sliding door for entry and exit and the driver operates this two wheeler with a joystick.

Another aspect beside the bizarre car design is that, it runs on hydrogen-powered fuel cell batteries. This means less strain on the air besides being compact and less space occupying on roadsJ. The matte finish and alternative fuel makes this car definitely a winner at the show (Peugot contest). Let’s see when do we get such cars in showrooms?

Via EliteChoice / BallerRide

Nestled in the Aravali Hills, Sariska National Park (Rajasthan, India) today, welcomed a male tiger flown in from Ranthambore National Park. This is the first time a big cat has been relocated from one forest to another. Sariska has been an abode for tigers in India and was one of the seats of Project Tiger in India. But in 2004, the tiger population was wiped out completely from this national park by Sansarchand and other poachers.

After this episode of national shame, the Wildlife Institute of India in Dehradun and National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) had been thinking about relocating tigers in this area. The proposal to relocate tigers from another national park with relatively large number of tigers (Ranthambore) was cleared by the PM himself sensing the seriousness of the matter. So, the king of the jungle was given a royal treatment and was flown into the park’s Nayapani area in a tranquilized state.

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‘Go Green’ is the norm these days. To put less strain on our planet every industry, every sector wants to add a dash of ‘green’ aka ‘eco-friendly’ quotient to their entities. Initially when the hospitality sector stepped in this drive the max hotels did was provide eco-friendly sanitary ware, towels, linen and so-on. Back then, the awareness among customers was also limited. But now, things have started changing. With ever more concern towards issues like climate change, global warming, carbon footprint etc. hotels need to step-up their eco-friendliness.

Although, out of 47,000+ U.S. hotels only a small number are currently enrolled in green programs in a formal way. Only eleven hotels are constructed as per the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design, or LEED standards. The number of Energy Star-certified properties has now become 314. These properties are aptly designed so as to reduce the energy consumption in best possible manner. Newer trends are emerging in such hotels and properties to upscale their eco-friendly quotient.

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All is not well for the Japanese firefly. So far, it was considered that only big bats, great apes, whales and other big animals were being hunted and poached by humans. Now, even insects are not safe. The news from Japan confirms this. Fireflies in Japan are being facing an extinction threat posed not by predatory birds, pesticides and insecticides but by human poachers.

In Japan, the insect is regarded more than just a tiny creature. It’s a source of inspiration for Haiku (traditional poem of Japan). The firefly is kept as a pet by children and the ancients believe it to be the souls of dead Kamikaze pilots. In a country known for its artistically sensitive people, fireflies are known to be a cultural symbol.

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Baja BBQ Firepack is a cool and simply used charcoal pack from Lazzari is an eco-friendly and wonderful easy option to fixed charcoal for those who basically can not give up their briquettes. Lazzari packs 2lbs of ordinary lump coal into a package which is made from 100% recycled paper pulp. Basically place the pack in hibachi, light the packing and in 15-20 minutes you will have a great pile of hot coals. These packs do away with need for lighter fluid.

This is a fresh small package and that leaves no waste and these would be also mostly handy for tailgating.  The Baja BBQ Firepacks will be obtainable at limited gourmet supermarkets.

[via: Notcot]

In what could be called as the first ever move to bring “non-human” hominids and humans on the same platform, Spain is about to pass a law that grants ‘human rights’ to these creatures. According to the members of parliament’s environmental committee in the country, “Great apes should be given the human rights to life and freedom”. This view is in compliance with the objectives of the Great Apes Project (GAP) founded by Peter Singer and Paola Cavalieri in 1993. This international organization now consists of primatologists, psychologists, ethicists, and other experts who all work in the direction of providing basic legal rights to great apes: chimpanzees, bonobos, gorillas, and orangutans, as conferred upon their human descendents. These scientists and ethicists believe in treating our intelligent ancestors at par with us in terms of legal rights & protection because they also have varied social, emotional and cognitive skills. Now, Spain’s MPs have also joined hands with philosophers at GAP. Spain is known for bull fighting. The latter being a gory display of animals being used for human entertainment has been highly criticized by animal rights activists and campaigners.

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David de Rothschild, Founder of Adventure Ecology explains : “We believe that the arts has the ability to captivate, inspire and engage creativity for change. In order to create a sustainable future it will require us all to rethink intelligent design and to rethink innovative resource management and by partnering with Phillips de Pury on the Birds the Bats and the Bees project it is the first pixel in a much bigger picture.”

Via Dezeen.com

We talk continually emissions of C02 referring to the volumes released into the atmosphere. And often becomes really difficult to imagine such quantities. The CO2 there but not seen the video and that there port to hand, shows us how much the sole household level, it is fed through the use of balloons blacks…

Each balloon represents 50 gr. CO2 housewife. The campaign was desired by the State of Victoria in Australia.

It ‘was inaugurated yesterday the first mini - a condominium zero emission type passive constructed Angels Rosora in the province of Ancona. The building has six apartments and condominiums that dwell there, employees of the group Loccioni, will become part of the project LEAF (Life Energy and Future), the community that will live using only the energy that comes from natural sources and solutions and technological domotiche highest level.

The idea was born at home Loccioni, a company that deals directly domotics which also took part Enel, Whirlpool and Cisco. The building was built with the direction south, but also has a storage system for hydrogen or appliances with very high efficiency. The walls are insulated to retain the heat in winter and cool in summer.