A Tomato Grows In Manhattan!

Hello All,

I just got back from a trip to Los Angeles and what is the first thing I see during my morning dog walk?

A wee, little tomato plant growing out of the asphalt.

That the pavement cracked and a little pocket of dirt developed, and a tomato seed fell from the sky to land perfectly in this tiny little patch, and that it then rained just the right amount to cover the tomato seed in nice wet dirt, enough to grow into a proper tomato plant, perfectly capable of producing food, well, is pretty inspiring.

To life, Y'all.

Love,

Jackson

Jack Geschiedt: TreeSpirit Project

Just got an email from SuperForester Jack who sends us a link to his incredible photography series: TreeSpirit Project.

Tasteful nudes and trees with a sense of humor; what's not to like?

Amy Pfaffman - Recycled Jewelry

Amy Pfaffman makes beautiful jewelry out of recycled materials, with delightful results.

Test tubes, coffee beans, old vinyl records, guitar picks, and sundry. All are reborn in Amy's skillful hands.

Coffee Bean Necklace.

Test Tube Necklace.

Key Necklace.


LP Necklace.


Glass Eye Cuff Links.

Amy's gear is gorgeous.
Here's her site: AmyJewelry.com.

Thanks to SuperForester Jack for the intel.

The Secret Life Of Paper

The Secret Life Of Paper is a short video by Inform. A platform dedicated to the education of the effect of us, human beings, on the environment. It's the second in a serial named The Secret Life Of... The goal is to show what happens to a certain ordinary product before and after we use it. In this case the ordinary product is obviously paper.

With speakers from all branches concerning paper Inform managed to show a detailed picture of the effect the paper industry has on the environment, how we could recycle better and how the government could act more responsibly. And all that within six minutes.

Here, have a look.

For some more background information on the short and the first part of the series (about cellphones) check out secret-life.org

-jdh

These Bees can dance!

Good Morning!

This is such a great viral campaign that Haagen Dazs is running to help save the bees.

The video is really funny--check it:

Why is Haagen Dazs supporting saving the bees, you ask? 

Because 1/3 of all the foods we eat are pollinated by bees, including many of the natural flavors in Haagen Dazs's ice creams.  Their site, www.helpthehoneybees.com is really well done. Simple and informative. They have done a great job at presenting a serious issue in a way that is full of humor and entertainment, making it palpable to millions of people. 

Way to go Haagen Dazs! 

And many thanks to the great SwissMiss for making my morning!

Happy Friday!

Niki 

The wonderful art of Sofi Zezmer

A pen, a badminton shuttle, a key. All very common objects. They have no special meaning or so and they just do what they are made for. The key opens a door, the pen jots down a signature etc. At one point the key breaks and the pen gets empty and we throw them away. Too bad, because they can berecycled. You'll probably think "how can you recycle an empty pen?"

The Polish Sofi Zezmer can. Working in Germany she creates art that is composed out of common materials. Here are some of her sculptures.

Using the most ordinary objects such as bicycle horns, mirrors and badminton shuttles Zezmer creates the most colorful pieces of art. And the best part is that most of the stuff she processes into her sculptures has been used before and therefore is recycled!

-jdh

She's a saucy sphere

(Image link)

What would you say if I told you Mother Nature was a cheeky thing? I just read a rather amusing article titled "Mother of all hotties goes cold on lovers". The writer tracks a number of occasions where advocates for climate change have been turned on their toes by the cosmic comedienne Mother Earth. Here are a few highlights:

"When then-PM of Britain Tony Blair tried to cozy up to Mother Nature in 2005, he was repaid with chilling scorn. "Why does it always snow when I'm going to talk about global warming?" asked the puzzled PM, following a series of cursed commentaries.

That's just the way Mother Nature rolls, Tone.

In 2004, Al Gore delivered a speech on global warming in New York City. Instead of welcoming his help, Mother Nature turned on one of the coldest days in the city's history.

Five months ago, for example, Australian Tim Flannery announced: "The water problem is so severe for Adelaide that it may run out of water by early 2009."

Mother Nature's response was 15 rainy days in a row beginning on July 30, the longest stretch since 1891. Even if no more rain falls, Adelaide's dams (now 61 per cent full) won't run dry until August 2010, going by current useage rates."

Operation West Virginia: Success!!!

For those of you just tuning in, earlier this week we launched Operation West Virginia.
The idea was to inform a West Virginian about SuperForest in the hopes of getting at least one hit from within the fine state of West Virginia.

Well, I'm delighted to report that our hard work has payed off!

Two Hits!
Huzzah!

To the two fine souls in Williamstown and Shepherdstown, thank you very much. I hope you enjoyed the site.

At last, we are one.

E Pluribus Unum.

Yay!!!!

Special thanks to SuperForester Laurie Anne, and to all the SuperForesters around the world.

Bacteria To Give Us Fuel for the Future

Hey all! Jaell here.

I haven't posted in awhile do to a hiatus to my hometown in Wisconsin. I'm back in action, though, and ready to share something I read over at LiveScience.com.

As I'm sure you all are aware, Hydrogen is a very abundant and clean energy source that we'd all love to use daily if there was a way for us to get it efficiently. Currently, however, the processes are too expensive and inefficient for our economy to handle. Fuel-cell vehicles are starting to be commercially available, but are still not as prominent as we'd like.

A new way of acquiring hydrogen gas for fuel is through the use of tiny organisms that expel it during their daily natural processes.

"The production of hydrogen by microorganisms is intimately linked to their cellular processes, which must be understood to optimize bioenergy yields," said Amy VanFossen of North Carolina State University.

Of particular interest are microbes that thrive in hot temperatures, near the boiling point of water. VanFossen and her colleagues carried out a detailed DNA study of one of these thermophilic (heat-loving) bacteria called Caldicellulosiruptor saccharolyticus, which was first found in a hot spring in New Zealand. The results, presented last week at the American Chemical Society meeting in Philadelphia, indicate which genes allow C. saccharolyticus to eat plant material, referred to as biomass, and expel hydrogen in the process. "

Just imagine... something as small as this little guy could change our whole world and future.



Sure makes me think that maybe one person can make a difference. Heck. One bacteria growing on a person could make a difference.

Wet Bugs

This morning Environmental Graffiti, one of my favorite blogs, had an amazing post with photographs of insects taken in macro. Well, I hear you think, there's an awful lot of photos like this on flickr and such. Though they're kinda special. Have a look.

The German Martin Amm, the extremely creative being behind these pictures, must have gotten out of bed real early to catch a glimpse of the morning dew on the insects. Anyway, Amm delivered a good job showing us the beauty of insects, and nature in general.

-jdh

Australia - 199, West Virginia - 0

West Virginia!

You slippery eel of a state.

We love you so much and you ignore us.

We'll just have to try much harder.

West Virginia, consider yourself stalked.

Love,

Jackson & Team SuperForest

p.s. Sorry we called you a slippery eel.

p.p.s. And a big "G'day!" to all the lovely people of Australia! 

Aussie! Aussie! Aussie!

Oy! Oy! Oy!

FFFFOUND!

SuperForester Jesse just sent us word about FFFFOUND!:


"FFFFOUND! is a web service that not only allows the users to post and share their favorite images found on the web, but also dynamically recommends each user's tastes and interests for an inspirational image-bookmarking experience!!"

I just checked it out, and it is indeed rad.

Look what I ffffound in less than a minute:

Go check it out. It's swell.

Work Trip!

Good Morning!

Jackson here. 

I'm going on an exciting adventure for work and will be away from the truth box for the rest of the week. Peace Alphabet will take a brief rest, and I'll be posting away again come Monday, (or perhaps earlier.)

Have a great Wednesday.

Jackson

Every Drop Counts

We have talked alot about collecting and reusing rain water, BUT
this rain barrel video made me smile with all 32 chomps and chuckle with all 28 feet of intestines like no other rain barrel video before!



What a great example of community action~

Love and Love and rain and Love,

TV

Operation West Virginia: First Point, SuperForest!

We just received an amazing email from SuperForester Laurie Ann, who writes:

"Hi Jackson and Company:
Just wanted to let you know I did my part to help bring SuperForest to West Virginia. I wrote a letter to the editor of the Register-Herald in Beckley, WV. A copy of it can be found below. Oddly, now that you mention it, my own blog has no readers from West Virginia either. I wonder why? Perhaps there's a bizarre dead zone over the state that prevents them from receiving the internet. It could be all those mountains.
Anywho, keep up the good work and I will continue to spread the word--to West Virginia and beyond.
Have a great day!
Laurie Ann Miller
Hollywood


Hello Mr. Antolini:
Every day I read a wonderful blog--SuperForest.org. Today, the team posted about their worldwide readership and an interesting anomaly. They have no readers in West Virginia! How can that be? Doesn't West Virginia have internet access? Aren't West Virginians environmentally conscious? Don't they love art and nifty gadgets? SuperForest has it all along with helpful hints on how everyone can live greener and save our planet.
Our goal as readers of SuperForest.org is to spread the word. I'm doing my part; I'm telling you. Hopefully, you'll take a minute to check it out. Maybe it's not your thing, but chances are you know or work with someone who would enjoy this blog. Pass it on. And if your paper should run an article on being eco-friendly or "going green" this would be an excellent link to share with your subscribers. As Jackson and the SuperForest team points out, readership is 53 times higher in Malaysia than it is in West Virginia and you don't want Malaysia to get all the good stuff first.

Thank you for you time, Mr. Antolini. I hope you will share this link with at least one other person. West Virginia needs SuperForest and vice versa."

http://onthebuswithlaurie.blogspot.com/

Needless to say, Laurie Ann's letter made our day.

A huge thanks to Laurie Ann, (who runs an adorable blog herself,) and to Mr. Antolini, the fine fellow over at the Register-Herald.

Do you SuperForester's at home want to write Mr. Antolini a letter as well?
It's easy! Just click here.

Be nice to Mr. Antolini. If SuperForest is ever going to crack the impenetrable fortress that is West Virginia, we're gonna need a good man on the ground. Mr. Antolini could be that man.

"F" is for Peace.

SuperForest Projects: Operation West Virginia

What up, West Virginia?

Above is a screengrab from SuperForest's analytics page. SuperForest is read by folks all over the world and in every single state in the Union, with one exception.

West Virginia.

We must share the good news with West Virginia.

Seriously, our readership is 53 times higher in Malaysia than it is is West Virginia.

Our West Virginian cousins are missing out.

So, we hereby announce the beginning of Operation West Virginia!

What do you have to do to participate?

Tell someone, anyone, in West Virginia about SuperForest.

I just did. It went like this:

First, I wanted to insure that my message was received, so I googled "Vegan food West Virginia"

This lead me to the address and phone number of Mountain People's Kitchen in Morgantown, West Virginia. (304) 291-6131.

(Ring. Ring.)

Woman: "Hello, Mountain People's Kitchen?"

Me: "Hi, do you guys have a computer with internet access? Not for customers, but for you working at the store?"

W: "No."

M: "Do you have it at home?"

W: "No."

M: "So you don't have internet access at all?"

W: "Not poor people like me. Some folks have Comcast."

M: "So you don't email?"

W: "I have email, but I don't use it."

M: "So what if someone wanted to get in touch with you and tell you about something amazing?"

W: "They'd have to call me."

M: "Great, well I wanted to tell you about this amazing website. It's called SuperForest.org. Super, like superman, and forest, like trees."

W: "Oh yeah?"

M: "Yeah, it's really great. It's all about positivity and sustainability."

W: "Hmmm."

M: "Yeah, check it out if you get a chance. SuperForest.org."

W: "I will. If I can steal a signal, I will."

M: "Oh wait, you know what the best part is?"

W: "What?"

M: "There's no advertising. No banners or pop-ups."

W: "I'll check it out."

M: "Awesome! What's your name?"

W: "Ashley."

M: "Thanks Ashley. Have a great day."

Ashley: "You too."

(click.)

See! That was easy.

Ashley at the Mountain People's Kitchen was very nice and managed to sound genuinely sort of enthusiastic, which is way more than I was hoping for.

Tell someone in W.V. about SuperForest.

Tell 'em that the Malaysians are getting all the good info first!

Awesome.

Love,

Jackson & Team SuperForest

To Go Cart! Chinese Take-Out Soapbox Racer!

Just got this in an email from SuperForester Andrew:

"He did it again! Bob Johnson once again participated in the annual Artists’ Soapbox Derby that was held yesterday in Kingston, and he won the coveted PEOPLE'S CHOICE AWARD! Bob steered TO GO CART, this year's second-prize winner in the adult division, down the cavernous hill on lower Broadway by peering through a 1-inch slit just above the larger-than-life fortune cookie. All derby cars have no engines, but must (should…) include brakes and steering."

Man, that is one awesome soapbox racer.
Congratulations Bob!

Flickr user Kelzone has a great series of photos from the derby, (which looks like so much fun!)

Ferenc Cako: Sand Animation

Ferenc Cako animates live using sand.

"Ferenc Cako: Live Sand Animation Live @ the Seoul Animation Festival in 2003"

I've never seen anything like this. It's totes awesome.



Here's Ferenc Cako's wiki.
Here's Ferenc Cako's site.

Liu Bolin: "Camouflage"

Liu Bolin is a Beijing based artist who painstakingly paints his subjects to blend in with their surroundings.

Incredible.

He's repped by Galerie Bertin-Toublanc.

Oh man, the photo of the two men? Standing and seated? Mind-blowing.

So, is he a painter? Or is he a photographer? Or do we just say artist?
Discuss.

(Saw it at designboom.)

Recycled Notebooks

School has started again. As a matter of fact, for me, it started yesterday. When school starts people acquire massive amounts of notebooks and other types of bundled paper. Just so they can jot down everything they learn (or make drawings when mathematics gets annoying.)

Anyway, every notebook is made of... paper! And often this paper is brand new and hasn't been recycled (what a pity). And this is where the Etsy shop of Subu comes in. (Etsy is a website where creative people can sell things they created).

In the store they sell notebooks made of recycled paper! How cool, for just $6 per notebook, or $10 for two of them. The designs look brilliant as well. With a small piece of rope keeping everything together they are not your-average-notebook.
But the fancy bundles of paper really are recycled paper. So sometimes there is still a snippet of text or an image visible. Which, for me, adds up and makes the whole even more fantastic.

Subu through Etsy

-jdh

The Hybrid Timeline!

(image via globalfinest.com)
Good Morning,

A great question was asked of Umbra (the advice columnist on Grist.org) about what car to buy if you need more space than a Prius and you are concerned about the gas guzzling SUV's out there. I think a lot of people can relate to this debate.

She referenced a timeline on Hybridcenter.org that gives the rundown on all the Hybrids that are out and what will be coming out in the next few years.

I have found myself in a similar debate and I think this timeline is really helpful. There are so many prototypes out there is really clarifying to see what is realistically in production and what are still just concepts cars.

If you are interested in all the new Hybrids, check it out--all in one spot! No more endless web surfing!

:)
Niki


P.S. Who is Umbra, you ask? Check out the NY Times article today on her.

SuperForester Spoon Presents: Daughtry - What About Now

Hey Yo!

A few weeks back, we started Ask SuperForest, our very own advice column.
Our first (and currently only) question came from SuperForester Spoon in Florida.

(You can read his question and our answer right here.)

Today, Spoon sent in his first post!

Hey everyone!

My name is James but most people refer to me as Spoon. I stumbled across Superforest a few months ago through Jason Mraz's site (not unlike some other folks out there) and have been hooked ever since.

I am a student as well as a musician and employee. I love anything that has to do with music, reading, films and especially things that have to do with Florida.

I was born and raised in the Sunshine State, which is still hurting in some areas because of the recent Tropical Storm Fay. So when I found Daughtry's "What About Now" video I was personally touched because of what is happening to thousands of people across this state, several of whom I personally know.

If you ever find yourself asking, "What can I do to make a difference?" The answer is simple: You ARE the difference. You ARE the change.

Get out there and create some good vibes, you will be surprised to see just how many you get back in return :)

I hope everyone is having a happy Monday and may the sun shine down you all!

Sincerely,

Spoon

Sadly, the video has embedding disabled. No matter, click on any above picture to see it on youtube.

Awesome!

Great first post, Spoon!

And if you've got a question you'd like Team SuperForest to answer, email asksuperforest@gmail.com. Yes, do!

NY Gift Fair focus on Sustainability!

Hey Everyone!

Last week, the NY Gift Fair took place at the Javitz Center. The Gift Fair is a trade show where designers get to show off their new products and buyers from all over the world come to stock up on the new designs for their stores.

The show had a section devoted to sustainable products, with interesting seminars and cool new products. SuperForester Jackson and I sat in on a couple seminars that were very informative. There's a lot of cool discussions going on in the design world relating to manufacturing in a more sustainable way.

Here is a little roundup of some interesting products that were featured:

Umbra

Umbra has always made really sleek and mod housewares out of plastic. Now, they have a new line of garbage bins made out of biodegradable plastic. They are also using “Corn” plastic, bamboo, and renewable plantation wood. I spoke to their rep and these are made in Canada, as opposed to a lot of their other products that are made in China. They are trying to incorporate this degradable plastic into their other lines and are also doing their part for the environment by reducing their packaging waste.

The Green Glass Company

This company is awesome. They have partners like wineries, restaurants, festivals and hotels that donates used glass bottles and they recycle them to make glasses, vases, votives and even coat racks! Check out their site where they let you know what they need for a new product, and if you have a large supply of them, they'll arrange the shipping and take them off your hands.

Erbaviva

Erbaviva makes great baby products. I use them all the time on my little one, who has sensitive skin. They featured a washbag at the gift show, which is used instead of soap in a bath. You soak the unbleached muslin sachet in a bath and rub it on the little one to cleanse, but not dry out thier skin. Yummy, I can't wait to try it--sounds like a day at the spa for a baby.

Wry Baby

This company is just hilarious. They have adorable baby clothing, pins and games. They have just launched a line of clothing out of organic cotton. This one was my favorite:

Pigment & Hue Puzzles

This company just came out with a giant floor puzzle to teach kids about the environment. I wasn't sure if it was available yet, so I emailed them and here is what they said:
"It is available now. A number of museums have already purchased it, including the American Museum of Natural History in New York, the Brooklyn Children's Museum, The Field Museum in Chicago, and the San Diego Natural History Museum.Also, in a short while, it will be available on Amazon.com through OyToys.com." That will be a great gift.

Water Powered Clock

This clock never needs batteries. Powered by water, juice, soda, beer or almost any liquid. The one displayed was from Don Mark, but they only sell to the trade. I found a similar one here at thinkgeek.

All around, there were some great new designs out this year. There seemed to be a lot of discussion from designers about the way they manufacture their products. Everyone seems to be more concerned about our environment and are finding creative ways to produce products in a more sustainable manner.

Oh...and check out Cardboard Designs booth at the show--they seemed to rockin!

Cool.

Happy Monday-
Niki