EternalCoil.ca :: Creatively Helping the Earth

EcoSak - Eco-friendly Bean Bags

Aaron — Sat, 28 Jun 2008 18:31:34 +0000

When looking for a new piece of furniture for your home or possibly your office, its sometimes hard to find samples of earth friendly ware. We believe that every attempt to be green counts, so while getting an eco-friendly couch may be above your budget or not even in your area, at least you can rely on one piece of furniture that has graced rec rooms for decades to be a step in the right direction.

The EcoSak bean bag chair is made from recycled and organic material. The filling consists of recycled urethane foam that is a by-product of furniture manufacturing. The cover dubbed “Eco-Suede” is made from recycled soda bottles. You can also get it with an organic cotton cover, for those who like the softer feel.

The large ‘adult’ bags start at $169.00, which is a great deal, and if that doesn’t sell you, they ship anywhere in N. America free!

Eco-Friendly Parking Lots

Aaron — Sat, 28 Jun 2008 03:33:50 +0000

Seriously. Who would have thought to make parking lots a bit greener!

The basic concept is to stop runoff of oils and gunk into nearby streams and land.

See the full story here:

komu.com

How to have an eco friendly campfire.

Aaron — Wed, 21 May 2008 23:21:52 +0000

The “May 24 weekend” has just passed and the camping season for Canada is now in full swing (of course its still frightfully cold here, but there are crazy people still camping!). Here now is a list of 10 things you can do to keep your campfire eco friendly. I have been busy with the new job and so this info is borrowed from a great website, care2.com. See the link at the bottom to read their full post.

1. Follow the rules. Every state and national park or forest has fire restrictions. Be sure to contact the park ranger’s office to learn about any fire restrictions in place at the time you are camping. Many camps require that you get a campfire permit (often at no charge) to ensure you understand the restrictions and to help them track fires in the park.

2. Location, location, location! Choose a level, open location away from dry grass, bushes or overhanging branches. If one is not already there, build a fire ring out of stones to contain your fire. Pile soil around the edge of your circle. Also avoid starting campfires at the base of steep hills; fire travels uphill quickly. There should be a 10-foot circle around your fire area clear of anything that might easily ignite (your tent and supplies, pine needles, dry grass, etc.).

3. Respect the habitat. Take your time (a 15-minute walk) when gathering wood so as to spread your impact over a larger area. Use only dead and fallen branches that you can break manually (even for those marshmallow roasting sticks). Store all wood well away from the fire and upwind to avoid accidental ignition.

4. Build a campfire to the size you need. Unnecessarily big, roaring fires invite more hazards. Pack enough clothing for cool evenings in order to help stay warm without a giant fire.

5. Don’t burn plastic, metals or woods that have been treated with chemicals in order to avoid air pollution.

6. Never leave fire unattended, not even for a few minutes.

7. Do not leave children or pets near fire alone.

8. Keep a water- or sand-filled bucket nearby in case of emergency.

9. At least half an hour before leaving your campsite, make sure your fire is completely out. After the fire has died down, pour water over the ashes and then smother the ashes with dirt. Mix the ashes, water and dirt until all of the embers have died. Be sure to soak the ring of stones as well to make sure you get hidden embers.

10. Redistribute any unused wood to leave the area closer to how you found it.

Read the full story here: How to have an eco friendly campfire.

Tree-free Wedding Invitations

Aaron — Sun, 20 Apr 2008 20:24:11 +0000

Coming from a great site: Invitesite.com , who’s invitation kits are starting to make news, features invitations like the photo below made out of milkweek recycled cardstock. It comes with a matching envelope and is 100% post-consumer recycled material. The company has a wide selection of recycled cards and envelopes. Invitesite lets you print the cards yourself or they can print them then send it to you to fold and finish as a kit. Sounds like a neat idea for people who want to get away from the normal looking paper invites!

Blackle: Google’s Green (or Black) Alternative

Aaron — Mon, 31 Mar 2008 12:59:27 +0000

I just happened to stumble across this website. Deemed the ‘green’ alternative to regular Google searches, Blackle is basically the Google search page with a black background.

ecoIcon writes:

“[A]n all white web page uses about 74 watts to display, while an all black page uses only 59 watts…Take at look at Google, who gets about 200 million queries a day. Let’s assume each query is displayed for about 10 seconds; that means Google is running for about 550,000 hours every day on some desktop. Assuming that users run Google in full screen mode, the shift to a black background [on a CRT monitor!] will save a total of 15 (74-59) watts. That turns into a global savings of 8.3 Megawatt-hours per day, or about 3000 Megawatt-hours a year.”

According to their website, if people used this black background instead of the normal white Google page, then we could save 750 Megawatt-hours a year. That is basically saying we could save (as a society) about $75 000 per year in energy by just using a black background.

Blackle uses a custom Google search, so you’re basically searching Google, just from a different screen. The website also gives some pointers on how to be more eco friendly.

Finally! A meat company who doesn’t use styrofoam!

Aaron — Tue, 25 Mar 2008 12:33:33 +0000

I’ve been waiting for a company to get on this! Every year millions of of styrofoam meat trays are left in our garbage dumps with no chance of decomposing. There is now a company who is thinking of our future and getting into the eco way of packaging! Murry’s Chicken, based in New York, is now supplying eco-friendly packaging for their chicken products. Set to be released on April 22 for Earth Day, this packaging developed by Reiser Equipment and is freezer safe and leak resistant.

“As a company that takes its social responsibility seriously, the foam tray was always a thorn in our side and we have long been exploring options,” said Steve Gold, Vice President of Marketing for Murray’s Chicken. “We’re excited to now offer a smart and environmentally-responsible alternative.”

The packaging also includes a ‘Farm Verification’ label which allows the buyer to use an online tracking tool to find out the actual farm that the poultry came from! I’m pretty impressed with this company. Hopefully this type of packaging and technology can come up to Canada soon.

Earth Friendly Ivory Wedding Rings

Aaron — Mon, 24 Mar 2008 12:39:50 +0000

I didn’t know that walrus ivory was eco-friendly, but according to thecarrotbox.com, it is! Made by designer Monique Pean, the rings are made out of walrus ivory crafted by Native Alaskans, 100% recycled gold and conflict-free diamonds. She is also giving 10% of each sale to thte Alaskan Native Arts Foundation. See her entire collection here: moniquepean.com

360 : Eco Friendly Vodka

Aaron — Thu, 20 Mar 2008 16:49:20 +0000

Want to help the environment??? Buy some Vodka!!!

McCormick Distilling (American), just launched their brand new product: 360 Vodka. The company’s new division, Earth Friendly Distilling Co., hopes to establish new sustainable product development and packaging standards in the alcohol industry.

Claiming the title ‘World’s first eco-friendly premium spirit’, 360 Vodka is shipped in a bottle made from 85% recycled glass. The whole product incorporates other sustainability “features” like the 360 logo blown directly into the glass, New Leaf 100% PCW paper label, and also using water-based inks vs. petroleum-based inks for label/packaging printing. In addition, the bottle comes with a postage paid envelope hanging around the neck that lets customers mail back the recyclable flip-top closure for re-use, in turn helping lessen landfill waste.

All impurities are removed by distilling the vodka four times using the column distillation process and later it is filtered five times though granulated charcoaled coconut shell filtration system. The state-of-the-art distillery meets or exceeds all EPA air and water quality standards for distilleries. The production process reduced its volatile organic compounds output by 70% and sulfur dioxide emissions by 99% and the company states that it uses 250% less fossil fuel energy during production process. [source: inhabitat.com

Moving the Earth Friendly Way

Aaron — Mon, 17 Mar 2008 16:21:16 +0000

Earth Friendly Moving provides a great new concept for people who want to move but don’t want to find cardboard boxes that they’ll just scrap later. the RECOPACK [REcycled ECOlogical PACKing solution] is an earth friendly, reusable, DIY pack and move solution that can save you time and also help the earth. The RecoPacks are stackable moving containers that are made out of ‘hard-to-recycle’ plastic bottles, like detergent, cleaning products, bleach, etc.

A skid of them (packed on a skid made of recycled materials) are delivered to your house(in a truck that runs off of veggie oil and bio fuel), you just pack them, ship them to the new destination, unpack then reload on the skid and its taken away to be used again. They cost about $0.15 per day per container and come in 5 different sizes. There is also the option to buy the containers, if you plan to use them for other things in the future and don’t want to rent.

They also supply a packing padding called RecoCube, which is made from recycled paper sludge and it totally biodegradable (unlike its Styrofoam predecessors).

Right now they’re only located in California, but the company plans to be across America in the next few years.

See more of their story and products on their website: earthfriendlymoving.com

Banned PETA Ads

Aaron — Wed, 12 Mar 2008 06:54:00 +0000

Here are some fun TV ads that PETA created that are now banned from TV. I find them more funny than disturbing.

What if you were killed for your fur? Doesn’t seem like such a good idea now?

This one is just funny.

1. Turkeys terrorizing a grocery store. I feel a movie in the making!

2. mmmm toilet water….drooool…

See more at petatv.com