MNN - Mother Nature Network

The New York Times travels to Amsterdam's very first (and now very much imitated) Repair Cafe, a regularly held organized mend-a-thon that encourages attempts at fixing and repairing over unceremonious trashing. Says Martine Postma, a former journalist who came up with the Repair Cafe concept: “In Europe, we throw out so many things. It’s a shame, because the things we throw away are usually not that broken. There are more and more people in the world, and we can’t keep handling things the way we do."

 

TreeHugger shares a handful of garden goodies hacked from IKEA furniture including slatted bed bases transformed into compost bins and chintzy candle dishes repurposed into cute little birdbaths. Good stuff as always from the DIY wizards at IKEA Hackers. 

 

The Atlantic Cities checks the pulse of the Congress of the New Urbanism now that the sprawl-busting org has reached middle age (the 20th gathering of the CNU is currently taking place in West Palm Beach). Writes Anthony Flint ... "the milestone raises some interesting questions about what happens when a revolutionary movement reaches middle age — and indeed in the world of planning and especially real estate development, becomes part of the establishment."

 

The Los Angeles Times enlists the Garbage Maven (aka Susan Carpenter) to give an ecoATM a spin. As Carpenter describes, an ecoATM is "a self-service kiosk that helps people dispose of cellphones and other mobile devices. The machine uses electronic diagnostics and artificial intelligence to evaluate electronics' value and pay customers on the spot with cash or credit."

 

The Telegraph weighs in on the affordable allure of shipping container living.

 

Curbed Philly takes into consideration the good (solar panels, dual-flush tiolets, CFLs etc), the bad (lots of aluminum and vinyl), and the ugly (parking spaces) of the Norris Apartments, the first LEED-certified housing development from the Philadelphia Housing Authority.

 

Earth911 instructs on "How To Make Top-Notch Compost For Your Garden" in celebration/observance of International Compost Awareness Week. 

 

SmartPlanet sits down for a chat with Erin Barnes, co-founder and executive director of one of my favorite environmental orgs, the community-minded crowd-funding platform, ioby. As I blogged about the other week, ioby recently graduated from being a strictly NYC-based affair to nation-wide-dom.

 

Jetson Green takes a gander at the Chose-Ross Residence, a circular, Western red cedar-clad prefab abode from Mandela Custom Homes that's believed to be the first Energy Star qualified home in British Columbia.