A number of rare Rothschild’s giraffe have been stranded on a rocky island after flooding affected their rangeland. In a daring and complicated rescue, a number of nonprofit groups created a specialized made barge to float the 16 foot tall creatures to safety.
These giraffe have seen their numbers plummet in recent years, and their safety and well being are paramount to a thriving giraffe population.
The specialized barge was made with tall walls and blinders were put on the animals to keep them from escaping during their water rescue. Moved to a 4,400 acre protected sanctuary, we’re thrilled to hear there are such caring people looking out for these special creatures.
Bikes are amazing. Quiet, lightweight and fast, they are the real future of sustainable transportation. But for those of us who have our bikes crowding our small apartments, stacked alongside a wall, waiting for people to trip over them, they can sometimes get in the way. Luckily, a number of designers have tackled this problem.
Knife and Saw
All the blogs are agog right now over Chris Brigham’s Bike Shelf that we showed on TreeHugger a while back. It is one of a number of designs that we have seen recently that kill a couple of birds with one stone: They give you an elegant way to store your bike inside in small spaces;
They display your pride and joy artfully;
They often have additional storage for your helmet or your keys;
They just look lovely.
Perhaps the granddaddy of all the simple, elegant designs is the Cycloc, designed by Andrew Lang and a hit since 2006 when Warren showed it on TreeHugger. The UK Design Council gushed: “The Cycloc is a minimalistic triumph of form, function and social awareness”. It is so minimal that Lang was worried; according to the Guardian:
Despite citing his creative vision as one that celebrates design simplicity; “paring products back to their fundamental elements,” he wasn’t initially convinced the idea had legs. “At first, I thought that’s too simple, so I explored a few options before coming back to it as the most elegant.”
Being mass-produced out of plastic, is it relatively cheap at £59.95 at the online store and is available in America as well.
PedalPod
British Designer Tamasine Osher has integrated a lot of storage into her PedalPod; there is room for everything. She takes her design seriously:
The intention is to rekindle the human relationship with objects, encouraging an interaction of the visual with the tactile, expressing the simplicity of materials and honest construction – perhaps to stimulate curiosity and awaken emotions using contrasting forms and elements.
The Bike Valet
The Bike Valet is a new design from “Steven Tiller, Stephanie Birch and baby Bennett” of Reclamation Art + Furniture. It recently made a splash at Kickstarter, where the designers describe the problem:
We live in a small downtown apartment, and if we happen to be dense enough to leave our bikes outside they wouldn’t last more than a few days, even with the priciest lock around. We lost a beautiful, vintage, hand-made Kleine in just such a way a couple years ago. So we bring our bikes inside. Given our storage issues, this makes navigating the entry hall difficult. I personally have tripped over or snagged a pair of dress pants on an awkwardly placed bicycle more than once. The solution? The Bike Valet.
The design works on the same simple principle of leverage as the Cycloc, but the metal is, I think, a little more elegant. Available on Etsy for $75.
Pallet Bike Rack
Chris Meierling recycled old shipping pallets into a lovely home office and bike storage system that I showed on TreeHugger here. The pallets provide an interesting background for the bikes (as does the red paint) and can also support other types of storage. He writes (without explaining exactly how the bikes are hung):
The pallets shelves were rough and dirty. I picked 4 pallets up off a nearby street, made the shelves, and screwed them directly into my drywall with drywall anchors. Each pallet had about 10 screws across the pallet to distribute the weight; each anchor had a 40 lb hanging capacity.
Bike Rack Birdhouse
I must confess that I am a soft touch for humour in design; that is why my personal favourite is the Bike Rack Birdhouse from Lauren Thomas and Jennifer Karam of Dimini , seen on TreeHugger here. The designers write:
The bikerack birdhouse mounts on the wall easily and securely offering a innovative indoor storage solution for your bike and helmut. Made of Mahogany plywood and finished by hand with all natural non-toxic beeswax and linseed oil, this piece will lighten the storage load and brighten your home.
In an age of spineless US Senators, de-investments in education, and other critical causes being put on the chopping block, it’s satisfying to hear that some states are continuing to show leadership.
California has long been the leader in the states for renewable energy. For sixty years, the state has explored solar and wind energy, and numerous clean energy firms have gotten their start in the Golden State. Now California marks their next step into the 21st Century with the passing of the nation’s strongest Renewable Portfolio Standard.
California’s new renewable energy standard, which requires that utilities purchase 33% clean energy by 2020, is now the highest in the nation. California Governor Jerry Brown signed the mandate into law today, once again reassuring the state’s trailblazing position on the clean energy front.
“With this vote,” American Wind Energy Association CEO Denise Bode said in a statement, “public officials have decided to create thousands more jobs for Californians–jobs in manufacturing, construction, operations and maintenance, and other areas. This action is pro-business and pro-California.”
Indeed — the clean energy sector is one of the few that has continued to grow during the recession. The state was actually reportedly already on the verge of meeting the previous RES, which set 20% clean energy as the standard. Hoping to continue to spur investment in the industry, policymakers bumped up the bar once again.
Here’s the list of state renewable energy standards: (note, the following means that electric utilities in Arizona, for example, will have to get 15% their power from renewable sources)
Arizona: ………………15% by 2025 California: …………..33% by 2030 Colorado: ……………30% by 2020 Connecticut: ……….23% by 2020 D.C.: …………………….20% by 2020 Delaware: ……………20% by 2019 Hawaii: ……………… .20% by 2020 Illinois: ………………..25% by 2025 Iowa: ……………………105 MW Massachusetts: ……15% by 2020 Maryland: ……………20% by 2022 Maine: ………………….40% by 2017 Michigan: …………….10% by 2015 Minnesota: …………..25% by 2025 Missouri: ……………..15% by 2021 Montana: ……………..15% by 2015 New Hampshire: …23.8% by 2025 New Jersey: …………22.5% by 2021 New Mexico: ……….20% by 2020 Nevada: ……………….20% by 2015 New York: …………..24% by 2013 North Carolina: ….12.5% by 2021 North Dakota:* …..10% by 2015 Oregon: ……………….25% by 2025 Pennsylvania: ………8% by 2020 Rhode Island: ……..16% by 2019 South Dakota*: ……10% by 2015 Texas: ………………….5,880 MW by 2015 Utah*: …………………20% by 2025 Vermont*: ………….10% by 2013 Virginia*: …………..12% by 2022 Washington: ………15% by 2020 Wisconsin: …………10% by 2015
A very cool and creative campaign by the Philadelphia Zoo to raise awareness. Nicely done.
via Treehugger:
With the precarious state of ecosystems throughout the world today, it is difficult to know for certain which threatened species will continue to be around for future generations–and which will have gone the way of the Dodo. But as sobering of a legacy that may be, it is increasingly important to raise awareness of these fading animals early and often to the children of today, whose attitudes and actions as adults may determine the fate of the planet’s biodiversity. So, with that in mind, one zoo is educating its young visitors about the importance of preservation in an imaginative way–with an exhibition of endangered animals constructed out of Legos.
Opened yesterday, the Philadelphia Zoo‘s Lego-made exhibit, called ”Creatures of Habitat: A Gazillion-Piece Animal Adventure,” features the work of world-renowned Lego artist Sean Kenney. According to Kenney, the 34 animals he created for the zoo took him over one year to complete–the largest project he’s undertaken. Included in the exhibit are sculptures of endangered birds, frogs, tamarins, and a polar bear made with 95,000 Lego pieces.
“I love being able to explain serious problems in ways that kids can understand them,” says Kenney.
In addition to the Lego sculptures, each exhibit features a description of how the animals’ habitat is under threat, and simple ways that everyone can help aid in its protection. Visitors are encouraged to recycle, avoid environmentally irresponsible products, and bicycle instead of drive when they can.
Zoo officials are hoping that folks who may have been drawn in by the impressive sculptures will walk away with a better understanding of threatened ecosystems and what they can do to lower their impact.
