Tag Archives: sustainability

Epic “Back to the Start” Stop-Motion Ad for Chipotle (Plus Bonus Making-Of Goodness)

Epic Back to the Start Stop Motion Ad for Chipotle (Plus Bonus Making Of Goodness) sustainability stop motion food farming animation advertising

The blogs are buzzing today over this new stop motion ad for Mexican food chain Chipotle by London-based Johnny Kelly, set to a Willie Nelson cover of the Coldplay song, The Scientist. The video features the story of a farmer seduced by profits into large-scale unsustainable and unhealthy farming practices who decides to go “back to the start”, ridding the farm of its factory machinery resulting in happier and healthier animals. The quality of the animation is simply incredible and I was left wondering how on Earth they had accomplished some of the shots. Luckily the production team at Clapham Road Studios was a step ahead of me and shot a making-of clip that shows the enormous table containing the farm and hundreds of components used to make it move.

Many more production photos can be found here. Over the past decade I have eaten at Chipotle so irrationally frequent, they should just wrap my burritos in common stock. (via laughing squid)

Update: Turns out Kelly needed to make the video private for now. I’ll leave it up in hopes that things get switched back on at some point.

Need/Want Glass

Need/Want Glass words sustainability interactive home conservation

The Need/Want Glass from Alesina Design encourages you to think about wasting water every time you take a drink. By holding your finger over a hole in the glass, you consciously permit yourself to have more water than you might “need”. This is all subjective I’m sure, and if you could somehow apply the concept to watering your lawn or taking a bath it might be even more effective. Still, got me thinking. Each glass is hand finished, numbered, and signed. Available here. (via holycool)

By Christopher on April 29, 2011 • conservation home interactive sustainability words

Yozo Takada

If you’re still feeling the vibe from the Earth Hour video, you’ll like these wind farm photos by Japanese photographer Yozo Takada. Takada has a mysterious and delicate approach to capturing such large and imposing machines. Beautiful.

By Christopher on February 16, 2011 • documentary eco-friendly sustainability

WWF: Earth Hour 2011

WWF: Earth Hour 2011 sustainability stop motion eco friendly animation

A great new stop motion animation to promote Earth Hour using hundreds of people holding colored panels. The part with the bicycle is particularly special.

From its inception as a single-city initiative — Sydney, Australia – in 2007, Earth Hour has grown into a global symbol of hope and movement for change. Earth Hour 2010 created history as the world’s largest ever voluntary action with people, businesses and governments in 128 countries across every continent coming together to celebrate an unambiguous commitment to the one thing that unites us all — the planet.

Learn more at www.earthhour.org.

By Christopher on February 16, 2011 • animation eco-friendly stop motion sustainability

Cornstarch Headphones by Michael Young

Cornstarch Headphones by Michael Young sustainability headphones fashion electronics eco friendly

These impressive sounding EOps Noisezero i+ Eco headphones were designed by Hong Kong based industrial designer Michael Young. They are constructed primarily from cornstarch and bio-plastics and will come in four colors. Eco-fancy! (via creative journal)

By Christopher on December 23, 2010 • eco-friendly electronics fashion headphones sustainability

The Mobile Egg House

The Mobile Egg House sustainability organic home architecture

In an attempt to save money on rent Dai Haifei, a 24-year-old architect in Beijing has constructed a mobile egg-shaped home from bamboo, wood and grass seed.

He moved the house steps away from his office where he would stay until midnight before going to sleep inside the “egg”. There’s only one bed, a water tank and a lamp inside the house.

“I feel good living here though it’s simple, and a bit cold sometimes, what important for me, is – it saves me a lot of money!” Dai told a reporter.

(via rebel:art)

By Christopher on December 13, 2010 • architecture home organic sustainability

LUMENHAUS: Chicago

LUMENHAUS: Chicago sustainability solar power home conservation Chicago architecture alternative energy

LUMENHAUS is a solar-powered home designed by Virginia Tech students that generates more power than it uses annually. It was one of only two American entries in the 2010 Solar Decathalon Europe competition in Madrid, and was on display in Millennium Park in Chicago up until last weekend. Totally kicking myself for missing this.

LUMENHAUS is designed to respond to changes in temperature and environment, which it does through sliding polycarbonate insulation panels filled with aerogel, creating strong insulation while allowing a soft natural light into the space. They move to create appropriate amounts of sun control, cross ventilation, lighting, and privacy. A stretched fabric ceiling provides enough light at night with dim flourescent and LED lighting, and no electric light is ever required when the sun is up. The roof collects rain water, which is then filtered and used for drinking and for the water plants. The entire system is monitored and controlled by an iPad and iPhone interface that allocates energy to different areas of the system at different times.

Learn more over at Time Out. (via fuck yeah chicago)

By Christopher on November 23, 2010 • alternative energy architecture Chicago conservation home solar power sustainability

Coffee Batteries

Coffee Batteries sustainability recycling electronics DIY coffee clocks

Love these DIY batteries made from coffee grounds, aluminum, copper and salt water by mischer’traxler. The design was one of three winning entries in a competition entitled SUSTAIN.ABILITY.DESIGN, sponsored by Vienna Design Week organizers Neigungsgruppe Design and Nespresso Austria.

The energy for the movement of the sweep hands is powered by 17 simple, self made batteries. Each battery-block consists of used old aluminium capsules, coffee grounds, strips of copper and salt water. In this mixture between a soil battery and a salt water battery the aluminium functions as the anode, the copper as cathode and the salt water as electrolyte. Due to a chemical reactions a small, but usable, amount of energy is created. Each battery produces about 1,5 – 1,7 Volts of potential and enough power to run a electro–mechanical Quartz clockwork.

Some quick back-of-the-envelope calculations based on my personal coffee consumption over the past decade suggests I could have built a battery large enough to reduce foreign oil dependency in the U.S. by about 15%. (via dezeen)