So are hand-painted signs. And the subtle detail in the “A” is absolutely delightful.

This sign was found at Phil’s Fish Market, which has pretty tasty seafood.

New year, new start for my blog. I love the story that this wedding invitation tells.

via bad banana blog

I had started a series on Facebook last year called “Heroes, Villains, & Alter-Ecos” that was inspired by a clever blog called The Superest. The basic premise here is to illustrate a superhero or villain that represents a particular sustainability issue, with each subsequent character in the series having powers that negate or defeat the previous character.

I am now reviving this series here on my blog. For round one, I present… the Carbonator!

By now, everyone is aware of the seriousness of carbon emissions and climate change. It may be only one of many challenges that we face today, but it is inextricably linked with them. It would be myopic to address this or any of the other issues by themselves. As one article from Worldchanging stated last year, “We need to cultivate an awareness that this generation is called to do big things by seeing the big picture, serving the public good and working together.”

This was perhaps my favorite product that I saw in the Muji store in London. This addresses the issue of soap dishes accumulating gunk and soap residue because the open mesh helps the bar dry rapidly. But the ingenious feature is that the mesh dish itself can then be used to scrub and clean because of the infused soap.

This bicycle rack was found near Downing Street, so cyclists can park their bikes and take a look at the British Prime Minister’s residence. Upon further inspection, it turns out that this is no bike rack but is a lone rail barrier protecting one of the many stone balustrades along this road. There were many more of these rail barriers fencing off the next block, but this was the only one found near this particular building.

So what are the consequences of installing a stand-alone fence that resembles a bike rack? In this case, a security “solution” actually creates a security hazard.

Merry Christmas! The holidays never seem complete without a decorated, brightly lit Christmas tree. However, is this evergreen symbol of the holidays truly green? And of the plastic and natural variety, which is the more responsible choice?

The arguments for and against both options seem like they could go either way. Plastic trees, while reusable, are petroleum-based and are manufactured in China and need to be shipped overseas. Natural trees, although renewable, require water, fertilizer, and land before being chopped down for home use.

This shows how tricky it is to gauge the impacts of our lifestyle choices. We see products labeled as green, earth-friendly, recycled, and recyclable, but it is often impossible to see the very real harm we are inflicting on people and ecosystems a continent away. This is why it is essential to conduct a full life cycle analysis (LCA) of not just the product itself, but the system in which it exists.

ellipsos, a sustainable strategy consultancy based in Canada, conducted an interesting comparative LCA of both plastic and natural Christmas trees.

ellipsos concluded that the environmental impacts of natural Christmas trees are far less than that of plastic trees. Even though plastic trees are reusable, the impacts of its manufacturing process is huge. In fact, a plastic tree would need to be reused for at least 20 years in order to break even with purchasing a natural tree every year in terms of environmental impact.

Don’t feel guilty about your tree choice, though. Just by carpooling or biking for a day or three per year would offset the carbon emissions of either tree. However, this reveals that in the big picture, our tree choice is negligible but the collective impacts of our daily lifestyle decisions are huge. In the spirit of Christmas and the holiday season, let’s make more caring choices for the year to come. We can make the world a greener and more joyful place.

O Tannenbaum | The Economist