As sustainability becomes a priority for consumers and businesses alike, real estate and property managers have a unique opportunity to highlight their environmental efforts. 

Whether it’s reducing energy consumption, improving waste management, or adopting green construction practices, showcasing sustainability efforts can attract eco-conscious tenants, boost the building’s reputation, and drive engagement. 

One platform that can streamline this process is resustain.com, a solution that enables real estate professionals to manage and promote sustainable initiatives effectively. 

Leveraging social media amplifies these efforts, reaching a broader audience with the power to engage, educate, and inspire.

Why Social Media Matters for Sustainability in Real Estate

Social media channels provide a powerful way to communicate your building’s sustainable practices to a diverse audience.

With billions of users across platforms, social media is ideal for storytelling, visual content, and real-time updates, making it perfect for highlighting sustainability. 

Platforms like Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn, and even TikTok can attract followers interested in eco-friendly practices and green building initiatives.

Social media allows you to:

• Connect directly with potential and existing tenants.
• Showcase certifications (such as LEED or ENERGY STAR) and achievements.
• Educate the public about sustainable practices.
• Share real-time updates on improvements and achievements.

Building a Compelling Social Media Strategy

1. Define Your Sustainability Story

Before you start posting, clarify the key sustainable features and practices of your building. Your story might revolve around reduced energy usage, solar panel installation, or smart water management. The aim is to create a cohesive narrative that resonates with your audience. Think about questions like:

• What sets your building apart in terms of sustainability?
• What impact have your sustainability efforts made on the local community?
• How are tenants benefiting from a greener building?

Clearly defining these points will give your audience a reason to care and follow your journey.

2. Utilize Visual Content

People respond best to visual content, making platforms like Instagram and Facebook ideal for showcasing sustainable efforts. Share photos and videos of:

• Renewable energy installations (like solar panels).
• Green spaces around your building, such as gardens or green roofs.
• Energy-efficient lighting or other green technologies in use.
• Recycling initiatives or eco-friendly amenities.

To enhance engagement, consider using infographics that detail your environmental impact or the journey towards sustainability milestones.

3. Involve Your Audience

One of the best ways to boost engagement is by involving your audience. Encourage tenants or visitors to participate in sustainable practices and share their contributions on social media. For instance, you could:

• Launch a monthly photo contest encouraging tenants to share sustainable lifestyle tips.
• Share behind-the-scenes tours of sustainable initiatives, like recycling processes or energy-efficient systems, through live videos or stories.
• Hold Q&A sessions with experts or green team members to answer sustainability questions via interactive avatars.

This type of content not only promotes awareness but also strengthens community ties and encourages sustainable habits among tenants.

4. Promote Eco-Friendly Certifications and Achievements

If your building holds any green certifications or has received awards for its eco-friendliness, showcase them proudly. Certifications such as LEED, ENERGY STAR, or WELL are highly regarded in the industry and serve as excellent social proof. You could:

• Create a post series explaining what each certification means and the standards it represents.
• Share a video of the certification ceremony or event.
• Highlight key metrics achieved, such as energy reduction percentages, water savings, or recycling success rates.

Such posts add credibility to your sustainability story and help followers understand the significance of your efforts.

5. Feature Tenant Success Stories

Incorporate tenant testimonials or stories that emphasize the benefits they experience from a sustainable building. 

For instance, a tenant might appreciate the reduction in their utility bills due to energy-efficient systems or the wellness benefits from improved indoor air quality. This personal approach helps potential tenants envision the positive impact of eco-friendly buildings on their own lives.

Creating short interview clips, sharing quotes, or writing mini-case studies can add a human element to your social media content, making it relatable and engaging.

6. Share Educational Content

Educating your followers about sustainability topics strengthens your brand’s reputation as a leader in green practices. Share tips, best practices, and updates related to sustainability. For example:

• Post weekly eco-tips that tenants can adopt at home.
• Share news articles or research studies related to green building benefits.
• Collaborate with environmental organizations to broaden your reach and share expertise.

Educational content builds trust with your audience and can position your building as a thought leader in sustainable practices.

Metrics to Track Success

Tracking the success of your social media efforts helps you understand what resonates with your audience and refine your strategy. Key metrics to monitor include:

• Engagement rates (likes, comments, shares).
• Follower growth on each platform.
• Click-through rates to your website or sustainable initiative landing pages.
• Mentions and shares by tenants or environmental organizations.

Analyzing these metrics will help you identify the type of content your audience engages with most, allowing you to adapt and optimize future posts.

Conclusion

In today’s digital world you need essential online tools for sharing your building’s sustainability journey. With strategic content planning, you can showcase your commitment to the environment, involve your tenants, and inspire others to join the movement. Start today, and watch as your green building gains followers, boosts tenant satisfaction, and strengthens its place as a leader in sustainable living.

The post Leveraging Social Media to Showcase Your Building’s Sustainability appeared first on Green Prophet.

Want to take camping to a higher level? Tentsile, a UK-based tent company has developed a novel treehouse tent that is bound to attract attention. Slung between three trees, and hanging a yard or two off the ground, this two-person tent feels like something between a shelter, a hammock, and a fine solution for smuggling chocolate into your sleeping bag without worrying about prowling bears.

While wild animals may not be the biggest concern for campers in the Levante area (countries like Israel, Lebanon and Syria) wild bears are still endemic to Iran, and countries like Turkey.

The Tentsile tent for obvious reasons will not work well in desert locations, but is ideal for a novel camp in forests or jungles anywhere. It reminds me of my travelling days to Turkey. I spent two months there one fall, and about 5 days at a treehouse camp in the south.

In the photos below, you can see how it works in Jaffa, Israel where I have installed it between two palm trees and a large jacaranda. My daughter is the model. The pictures show how the tent looks from delivery, all the way to set up. I’ve included an aerial photo as well from the roof of my house.

The Tentsile package arrives by courier:

This two-person tent by Tentsile, called Connect, does just what its name implies. If you and your two friends each buy one you can connect them in a triad forming a larger triangle.

Setting up the Tentsile suspension system between the palms:

Setting up the tent is quite easy, and handily there is a sewn-in instructions page with pictures that are easy to follow. I was missing instructions on how to use the winches to secure the tent to the trees, but after some trial and error and hanging on to the tent with my test weight I figured it out. I had four palm trees I could have worked with, but there was a better triangulation made with a jacaranda tree in the front yard to the side of the house.

An additional fly, not pictured here, will also come in handy during the rainy winter season in the Middle East. It has just started to rain.

Without the fly, the tent looks very unique. It’s definitely a showstopper. With the fly it looks like a strange large spider strung inside the trees.

Here is the Tentsile tent set up at our house in Jaffa 

As someone who has been camping since the age of zero, and buying and setting up tents in the wild forests of Canada, all the way to the jungles of south America and the deserts of the Middle East, this is what I can say about those interested in buying this tent after trying it out:

What I love about the Tentsile Connect

First thing, the egoist in me loves how it looks. You’ll definitely catch a lot of attention with this beauty. Wanted or unwanted. This could be a great solution for art and music festivals where you have to find your tent in a sea of other similar looking tents. The tent could provoke unwanted attention, so be prepared that people might be inclined to tickle your bottom while they walk by.

Hanging out with my daughter in the Tentsile tent:

Again, this is a plus or minus depending on the situation.

If I were a teen or in my early 20s, my inner attention seeker would love to have this in my backpacking tool kit. Coming in at 7.5 kilos, it’s not the lightest 2-man tent in the forest, but worth lugging around on canoe trips or backpacking when not a lot of hiking is involved. Or give it to your boyfriend to carry! He he.

Aerial view of Tentsile from my roof:

If you set it up high enough (you can buy a portable ladder for climbing in), and the space below it forms an instant covering against sun and rain.

In cold climates, using this tent may let you forego using a ground sheet or thermal insulating on the bottom. You’d have to try it out first in cold climates for conformation.

No bottom touching the ground means no leakage when it rains, and the tent preserves vegetation below it. You can quite literally set your tent up above flowerbeds or above a river. Imagine that?

Extra fly material can be draped to form extra canopy.

While I haven’t slept overnight in it yet, the tent cradled me as though I were sleeping in a hammock, a position supposedly good for blood circulation.

In countries where wild animals are a concern, this tent will definitely give you peace of mind, unless you are using it where monkeys, sloths and snakes are endemic. In this case the zippered flies should offer you enough protection.

The design is very sleek and sexy.

Shortcomings of the Tentsile

The tent is obviously very well designed and constructed, and the designers considered the mass issue of a hanging tent that can hold up to 600 kilos. The zippers however seem very delicate. I would consider using them sparingly, and only the ones on the side of the tent, and while one’s weight is centred just so. The zippers do look like they would be easy to replace, if needed.

If you like to toss and turn and zip two sleeping bags together for a snuggle on cold nights then this tent might not be for you. The Connect is made with two distinct sleeping cells, with a seam between them running in the middle.

The weight issue, mainly due to the winches that keep the tent secure to the trees, might be a misgiving for the campers in us who need to pack light for long-haul trips. And relying on trees to connect with may not be a luxury for everyone in every country all the time.

If you sleep lightly, sharing this tent my be a problem if your partner moves a lot at night. The feeling is much the same as sharing a waterbed.

The instructions say not to hang the tent above sharp objects and not higher than 1.5 meters off the ground for safety considerations. Or what would happen if lighting strikes?

The only other shortcoming I see would be privacy issues: if you are using this tent in a public or semi-public space like a camp ground and want to get romantic with your partner. If the tent’s a rocking, don’t come a knocking, we used to say back in the good old days. But this tent would be swinging. Again, it all depends on one’s outlook to these sorts of things.

I personally was very afraid of the so-called hermits that are thought to live throughout Canada’s wild and vast national parks. These are people who go into the park and never come out. Thinking a hermit might be underneath me while I sleep, however unlikely, might affect my peace of mind. A window on the bottom of the tent, like a glass bottom boat might solve the problem or make it even freakier. This fear is canceled out by the fact that no bears would be able to claw open the tent looking for my M&Ms.

Sum up: the Tentsile is a good #2 “alternative” tent for an Alpha male or female outdoorsy sort who wants a little attention, and another way to camp in a little unconventional way. It’s also a great day tent for outings with the family to the forest where you want a space to have a bug free, possibly toddler-free nap, high up in the trees with the wind blowing and the bugs out of your nose. It’s made well and if cared for could last a long time. It would be a great gift item due to its novelty and usefulness.

I love this tent and am looking forward to using it.

Buy your own Tentsile here on the Tentsile website. The tent costs about $500 and it ships for an extra $70, by courier. Accessories like the ladder are extra.

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It may keep your produce and leftovers cool, but is it heating the planet while it does? 

If your refrigerator is an older model, it could very well be harming the environment. Inefficient kitchen appliances such as refrigerators, microwaves, stoves, and dishwashers can contribute to climate change. 

The good news is that advancements in eco-conscious kitchen appliance packages can save you money while saving the planet.  

If you’ve thought that your last-century kitchen could use a facelift, now’s the perfect time to kill two birds with one stone. By updating your kitchen, you can refresh your interior design, save on your monthly energy bill, and help the environment. If you’re still on the fence about an icebox swap, here are five negative impacts your kitchen appliances could have on the environment. 

Plastic breakdowns in the microwave

Microwaves use electromagnetic radiation to heat your food. Though this small appliance is perfect for reheating leftovers, it can be harmful if you let it break down over time. The metal webbing on the door protects you from radiation, but if your microwave starts falling apart or doesn’t close properly anymore, the waves could leech into your home. 

Additionally, certain types of plastics can leech hormone-altering chemicals into your food if microwaved. Don’t sacrifice your health for convenience; replace any broken-down appliances immediately. 

Energy usage 

Residential energy use accounts for at least twenty percent of greenhouse gas emissions in the United States. Aged kitchen appliances aren’t only out of style – they’re also energy and water gluttons that contribute to the world’s climate crisis.

Replacing old energy-hogging appliances can reduce your electricity usage, making a big difference in your energy costs and environmental impact. Choosing an energy-efficient refrigerator and the right size appliances for your household can help lessen your carbon footprint.

If you want to go the extra mile, you can buy an Energy Star-rated appliance for a reduction in your monthly usage. This swap slashes your carbon footprint by 8,200 pounds over five years, which is like driving 9,300 fewer miles in your car.  

Water usage

A standard dishwasher can use over five thousand gallons of water per year, not to mention the electricity needed to heat the water and power the machine.

Luckily, today’s dishwashers are more water and energy-efficient than they were twenty years ago. Energy Star dishwashers must use 4.25 gallons of water or less per cycle, while dishwashers manufactured before the mid-1990s use more than 10 gallons of water each cycle. Updating your dishwasher will save water since newer models use less water than doing dishes by hand. 

Refrigerator coolant and emissions 

The business of keeping things cool may be heating the planet. The cooling industry–everything from refrigerators to air conditioners–is responsible for up to ten percent of global emissions. Though environmental organizations are cracking down on harmful coolant chemicals, the energy and chemical pollutants from coolers are hard to ignore. 

Manufacturing & disposal 

Like any manufacturing industry, appliance manufacturing is responsible for its share of air pollution and carbon emissions. Precious metals used in higher-quality appliances can also cause ethical and environmental concerns depending on how they’re mined. 

The disposal of older appliances lands hundreds of tons of metal in landfills annually. Though eco-friendly swaps are always a good idea, you also shouldn’t replace your devices on a whim, as this contributes to landfill overload. 

Wrap up

Replacing inefficient appliances with an energy-efficient kitchen appliance package is the easiest and most cost-effective way to update your kitchen while reducing your home’s carbon footprint.

The post Kitchens Stewing Up Environmental Trouble? 5 Negative Impacts of Appliances on the Environment  appeared first on Green Prophet.

Eco-friendly materials are one of the biggest and fastest-growing trends within interior design. If you choose to opt for a ‘greener’ choice when it comes to your home’s flooring, you’ll be helping to ensure the future of our planet as these types of materials is more sustainable compared with man-made textiles. Ceramic floor tiles are just one of the many green alternatives out there.

For thousands of years, builders and decorators have chosen ceramic tiles for their construction and DIY projects due to the many benefits they offer. You may also be surprised to hear that they are also one of the most environmentally-friendly products you can opt for when redecorating your flooring. 

Type, colour and space 

Tiles have been commonplace for homes across the world for centuries, but nowadays, more and more people are using them to decorate and add a splash of colour to a room. Instead of being used for just your home’s bathroom floor, trends in interior design have seen people using floor tiles to other rooms such as kitchens, living rooms and bedrooms. 

Aside from being used as flooring, tiles are now being incorporated onto walls such as hallways and even as splashbacks. There are a variety of options for your floor tile of choice. Tiles come in all sorts of different types and colours, and you also need to consider how they will fit into the room you want them placed in.

The type, colour and design of the floor tile you pick will likely depend on the room you are choosing to decorate. There are all sorts of different finishes you can apply, such as marble, wood and stone effects. Whatever look you want in your room, you can bet that there will be a type of tile to suit.

Durability

If you’re after a tile that is durable, keeps its pattern, but also has a funky finish, then it’s important to pick your choice of tile wisely, rather than throwing on any old random material on your floor.

For example, perhaps you want a geometrical type of finish on the flooring of your hallway, but one that will keep the pattern intact over the years of use. Encaustic tiles aren’t patterned in the glaze but instead in different colours of clay, meaning that the design remains, even as the tile wears down. Tiles are great for durability, but also longevity. Unlike carpet or vinyl, it’ll be a while before you have to replace properly installed tiles. They can last a lifetime when looked after!

Think outside the box with colours and patterns.

Tiles allow you to get creative with your flooring space! For example, creating a ‘rug’ using ceramic tiles can be a great way to create spaces in your home that will add colour and interest. Alternatively, floor tiles can also be a great way to create a waterproof area on a wooden floor, such as for a standalone bath in a bedroom. 

With tiles, the design possibilities really are endless!

Why opt for a more eco-friendly floor tile for your home?

You might be wondering why you should consider picking an eco-friendly ceramic tile for your chosen room’s flooring, over a carpet or laminate option? Take a look at just some of the benefits they can bring to your home and the environment.

Life cycle

As mentioned above, ceramic tiles are one of the more durable and long-lasting tile options you can choose for your floor. 

Because you are not replacing them as frequently as you would with a carpet, this longevity reduces time, money and resources spent on extracting raw material, manufacturing, transportation, installation, demolition and disposal requirements. All of these contribute to the effect we are having on our climate and natural landscape.

Air quality

Ceramic tile doesn’t absorb volatile organic compounds (VOCs) or other contaminants. VOCs contribute to a wide variety of health problems and are a significant cause of ‘sick building syndrome.’ Because ceramic tiles are fired in kilns to very high temperatures, there are no volatile organics that can be released into the air we breathe. 

Likewise, the lack of VOCs in ceramic tiles means that they inhibit the growth of mould, mildew and fungus! That’s why you’ll often find ceramic tiles in bathrooms where bacteria and fungus are natural habitats.

Maintenance

With ceramic tiles, there’s no need to use chemicals, waxes, strippers, solvents or shampoo that add to the level of toxic cleaning products being flushed down the drain and into the Earth’s ecosystem. They can be cleaned using nothing but warm water and pH-neutral cleaners.

Where can you buy eco-friendly ceramic tiles?

There are plenty of online stockists out there that are supplying eco-friendly tiles. One company that offers eco-friendly ceramics is Porcelanosa, who have created a ceramic parquet that is made from 95% recycled materials. Their tile is designed to reflect the textures and grains of natural wood with the technical properties of ceramic!

Lots of manufacturers are building better tiles today with processes that are greener and better raw materials. If you’re looking to make an impact on your carbon footprint reduction, then opt for a ceramic tile for your interior design!

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You might be able to buy a strawbale house or build a cob house on a budget of $4,000 like the woman from the UK did in Turkey but if your walls and roof manages to last the winter, you have to know how your floor will stand up. There are plenty of ways that earth-minded people build flooring to stand the test of time. Choosing your best options for the most part might really depend on where you live. Think about the weather that might creep in or creatures that you want to keep out. Laminate or upcycled wood? certified sustainably harvested wood? 

Grounding out your floor

A new-old trend among seasoned earth lovers is grounding. Meaning they build their homes and flooring with as few layers to the earth as possible. If you live in a temperate climate that doesn’t get too damp or too cold you might be able to get away with a rammed earth or even a simple dirt floor. The benefits is that feel-good earthy vibe when you are making your coffee in the morning, keeping your toes touching the earth. Another benefit is that it doesn’t and will never look like black polished marble. So keeping it clean isn’t really that important.

If you can’t go all out with an earth floor another option for moderate climates is wooden floorboards like a deck above the earth. Depending on the width of the slats, you can let air or the outside in. I built a low cost studio in my backyard with this option and because it was for a pottery studio that I have to keep dust free, I needed a solution that could take a lot of water. So on one hand I have a simple wooden “deck” floor for my studio which sits on cement stilts (no foundation, leave no trace behind), I needed to go for a low cost solution to keep the floor dust- free, so we chose a roll of linoleum. 

Clearance or end of line flooring

There are all finds of low cost solutions if you are like the No Money Man from the UK (keeping it simple and real), but for those with more means you might be able to afford plastic tiling made from ocean waste or other upcycled materials. A floor with a story, imagine that?  One company we came across with endless ideas and pictures (like looking at Houzz for hours!) is this one selling all sorts of clearance flooring. Companies that sell end of line materials or upcycle raw materials that get left behind at the end of a production run get big points in our books. Think Reformation but for floors!

Another flooring solution made famous by artisans in the Middle East is carpeting. No matter how old and ugly or worn down your floor might look a few good carpets can save the day. Carpets woven in the Middle East like in places like Turkey or Uzbekistan not only last forever and look better with use, you actually help women (most of the weavers) earn a decent and stable income and you keep an ancient craft alive. Make sure you buy your carpet from a reputable seller. I have met people in Turkey as carpet tourists — just around those parts to buy carpets.

A more affordable option if you can’t buy a lifetime-use wool carpet is to buy an upcycled carpet. Sewn together and then redyed, they look like a million dollars and are still in fashion. 

This totally weird carpet by designers in Israel looks like stones and it also gives you a massage when you walk over it. 

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Hague-based designer Aliki van der Kruijs allows rain to create gorgeous abstract patterns on specially treated silk and cotton fabrics.  She’s no fashionista, this is her effort to archive the weather as it undergoes change.

Working on the rooftop of her Amsterdam studio, she uses two distinct techniques to create what she calls a “textile register of rainfall in a specific location.” One process involves laying a water-soluble ink sheet atop an expanse of white silk fabric placed on her flat roof. When rain hits the ink sheet, pigment bleeds onto the underlying white fabric. Her second technique uses fabric already impregnated with ink., which pools in different intensities when saturated by raindrops. Van de Krujis named her process “pluviagraphy” (drawing with rain).

Regardless of which process she chooses, the fabric is limited to a five minute exposure to rain. She then applies a fixative that permanently preserves the resulting patterns. Each fabric print is tagged with the geographic coordinates of where it was created, the amount of rainfall it received, and the date, making it a tactile and visual marker of a particular moment in place and time.

Check out the images f her work on her tumblr.  She also pops up in boutiques selling the fabric as scarves and shawls. Currently, find her textiles stitched into bedding at Zig Zag Zurich.

Today’s news from Trump have me wondering if the technique also works with human tears.

Images from the artist’s tumblr page

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Gotham’s green foliage projects in large urban communities like New York City and Chicago, not only produce year around vegetables; but also help preserve vestiges of former wild pastoral glory.

An excellent example of efforts made to put abandoned urban space to good use as a garden park is the High Line urban grasslands park in New York City’s Chelsea district. An abandoned above ground rail line has been converted into a public park and botanical garden, known locally as simply the “High Line”.

This green eco park stretches from West 12th and Ganesvoort Streets, all the way north to the Penn Central rail yards on West 34th Street. During a recent late summer visit to New York City, it was a pleasure to visit High Line and stroll along its long, winding route, interspersed with a multitude of trees, shrubs and prairie grassland plant species, many of which are nearly extinct in their native locales.

The various grasses, shrubs and other greenery planted there were indigenous to American prairies in states as far east as Ohio. Many of these prairie locations have long since disappeared, having been replaced by farmland and modern urbanization. For this reason, the idea of planting such greenery in the heart of America’s largest urban metropolis was conceived in the early 1990’s.

Walking through this modern day Garden of Eden, it’s easy to see that it offers something for everyone, including various art forms, food delights, scenic views of the Hudson River, pastoral greenery; and various views of New York City itself, especially the picturesque Chelsea neighborhood.

The High Line project is an excellent example of what can be done to utilize a now abandoned rail transportation structure, instead of tearing it down. Similar green projects are now being undertaken in other parts of the city; including the river port area and former warehouse districts. A Low Line project in Manhattan looks to create new food sources from space age technologies.

In the Middle East, urban greening and farming projects are nothing new. Urban Egyptians have been engaged in urban agriculture projects for years.  Hydroponic greening goes all the way back to ancient Babylonians with their legendary Hanging Gardens of Babylon.

Read more about greening and farming urban areas:

Japan rents out hydroponic gardens to busy city dwellers

Chicago’s urban farming produces fresh veggies all year 24/7

Brooklyn’s Gotham Greens builds world’s largest rooftop farm

Egypt’s Urban Agriculture Movement is Growing

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You’ve got open eyes. You’ve read the reports, like this one from the WWF on how polluting we’ve become. Yet we can’t get enough of consuming stuff on planet earth. Pick up the New York Times and see an editorial running on watch ads. Fancy, crazy expensive watches for elite people, not this planet in peril.

Enter Hunter Green. This is a new watch line that’s made with practically everything that will make an eco-lover tick. The watches are biodegradable eventually, and are made to be lead free, and mercury free with zero toxins.

The watches have been made with biodegradable and organic corn resin so that modest earth lovers like you and me can express ourselves. Isn’t that what green fashion is all about?

See this eco-friendly watch come to life through Kickstarter

Into the Hunter Green watches you’ve also got an organic cotton and cork (a very sustainable renewable resource) strap.

Designer Hunter Mayers, now looking for a $30,000 launch fund on Kickstarter (and which is about 1/4 of the way there!) was inspired to start this new line of watches after meeting film director David Lynch.

He tells Green Prophet: “I have a background in the Film/TV industry as a Designer and Graphic Producer. I was at David Lynch’s house for a charity event, (sounds more glamorous than my real life actually is. ha!)…

But…

“His house is very modern, as was his outfit that day. Dark colors, nothing flashy. I noticed David was wearing a bright neon yellow, cheap plastic, wristwatch. He was expressing himself,” Mayers says. “After my visit I wanted to purchase a watch like his, to express myself. I found many watch designs I liked but none that were good for the environment. I was shocked to see the lack of eco-friendly choices.

“I have a design background, so I started designing… Hunter Green was born.”

Putting a watch to task

Mayers grew up surfing in Maryland and put time into thinking about saving our planet from pollution after seeing so much trash out at sea. To raise awareness, he’ll be giving 5 percent of every sale of his watches to the Plastic Pollution Coalition (of which Green Prophet is a member). The watches which will be available to ship in about half a year and will cost about $125.

Getting to the point of a Kickstarter that could deliver on time wasn’t trivial, says Mayers: “I had many issues trying to locate a watch manufacture…as the materials I wanted to use weren’t widely used in the watch industry.

“This struggle, although frustrating, made me what to see this through even more. I felt like I was onto something special,” Mayers concludes.

Think so too? While it may seem trivial that a watch could actually save this planet, we love the project for the awareness it brings to the watch industry and the way timepieces are made. And it makes me think of my dad’s old collection of pocket watches from one hundred years ago. Watches that none of us will probably ever wear again, begging the question: Do watches in the 21st century really need to withstand the test of time? I’d rather mine melt into the earth when I am done with it.

Fund Hunter Green watches here on Kickstarter

The post Hunter Green: a biodegradable watch for a planet living on borrowed time appeared first on Green Prophet.

A consortium of Japanese architects got together to protest Zaha Hadid’s winning design for the main stadium of the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, and despite all her fame and glory, the Japanese government listened.

Zaha Hadid has been in the news a lot recently. For many, she is an incredible, visionary designer whose work is unparalleled, and her projects are appearing all over the world – including Qatar.

But a group of Japanese architects banded together to protest the enormous scope and size of the 80,000 seat stadium in Tokyo, which will host both the opening and closing ceremonies, as well as the Games’ athletics, football and rugby events.

Fumihiko Maki, Toyo Ito, Sou Fujimoto and Kengo Kuma – all renowned for their own work – organized a meeting to convey how the stadium approved six months ago is poorly suited for the urban context in which it is slated to appear.

“We are NOT against Zaha,” said Fujimoto in a tweet. “We just think the basic requirement of the competition was too big for the surroundings.”

After listening to the Japanese consortium’s concerns about Hadid’s design, sports minister Hakubun Shimomura overruled the initial project approval – in part because the £1.8 billion construction budget is “too massive,” reports Dezeen.

“We need to rethink this to scale it down,” he said. “Urban planning must meet people’s needs.”

When they approved the project roughly six months ago, the design jury loved Hadid’s design. In addition to incorporating geothermal energy, recycled rainwater and grey water reuse, thereby upping the green ante in a first for the Iraqi architect, the stadium will serve multiple functions.

More than just a temporary stadium for the 2020 Olympics, the Tokyo National Olympic Stadium to be constructed in Tokyo’s Yoyogi Park will also host the 2019 Rugby World Cup.

But for now – thanks to a few outspoken Japanese designers who value their city, Hadid has been forced to revisit the drawing board to produce something that is a little less cumbersome for its already-dense setting.

:: Dezeen

The post Zaha Hadid’s 2020 Olympic Stadium Thwarted by Japanese Peers appeared first on Green Prophet.

So many countries in the Middle East and North Africa rely way too much on concrete for their building needs, but Libya Design bucks the trend with Doshma – a new creative hub built in part with a used shipping container.

Opened in June, 2013, this striking new arts center is the talk of Tripoli.

Inspired by the 2011 Libyan Revolution, which culminated in longstanding despot Muammar al-Gaddafi’s ouster, Doshma provides an exciting new model for urban architecture in the Mediterranean city.

Granted, the domed glass shell is probably not the wisest material choice since it’s bound to trap heat and ratchet up energy costs, but given its minor footprint of just 140 square meters, the center won’t require much to stay cool in the first place.

But we love the shipping container, and not only because it’s recycled.

In addition to reusing a material that would otherwise languish at port, Libya Design, Allabina and HudHud have infused their cultural icon with an idealism rarely seen in contemporary North African architecture.

During the revolution, this particular shipping container was used to deliver aid to revolutionaries who fought hard to wrest control of their country out of Gaddafi’s greedy hands.

“Doshma is an architectural response to a country’s struggle,” says Libya Design’s Chairman and Co-Founder Walid El-Turki.

Other materials used for defense are deployed as well, further emphasizing the revolution’s symbolic role in the project’s design. The vaulted interior is used not only to exhibit work produced by local artists but also to carve out a sacred space to share ideas and socialize.

Unlike the cold hard ambience of concrete architecture, the exposed aluminum infrastructure lends an intriguing industrial essence to the center. Far and away the most exciting project to hit the city in some time, Doshma has the potential to spur more of the same.

:: World Architecture News

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