Having just spent a nearly sunless month soaking in the rain at the beautiful yet formidable and cold coasts of Northern Ireland, my mind is stuck in a fantasy of white sandy beaches, crystal blue water and warm beams of sunshine packed with vitamin D. Although I have neither the time nor money to travel to a beach resort, this hasn’t stopped me from daydreaming about—and researching—eco-friendly beach resorts in semi-nearby Central America. Join me in my armchair (or desk chair) travels to Guanacaste, Costa Rica to the Hotel Punta Islita.

Natural beaches and rainforests teeming with wildlife surround the Hotel Punta Islita. Photo Courtesy Hotel Punta Islita. 

The Hotel Punta Islita holds many awards, including a prestigious four-leaf rating from the Costa Rican tourism board’s Certification in Sustainable Tourism (CST) program. The CST evaluates the company’s interaction with its natural surroundings, its management policies and operational systems, the company’s interaction with the local communities and how much the company invites its clients to be active in its policies of sustainability. The program rates companies on a scale of 0 to 5, with 5 being the highest level attainable.

The hotel has many eco-friendly features and amenities, including:

• a strict recycling policy
• waste water management
• electric golf carts, and
• low-flow showerheads

What is perhaps most impressive about the Hotel Punta Islita is how it interacts with and supports the local community. The hotel opened in 1994 in an economically depressed area that had been overexploited by unsustainable cattle ranching and wood extraction. Fifteen years later, the area looks quite different. By providing alternative economic and professional opportunities, the hotel changed the life of the locals and the state of the surrounding rainforest. Of the staff, 85 percent are locals, and 50 cents of every dollar spent at the hotel stays in the community in the form of salaries, contributions, taxes, social benefits and local purchases.

As for the local environment, the devastation done to the surrounding rainforest by slash-and-burn agriculture and hunting has started to reverse. The hotel has a 50-acre area of tropical rainforest on its property that has been designated a private conservation area for local species. The hotel has also worked with the Costa Rican Ministry of Environment to create a safe and natural nesting area for sea turtles.

Take a swim in one of the hotel’s pools or enjoy fresh, local food at the hotel’s outdoor dining room. Photo Courtesy Hotel Punta Islita. 

All this makes the Hotel Punta Islita a great place to visit for environmental and social justice reasons, but the hotel has much to offer in the way of relaxation and natural beauty as well, including:

• a beach club with swim-up bar
• an exercise room with mountain and beach views
• an infinity pool that seems to merge with the horizon, and
• an open-air dining room that serves local fresh ingredients

Hotel Punta Islita seems like a great place for an eco-friendly trip. If you know of any other eco-friendly hotels and resorts around the world, please let me know.

In more than three years I’ve gone through four iPods. I’m cringing a little as I type that. The first to go was my light pink iPod Mini, which I stopped using it when it was discontinued. Then I bought a bright red iPod Nano (the first version.) When I purchased my MacBook, I got a free iPod Touch. Now on top of all my iPod-extravaganza, I have an iPhone. Now except for the iPhone and occasionally the Nano, my iPods sit in a shoebox under my bed, completely usable, but never used.  I feel very electronically wasteful, but that’s nothing compared to the energy I’ve consumed charging all of these gadgets. Try these tips to keep your iPod energy use down—and get some extra jammin’ time.

Save energy when using your iPod with these tips. Photo By Gum/Courtesy Flickr 

1) Keep an eye on it while it’s charging.

Even if the iPod is fully charged, electricity can still flow if it’s plugged in. To save energy, unplug it immediately once the battery reaches its max.

2) Lower the lighting.

Make your iPod last longer by lowering the light setting. For iPod Nanos, turn the light setting completely off. On classic iPods or iPod Touch, set the light to 50 percent.

3) Don’t check your e-mail all the time.

With just a couple of taps on my iPhone I can get my e-mail almost instantly. This speedy e-mail updating has put me in the bad habit of checking my e-mail about every 30 minutes. But this compulsive habit uses up the phone’s energy—fast. Check your e-mail just once every hour or so to save battery power.

4) Use an alternative charger.

Charge your iPod with an eco-friendly charger. Check out these nifty green chargers.

• SOLiCharger 

SOLiCharger fully charges gadgets after four hours of sun exposure and provides up to a 50 percent charge to the iPhone or iTouch battery. Its small, lightweight design is perfect for traveling. The SOLiCharger is currently sold out. Check Sollite for availability.

• Powcell 

MotionTouch , a UK-based company, recently created the Powcell, a small solar charger that fits over the iPhone or iPod Touch. It works in natural and artificial sunlight and takes about four hours to fully charge. Buy it online for £60 or about $98.

How do you save your iPod’s energy? Tell me about it in the comments section.

After watching the season premiere of Project Runway Season 6 last night, I was pumped. I may have attempted a model walk in my stilettos down the catwalk (hallway) to my room. But at just barely 5 feet tall, my modeling experience will be limited to posing in front of the bathroom mirror.

If you think you’ve got what it takes to be a model though, why not be an eco-friendly one?

Do you have what it takes to be the next green model? Enter Project Green Search. Photo Courtesy Project Green Search.

Project Green Search , hosted by The Greenloop, is looking for eco-conscious models to participate in its modeling competition.

Participants must be at least 17 years old and dedicated to professionalism, environmental awareness and social responsibility. Contestants will be required to volunteer for at least 10 hours to an environmental group including The Natural Step, Green Corps, Natural Resources Defense Council, Global Green, The Sierra Club and others.

During Portland Fashion Week (October 7-11), a sustainable fashion week featuring only eco-designers, judges will score the top 10 finalists based on a photo shoot, interview and runway walk. The judges, including Darren Moore, Deborah Lindquist, Josie Maran, Michael Kaliski, Starre Vartan and Summer Rayne Oakes, will then choose a winner.

• The winner will receive these eco-fabulous prizes.

• If not yet represented, a contract with top-tier modeling agencies to provide representation in Portland and Los Angeles for work in print, runway and television.

• A professional photography session with fashion photographer Courtney Dailey, complete with organic make-up and sustainable designer clothing.

• A 20-piece eco-fashion wardrobe.

• A natural and organic beauty shopping spree at Future Natural.

• Features, articles and covers in publications including Coco Eco Magazine, Organic Spa Magazine, Peppermint Magazine, Chenille Magazine, Electrifying Times, Route 66 Pulse, and more tear sheets to build a portfolio.

• Guidance and introductions by LOHAS to sustainable beauty, fashion and other companies.

• A one year stint as the face of Project Green Search. 

If you want to strut your eco-fabulous stuff, enter the contest by September 16, 2009.

I rarely use lemon except when I squeeze a wedge into my iced tea to add a punch of flavor. This usually leaves me with more than half of a lemon that ends up rotting in my fridge. Try these unusual methods for using those leftover lemons.

Use this tangy fruit for more than just cooking. Photo By jamelah/Courtesy Flickr 

Eliminate bad breath

Rub a lemon wedge over your teeth and tongue to get rid of stinky breath.

Hangover cure

Sip hot water and lemon after a night of drinking to help cleanse the liver and get a boost of Vitamin C.

Clean copper pots

Easily remove food residue from copper pots with a combination of salt and lemon. Also use this concoction to naturally clean wooden cutting boards.

Heal sunburn

Combine apple cider vinegar and lemon juice to heal scorched skin. The lemon acts as a disinfectant to help heal the sunburn.

Reduce oily skin

Lemon can slow the production of overactive oil glands. Dab lemon juice onto your face every morning, leave on for a few minutes then wash off with warm water to minimize pores.

Soothe a sore throat

Combine lemon juice, warm water and a tablespoon of salt for a warm, soothing drink.

Bleach substitute

Mix 1 cup hydrogen peroxide, 1 ¼ cup lemon juice and 12 cups water to create your own eco-friendly bleach.

Do you have any alternative uses for lemons? Tell me about them in the comment section.

Edouard Francois’ Immeuble qui Pousse, or Sprouting Building, at a first glance might remind you of a giant Chia Pet. With ingenious design, live plants blossom along the rock walls of this apartment building to create a living green facade.

Photo Courtesy Designboom.

Built in Montpellier, France, along the banks of the Lez River, this massive plant-covered rock structure blends into the landscape. The building was completed in 2000 and contains 64 apartments. Each apartment is oriented east or west along a central corridor, and the building gradually.

The building arcs gently with the surrounding landscape and has a large stone base. Rustic timber balconies are cantilevered out from the main structure and look like little tree houses. Each balcony has a flower stand for climbing plants, adding to the building’s overall vegetation. The concrete walls are covered in gabion baskets, which are typically used as retaining elements in river or highway engineering.

Photo Courtesy Urban Habitat, Univeristy of Virginia.

Francois prefabricated the gabion baskets on the site in 9-by-4.5-feet panels. To assemble each panel he began with a steel cage steel framework and studded with a double layer of frost-resistant pebbles and lava. The layer of lava would help with moisture control for the plants because of its porous nature. Next he added a layer of sand followed by a layer of seeds and soil. The sand prevented the plants from growing into and destroying the structure of the concrete. Finally, Francois set the ends of the steel cages in the concrete that formed the inner face of the panel, and reinforced the edges.

Stainless steel anchors tied the panels to the concrete structure behind them. Gabion walls are very green in their construction, but also create a well-insulated and well-ventilated building. A watering system was easily created between the joints of the panels to nurture the plants that would cover the facade.

Photo Courtesy Urban Habitat, University of Virginia.

Before Francois completed the building, the apartments sold out. The living facade of the building was unique and green, but did not sacrifice the comfort of the residents inside. Edouard Francois has continued to design green-covered buildings, and many other architects have picked up his innovations. Perhaps in the future all buildings will be living gardens, helping us create a more sustainable and beautiful planet.

I love back-to-school shopping.

Even though my color-coded organization system never lasts more than a month, having neat new supplies gives me a fresh start. Finding a turquoise ruler to match my calculator and math binder makes me giddy.

But after working for Natural Home this summer, the green guilt has set in. Back-to-school shopping involves a lot of waste.

In high school, the waste is amplified because teachers do not coordinate their lists. Each teacher requests a binder just for his or her class. Then one teacher says I’ll need tape, another says glue sticks and yet another wants me to buy a bottle of Elmer’s.

Of course, by the end of the year I’ve only used each thing once.

But this year, things have to change. I am going to try harder to reuse the old and green the new. I don’t have my specific supply list yet, so I’ll shop around for green versions of these five essentials:

• Backpack: I have a sturdy backpack I’ve had since 9th grade that I can reuse, but my sister might need a new one. These certified organic European hemp bags come in lots of sizes and colors.

    
This eco-friendly backpack from Land’s End is made of 100 percent recycled fabric. Photo Courtesy Land’s End

• Lunchbox: My lavender tin lunchbox broke, so I’m on the hunt for a new, stylish lunchbox. Assistant editor Kim Wallace totes this eco-friendly polka-dot lunch bag, which costs $23. I’m also in love with this sleek stainless steel stackable lunchbox from To Go Ware, which costs $23. Paired with a Kleen Kanteen stainless steel water bottle in any color and some cute bamboo cutlery, I’ll be good to go!

 
To Go Ware’s stainless steel stackable lunchbox is inspired by an Indian Tiffin box.  Photo Courtesy To Go Ware

• Pencils/Pens: I always lose pencils and pens, so I’ll need new ones again this year. These pencils from Paper Mate EarthWrite are awesome. Made from reclaimed wood and 100 percent pre-consumer waste materials, these No.2 pencils are eco-friendly and inexpensive; a dozen costs $1.50. These ballpoint pens from Pilot BeGreen are available at most office supply stores. They are made from 78 percent post-consumer recycled content and are refillable; three pens cost $5.

• Spiral notebooks: All my spirals are full and ready to be recycled. Staples’ eco-friendly college ruled notebooks are made from 80 percent sugarcane waste and are printed with eco-conscious vegetable- and water-based ink. The notebooks cost $3. I also like this pricey but adorable recycled notebook from Target for $10.

• Binders: I have two binders that are still in good condition, but I’ll need a couple more. I can decorate a recycled binder from TerraCycle and recycle it at the end of the school year!

You may have to explore the Internet to find an eco-friendly lunchbox and backpack, but green office supplies are available everywhere (Some for prices less their non-green counterparts!) When shopping, save time by asking an employee if there is an eco-friendly section or if there are eco-friendly alternatives to conventional supplies.

If your local office supply store does not offer the green product you seek, try this online green office supply store.

Do you have a favorite eco-friendly office supply store, brand or product? Please leave a comment!

Being a big nerd, I always thought libraries were one of the coolest places in the world. Now, thanks to some impressive new designs, other people are beginning to think so too. Rem Koolhaas’s Seattle Public Library is a giant ramp encased in glass. The Arabian Library in Scottsdale, Arizona, earned a LEED Silver rating and the 2008 Smart Environments Award, while the Clinton Library in Little Rock, Arkansas, earned a much-coveted LEED Platinum rating.

But it is the proposed Bibliosphere at the University of Duisburg-Essen in Germany that tops them all. Combining a quirky modern form with green design, this “Death Star” library will act as a unique landmark for the city. (With its modern spherical shape and large size, the building has been said to jokingly resemble the Death Star battle ship from Star Wars). Architecture firm Greeen! designed Bibliosphere for an international competition (although the firm did not win—architectural firm KSP Engel and Zimmermann took that honor with a glass cube design).

Bibliosphere will act as a huge landmark for Essen, Germany. Photo Courtesy Inhabitat.

This giant sphere is both a new library and office building and was designed to create a place where the city of Essen and the University could come together. The façade of the sphere is oriented toward the city. The library’s reading rooms will use natural ventilation and lighting as well as solar protection films on the glass to save energy. The transparent nature of the library from the glass shell will provide views of the city and a healthy working environment.

The Bibliosphere will use renewable energy resources and is expected to cut energy consumption by more than 50 percent of what German standards require. Bibliosphere architects are aiming for gold certification from the German Sustainable Building Council, a member of the World Green Building Council.

This rendering shows how Bibliosphere will look at night. Photo Courtesy Inhabitat.

The architects at Greeen! have 10 years of environmental design experience. This European firm believes that environmental architecture needs to provide not only energy-saving benefits, but also needs to create comfortable human spaces. Greeen! designs, such as the Bibliosphere, are based on seven basic principles: interdisciplinarity; human-scale; spaces for living; sustainable architecture; ecological design; energy-solving building concepts; and reasonable solutions. With all these considerations in mind, it’s no wonder people are getting excited over the Bibliosphere.