Photo via Etsy

Like your drinks served on the rocks? How about on rock albums? Husband and wife team INOUDID’s Attic are purging their old record collection by repurposing album covers into coasters and LPs into bowls. Before you vinyl fanatics start having panic attacks, let me reassure you that I am sympathetic to your cause (see related posts here and here). Fortunately, so is INOUDID’s Attic.

The couple did right by LP connoisseurs by putting their old records up for sale. Strangely enough, they had a hard time finding people that needed to have Hall & Oates’ Big Bam Boom, Ratt’s Out of the Cellar, or the Pointer Sisters’ Break Out on vinyl.

They also had a ton of records that were too damaged to be playable. Instead of doing the easy thing – chucking them in the garbage – they came up with this eco-friendlier solution.

The album cover is divided into nine coasters that are affixed to 3 3/4″ by 3 3/4″ by 1/2″ birch plywood, then protected with a clear moisture-resistant finish. The best part? You can arrange the puzzle-like pieces to recreate the album artwork!

The record itself is heated and reshaped into a shallow bowl. Perfect for holding the coasters, your 325+ remote controls , or whatever else is currently cluttering your coffee table. And when you knock over your drink while excitedly telling your house guests about your new purchase, both the coasters and the bowl can be easily cleaned with a damp cloth.

INOUDID’s Attic has quite the selection, but once a coaster & bowl set is gone, it’s gone. Don’t let someone else beat you to Ted Nugent’s Weekend Warriors, and remember: “This can’t last forever…doesn’t get much better, no better than this.”

Get it Here:  INOUDID’s Attic on Etsy ($30)

Photo by Rankin via Oxfam

We’re increasingly understanding that the environmental movement is not just about hugging trees and saving the whales, it’s about people too. That’s why musicians like Fatboy Slim, Jarvis Cocker, VV Brown, and Little Boots are lending their faces – painted blue – to Oxfam’s “Blue in the Face” campaign.

The new campaign urges world leaders attending the climate summit in Copenhagen this December to address the needs of poor communities dealing with the impacts of global warming. From the destruction of homes to limited access to clean water to food shortages, the poor are especially hit hard by the effects of more frequent and severe natural disasters caused by climate change.

Photographed by fashion photographer Rankin, these celebrity pics are just the beginning of an online photo gallery of supporters. That’s right! You too can join in the face painting fun and “take action on climate change until you’re blue in the face.”

Oxfam will be at festivals all over the UK to help with face painting and photo snapping. They’ll present the petition to the UK government just in time for the summit, asking for reduced global carbon emissions and funds to help poor areas adapt to environmental changes. The big kickoff starts this weekend at Glastonbury.

via Treehugger

Photo via Solio

Summer’s officially here! And the sunshine it brings with it means good news for outdoor concerts, backyard dance parties, and powering up your iPod or iPhone with a free source of energy.

Solio may look like a prop from the latest Star Trek movie, but it’s actually a solar-powered charger. Spread out the blades to expose the photovoltaic cells and soak up the sun – whether outside or through a window.

Even if you live in a place like…Portland, for example, where the sun can be so scarce that you sometimes doubt its very existence, Solio can still be a practical choice. It only takes one hour of sunshine to produce enough power to talk for 20 minutes or listen to music for 50 minutes.

When the clouds roll in, you can charge Solio by conventional means (i.e. plugging it into a wall socket or computer USB port). As an added bonus, it can charge multiple gadgets at once, including iPods/mp3 players, iPhones/cell phones, and cameras.

Better Energy Systems, the creators of Solio, put a lot of thought into how to design their product as eco-friendly as possible at each stage of its lifecycle. Besides using solar power, these chargers contain recycled plastics, are RoHS compliant, and have a long-life replaceable lithium ion battery.

The battery, as well as the entire device itself, can be sent back to the company for recycling. Better Energy Systems also plants trees to offset the carbon emissions produced by the manufacturing process, making Solio a green standout.

Get it here: Solio (H1000 $80, Classic $100, Magnesium $200)

Photo via Meat Free Monday

It’s Paul McCartney’s 67th birthday! And what Paul wants most is not for us to sing “(na na na na na na) you say it’s your birthday,” but to show our support for his newest endeavor, Meat Free Monday, which officially launched this week.

Paul, a longtime vegetarian and advocate for the ethical treatment of animals, recognizes that not everyone is willing or ready to make the switch to a completely meat-free diet. Instead, he’s asking us to forgo meat for just one day a week:

“I think many of us feel helpless in the face of environmental challenges, and it can be hard to know how to sort through the advice about what we can do to make a meaningful contribution to a cleaner, more sustainable, healthier world. Having one designated meat free day a week is actually a meaningful change that everyone can make, that goes to the heart of several important political, environmental and ethical issues all at once.”

Sir Paul is encouraging us to go veggie not only because it’s healthy and animal-friendly, but also because it helps fight global warming.

Huh? What’s the connection between eating meat and climate change? According to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, the livestock industry accounts for upwards of 18% of greenhouse gas emissions worldwide. Eating meat is so energy intensive, in fact, that Compassion in World Farming estimates that the average UK household can reduce more emissions by cutting their meat consumption in half than by cutting their car use in half.

He’s making it real easy for us to skip the meat by sharing vegetarian recipes from his dearly departed wife Linda’s cookbook each week. The UK’s top chefs are also contributing their favorite meat-free dishes.

Hey Paul? I signed up. “I’m glad it’s your birthday. Happy birthday to you.”

Image via Pedaling Against Poverty

Although this year’s merrymaking has now officially come to a close, I wanted to bid farewell to Bonnaroo 2009 with an interesting story about one musician’s 330 mile journey to the festival…on a bike…with cello and 60 lbs of equipment in tow.

His name is Ben Sollee, and in an effort to reduce his carbon footprint as a musician, he took to the road not in a CO2-emitting van or tour bus, but on an Xtracycle extended-frame bike. An Xtracycle is a bike with a trunk of sorts, allowing riders to haul groceries, luggage, or cellos, apparently.

Ben, who hails from Lexington, Kentucky, embarked on a week-long trek to Bonnaroo in his neighboring state of Tennessee, stopping to perform shows along the way. Ben also promoted Oxfam America’s good work on poverty, hunger, and social justice issues at each gig. Talk about a sustainable tour.

You can read all about it on his blog (complete with videos), Pedaling Against Poverty, and in this informative interview with Jeff Biggers at the Huffington Post.

And the music? I downloaded Ben’s latest album, Learning to Bend, to have a listen for myself. Wow. Although classically trained, he applies some unconventional techniques to this old-school instrument, giving it a folksy, bluesy edge I didn’t know it had. And he’s got a soaring, soulful voice to boot. I guess I shouldn’t be surprised, considering Mr. Sollee was named one of National Public Radio’s “Top 10 Unknown Artists of the Year” in 2007.

And this isn’t just a one-time thing. Ben is recording a new album, set to be released in fall 2009, that will raise awareness about the environmental dangers of mountaintop removal strip mining, a cause Ben has helped out with in the past. He’s still touring beyond Bonnaroo, so check to see if he’s performing near you – and pedal to the show on your own bike to show your support!

Photo via Etsy

Artist Cat Bishop has set quite the goal for herself: to create 1,000 pieces of what she terms “assemblage art.” Cat scours flea markets and thrift stores for materials, which range from kitchenware to cameras to clocks. Characters – human, animal, and even robot – emerge from cleverly mixing and matching objects.

From an interview with the artist on Etsy:

“My inspiration really comes from the vintage objects that I work with and the thrill of finding them…I can get way too excited over old painted croquet balls or a trashed motorcycle gas tank that I know just needs to [be] reincarnated into a duck. I also love the shapes, lines, and colors of 1950s design. It’s so stylized and easily recognizable…”

Lucky for us music lovers, there are quite a few creations that incorporate instruments – mostly of the kiddie variety, but that’s way more fun, right? Pictured here is my personal favorite, “Slim the Cowboy,” one of many carnival-themed items in Cat’s collection. With a rainbow xylophone torso, croquet ball head, and porcelain boots, he’s one colorful and crazy dude. Plus, he can be posed!

If you’re looking for something to hang on the wall, check out “The Lounge Singer,” whose xylophone aesthetic is similar to Slim the Cowboy’s, or Piano Cat, constructed from a red toy piano, art deco car dashboard clock, and yarn spindle. For something a little less flashy, there’s Giraffe Girl (made with a neutral-toned xylophone, wooden cigar box, and doll legs) and her mate Giraffe Boy (crafted from a trumpet, spinning drum head, and sewing machine drawer).

Cat’s sculptures are very affordable, but if you love what you see and your budget is a little tight, you can also buy prints of her artwork.

Get it Here: Artsy on Etsy (Sculptures $28 – $324; Prints $14)