Elisa's Green Scene

Another modern Prefab site

Being the modern prefab aficionado, I'm not sure how I missed this website!  It is simply called www.prefabs.com - which makes it even more strange that I missed it!  Not only do they have a listing of all the modern prefab projects going on, and the architects doing them, but also some other cool things such as prefab financing, which is a bit more challenging that regular houses.  They also have a resource section that links to blogs and other cool sites that have information about prefabs.  There are a lot of options out there now, so spread the word.  The biggest challenge facing the industry is that more people need to build them in order to drive the costs down.

Holodynamics

The movie 'What the Bleep' was quite an eye-opener for me in terms of how I see the world, even though the concepts of quantum physics are really hard to get one's arms around.  For those of you who have not seen the movie, it explores how everything that happens in our lives is created by us - there are no accidents.  Our subconscious view of ourselves and our lives actually make it so.  If we all look at our lives, it does seem true that certain patterns keep occurring, and that has to do with our own views.  The part of the movie that was the hardest to grasp is where they show that we all have the ability to create whatever reality we want if we really believe it.  I guess the disconnect with most of us is that it is hard to believe you can make anything happen that you want to. 

I recently came across a related field of study called Holodynamics, which made a lot of sense to me, and made this concept seem a lot less woo-woo.  I had a lengthy conversation with a practitioner from Journey to Success, that practices Holodynamics, and he explained that while its obvious our actions involve energy, so do our thoughts.  We all have a subconscious 'mind map' of energy that is essentially our view of ourselves and our lives.  It has been impacted by all the experiences in our lives.  These maps are called Holodynes.  For instance if you were brought up in an abusive household, that information is stored in your holodynes, perhaps influencing your expectation of what you deserve in life.  That energy field actually influences other atoms in the universe to organize and be attracted to you.  In the above example, it might mean that you attract abusive individuals into your life due to your holodynes.  Holodynamics is a way of accessing those holodynes, finding the damaging ones, and energetically allowing them to mature, so that you do not attract those situations into your life any longer.

There is a lot of very interesting study going on in this field and other quantum physics fields by some of the top scientists in the world.  I guess what I found interesting is that while it sounds very airy-fairy, these concepts are actually based in science.  Perhaps the reason people have trouble believing in them is that we tend to only believe what we can see, and as a society we have lost a lot of our intuitive abilities.  I would love to hear if anyone has experience with this.

Mind over Skepticism

In my latest order from hip & zen, I got the pictured Prosperity Necklace. Now, I don't consider myself to be a big believer in, well, lots of hip & zen-type stuff. Karen's the one who does yoga and meditates, I'm the one who doesn't eat animals. I admit I was attracted to the idea and symbolism of "prosperity", since I'm bootstrapping a start-up with two other partners and could use all the encouragement toward prosperity I can get!

But when I read stuff like "Wear this Energy Muse piece when you seek new opportunity" and when there's an affirmation that comes with the piece: "I live in a state of joyous expectancy" and when the description also says "This unique handcrafted jewelry has been cleansed using ancient techniques and energized to amplify the power and healing properties of the stones. For optimum prosperity results, wear your jewelry for 10 days straight. (It's okay to take it off at night)"...well, I must admit I focus more on the pretty green beads, the red ribbon and cool-looking Chinese coin.

Still, despite this natural disinclination towards the more spiritual side of life, I have found myself dutifully wearing this necklace every day, and, in fact, find that I get a little distressed if half the day goes by before I realize I haven't yet put it on. (Don't laugh...I work at home, so yes I am one of those pajama-clad bloggers of whom you hear!)

I even wore it the other day even though I was wearing a top with a neck to high for the necklace to even show.

So, I may not believe, but I apparently have decided it's best not to tempt fate by outright disbelief! Does that mean it's superstition? I throw salt over my shoulder when it spills too.

Then again, I walk under ladders without much concern...so call me selectively superstitious.

How about you? Do you believe? Or do you avoid disbelieving?

Cornstarch to the rescue

About six months ago I blogged about the cool little cornstarch peanuts that hip & zen uses for packaging.

You pour them into the sink and watch them melt away like the Wicked Witch of the West...which is so much better than those plastic-y peanuts that get filled with static electricity and stick to everything, until you try to dump them in your recycle bins, at which time they promptly disengage and are blown everywhere by the slightest breeze.

I got another hip & zen box this week, and had my fun melting the cornstarch peanuts again, so it's a bit of a coincidence that this week Treehugger features a story on cornstarch golf tees. It's true that what might motivate some big golf courses to use these biodegradable tees is that they can save on the labor costs of sending groundspeople out to collect discarded tees. But still, it's got to be an improvement over plastic tees that take years to degrade.

And proving once again that they're the green blog that has a sense of humor Treehugger points out this caveat:

The disadvantage of all starch tees? Generations from now, anthropologists will be completely confused about golfing, assuming that the use of the tee was abandoned in the late 21'st Century.

Heh.

Treehugger shows us the Treehugger Love

It is always a lovely little surprise when I get a friendly email from the folks at Treehugger, letting me know some post that either Karen or I wrote is one of their Favourite Greens of the Week.

It's a lovely surprise because it is always out of the blue and not the result of any campaigning or commenting or linking on my part. It just means that the folks over there avidly read the Green Blogosphere and regularly share the love.

This time it was my post about my new, word-of-mouth-generating purse. Which also indicates that Treehugger recognizes that the Green-osphere isn't just about pointing out the problems, but also about highlighting solutions...even solutions like: "the power of good green design."

Thanks Treehugger!

technorati tags:treehugger

Exclusive 10% off Tuesday offer

We are offering our newsletter subscribers and blog readers an exclusive offer Tuesday July 11 only - you can get 10% off ALL merchandise in the store!  Even on sale prices! 

Enter Coupon Code tenpt at www.hipandzen.com when checking out to receive your discount.

No Lost Effort

By ATHENA WILLIAMS-ATWOOD - President of Inspired Action, a company that helps people work with more ease.

How would life and work be if we operated with the principle of "no lost effort?"  What would be different?  How would we move through the world?  I've pondered this quite intently over the last several months as I've been finishing my book.  I found that there is great freedom and peace in working with no lost effort.  This represents our absolute attention to the present moment - identifying what's most needed, why it's needed and how we can take action in a skillful manner.  We refuse to waste time or our precious energy on distractions.  Instead, we honor our values in each action.  By working with no lost effort, we discover a sense of precision and grace within and around us.

So, why is it that most of us would say we work with "much lost effort" instead?  The answer is complex but may be found in our willingness to be THAT powerful - to act with absolute focus whereby we've allocated our energy to exactly what needs to get done in a day/month/year/lifetime.  This presumes that we are clear about our purpose and are taking time to reflect each day (which many of us don't make time for).  So, how can you begin to notice whether you are acting with "no lost effort" or with "much lost effort?"  Notice how you feel, the quality of your thoughts and the results you create.  They will all inform you…then celebrate when you've had a moment of this freedom.

The little word-of-mouth machine

Jay Rosen calls blogs "little first amendment machines." That phrase has always stuck with me, and now I'm going to bastardize it completely!

You see, recently I got this purse...the messenger bag made fom pop tabs off of aluminum cans. As I blogged, I had been coveting it for a while. Well, let me tell you: everyone else covets it too. Every single time I wear it I get asked questions about it by friends and strangers alike. People want to touch it, to lift it, to see if it's extremely heavy (it's not.) They want to know if it's really made of what it looks like it's made of (it is.) They want to see how it was constructed. They want to know where I got it, of course. They want to know how much it was. They want to check out if it seems sturdy (it does, backed by tight macrame as it is.) I honestly have never owned anything that gets so much consistent attention.

This pop-tab bag is a little word-of-mouth machine...it creates conversation wherever it goes. I cannot imagine a better example of successful product design, really. It creates interest and even coveting. I told Karen that I thought that when she gives people gifts, products from this line should be what she gives. If she ever holds a contest, this should be the prize. If she ever opens a brick and mortar store rows of these should go in the window.

So, what have you owned that sparked conversation everywhere you went?

I have long been a fan of Scrapile's wonderful furniture made of offcuts of wood from woodworking workshops in New York.  The products use non-toxic adhesives, and are finished with an organic non-VOC Danish oil.  The colors in their furniture are just gorgeous, and the lines are clean.

 

They are now selling lights that are too cool.   These would look great in my house - let's see how long it takes me to give in.  You can get them at Vivavi for around $100.

Cool products at other sites

Let it be known that we at hip & zen are egalitarian, and happy to point you to cool products at other cool sites! (Especially when we don't carry anything like them.

So, here are three cool products for this week:

I just love the product name: Edward Salad Hands from 3r...and only $20 too! Made from bamboo and all that good stuff. But like I said: I mostly dig the name. I think I will buy these, put on some white pancake makeup and some black eyeliner and enjoy my dinner preparation that much more.

(Hat tip: Emerald Market.)

Despite my Internet addiction, I still get my daily newspaper, the San Jose Mercury. I'm usually at least a week behind, though...and with some sections I run even farther behind. This bin for collecting papers is stylish and recycled itself. I could use one box to collect the papers (and magazines) that I've yet to read, and another one to collect the papers I've finished reading...or occasionally just given up on, truth be told.

(Hat tip: GroovyGreen)

Seatbelts are sturdy and kinda industrial, so perfect for creative recycling. That's what ting has done, recycling seatbelts into pillows, storage cubes and most amusingly, a hammock.

So seatbelts aren't just for saving lives...they're for summer relaxation too.

(Hat tip: greatgreengoods)

So, enjoy some other great green products from around the Internet!

technorati tags:recycle, reuse