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I love looking at design blogs. Not house design or fashion, but more innovative, conceptual design — architecture, technology, gadgets, that sort of thing.

Today I happened across “The Source Project” by Oliver Craig.

Oliver has come up with a really innovative concept that aims at getting the public to give up commercial bottled water in favour of tap water. How does he plan on doing that? (Hey, even I don’t like tap water.) By offering people tap water… with cool, futuristic and esthetically pleasing style.

The way Oliver Craig envisions doing this is with reusable (and neato futurisicly designed) water bottles that you could purchase and then top up for free at water dispensers around the city. And what’s better? Each time you fill up you earn credits/points that are redeemable at participating stores. Cool concept, right? It looks so sci-fi to me, like something right out of Tank Girl (one of my all-time favourite movies, of course).

Kudos, Oliver!

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TreeHugger has just posted a funny article entitled “7 Funniest Moments in Green YouTube Video” and in the list is my all-time favourite commercial. I wanted to share it with you here because it really sets itself apart from other Green commercials. I won’t ruin the plot by explaining it to you — watch it to know what I mean, heh.

Runners up for best green YouTube videos go to:

• Get clean coal clean! (made better by the fact that it was directed by the Coen brothers)
• Human Virus (I love this one — the voice over really makes it.)

Now, I don’t watch a lot of television. I have a television — a relatively nice one, certainly — but I much prefer renting box sets of fantastic shows, documentaries, and movies to watching commercials, bad news broadcast channels, and ‘reality’ television. That being said, this actually caught my eye in the news today:

“Over the course of this season, Jesse James has set himself on fire, outrun the police, ridden across the Arctic Circle on a motorcycle and driven through a minefield, among other challenges. In the process, he’s broken three ribs and an elbow, chipped his pelvis and even had a concussion or two. So what will this guy do for a season finale? How about capture the land speed record for an eco-friendly, but highly volatile, hydrogen-burning vehicle? “Jesse James Is A Dead Man” season finale “Quest for 200 MPH” will premiere on Sunday, August 9 (10:00 – 11:00 PM, ET/PT) only on Spike.”

Apparently this television show — Jesse James Is A Dead Man — is a reality(ish) show (though the internet is not entirely sure that it’s a good tv show) where Jesse James does ridiculous things for show ratings. Hey, I’m not complaining. I’ve watched some terrible reality shows before just to see if the high-maintenance pretty blonde girl will, in fact, eat the squishy animal unmentionables more the million dollars. Who am I to make fun of those who’ll watch a show to see a dude leap over a firey pit of burning barrels on a motorcycle. Cool, man.

So, for the season finale, Jesse James will be attempting to beat the land speed record in an eco-friendly car, huh? Now, my thoughts on this are that hey — if he beats the land record, it might look pretty sweet for the car (go eco-friendly car!) but well, if he blows up… not so good for the car, huh?

How high are the risks with a hydrogen-burning car? This show has got me curious. I’ll do some research and get back to you, sound good? I’m going to bet the risks are pretty low. We all know how television likes to make things life or death. People much prefer death-defying stunts over pretty-run-of-the-mill-risk-defying stunts.

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Alright, this tv ad made me laugh.

Apparently these Brazilian television commercials – as shown above – are encouraging Brazillians to save water… by urinating in the shower.

Brazilian environmental group SOS Mata Atlantica says the campaign, running on several television stations, uses humor to persuade people to reduce flushes. The group says if a household avoids one flush a day, it can save up to 4,380 liters (1,157 gallons) of water annually.

In case you are having a hard time translating, the ad ends with kids yelling “Pee in the shower! Save the Atlantic rainforest!” Would we ever have a tv commercial like this in Canada? Heh. I can’t even imagine. Sure, the idea’s a bit odd. But hey, why not, right? I think it’s a super creative way to be playful with a serious subject.

Here’s the campaign’s website: http://www.xixinobanho.org.br

My friend Mike just brought these interesting looking Fiat ads to my attention. The ads say: “Engineered for a lower impact on the environment. The Lowest CO2 emission car range in Europe.”

(click to enlarge)

While I get it (and no, I’m not one of those that thinks that actually thinks animals were hurt during the making of this ad. Get real, folks.), I’m not sure it’s the best way to advertise that you’re eco-friendly. I can just see the round table on this one:

“Hey! I have this awesome idea! What if we Photoshop some endangered species getting into car accidents — side-swiped by tractors! Head-on collisions! Then people will know we’re serious about the environment.”

I think that if I saw these ads in an art gallery I’d think they were cool, but seeing them as part of an eco-friendly ad just doesn’t sit right, though I’m not entirely convinced they’re wrong, just… not the perfect fit.

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If you don’t know what’s in your knickers…

Eco-Boudoir has launched a sustainable fashion film, written and directed by Verity White from the BBC, called Pants Exposed: Know What’s In Your Knickers.

The mission is to change the way we produce and consume textiles for good. For more information please visit: www.morethanprettyknickers.com.

I love Eco-Boudoir’s slogan: “Eco-Boudoir – Making sustainability sexy.”

I don’t know that I could eat an ice cream called Fossil Fuel, could you? Well, actually, truth be told, I’ll eat anything Ben & Jerry’s puts in front of me…

I really love these vintage sales pitches. Don’t you find this to be a little eerie? It’s a small car that’s easier to park and fits just about anywhere and it’s perfect for war time petrol rationing… hrmm. When was this made? 1940, huh?

I love that it accomodates women drivers, too.

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The Blue Man Group has always caught my attention. Their music is just super cool — very original. And you have to admit, their visuals are stunning.

Recently my partner saw them in Las Vegas and brought back a dvd with specially made surround sound audio. I’ve become a bit obsessed with finding more of their cool videos online and today I found this one. It ties in very well with the site, so I thought I’d share it with you.

Very well done, I must say. Message received loud and clear.