Eco Friendly Product Guide

Cali Bamboo has found a great, eco-friendly green solution to that backyard fence. They manufacture Bamboo Fence Products that will spice up the look of your lawn.

While it is true that normal fences come from wood, bamboo is sustainable resource, and a little bit more environmentally friendly than that stained wood fence you have in the backyard that is just rotting away over time. Not to mention, a bamboo fence will be unique, and you will become the envy of all your neighbors.

Start the new trend. You can request a quote off of the Cali Bamboo website when you look into their fencing. It’s a green solution to that tired old fence you have wasting away in the backyard.

I like them, don’t you? I like especially that you can buy just one light and get all these colors. It changes dreamily from one color to the next all on its own.

The blurb describes these lights as “an ever-changing rainbow”. I’ll say.

If you feel like “adding a special accent to your nighttime garden, yard or walkway” then this is the product for you.

Solar Star Lights have the following features:

• Color shifts gradually from red to green to blue
• They are sold individually
• Each light includes one stake and three decorative finials (starburst, lily and hummingbird)
• 29″ stake, finial approx. 3″, overall height 32″
• Made of acrylic, plastic and steel
• Light runs from dusk to dawn with full charge
• You can place multiples in a cluster for dramatic effect
• On/off switch
• Solar panel and battery pack built into stake

Order now from Gardeners.com for $24.95 for one, $20.50 each for 2 or more, $18.00 for 4 or more.

Call these what you will — hanging patio lights or solar lanterns or eco-friendly Chinese lanterns or paper tree lanterns or Shoji Japanese party lights — they are beautiful no matter what name you choose.

The manufacturers are not so far wrong when they implore you to “hang these Japanese-inspired solar lanterns from a trellis or tree and enjoy their moonlike radiance”.

It works like this: yellow LED lights (the best type when it comes to solar power) are encased in paper-like weatherproof nylon. The light automatically switches on at night after being powered by the sun all day. The set includes an AAA rechargeable battery and a metal hanger. The shade folds flat for storage.

These beautiful imports are available from Real Goods individually ($29.00 each) or in sets ($79.00 for 3).

Of all the crazy “eco-friendly” products available now, these cute little solar lights are certainly among the least offensive.

It is a bit hard to see just what those little lampshades are made of (I am afraid they are constructed of some unnamed recycled garbage) and yet these lights have a certain whimsical charm about them. Each of your five lights has a differently shaped lampshade – hummingbird, dolphin, star, dragonfly and butterfly. The one featured here is the hummingbird, I think.

You should consider buying a set of these if you want to introduce your children to sustainable energy (these lights are solar-powered and turn on automatically when the light levels drop) and want them to think you are in touch with your inner child. The nice part is that the lights are so small they will fit even in a container garden. Each Solar Animal Light is only 33 in. high.

You can say that again

The blurb says “You will surprise your friends when they suddenly light up in your flowerbed”. There is no cause for concern: it is not your friends who will light up in your flowerbed but the little solar power animal lights themselves.

Buy a Five Pack of Solar Animal Lights from RecycleWorks for £37.10

I like this watering can although it is as ugly as beached cat entrails.

I like it because it was invented on the back of human folly, i.e. the love that manufacturers have for making tin cans adorned with all manner of logo, graphic and blurb. It also makes no claims to be lessening the effects of global warming, reducing the carbon footprint and saving polar bears.

As the marketers at VivaTerra put it, “This news may come as a shock, but not every can comes out of the sheet metal factory bearing a perfectly legible logo on its sides.

“The numerous rejects used to be destroyed, but our designer prevailed on a few factories to give her their colorful misprint remnants, and she transformed them into our super functional watering cans. They move with liquid grace from patio to interior to become decorative flower containers. No two are exactly alike.”

I do not agree that there is anything graceful about these cans, liquid or otherwise, but it is a nice idea. It beats a lot of things. Like eating food out of a tin can, for instance.

Order one now for $48 from VivaTerra. P.S. What a great gift for someone with a sense of the absurd.

Just what the world was short of — until now –a tote bag with a built-in solar panel so your phone, iPod and camera “stay totally charged while you are on the beach”.

As the manufacturers say with a breathtaking lack of self-consciousness: “We have built the world’s first heavy-duty solar beach tote that incorporates our high-tech flexible solar panel. With the Juice Bag Beach Tote, your phone is good to go, and your camera is always ready for that one great shot — no matter how far you are from a power outlet.”

Obviously, you’re a deeply environmentally aware person, which makes you intelligent and sensitive, not to mention clued-up and sensible. I therefore ask you to consider whether a Reware price tag of $249.99 for this piece of insane vanity can be justified in any way.

Would you like to own a Bamboo Mountain Bike? No, I was not sure I wanted one either until I read the specifications as they apply to this extraordinary piece of machinery. I mean, did you know that properly treated bamboo is stronger than wood? I did not know that.

So that is why CalfeeDesign makes mountain bikes with eco-friendly frames and not frames made out of fossil fuel guzzling, carbon emission spewing other materials.

As Calfee proudly says of its Bamboo Mountain Bikes: “These bikes are more crash tolerant than carbon mountain bikes which is why do not offer them to the general public.” (Carbon fiber frame bikes are the specialized racing frames made by Calfee.)

To see the full specs of the various sizes in which this extraordinary item is available, visit the Calfee website. If you decide to go for it, the bamboo frame alone will set you back $2695.00.

This is an “all-weather sun blocking solution” according to the manufacturer. It brings the practicality of camping and the affordability of a small square of shadecloth to your shade-challenged patio or other outdoor area.

The Coolaroo Sail Shade (imported from Australia) is made from tough, all-weather knit fabric. It blocks up to 90% of the sun’s ultraviolet rays, allowing plenty of air and light to pass through. The material resists mold, mildew and rot.

If you were wondering how the Coolaroo Sail Shade gets up there and stays fixed, well, corner grommets on the cloth attach easily to existing objects to create a stylish shaded area. The hardware is included.

When I say small I do not mean that these sail shades are tiny. They are available on Real Goods in two sizes: 11’10″ ($228.00) and 17’09″ ($329.00). You get to choose from green or sand color.