The colour of this season is… green! Today, Oct 9, the Ethical Fashion Show 2008 takes place at the Carrousel du Louvre in Paris. For four days, precious fashion made of natural materials like organic cotton, natural hemp and linen will be shown at spectacular runway shows – in all styles from streetwear and underwear to kidswear and more! All in all, 100 designers will exhibit their environmentally friendly fashion creations for ethical and ecological fashion admirers. At the same time, roundtable sessions will take place offering an opportunity to debate about sustainable development in clothing and textile design internationally. These sessions make the Ethical Fashion Show in Paris a perfect platform for becoming more informed about who is contributing to environmental protection through fashion!Further information:Click here for the programme of the Ethical Fashion Show 2008!Homepage: www.ethicalfashionshow.com
Here we bring you the most exciting images of green fashion this season:
Designer: Cruselita - accessories produced in Niger and Madagascar, made from natural and recycled materials, unique and handmadewww.cruselita.com

Collection 2009 designed by Valeska Ravlic. Expressive colours, femininity and beauty, combined with the bubbly nature of Latin Americawww.valeskaravlic.comModaFusion - Ethical fashion from Brazil cooperated with French haute-couture . Use of ecologically correct materials is presented in these corselet dresses, dresses with frills, boleros and bloomers, highly inspired by the 40’swww.modafusion.org
Ada Zandition is concerned with eco conscious design and has freelanced for ethical company Funky Gandhi and organised ethical fashion showswww.adaz.co.uk
If you want to know more about green lifestyle and fair fashion, check out the Business Forum CSR "Fair Fashion - Sustainable Business" on Oct 30. 2008 in Frankfurt/Main!Written by Anja Hasenkampf

The decision was a very difficult one to make, but finally we have our green champion: Arno from the Netherlands not only submitted an idea of acting green at home but also proved that his suggestion is working - see and read his explanation for yourself:

 

 

 

How about taking a cold shower! It's good for your skin, your hair, your mood and also very important..........it's good for your energybill. The image is made with an infrared camera showing the surfacetemperatures in degrees.

 

 

Congratulations, Arno! You really deserved the prize: The sakku.worker Solar Bag!Made of black cordura, the sakku.worker is a high quality product, weatherproof and extreme sturdy. A 17" notebook fits perfectly inside. With the wide wear band, high wearing comfort is guaranteed.

(Regular Price: 225 Euro or ca. 360 US Dollar)

Find out more at www.sakku.ch!

However, we have received so many more great pictures of you pioneers! Therefore, we will show you some other pictures of green ideas soon... stay tuned!!!

As we all know Americans sometimes get easily excited. But I tell you, by hitting the US-streets with the Solartaxi, you learn what real enthusiasm is – and I admit, being part of Louis Palmers world tour for three days, I became infected by the solar virus as well!!After spending a few days in New York City, I decided to join Louis and his Solartaxi on the way from NYC to Boston. We met at “The Solaire”, New Yorks first sustainable skyscraper… but of course I only had eyes for the cute blue car that traveled over 40 000 kilometers around the word. I stepped in and as soon as we hit the road, there were immediately those amazing reactions like people waving on the sidewalks, taxidrivers greeting us with their honk and whenever we had to wait at a red light, people came over to say hello and ask questions. After two days of being Louis’ copilot I was able to moderate a press conference about the Solartaxi;). “Yo bro, coooooooooooooooooll solar shit!!!” – a New York dude freaking out about the Solartaxi
Our first station was the UN headquarters at East River where we met the rest of Louis’ team (Thomas, Frank, Club of Pioneers’ camera guy Erik and Laura) to shoot a video with “Dancing Davey” (a freaky guy shooting dance clips at locations all over the world) and the Solartaxi. The first 90 seconds of the clip are especially great, but check it out for yourself;)Dancing Davey rocks the Solartaxi
Then, he had to leave for Boston – but very soon there was already trouble! We hadn’t even left the city when our indicator turned out to be broken. Therefore, we had to bend out of the car and give hand signs whenever we changed lanes, which is an interesting experience in the traffic of NYC. Luckily, we got out of New York with our heads safely on our shoulders and headed for Boston. On lovely Route 1, Louis and I found the time to talk a little about his tour experiences. I was really impressed by his great spirit of adventure and his strong will to take on all the challenges in order to spread his mission around the world. I’m really happy for him that the big media interest in his tour makes up for all the effort put in!Not to forget the public interest! The reactions on the streets in Connecticut weren’t any less enthusiastic than the ones in New York. While we were waiting for the green light somewhere in a little town, a lady in a car beside us pulled down the window and invited us to follow her to the “most beautiful place on earth”. Actually, I thought it was a big mistake to trust a woman saying these words, but Louis didn’t care and followed her on a little way along the coast – and I had to admit that she was not exaggerating! We arrived at a gorgeous little bay, where the lady and her husband had a little weekend home. “We had a little cocktail party here last night,” she told us (I bet she was still a little tipsy), “and we want you to stay for a little while and have another drink with us.” That was very kind but after a little conversation we shot some pictures and had to leave – there were still quite a few of miles left on our way to Boston!Idyllic weekend home in New England – notice the World War II vehicle
The evening came and we had to charge our batteries. The solar cells on the hanger of the Solartaxi provide power just for a limited range. When Louis wants to travel longer distances, he can simply plug into the grid which he feeds by a solar power plant on a rooftop in Berne, Switzerland – in fact, it's like paying money into a bank account and withdrawing the money somewhere else. When we stopped to buy something to drink, we met a very kind guy that offered his help immediately. He had bought a little location in the area where he plans to sell Eastern European food. He took us there, we plugged in our car, and then followed him to his home where he invited us for dinner. There, we met his wife and the two daughters, all amazing, kind people with great hospitality who had moved to the US from Poland a couple of years ago. Even some friends of the family dropped by when they heard about our visit and we had a wonderful and entertaining evening. Polish hospitality in ConnecticutAfter a couple of hours, the Solartaxi was fully charged and we said goodbye to our kind helpers to continue our way. We drove into the night and after a couple of hours we reached the periphery of Boston where we rented a motel room – just a few hours of sleep before the next big day with the Solartaxi!Check out the Boston part of the story coming soon! Stay tuned!

Waste removal isn't always fun, especially if the party was wild and garbage is all around. But no need to panic, keeping your environment tidy can certainly be amusing... just make an art out of it!This is exactly what five guys from France were doing when they invented a kind of underground trend sport called "Can Throwing". Really a spectacular hobby - and eco-friendly as well. Watch their amazing video!

If you would like to attend Dwell on Design for free, we have some last minute passes for our pioneers. It runs from June 6 until June 8. Just send an email to redaktion@clubofpioneers.com with one word that sums up the LA design style. If you're not already a member , join up. It's easy.Read to find out more...Ever wondered how to build a cool house in a hot desert? Or seen prefab housing that works like a beehive? Or what about planting shrubs for minimalist gardens? Well all this and more is to be discovered this weekend down at the LA Convention Centre.


The Dwell on Design show is now in its third exciting year. The event is organized by Dwell Magazine and is a mix of expo, seminar, events and tours. As with the magazine itself, it is heavily focused on sustainable and cool designs and objects, which is why we like it so much!!As well as the 200 exhibitors , who include professionals from the fields of architecture, lighting design, gardening, domestic appliance retailing and car manufacture, there will be an entire neighbourhood of full-scale, pre-fab, sustainable structures completely landscaped and furnished by Dwell!Visitors can also learn how to green their own home and work with architects and designers. Throughout the show, the Design Innovation Theatre will present talks and demonstrations on all things design. There will also be off-site events, like the private home tours. On Sunday the “Downtown Urban Living tour ” has caught our eye and will show the best of adaptive reuse and new multi-family buildings. "Downtown Los Angeles is booming with residential projects ranging from new construction to the adaptive re-use of older buildings", we are told. "This tour will feature some unique residences in the re-awakened downtown".
See the Dwell slide show.

All images from Dwell.

Why do we feature the WIRED LivingHome on Club of Pioneers?Well, it's constructed in a sustainable way but also of some sort a mobile concept - meaning that since it is prefabricated it can be built in a couple of days almost anywhere. When you first arrive at the WIRED LivingHome in Brentwood, California, the house's exterior seems interesting from the word GO. But once you ascend the stairs to the first floor, you get the feeling that even though the structure itself is quite simple and clear cut, the interior must also reveal some playful highlights - and it certainly does on the technical site making it...yep, the first green AND sexy Prefab you certainly want to live in. Only some gadgets: the home features a 4-kilowatt SunPower® solar power system, including high efficiency, all-black SunPower solar panels that generate up to 50 percent more power than conventional panels. Forced hot air radiant heating and cooling systems makes you feel all comfy no matter what time of the year.But green conscience doesn't stop here. The design also stands up to environmental standards:
recycled glass bathroom countertops, heath ceramic tiles, low-maintenance high-design ecological kitchen cabinetry...The rumour goes that the design has been influenced by the seventies - but check out for yourself.
Here are some exclusive pictures from the WIRED LivingHome Interior.
All pictures taken by Club of Pioneers user Edward Santizo.

Inhabitat reports on biomimicry, a new energy creating invention that mimics forms and systems found in nature. Using biomimicry as the guiding design principle, the Australian firm BioPower Systems has developed Biowave: an ocean power system that harnesses energy by mimicking the motion of underwater plants in the ocean currents to generate electricity.

Image from Inhabitat
The Guardian reports on the growing business of backyard fuel production in the UK , recycling second hand vegetable oil to be used in diesel cars. The law has been changed to allow people to make 2,500 litres a year for their own use. Most are working legally, but as the price of fuel rises inexorably, so criminal elements are moving in.
Via Eco geek we find out a Korean company’s idea for automated parking. With the Mp System, the computer decides where to fit all the cars. Drivers pull into a platform and technology does the rest. When drivers want to retrieve their car, they enter a code and the car is delivered back via the platform. The future is looking scarily automated here.
Watch the video.Parking of a different kind this time, Treehugger has a great piece on the bike tree , for extra safety in keeping your bike friend up and out of harms way. The control panel includes finger print recognition sensor with some controls for locking/unlocking the bicycle onto the stand. It was designed by Abhinav Dapke .
Biketree from Treehugger