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.ukWritten by Anja Hasenkampf

Michelin has been experimenting with this idea for several years… and now at the 2008 Paris Auto Show, two obscure concepts from Heuliez and Venturi show that Active Wheel Technology could be a serious future concept!The Venturi VolageEssentially the Active Wheel Technology is designed for battery or fuel-cell powered electric vehicles and localizes the entire suspension - springs, dampers, geometry and all - plus an electric-drive motor and of course the brakes inside the envelope of the wheel, freeing all sorts of space for hauling passengers and luggage. The system also allows torque from the motors to be electronically controlled for each individual wheel independently. The results are similar to the effects of an active differential, allowing a vehicle with Active Wheel technology to make much faster turns in poor conditions than traditional shaft-driven vehicles.
All-in-one-solution: The Active Wheel TechnologyThe Venturi Volage takes this electric sports car concept and really runs with it — the all carbon-fiber car is equipped with the first application we've seen of the Michelin Active Wheel, the compact unit using in-wheel electric drive motors is installed at all four corners with a suspension driven by a second set of e-motors. The Heuliez Will, on the other hand, shows that the Active Wheel Technology can be used in compact cars as well: The motors in each front wheel of the Heuliez Will concept can produce 30kW continuous, 60kW peak (40/80 hp).The Heuliez Will
Heuliez intends to produce the Will, which uses an Opel Agila body shell, in 2010 with a 20kW-hr battery pack good for a 93-mile range. The Monaco-based firm Venturi plans to enter limited production of the Volage in 2012.Images: Venturi, Heuliez, Michelin

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!!!

The apocalypse has been postponed! The Large Hadron Collider (LHC), a giant “atom-smasher” in Geneva, Switzerland, has been brought to a temporary halt after significant damage was caused a few days ago. This might be a relief to all those who are afraid that the collisions caused by the LHC would be so violent that they could cause a black hole sucking in the world. However, regarding the fact that the LHC will be started again next year, the discussions will probably continue (notice the Club of Pioneers Thread about the LHC!). To form an own opinion about the LHC it's certainly useful to learn more of the world's biggest scientific experiment. Watch no one less than Brian Cox, "Rock-star physicist"and member of a research staff of the LHC explaining the spectacular experiment at the TED Conference to the general public.

Saving the planets starts with being green at home. Therefore, Club of Pioneers will reward the best photographs of you, your friends or your family acting green during a typical day!Thanks for all your great submissions so far! But the decision has not been made yet! Submit your pictures and a few lines of explanation to j.frommann@clubofpioneers.com

Your 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!By the way: Our editorial team gives a few examples of what your pictures could be: Click our Slideshow!

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!

While the car manufacturers are working on innovative sustainable technologies since decades, the aircraft industry doesn't seem to think about alternative fuels. However, there ARE new approaches to greener aviation! We recently started to cover an initiative at the University of Stuttgart, Germany that develops a fuel cell powered aircraft: The Hydrogenius project! Watch our video with Len Schumann, one of the initiators of Hydrogenius!