Bamboo: The New Black

Given the state of the economy and the constantly fluctuating fuel prices, more and more people are switching over to “green” or environmentally friendly lifestyles; hybrid cars are selling quickly and organic foods are becoming more popular. Now, the green trend has moved from the kitchen and garage to home décor.

According to Ellie Himmelson, a home decorator from Short Hills, New Jersey, more and more clients are looking to environmentally friendly products to cut down on heating and cooling costs.

“Bamboo is becoming more and more popular among clients lately,” Himmelson said. “Because it’s a sustainable resource it is cheap but is also beautiful and versatile.”

In fact, despite the invasive nature of the plant itself, bamboo is quickly becoming a go-to material for everything from sheets to cabinets to floors.

“The wood is smooth and beautiful,” Himmelson said. “It is also extremely durable and easy to clean. Many of my clients are choosing to install bamboo floors in areas of high wear and tear.”

One such client is Nancy Mertz of Montville, New Jersey.

“We’ve opted to go with bamboo flooring and cabinetry in our condo at the beach,” Mertz said. “From what I’ve seen it can withstand high foot traffic and the dog’s nails won’t easily scratch it.”

Because bamboo is so easily acquired, it is being used for more and more purposes. Stores such as buildingforhealth.com and bluehouse.com exclusively sell bamboo and organic products from planters to furniture to children’s clothing and toys.

While Himmelson does caution that the use of bamboo can sometimes be limiting with regards to style, she does concede that its popularity among younger and more modern homeowners is remarkable.

“I’m seeing a whole new wave of clients right now,” Himmelson said. “An influx of people who are buying homes but want to think ahead to the future, and many of them are opting for bamboo products to do that.”

She is also seeing a shift in the involvement of clients when it comes to selecting things as simple as showerheads.

“Money is tight for a lot of Americans,” Himmelson said. “Many people are becoming more conscious of the efficiency of all appliances like washers and dryers and showerheads. People are looking to keep costs down, and bamboo is clearly becoming a forerunner in the swarm of eco-friendly products.”

Another of Himmelson’s clients, Jane Martin of Essex Fells, New Jersey, is an expecting mother who is doing her nursery in bamboo and organic products.

“Using products that are going to be good for the baby is my main concern,” Martin said. “You can’t go wrong using something that is naturally antibacterial in a nursery, especially with all the germs out there right now.”

Himmelson, as of late, has found herself spending more and more time scouring the Web and stores to find bamboo and organic draperies, pillows, sheets, dolls, stuffed animals, floors and cabinets in various colors and forms.

“it’s amazing,” she said. “Right now, bamboo is the new black.”

Here are some links to stores that specialize in Bamboo and organic products:

http://www.bluehouselife.com/

http://www.modernecohomes.com/

http://www.ecomall.com/biz/furn.htm

http://www.furniturehomedesign.com/eco-design/the-benefits-of-bamboo-furniture/

The (Eco) Challenge of A Lifetime

For six weeks, a select few Philadelphia University students participate in the university’s “Eco-Challenge” program. In an effort to encourage sustainability, the university, located on the outskirts of Philadelphia, Penn., implemented the program which encourages students to recycle and reduce waste.
According to Laurie Tuttle, Associate Director of Residential Life for the university, the residents of the five-person townhouses are eligible to participate in the Eco-Challenge.
“Students apply to be part of the program during the spring semester,” Tuttle said. “The challenge takes place during the fall semester, the challenge monitors water, electric and heat along with the amount recycled.”
The green-minded housing initiative is sponsored by the university’s Sustainability Committee and the energy and waste output will be monitored by Dr. Anne Brower’s Biology and Earth Science classes.
““The Eco-Challenge is an example of the type of cross-disciplinary Power to Do at Philadelphia University with students from multiple majors researching alternatives and putting them into action to explore green lifestyle alternatives that our nations must implement now for a sustainable future,” Brower said on the PhilaU Web site.
“Students participating have a faculty advisor that they meet with throughout the challenge,” Tuttle said. “Dr. Brower is one of the advisors to the residents.”
Tuttle explains that the students participating in the challenge are also given $100 to put towards items that could potentially “assist in the improvement of their sustainability”.
The challenge requires students to have their electricity usage, water usage, and recycling and garbage output measured over the course of the six weeks.
“The team with the lowest energy and water use, lowest amount of garbage and highest amount of recycling will receive a cash prize,” Tuttle said. “We will also consider the amount of contamination within the trash itself. Contaminated trash receives no credit.”
In fact, the first place townhouse will receive $1000 to be split among the residents, with second and third places being awarded $500 and $250 respectively.
Erin Maldonado, a resident of “Townhouse C” for this year’s challenge, said that as the weeks pass students find more and more ways to conserve energy.
“We learned that unplugging things such as microwaves and cell phone chargers really conserves energy,” she said. “It shows you pretty quickly how much energy you’re actually wasting.”
In order to be eligible for the challenge, students must apply before the housing lottery begins in the spring and each participating townhouse is required to keep a blog of their experiences as a supplement to the challenge. This Tuttle says, is part of an effort to implement permanent changes in the way students use energy.
“The goal of this program is to implement new energy behaviors in students,” she said. “It is about teaching them more environmentally-friendly ways of life that they can use forever.”
On the blog for Townhouse D, resident Zachary Mentzer addressed this very issue.
““We are invested in this project,” he wrote. “It’s less about the competition. The Eco-Challenge is a catalyst to change our lives.”
For some, the challenge even provides an opportunity for underclassmen to reside in the traditionally junior and senior townhouses.
Corey Brown, a freshman, will be participating in the challenge next year with 4 roommates of her choosing.
“We’re really looking forward to being part of the challenge,” Brown said. “Not only would it be awesome to win the prize money, but it gives us a chance to help conserve energy and live in a more eco-friendly way- something that is important to all of us.”
Like Brown, Samantha Kane, also a freshman, is looking forward to helping the environment and to living in a residence with more privacy than her small dorm room.
“It’s a great situation for us to be in,” Kane said. “We get to be a part of something that is teaching us to be better citizens, and we get to live in a huge townhouse and have our own bedrooms.”
Three of the university’s eight townhouses participate in the challenge, which lasts only six weeks. For the 2008 Eco-challenge, the residents of townhouses C, D, and H were the ones chosen to participate.
“The ultimate goal of the challenge is to lessen the students’ overall carbon footprints,” Tuttle said. “We as a university really want the students to understand the impact even one person can have on the environment.”
Ranked on the Yale Offices of Sustainability’s Web site as one of the most “sustainable campuses” in the country, Philadelphia University’s eco-challenge has sparked participants to permanently change the way they use electricity and other resources.
The residents of Townhouse C, Kaitlin Jones, Rachel Lubin, Erin Maldonado, Stephanie Reinke and Jennifer Rushalski, offer their suggestions for the easiest ways to lower electricity use on their blog.
“Install automatic sleep-mode on computer appliances,” they wrote. “Companies waste over $1 billion a year on computer monitors, fax machines, printers, etc. that should be turned off when instead they are left on. Installing an automatic sleep mode feature costs nothing. The EPA provides free software that can do this for your computer.”
The challenge’s future participants, including Brown and Kane are already looking at the experiences of this year’s participants for insight into how to win.
“We’re really taking this challenge seriously,” Brown said. “We have been looking into energy saving appliances and materials to use in the house. We’re hoping we can cut back usage right off the bat by using environmentally friendly materials like bamboo and shower timers.”
Tuttle is also looking forward to the challenge.
“Its fascinating to see the outcomes each year,” she said. “The participants get more and more invested and motivated as the challenge goes on, and each year we get more and more dedicated groups of volunteers.”

If you want to know more about PhilaU's Eco-Challenge, feel free to visit the following Web Sites:

http://townhousec.blogspot.com/

http://ecochallengetownhoused.blogspot.com/

http://townhouseh.blogspot.com/

http://www.yale.edu/sustainability/