Yes gardens. Yes gnomes. No, NOT our beloved Gnome de Plume.
Biodegradable Gnome Balloons Leave A Garden Behind
by April Streeter, Gothenburg, Sweden on 08.10.08
from TreeHugger
The whole idea of packaging embedded with seeds has been a Cradle-to-Cradle staple for a long time (seed “bombs” were even used by the Green Guerillas in New York in the 1970s) though never successfully transferred to the mainstream. Since packaging still has so far to go to be anything approaching sustainable (Bought any electronic media lately? It’s seemingly swathed in a double layer of impenetrable and unredeemable plastic) any efforts to point out that packaging need not be so over-the-top and unfriendly are still welcome.
Helium-filled gnome balloons made from fully biodegradable PLA (polyactide) film and lined with flower seeds were an entry in the Temporären Gärten art manifestation in Aachen, Germany this summer. studioTX, the art and engineering firm responsible for the gnome balloons, started out with the aim to show a different take on yard art – generally a strange kitschy subculture with things like gnomes, trolls, ostriches and worse – and planned to use mylar in its gnome balloons until discovering the harm the film can cause to wild life. So a switch was made to NatureWorks biodegradable helium-fillable film with a chalk-based paint on the inside for decoration. Once placed in a yard (using grass clumps as ballast) the balloon decomposes in 4 to 6 weeks and should yield a burst of meadow flowers next summer.
Instead of just using embedded seeds as a novelty, why aren’t packagers to do their part in reducing waste. It comes down to a simple cost and convention equation. Any serious home recycler and composter after a while realizes their only trash is plastic packaging. If more of it was natural plastic embedded with seeds the chance to beautify our surroundings would grow exponentially. At the very least we should see more PLA balloons at green parties and other gatherings. Via ::Inhabitatand Moonen Packaging (Dutch only)
Read more on embedded seeds:
Bloomin’ Flower Cards
Card-to-Cradle
Sharpen, Write, Plant, Repeat: “Seed of a Pen” by Zeev Zohar
Entries (RSS)
I’ve been trying my hand at some Tengrain-style blogging. Go check it out. http://www.mockpaperscissors.com/
Hmmm….guess everyone’s gone out to the garden…
Muffin, I am attending a seminar known as the Institute for Computer Policy & Law. Cornell is a leader in the area of policy, especially computer policy, and they hold the ICPL every year. For the most part, things don’t change that much in a year, so a lot of people don’t attend every year. I went two years ago, and it was very good. And because Cornell has a hotel/restaurant management program, we stay at their hotel and are fed like little piggies!
I chatted with Cassie awhile back on an FDL thread when we discovered we were both going to be at Cornell this summer, but obviously at different times. Is her program finished yet?
Funny, Betsy! But that site behaves weirdly on my Mac with FF3. The “Mock Paper Scissors” header moves down as I scroll, and some of the photos and other elements either hide parts of the header or it hides them. Very strange.
Cassie finished a week ago MsMolly. Yes, that site does that for me as well.
*clutches coffee cup and yawns hugely* jeebus. i’m getting too old for a 60-hr work week.
Mock Paper Scissors works fine for me but I’m using Safari on a Mac.
Today we’re gonna play; taking teh Spook to a friend’s house who has an animal sanctuary, her non-profit specializes in geriatric or ill animals whose owners don’t want the hassle of caring for special needs animals. She must be unammurkin, use-em-and-toss-em is the USA way, right? (Certainly seems to be the Rightard way, McLame a case in point.)
new post upstairs. http://www.relaxedpolitics.com/?p=895