SustainableCommunity
Natural House, Supermarkets for Sustainability (& Organic Life)
Aug 7th, 2010
Posts Tagged ‘sustainable living’
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Taken from http://www.naturalhouse.co.jp/shops/
Awareness of the need for more sustainable lifestyles enters into the daily thinking, dreaming and mind-wandering of more and more people every day. Oh how the process would be so much easier if we all had shops available to us to buy food and household products that were more sustainably made.
Who knew? There’s a chain of stores that sell local and organic products as well as promote sustainable lifestyles in Japan. OK, so perhaps, many people already knew about the Natural House supermarket chain. For those of you who didn’t and are looking for such shops, this article is for you. (more…)
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Scattered among the farms, vegetable stands, and sidewalk gardens in our part of Tokyo there are, thankfully, a lovely handful of community gardens where locavores can find the most local vegetables of all – their own. Absolutely bursting with fruits, vegetables, and herbs, these gardens bustle with activity throughout the year.
Last year we noticed a farm literally just steps south of the train tracks had been divided in half. (The photo above of a passing train was taken about three-quarters of the way down the center path.) Fearing the worst (another high rise or series of pre-fab homes) we waited with baited breath. Much to our pleasure, this fantastic community garden was born!
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Now that the green curtain is up and growing I’m spotting more and more of these leafy coolers everywhere! Following are a few examples found during a recent afternoon bike ride touring about Tokyo.
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In How to Construct a Green Curtain – Part 1, I talked about the logic behind making a green curtain to keep your house cool in summer naturally and the equipment needed to make your own. In this second part, we look at exactly how to set up your green curtain and provide some caveats and confessions. (more…)
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The weather in Tokyo seems to be getter hotter by the minute. Tsuyu (the rainy season) is set to finish shortly, and we’re preparing for the hot sunny days ahead. Unlike the energizing bright cool winter months, the summer sun paired with high humidity is wilting. Hoping to reduce our desire to run the air conditioner and inspired by a multitude of neighbors with lovely vines full of cool green leaves, we thought we’d grow a green curtain of our own!
Here is how we did it – from thought-process to equipment to construction – and, as usual, a few caveats. This “recipe” can easily be tweaked to suit any situation, but will hopefully be a good starting point for cooler summer days.
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SustainableCommunity
LEED versus CASBEE: A Comparison Between Two Green Building Certification Systems
Jul 1st, 2010
LEED Platinum California Academy of Science
As one of the pillars of a sustainable society, Green Buildings continue to gain widespread attention both in Japan — with projects such as Japan’s First Certified Passive House and Roof Gardens: A Smart Solution for Japan’s Dense Neighborhoods, the news that the Marunouchi building is to run on 100% ‘raw’ green electricity and ongoing research into how Green Biomass Dampers Atop Buildings Mitigate Earthquake Risk – and abroad — with projects such as The First Smart Upcycled Green Home In Malaysia — so it is no surprise that Green Building certification is starting to grab headlines. There are a bevy of green building guidelines around the world and this article by Fenja Blobel takes a closer look at the differences and similarities between USA’s LEED system and Japan’s homegrown CASBEE system.
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Tucked on a wooded hillside in Nakadaki Art Village, the greenz forest house made a great setting to mix and mingle while savoring the late spring day. Nearly fifty entrepreneurs, farmers, artists, writers, and builders came together for a day of good food, conversation, and exploration. One of greenz latest ventures, the forest house is a conscious step towards gaining first-hand experience in cooperatively building a sustainable green future.
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Japan's First Passive House by Key Architects ~ Photo provided by Passive House Japan website
You may all wonder what exactly is a passive house? Passivhaus became a standard in Germany in 1990 and it has followed all over Europe. It is said to be the most environmentally friendly way to build houses even over the LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) standard.
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Hard to believe this paradise home is made out of shipping containers!
GREEN BUILDINGS are a hot topic. It’s no wonder with all of the major issues facing humanity and our communities such as climate change, the urban heat island effect, waste disposal and water. Previously on greenz, we’ve talked about how Roof Gardens are a Smart Solution for Japan’s Dense Neighborhoods, and Green Biomass Dampers Atop Buildings Mitigate Earthquake Risk, not to mention the fact that the Shin-Marunouchi building is now running on 100% ‘raw’ green electricity. In this article by Ken Kwok of Anand Bungalows, we hear about a smart, green home and resort built from recycled shipping containers. (more…) -
Earth Embassy Tea Farm
Sustainable living is no longer just an ideal, it is an option
says Earth Embassy on their website.
We have options in life, and I choose where I want to be. You choose where you want to be. We will naturally change at our own pace according to the environment we are in. If you are interested in sustainable living, you can choose to live it. Greenz would like to introduce Earth Embassy – from the foot of Mt. Fuji in Japan. (more…)
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Ever wondered what it would be like if there was no more sushi available to eat? The way we are consuming fish, the oceans will run out of fish sooner rather than later. As a result of overfishing, the consumers do not see the true costs of seafood. The supply of fish appears higher, the price therefore lower and consequently more fish are being consumed than actually available.
While I was back in San Francisco, I had the opportunity to meet Casson Trenor, a seafood sustainable expert, and author of Sustainable Sushi: A Guide to Saving the Ocean One Bite at a Time.
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Step into summer at one of Japan's environmentally friendly pools
The weather in Tokyo is starting to warm up and summer swimming season will begin in the capital soon. The city is full of indoor and outdoor swimming pools, but before you grab your swimming cap (essential at Japanese pools) and head off for a dip, it’s important to keep the potential environmental impact of pools in mind. Here we look at some of the key factors and introduce a few of our suggestions for Tokyo’s Greenest Swimming Pool. (more…)
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Brandkarma is a social media network work with a mission. Their mission is a simple but potentially powerful one. “To help everyone make better brand choices and influence brand behaviour for good”. (more…)
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CulturalCreative
Designers Accord Tokyo Town Hall: Reflections and Photographs (via core 77)
May 1st, 2010
On Friday March 12th, 2010, the first Designers Accord Town Hall meeting in Asia was held in Tokyo, Japan. Hosted by The 4th International Conference of Design for Sustainability and greenz.jp, there were five speakers and 80 guests representing educators, business leaders, and students that came together to participate in the sustainability dialogue. (more…)
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Scale model of the terrace house under construction (Photo courtesy of Takahiro Yamada)
‘Nagaya’, or terrace houses have been common in Japan since the Edo period. The word conjures an image of long wooden buildings in a cramped downtown neighborhood. This image is about to get a makeover through a project in the Fujino countryside, an hour from downtown Shinjuku. Let’s take a look at how the benefits of terrace houses, along with local materials and traditional green practices are coming together in this unique green project. (more…)
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Used designer bags. Photo by POL
Japan has consistently been a world leader in the consumption of luxury goods, only second to the United States. A study from several years ago reported that a stunning 94.3 % of Tokyo women in their 20s own something by Louis Vuitton. The slower economic times have naturally lead to a decreased appetite for mass-luxe goods (10% less luxury imports in 2008), but on a positive note, second hand stores are more popular than ever. (more…)
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Photo: wakanmuri, Flickr. Creative Commons License.
The concept of satoyama – Japan’s traditional villages – has come up on greenz before. However, you may not realize that satoyama are not just about the buildings or the people, they also encompass the mountains, the fields, the streams and the forests around them. The modern application of the satoyama is epitomized in the Kurimoto Millennium City Project: Fusing Town, Farm, and Forest. While we have talked about Fairwood sustainable forest products and the “My Forest” website which brings nature to you, the Japanese relationship with their native forests is perhaps more complex than you might think. (more…)
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In the light of the current volcanic travel disruptions, we thought highlighting this article on traveling without flying would be a good idea. The website called The Man in Seat 61 is arguably THE BEST train travel resource in the world. It will tell you how to get from A-B without getting on a plane, anywhere!
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CulturalCreative
Kolelinia: Could Flying Bicycle Lanes be the future of urban cycling?
Apr 8th, 2010
Flying Bicycle Lane: Copyright © 2010 Kolelinia Project under Creative Commons. All rights reserved.
Copernican idea, or romantic dream?
Proposed by Bulgarian designer Martin Angelo, Kolelinia, which comes from the Bulgarian for bicycle (Kolelo) and lane (Linia), is a bold concept to create bicycle lanes in the air. While it may sound a bit airy-fairy, winning a top prize at the 2009 International Design Contest ‘Line of Site’ has forced people to take notice. (more…)
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A "poken" paperless business card reader
Business cards could have become increasingly obsolete with the advent of mobile communication technologies, but business people continue to waste enormous amounts of paper by using them. Consumers have been able to buy business cards made of recycled materials for years, and given the innovative paper products currently on the market, there should still be plenty of opportunities to make even better eco-friendly biz cards. But is it possible to completely eliminate this enormous waste of paper from corporate Japan for good? (more…)
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