A couple of years ago we wrote about Yummy Mummy Careers, a Canadian classified ad site designed for moms seeking jobs.* Inspired by that story, an Australian entrepreneur—Kate Sykes—launched a similar site in her own country.

Though it's named for working mothers, CareerMums actually includes in its target audience all skilled parents seeking work. With a national online jobs board and candidate board, the site aims to connect skilled parents with flexible employers offering full-time, part-time, job share and contract style roles. Using CareerMums is free for job seekers, who can set up job alerts, post their profiles for prospective employers, register and search for jobs. The site offers a range of resources to assist job-seekers in transitioning back into the workplace after parental leave, including survey data, a flexible work proposal toolkit, and tips on dealing with recruiters. CareerMums also works with employers to adopt flexible work practices and retain working parents, offering several plug-in HR toolkits toward that end.

Will family-friendly workplaces ever become the norm? We sure hope so. In the meantime, sites like this can be replicated around the globe!

Website: www.careermums.com.au
Contact: info@careermums.com.au

* Yummy Mummy Careers added networking services to their website and now operates under a new name: connectmoms.com.

We've already written about onsite haircuts, dentistry and nail services, and now another mobile concept in the world of health and beauty has built its business on transparency.

Launched in April, Return to Glory is a platform for mobile beauty experts that brings a wide range of beauty, massage and fitness services to clients' homes, offices, weddings and events. The London-based company was formed by a group of stylists and therapists who now work together as a uniform group, with a shared website, standard services and transparency every step of the way.

Customers begin by inputting their postal code online and then browsing and selecting from a list of services available in their area—whether it's makeup or hair, pilates, lymph drainage or personal shopping. From there they choose the date and time they want, and then view the specialists available to perform the service. Along with a photo, each specialist profile includes details of the professional's background, qualifications and insurance; average star rating; and feedback from previous clients. Pricing is set by the hour rather than the treatment type, and is listed up front as well. Once the customer is happy with their selection, all bookings can be made instantly online or via text or telephone. Post-service, clients are asked to rank and provide feedback on the treatment they received.

Beauty services have been an area sorely in need of some transparency tyranny, and the addition of mobile convenience and direct booking further sweetens the deal. Will Return to Glory set a new standard? In the meantime, how about bringing something like this to the rest of the world?

Website: www.returntoglory.co.uk
Contact: caroline@returntoglory.co.uk

Pedal-powered taxis and free love have both been around for years, but it wasn't until just recently that one of our spotters saw them combined. Specifically, Dublin-based Ecocabs now offers free eco-taxi rides throughout the streets of the city.

Ecocabs are pedal-powered (but battery-assisted, when necessary) tricycles that can accommodate three people for emissions-free transit through congested urban areas. Launched in April, they offer short-distance travel within the Dublin city centre from 10 am to 7 pm, seven days a week. Rides on the vehicles are free, of course, through the power of sponsorship. Vehicles are wrapped with brand-specific colours and imagery, and drivers can also hand out leaflets, wear branded clothing or target particular areas of the city. (Ecocabs are also available to act as a dedicated or on-demand shuttle service for customers, clients and employees, as well as at product launches, photo-shoots, trade-fairs, public sporting events, etc.) Current sponsors of the vehicles include 7Up, Yoplait and KPMG.

Ecocabs have also been seen offering free rides on the streets of Toronto, and full-fare versions exist in numerous other cities. In Ireland, meanwhile, Ecocab is seeking franchise operators in Cork and Belfast. Time to start serving up some pedal-powered free love of your own....? (Related: Whispering billboards, talkative cab drivers and Cargo bikes for greener business deliveries in congested cities.)

Website: www.ecocabs.ie
Contact: comments@ecocabs.ie

Spotted by: Keetsa via RK

So-called dark restaurants, where sighted customers are literally thrown into utter darkness and served by blind waiters, have been around for nearly a decade. Since a seated meal goes only so far in giving people a sense of what it's like to live without vision, Lisboa Sensorial organizes blindfolded walking tours of Lisbon.

Developed by Cabracega, a new local creative agency, the walking tours take place in Alfama, which is Lisbon's oldest district. After being securely blindfolded, participants are steered through Alfama's narrow streets by a blind guide from the ACAPO (Portuguese Association for the Visually Impaired). The guide shares how he experiences his surroundings, and encourages participants to fully explore their altered perception of "the narrow streets, the smell of grilled sardines, the sound of a Fado that can be heard from afar." A guide with historical knowledge of the area also accompanies each group.

Cabracega explain that their project has two main goals: to provide participants with a new sensorial experience of their surroundings through the stimuli of smell, touch, taste and hearing, and the absence of vision. Secondly, they aim to make sighted people more aware of how the visually impaired experience the world, from a decidedly positive angle. Instead of focusing on perceived limitations, the tours allow blind people to take the visually unimpaired on an exploration of their alternate domains of stimuli, codes and references. Tours cost EUR 20 per person, all of which goes to ACAPO. The first tours took place earlier this month and were fully booked, and Lisboa Sensorial will be back with new sessions in September. Like the aforementioned dark restaurants—which spread from Zurich to London, Amsterdam, Montreal and beyond—this seems like a concept that's worth copying to other cities.

Website: www.cabracega.org/lisboa-sensorial
Contact: info@cabracega.org

As if new parents don't have enough on their hands, keeping friends and family updated on their little one's weekly developments can feel like a full-time job. Enter Kidmondo, an online baby journal and organizer designed to help parents chronicle and share their child’s most important moments in a safe, secure and streamlined way.

Launched in May, New York-based Kidmondo gives parents a central place to record their child's milestones and share images with loved ones far and wide. Tools on the site include an "about" page with an evolving profile for the child; an online diary for sharing stories and milestones; a photo and video gallery; growth charts; medical and food journals; and an interactive timeline. Kidmondo can even provide an RSS feed or send e-mail updates for relations who desire the most up-to-the-minute information. Using the basic Kidmondo service with ads is free for up to three children and 25Mb of storage. Ad-free pricing is USD 5 monthly for up to 5 children and 100Mb of storage or USD 10 monthly for unlimited children and 500Mb for storage.

Kidmondo is presented in English with US users in mind, but there are, of course, countless grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins and friends in need of baby updates all around the world. One to adapt to the local customs and language near you! Update: Kidmondo informed us that they hope to launch Spanish, Italian and French versions in the near future.

Website: www.kidmondo.com
Contact: hello@kidmondo.com

We've featured examples of printing on demand for consumers who'd like to publish their own books, through services like Blurb. Instead of letting them print their own work, renowned British publishing house Faber & Faber now lets readers order books that have gone out of print.

Faber Finds is starting off with a selection of 100 titles that have fallen off the backlist, including works by prominent 20th century novelists P.H. Newby and Angus Wilson. The venture uses specially designed software to generate print-ready covers that will be unique for every title, without requiring the (expensive) intervention of graphic designers. For more on the development of their clever design system, read the developer's notes.

Sold at prices comparable to regular trade paperbacks—slightly higher in some cases—Faber Finds titles have a production and delivery time of up to two weeks, and consumers can place orders online or through their local bookstore. Faber Finds will be adding more titles soon, planning to offer as many as 1,000 in four genres: fiction, non-fiction, art and poetry. (In the Telegraph, the list's editor points out: "There will be no room for celebrity memoirs, 'chick lit' or pornography, but, otherwise the watchword is inclusion.")

It's an inspiring example of 'old media' using digital technology and online retail to profit from niche markets. As is, of course, detailed in Chris Anderson's theory of the Long Tail: "In an era without the constraints of physical shelf space and other bottlenecks of distribution, narrowly-targeted goods and services can be as economically attractive as mainstream fare." More publishers to follow Faber & Faber's lead?

Website: www.faberfinds.co.uk

Spotted by: Matthew De Ville

On August 31st, the streets of Shoreditch, London, will be overrun by adults on kids' tricycles as part of a new annual race to benefit local charities and social entrepreneurs.

Thirty teams of up to three adults each will be invited to compete in the Shoreditch Grand Prix, based on the level of sponsorship they can raise by Aug. 14 on behalf of a charity or social project. Using supplied vehicles, they'll then race to be first to complete the 5-lap course through the city streets some two weeks later. In the words of the event's sponsors, "it's a pedal powered race of epic proportions, mixing the glamour of Monaco, the endurance of Le Mans and the idiocy of adults attempting a street race on children's toy tricycles." ;-) The race is the brainchild of UnLtd, a charity that helps nearly 1,000 budding social entrepreneurs each year with a mix of cash, development support and networking, as well as creative agency Thin Martian and UnLtdWorld.com, a social network for social entrepreneurs. The aim is to run the event on a yearly basis in London, and then replicate it across the UK and eventually license the format globally, its organizers say. Corporate entry packages for the race start at GBP 1,000. An additional five trikes designed by artists will also be auctioned on eBay, which is one of the event's sponsors.

Whereas most fundraising events are tailored to established charities, the Shoreditch Grand Prix takes a different twist—and a refreshingly lighthearted approach—by focusing its efforts on diverse social entrepreneurs, social businesses and individuals running community projects. It's a localized way to support the efforts of those working for local social change—one that can be licensed and copied in communities around the world. (Related: New brand for a new sport.)

Website: www.shoreditchgrandprix.com
Contact: www.shoreditchgrandprix.com/contact.aspx

When we wrote about crowdsourcing product-improvement site RedesignMe late last year, we wondered how ideas generated by users of the site would get translated into real-world products. Well, now we have an answer: last week the Dutch company announced a new program by which users of the site get paid for their input on new products.

How it works: product manufacturers pay RedesignMe to establish "RDM Challenges," through which a new product concept is presented and the site's 1,000 or so active members are asked to react to it. Currently on the site, for instance, is one from the international DECT Forum, a group of wireless communications companies that are seeking product ideas based on CAT-iq (short for Cordless Advanced Technology - Internet and Quality). Beginning with an initial proposed concept, users are free to modify the current design or upload their own ideas, using any combination of comments, sketches, pictures, mood-boards, movies, prototypes or total redesigns. In exchange, they are rewarded with RDMs—RedesignMe's online currency, which is convertible into products in the online RDM Shop such as mp3-players, game consoles and gift cards. RDM Challenges can be open to all users or only a select few. Ideas generated on the site are then used as input by the manufacturer's R&D team or professional designers, who decide on the final concept. Ultimately, the companies hope, the result will be products that are better aligned with what consumers really want.

RedesignMe founder Maxim Schram explains: "In response to the launch of our website last year, a lot of manufacturers called us to ask if we could help them get input from consumers. They wanted to ask the community questions and were willing to pay for it. A couple of months later we did a pilot with Vodafone Group where we asked our members to redesign a mobile portal. The results were spectacular. Back then we gave away prizes for the best designs, but now with the RDMs we can reward even the slightest creative input."

This is where Generation C(ontent) becomes Generation C(ash), and it's where crowdsourcing will reach its true potential. Companies benefit from the wisdom of the crowds, the crowds benefit with rewards and better products—and sites like RedesignMe benefit from facilitating it all. One to emulate on a niche or localized basis!

Website: www.redesignme.com
Contact: info@redesignme.com

Last year, we wrote about a Dutch collective of wind turbine owners, mostly farmers, who operate turbines as an extra source of income and sell the energy they produce directly to consumers.

One of our spotters pointed out another venture that has consumers directly involved with farmers and sustainable energy. This time, however, the farmers aren't producing energy to sell to others, but to power their own business. BoerENbuur (FarmerANDneighbour) is a network promoting alliances between farmers and their non-farming neighbours. One of the projects they've recently launched is buurZOEKTbuurvoorZONNEPANELEN—farmer seeks neighbour for solar panels. Since not every farmer can afford to buy a wind turbine, and some believe they would disfigure their part of the Dutch landscape, the project is asking individuals to buy shares of EUR 250 that will help participating farmers install solar panels on their roofs. In return, per share they'll receive EUR 50 worth of produce from the farm, every year for six years. Plus the feelgood dividends of helping a farm become climate-neutral. Fifteen farmers have signed up for the first run, and the solar panels will be installed by the end of 2009.

While it obviously isn't a get-rich-quick scheme for anyone involved, grassroots initiatives like this make for a welcome antidote to corporate greenwashing. One to copy to other agricultural regions? (Related: Neighbourhood approach to renewable energy.)

Website: www.boerenbuur.nl
Contact: anne.stijkel@inclusivescience.org

Spotted by: Bart van der Aa

Last year we wrote about Urban Gentry's specialist tours of London, which included guided expeditions through the city focusing on art, fashion, interiors or shopping. Now recently launched Insider London has added a new niche to the mix with a tour focusing on London's green side.

Insider London's "Cutting-Edge Green Tour" uses walking and public transport to show participants the most exciting and innovative sustainable retail concepts, buildings and designs that London has to offer. From eco-minded shops to futuristic architecture to inspiring communities, the tour aims to highlight the many innovative ways that sustainability can be brought to life. Lasting three hours, the tour costs GBP 12.50, and is "also an excellent opportunity to meet and network with other keen greens," the company notes. Led by green marketing strategist Cate Trotter, the Cutting-Edge Green Tour recently won the Love London Travel Award. Insider London's other tour topics include interior design, architecture, shopping, gay London and the city's quirky side.

With the growing legions of eco-minded consumers out there, focusing a city tour on that niche makes perfect sense. Who will show off other cities' own eco initiatives...? Perhaps more important, what eco company will be first to sponsor one?

Website: www.insider-london.co.uk
Contact: office@insider-london.co.uk

Crowdsourcing platform Kluster has graced these pages on numerous occasions this year, including the related launches of Knewsroom and NameThis. Turns out Knewsroom was disbanded a few weeks ago—owing primarily to high costs, the Kluster team says—but now the company has introduced support for new private Klusters designed to help groups manage decision making on specific topics.

Private Klusters are designed to enable collaborative brainstorming on myriad different questions by allowing invited participants to share their opinions on a relevant, customized set of criteria. One private Kluster might be focused on finding a new logo, for example. In such a case, participants might rate submitted ideas based on criteria including "uniqueness," "cool," "colour scheme" and "readability." Some decision criteria can be given a heavier weight than others to reflect higher importance, and so can the criteria by which they are judged (e.g., 'profitability' vs. 'commercial feasibility'). Indeed, some participants' opinions can be given more weight as well—such as those of designers in a design-focused decision. Kluster will tell the user how much support an idea has, from whom and why, as well as whose support will be essential to make it succeed. Private Klusters can support unlimited numbers of participants in a secure, personalized environment; ideas can be shared using text, audio, video or virtually any uploadable file. After a 30-day free trial period, pricing begins at USD 27 monthly for up to three projects per month; no long-term contracts are required.

What will be next out of Kluster's crowdsourcing kitchens? We'll keep you posted. In the meantime, one to try out! (Related: Open polls gauge popular opinion in minutes.)

Website: www.kluster.com
Contact: team@kluster.com

Spotted by: Matthew Cua

There may be thousands of fonts available online, but for truly dedicated members of Generation C—who live to create their own, fresh content—that's sometimes not enough. Luckily, help is now at hand in the form of a do-it-yourself font-building tool from digital type retailer FontShop.

FontStruct, which was opened to the public in April, is a free, online tool that lets users quickly and easily create fonts by arranging geometrical shapes in a grid pattern, much like tiles or bricks. Working one letter at a time, users add and remove shapes including blocks and dots to achieve a look they like. Once they're done building, FontStruct generates high-quality TrueType fonts, ready to use in any Mac or Windows application. Users can keep their "FontStructions" private, or they can share them with the FontStruct community for discussion, rating and downloading. They can also display them on other websites or blogs through the FontStruct widget. Several Creative Commons license options are available to allow varying degrees of sharing. The site is supported through links to San Francisco-based FontShop for sales and downloads of its professional, non-modular fonts.

There's no end in sight to the customer-made trend, and legions of prosumers out there are eager for fresh new ways to express their ideas. Give them the tools they need as a token of your free love, and they just may love you back!

Website: fontstruct.fontshop.com
Contact: fontstruct.fontshop.com/contact

Spotted by: Dana Pizzolato

We've seen (and written about) both green taxis and motorcycle taxis before, but never a combination of the two. Sure enough, though, one of our spotters recently came across an all-electric motorcycle service in France.

Citybird's Electri-City operates a fleet of 15 Suzuki Burgman 650cc Executive scooters from its Paris-based headquarters, as well as a number of luxurious Honda Goldwings for use by members of its Citybird Club. All its Suzuki scooters are 100 percent electric, and emit just 125g CO2 per km—significantly less than most motorcycles and 50 to 70 percent less than traditional taxis, according to Climate Mundi. Taking it even further, though, Citybird works with Climate Mundi to offset those remaining emissions, along with those from its own administration. So, it also effectively negates the emissions from manufacturing all the motorcycles and gas it uses, as well as from making the supplies, furniture and computers used in its offices and its waste, energy facilities and movement of personnel.

Electri-City, which has made more than 54,000 trips since 2003, now has 160 companies under contract for its services. It also has partnerships with British Airways and TGV for airport transportation. Fares begin at EUR 25 within Paris, with subscriptions available offering discounts of up to 20 percent. Microphone-equipped helmets are included, as is protective gear in foul weather.

Motorcycle taxis already have an advantage in congested urban areas, but those benefits are multiplied many times over when the service is emissions-free. This one seems like a no-brainer—to be replicated in cities throughout the world!

Website: www.city-bird.com/_electricity
Contact: infos@city-bird.com

Spotted by: Matthew Cua

Guests visiting London's Mandarin Oriental hotel at any other time of the year will miss out on the hotel's latest dining experience: a brand-new outdoor restaurant that's open only in the summer.

Nestled in the shelter of the Mandarin Oriental’s north façade, The Park Terrace restaurant overlooks the southern meadows of Hyde Park below the Serpentine Lake and serves guests from May 1st through September 30th. Soft linens, elegant teak furniture, quarried Portland stonework and a lush floral backdrop combine to create the informal elegance of an English country garden that's available all day long for early morning breakfasts, sunny lunches, traditional afternoon teas and balmy evening dinners. Head Chef Chris Tombling’s highly seasonal menu features fresh, summery dishes. The restaurant's staff, meanwhile, go far beyond just serving food to create what might almost be considered a luxury urban beach. On hot summer days, a Terrace Butler is on hand with a selection of sunscreens, cooling iced towels, water sprays and a sunglasses cleaning service. Guests can also borrow designer sunglasses—including children’s sizes—along with hand-held Mandarin fans, soft pashmina shawls, books from the hotel’s Vintage Classics library, and a selection of magazines and newspapers.

There's nothing like limited-time availability to increase an offering's appeal, as we've noted on numerous occasions before, and reflecting local seasonal rhythms enhances the genuine feel of something that's still made here. Throw in some five-star summer meals and a pampering spot to sun oneself, and you just may have something tourists will return to year after year. (Related: Restaurant to close and reopen every season.)

Website: www.mandarinoriental.com/london/dining/the_park_terrace
Contact: molon-info@mohg.com

Spotted by: RK

A few years ago we wrote about UK-based Omlet and its hen-and-coop kits for urban or suburban gardens. Recognizing that a chicken-keeping venture can be daunting for those who have never done it before, however, an Australian contender is now offering a short-term rental option that lets customers try before they buy.

Sydney-based Rentachook manufactures and sells a variety of coops, as well as selling the "chooks" (as they're known down under) and feed to go with them. For those who want to test the chicken-keeping waters before diving in, the company lets customers try out its Eco-Coop package and see how it goes for as much as six weeks (or even longer by arrangement) before they commit to keeping it. Included in the AUD 360 package are a chicken coop and two hens along with feeder, waterer, food and straw. Customers can try it out and see how well keeping chickens fits in with their lifestyle and garden; if they decide to return the package, they get back AUD 260 of the money they paid. For those who decide to keep the set, on the other hand, benefits include fresh, free-range eggs (up to six per chicken per week, the company says) and an environmentally sustainable pet that eats scraps, removes weeds and turns compost. (Rentachook's coops, incidentally, are also made as sustainably as possible, using Australian grown plantation pine and wheels from old prams.) Delivery and setup ranges from AUD 50 to AUD 80, depending on location.

In a world with skyrocketing food costs and growing interest in organic and sustainable methods, there's plenty of reason for consumers far and wide to produce their own. Make it easier for them—such as by reducing the up-front commitment—and you just may be rewarded with some golden eggs yourself!

Website: www.rentachook.com.au
Contact: MrChicken@optus.ap.blackberry.net

Spotted by: David Haddock

Trash is always a problem at summer music festivals, and Denmark's Roskilde Festival has typically been no exception. After the 2007 festival, it took more than 500 people several weeks to clean up the heaps of garbage left behind—at a cost of more than one million euros, the festival's organizers say. That's why this year's festival, which took place earlier this month, promoted the slogan "Less Trash—More Music" in its effort to control the leftover garbage.

Special red garbage bags were handed out to festival-goers throughout the course of the four-day event, with rewards in the form of free beer or chocolate milk for each bag collected, along with a chance to win more beer, festival kits, tents or tickets to next year's event. Through a competition sponsored by Tuborg, collectors of the most garbage (1,048 bags!) also won backstage passes to Neil Young's performance. For recyclables, meanwhile, Roskilde provided stands to collect cans, cardboard, drink containers and more. In exchange, participants were reportedly rewarded with cash refunds of roughly EUR 0.10 per bottle, allowing the most zealous of the festival's 67,000 paying attendees to come close to recouping the cost of their tickets. About 97 percent of the cups used at Roskilde's concession stands were brought back for recycling as a result, according to PSFK. Meanwhile, more than 1,600 sleeping bags left behind were donated to the homeless.

As if the music, the sustainability and the rewards for being clean weren't enough, attendees at this year's Roskilde got a little extra free love, too. In addition to the usual wrist band, festival-goers were given a condom (donated by Hanky Panky) and a set of earplugs (sponsored by TrygFonden), too. In Roskilde’s words: “Say goodbye to herpes and tinnitus.” In our words: Follow examples like that, and say hello to a new generation of loyal customers!

Website: www.roskilde-festival.dk
Contact: info@roskilde-festival.dk

Spotted by: PSFK via Matthew Cua

Almost exactly a year ago, we featured Vator.tv a Silicon Valley company that lets entrepreneurs pitch their "next big thing" to potential investors via short web videos. Recently, a similar venture got started in the UK.

cmypitch.com describes itself as "Dragons' Den meets YouTube" and besides letting start-ups pitch their ideas to attract funding, the website also aims to provide other services for entrepreneurs, like directories of business opportunities, franchises, businesses for sale, etc. Those in search of funding can pitch for investment by uploading a short video supported by a summary business plan, for a fee of GBP 200 for a three-month listing.

Due to UK financial regulations, viewers need to register and then "self certify as an investor" before they can watch a single pitch. Which could seriously hamper the website's growth—users are less likely to forward a video to other potential investors if they know the recipient will need to register and self certify just to view a short clip. That said, British entrepreneurs in search of funding will no doubt welcome an additional opportunity to reach out to potential investors!

Website: www.cmypitch.com
Contact: www.cmypitch.com/site/contact

BIC, the French purveyor of billions of lighters, pens and razors, recently launched the anti-iPhone. No waiting in line, no activation, no costly plans and no frills whatsoever. BIC phones, which retail at EUR 49 and come in orange and green versions, are ready to go: the battery is charged, SIM card installed and the phone comes with 10 talk minutes that are valid without registering with network provider Orange. Once the 10 minutes are up, customers can activate with Orange for a further 50 free minutes, and can buy top-up cards for more talk time.

BIC/Orange stress that this isn't a disposable phone, more of a back-up phone for households to use when an extra, dedicated line might be useful—when selling a car or an apartment, for example. We can also see these selling well at airports, for travellers who want a local phone to avoid roaming charges, and want to be able to use it immediately without first having to charge or activate. Which makes for a good vending machine opportunity: set up machines near gate exits at Charles de Gaulle.

Website: www.bicworld.com

Spotted by: RK

________

More phone-related innovation:
Pedal-charging cellphones at music festival
Modular mobile phone can slip into new roles
New phone company, made in Silicon Valley
Community designs phones, inside and out

Using its Newton Machine, UK clothing retailer Topshop recently gave customers the opportunity to explore their inner model by letting them star in their own iconic fashion shoots. Topshop created temporary photo studios in three of its London, Manchester and Dublin stores, using a set-up that fashion photographer Helmut Newton created thirty years ago. As explained by Topshop: "In the 1970's Helmut Newton came up with the idea of The Newton Machine, a specially made studio to take fashion images without the photographer being present. The machine's original purpose was to capture the subject as they see themselves, which draws parallels to today's obsession with engineering one's self-image."

Like Newton's models, Topshop's customers just had to walk in, strike a pose and press a button to set lights and camera in action. Naturally, they were encouraged to dress up in the store's clothes. Customers received a print of their fashion shoot, and the images were also posted online for all to admire. Fun example of a marketing campaign that appeals to consumers' gravanity while driving foot traffic. (Related: Jet-sized gravanity.)

Website: www.newtonmachinetopshop.com

Spotted by: RK

When the Democratic National Convention descends upon Denver later this summer, a fleet of vehicles provided by General Motors for the event won't be using just any ordinary fuel. Instead, the flex-fuel cars will run on clean-burning ethanol derived from waste beer produced at Molson Coors' Golden, Colo., brewery.

Whereas most ethanol is based on corn, Coors produces about 3 million gallons of the stuff each year from beer that gets lost during packaging or is deemed below quality standards, for one reason or another. Coors says it is the nation's first major brewer to convert its waste beer into ethanol, having begun the practice back in 1996 using a facility owned by Merrick & Co. Turning the waste beer into ethanol eliminates about 70 tons of VOCs (volatile organic compounds) from Coors' emissions annually, it says.

At the convention, the GM fleet—which includes vehicles with biofuel capabilities and hybrid technology—will run on a mixture of fuel combined with ethanol from the Coors facility. The cars will provide transportation for numerous delegates, staff, members of the media and other special convention guests. Of course, in addition to the ethanol sponsorship, Molson Coors will also provide real, drinkable beer for select convention events—perhaps just as important as powering its cars... ;-)

Website: www.molsoncoors.com
Contact: gminvestorrelations@molsoncoors.com

Spotted by: Flemming Birch

We've covered many of the twists and turns that have taken place in the world of journalism over the years, including the citizen journalism efforts at OhmyNews and Danish Avisen. Now a new experimental site in the San Francisco Bay Area is offering community control on a different level by giving readers a chance to fund the stories they want to see professionally written.

Due for launch this fall, Spot.us is a nonprofit that lets any individual or journalist post an idea for an untold story in the local community. Professional journalists then write pitches based on those ideas and place them in the site's wiki, where members of the community can view them and vote—via micro-pledge—on the stories that are most important to them. (Examples currently on the site have a distinctly eco-minded focus, such as the inaugural one entitled "Ethanol Could Be a Weak Link in State's Energy Network," which has already reached its USD 250 goal.) Supporters pay only if their topic wins full support, in which case freelance journalists are commissioned to report and write the story. Spot.us then publishes it in its news feeds under a Creative Commons license and offers it for free to local media outlets. Exclusive rights to the story will be granted in exchange for a percentage of the original donations, Spot.us says.

Spot.us, which is currently in what it calls pre-alpha mode using a grant from the Knight Foundation, encourages participants to limit their donations to a maximum of 20 percent of the story's costs, and will enforce that through technology once the site goes live, it says. It is also currently vetting pitches and reporters, but aims ultimately to let the marketplace do that. Also of interest is that Spot.us uses activism site The Point—which we covered not long ago—to coordinate its funding efforts for each pitch.

One of the big concerns about citizen journalism has been that it lacks the rigor and integrity formal journalistic training imparts, as well as the trust that comes from the longstanding reputations traditional news organizations typically possess. Spot.us promises to do away with such concerns while still giving the community a strong guiding voice. Will this be a new model for news media? We'll keep you posted. In the meantime, one to watch!

Website: www.spot.us
Contact: www.spot.us/contact

Spotted by: Julie Sammons

Polystyrene products have been used for years as home insulation and Styrofoam packaging, but the petroleum-based materials are infamous for the toll they take on the environment. Ecovative, a Troy, N.Y., start-up, aims to replace such products with an organic alternative derived from fungus and agricultural waste.

Rather than being manufactured from preexisting ingredients—a process that inevitably takes considerable energy—Ecovative's Greensulate is actually grown afresh. A mixture including water, recycled paper and rice hulls (a form of agricultural waste) is injected with living mushroom cells inside a mold and then placed in a dark environment. There the cells begin to grow and sprout thousands of cellular strands. In one to two weeks, the result is ready to be dried into a panel of insulation that can be used to keep a house warm in winter and cool in summer, or to protect a package during shipment.

Greensulate is fire retardant, and it's also unlikely to trigger mold and fungus allergies, by virtue of the drying process. And while its polystyrene counterparts take up landfill space indefinitely, Greensulate is highly compostable, enriching the soil surrounding it and even aiding the breakdown of other nearby waste. Current cost projections suggest Greensulate will retail at costs competitive with traditional foams, the company says.

Ecovative is still working on R&D and compliance with American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM) International standards and International Building Code. It will focus on material optimization and compliance testing throughout 2008, it says, with a commercially available insulation product targeted for mid-2009. The company is actively seeking strategic partners to aid in Greensulate's commercialization. One to get in on early?

Website: www.ecovativedesign.com
Contact: info@ecovativedesign.com

Spotted by: Michael Martin

We've written on a few different occasions already about upscale ice-cream trucks aimed at grown-ups (one in Los Angeles and one in the UK), and now New Yorkers are getting in on the mobile dessert action with a few different trucks that deliver high-end ice cream and baked confections.

The Treats Truck, for one, uses its two trucks—aptly named "Sugar" and "Dot"—to sell cookies, brownies and other baked goodies to customers on the streets of Manhattan and the surrounding boroughs. Favourite delectables on the company's trucks include the Oatmeal Jammy and the Cran Almond Crispy along with peanut butter sandwich cookies, caramel cream sandwich cookies, four kinds of chocolate brownies daily, frosted sugar cookies, chocolate chip cookies and a rotating list of specials. All goodies are baked from natural ingredients at the Treats Truck's Brooklyn bakery.

The Van Leeuwen Artisan Ice Cream Company, meanwhile, sells specially crafted ice cream from its truck, which serves the SOHO area each afternoon. Ginger, Giandujia and Red Currant are among the flavours Van Leeuwen makes using locally sourced, hormone-free milk and cream. The company uses only cups, straws, bowls and spoons made from renewable sources, and it donates one percent of its profits to Wildlife Direct.

Then there's Wafels & Dinges, aimed at serving "good things Belgian" from its roving truck throughout the city—not to mention DessertTruck, which serves up such delectables as chocolate bread pudding, goat cheese cheesecake and a dark chocolate mousse bombe. DessertTruck can be found seven days a week at St. Mark's place and 3rd Ave.

Besides allowing small, high-end confectioners to compete in a market that would otherwise involve prohibitively high rents, upscale dessert delivery trucks like these also provide a perfect opportunity for us to repeat our favourite refrain: everything can be upgraded! One to cause the Good Humor man concern in wealthy urban centers around the globe. ;-)

Website: www.treatstruck.com — www.vanleeuwenicecream.com — www.wafelsanddinges.com — www.desserttruck.com
Contact: info@treatstruck.com — ben@vanleeuwenicecream.com — info@wafelsanddinges.com — mail@desserttruck.com

Spotted by: Yael Miller

Parents have long had a multitude of websites to choose from for community and advice, but until recently little has been available to serve the needs of what SavvyAuntie calls "P.A.N.K.s"—professional aunts with no kids of their own. SavvyAuntie, which just launched into beta last week, aims to fill that gap with a parenting site aimed at non-parents.

Roughly half of American women today are not mothers, the site says, but they often have numerous nieces and nephews to dote on. New York-based SavvyAuntie.com helps such aunts connect and become savvier about kids, so they no longer have to rely on a mom or a parenting guide for advice. With sections devoted to expertise, activities, gifts and community, the site provides tools and information to help women who are aunties by relation or by choice—along with great aunts, godmothers and all women who love kids. Forums, groups, blogs, an Auntiepedia and other social tools are designed uniquely for aunties, as are the site's digital scrapbooks and a "digital fridge door" for kids’ artwork, both of which are coming soon. Savvy Auntie has also teamed up with Nickelodeon’s GoCityKids for information on restaurants, events and local activities suitable for visits with nieces and nephews in major cities throughout the US. As the site puts it, "SavvyAuntie.com gives Aunts a unique and modern approach to learn, connect, share and celebrate Aunt-hood." Membership on the ad-supported site is free.

With considerable wealth and influence over roughly 85 percent of their household purchasing decisions, according to SavvyAuntie, P.A.N.K.s are a group worth targeting as they indulge the kids in their lives—and themselves. The advertising possibilities are compelling, needless to say. And what about localized versions of this site in countries around the world? Time to start thinking seriously about aunts!

Website: www.savvyauntie.com
Contact: info@savvyauntie.com

Spotted by: Ozgur Alaz

Earlier this summer we wrote about Now Play It, a UK-based site that uses artist-led video instruction to teach music fans to play their favourite pop and rock songs. Now, focusing on a different niche, a similar site based in New York targets professional classical and jazz musicians with a wide range of expert-taught lessons.

Mucony offers video music lessons taught by some of the world’s finest classical and jazz artists. All the major instruments are represented, along with lessons in voice, history and theory, and teaching faculty hail from such prestigious institutions as the New York Philharmonic and Metropolitan Opera orchestras. A lesson for pianists on Schumann's Canaval op .9, for example, spans 30 minutes, while baritones can learn about pronouncing vowels through a 27-minute lesson; pricing for each is USD 5. In the next few weeks Mucony plans to relaunch with a new format that adds a raft of community features as well, the site says. Included among them will be job listings, master classes, live performances, a forum, downloadable music for sale and lessons for beginners.

Making top-level instruction more widely accessible can only please musicians, and the upcoming addition of community elements promises to complete the picture. One to replicate in the other arts as well, or any place practitioners can benefit from the guidance of experts.

Website: www.mucony.com
Contact: cs@mucony.com

Spotted by: Steve Andreacchi

This past spring we wrote about ECHOage, a Canadian venture dedicated to doing away with wasteful kids' birthday parties and focusing them instead on giving one gift and supporting one cause. Now DreamBank—also out of Canada—is bringing a similar concept to the grown-up world.

DreamBank aims to help people 18 and over fund their dreams by posting them online and inviting friends and family to contribute toward their realization. Posting a dream is free, and dreams must simply be valued anywhere between CDN 20 and CDN 20,000—examples currently on the site range from paying off student loans to attending the 2010 Olympics. Donating toward a dream is an eco-friendly alternative to traditional gifts, the site says, noting the many unwanted items that typically get exchanged each year, or are never used. It also helps a charitable cause. When they post a dream, users of the site are asked to choose a charity they'd like to support, with options including CARE, Doctors without Borders, the African Wildlife Foundation and Kiva. DreamBank deducts CDN 2.25 in fees from loved ones' contributions, and until the dream is realized, the rest gets pooled into one big fund, the interest on which is donated to the charity the user selected.

Users of the site can connect and exchange ideas with other "dreamers," and they can also withdraw their donated cash at any time, closing out their dream. DreamBank, meanwhile, deducts 2.5 percent of their total funds when they cash it out. Launched earlier this month, DreamBank already has more than 30 dreams posted on the site. Financial partners working behind the scenes are PayPal and HSBC.

Is this the gift-giving model for a new breed of consumers? With its focus on one big experience over many small possessions (most of the listed dreams are for experiences), DreamBank should definitely strike a chord with transumers.

Website: www.dreambank.org
Contact: feedback@dreambank.org

Spotted by: Lindsay McDonald

Guests at Jumeirah Hotels may be able to pre-order toothpaste or books for delivery before they arrive (see Shop-ahead service for hotel guests), but that won't help solve fashion emergencies that can crop up during a stay. For crises of a more sartorial sort, Net-A-Porter now offers an "emergency wardrobe service" for guests at select Soho House members' clubs/hotels.

Forgotten pair of shoes? Embarrassing stain incurred at dinner? Guests at High Road House London, Babington House Somerset and Soho House New York need fear such adversity no more. Thanks to the brand-new initiative, they can now enjoy same-day delivery of items from Net-A-Porter's exclusive online collection of designer clothes, shoes, handbags and accessories, according to Vogue.com UK. Swing tags in each room promote the service, which reportedly launched last week.

Who says luxury is dead? Through partnerships between like-minded companies like Net-A-Porter and high-end hotels, the premiumization possibilities are endless! Moreover, it's a great example of an online brand branching out into the offline world, getting physically closer to (new) customers without having to invest in expensive retail space.

Website: www.net-a-porter.com — www.sohohouse.com
Contact: customercare.usa@net-a-porter.com

Spotted by: Vogue.com UK via RK

Earlier this year we wrote about Ecolect, an online library of sustainable building materials aimed at making it easier for builders to be green. Along similar lines, one of our spotters recently came across a Colorado-based store that showcases green products for building and the home.

Aiming to provide the highest quality organic and environmentally friendly home products available, Natural Interiors offers a variety of flooring, counter tops, plasters, paints, cabinets and carpeting all based on natural ingredients, as well as a range of bedding, window treatments and mattresses. Cork flooring, for example, is made from sustainable tree bark, while a Natural Interiors counter top is fabricated from recycled bottles. Clay-based paints eliminate the volatile organic compounds found in most traditional paints; carpeting is 100 percent wool and chemical-free. Window coverings are made from rapidly renewable grasses, reeds, bamboo and hemp, and there's even a line of nontoxic deck stains.

Meanwhile, Amsterdam-based Eco-Logisch offers Dutch consumers a similar array of earth-friendlier building materials, selling everything from bamboo flooring to rooftop wind turbines.

While eco-mattresses and bedding appear to be increasingly common, green building and remodeling materials are still hard to find in many parts of the world. By bringing many of them together in one retail setting, ventures like Natural Interiors and Eco-Logish take the category one step closer to the eco-iconic mainstream. Coming soon to an area near you... unless you get there first! ;-)

Website: www.naturalinteriors.us — www.eco-logisch.eu
Contact: info@naturalinteriors.us — info@eco-logisch.eu

Spotted by: Bill McMahon

For senior citizens, finding travel and other insurance can be a challenge, given the upper age limits most providers put on their services. UK-based Intune hopes to end all that with a range of financial services aimed directly at consumers over 60.

Intune was launched last year by Help the Aged, a charity that works on behalf of older people worldwide, and all profits from its work go back to the charity, which has itself been providing financial services for more than 10 years. Age is not an issue in Intune's products, which include travel, motor, home and pet insurance as well as equity release, saver accounts, care fees advice, identity theft protection and funeral plans, among other services. Intune's travel insurance policy, for example, has no upper age limit, and it boasts that its oldest customer is 101 years old this year. The oldest participant in its winter sports coverage plan is 81.

“We have found that older people holiday more widely than younger age groups, and for longer at a time—more than 121,000 trips of 3–6 months have been taken by this age group over the last year," explains Stuart Castledine, Intune's managing director. "The over-80s traveller has particular requirements which need accommodating, but they do not want a system which writes them off at a time when they should be enjoying life to the full.” Intune's main commercial partner for general insurance products is Liverpool Victoria.

We've now covered supermarkets, health stores, driving services, being spaces and financial services aimed directly at senior citizens. Given the size of this mammoth demographic, none of it comes a moment too soon! It's still a wide open playing field for those who cater to seniors in a respectful and value-providing way. Who will bring services like these to booming consumers in the rest of the world...?

Website: www.intunegroup.co.uk
Contact: www.intunegroup.co.uk/companyInformation/ContactUsForm.aspx

Spotted by: Simon Kirby

We've already written about TerraCycle, the company that achieved a spot on the shelves of Home Depot, Wal-Mart and Target with its eco-fertilizer based on organic waste and worm castings. Now TerraCycle has found yet another way to create gold out of garbage by turning discarded wrappers and juice pouches into bags, pencil boxes and other accessories.

As part of its ongoing mission to "eliminate the idea of waste," as its website puts it, TerraCycle has struck deals with large food and beverage manufacturers to collect the wrappers from their products and "upcycle" them into new, unique accessories. Through a partnership with Kraft's Capri Sun and Honest Kids juice makers, for example, TerraCycle collects juice pouches from individuals and organizations that have signed up to participate in its "Drink Pouch Brigade." Each time participants send some pouches in to TerraCycle, Capri Sun and Honest Kids donate USD 0.02 per pouch to the charity of the collector's choice (they pay USD 0.01 each for pouches from other juice brands). Nabisco, similarly, has sponsored TerraCycle's cookie wrapper program, while ClifBar and Kraft's Balance Bar have sponsored initiatives to upcycle energy bar wrappers. There are also programs for corks, yoghurt cups, soda bottles and Bear Naked granola bags.

Once TerraCycle gets the donated packaging, it converts it into bags and other accessories. Displayed on its site, for example, is a USD 9.99 tote bag available at Target.com that's made entirely from Capri Sun juice pouches. Also available are backpacks, pencil cases, homework folders and lunch boxes, all made entirely from TerraCycle's upcycled wrappers.

Juice pouches and wrappers have proven a particularly difficult challenge to break down and recycle, so TerraCycle's innovative, creative and green solution is clearly a compelling one for companies struggling with that problem. For consumers, bags and other goods made from recycled packaging are not just eco-friendly, but they also offer the added benefit of a story behind every product. (Related: Eco-chic entrepreneurs.)

Website: www.terracycle.net
Contact: www.terracycle.net/contact.htm

Spotted by: Flemming Birch

With gas prices a topic of urgent concern, it's no wonder bicycle-related innovations are coming fast and furious. One of the latest we've spotted is the Zigo Leader, a bicycle that's easily convertible into several different forms.

Much like the Danish trioBike, which we covered a while back, the Zigo Leader can be easily converted into any of four different modes: stand-alone bicycle; bicycle with front-attached kid trailer; jogging stroller; and traditional stroller. Converting from one mode to another is simply a matter of swivelling casters and attaching or detaching the "child pod" trailer, and can be done in 30 seconds or less, Zigo says. The vehicle also folds easily for storage. Priced at USD 1,349, the Zigo Leader will be available in August direct from the New Jersey-based company or through a network of dealers including bicycle shops and baby stores. It comes 98 percent assembled; shipping is available anywhere in North America, the EU and Australia. Accessories including a rain cover/bug screen and restraint harness can also be purchased.

Will modular, pedal-powered vehicles become the new cars? We'll keep you posted. In the meantime, keep those bicycle innovations coming! (Related: Cargo bikes for greener business deliveries.)

Website: www.myzigo.com
Contact: support@myzigo.com

Spotted by: Matthew Cua and John Boufford

The ink had just barely dried (so to speak) on our stories about Orange's wind- and dance-powered phone chargers at the UK's Glastonbury Festival when one of our spotters came across yet another eco-friendly phone charger from yet another cellular company at yet another summer music festival.

This time it was at last weekend's O2 Wireless Festival in London's Hyde Park, where attendees were given the chance to power up their mobile phones using O2 pedal power, a system that generates green energy on-site when users simply pedal a bicycle. Ten bespoke BMX and Chopper bikes were situated at various points across the O2 Wireless Festival site, fixed to the ground and designed specifically to generate enough energy to help recharge a mobile phone handset. The initiative was backed by many of the artists who played in the festival, and was the first of its kind to be introduced to the UK music festival scene, O2 says. No word on whether they plan ultimately to sell the technology to the bicyclist market at large.

Can there ever be too much summer-music-festival-eco-phone-charging free love...? Let the trend continue! ;-)

Website: www.o2wirelessfestival.co.uk
Contact: info@wirelessfestival.co.uk

Spotted by: SmartPlanet via RK

It's not much good having a vast collection of photos if you can't organize and search through them in an intuitive way, but tagging capabilities have so far proven beyond the scope of most photo sharing websites. And while digital photography makes it very easy to shoot thousands of images, most digital photographers lack the time and patience to tag those individual photos. Tagcow aims to provide a convenient solution by automatically tagging users' photos with descriptive keywords that can later be used to find them. Tapping into the power of crowdsourced labour, Tagcow uses Amazon.com's Mechanical Turk to tag photos, applying a combination of human taggers and computer technology. Photos are typically tagged within 24 to 48 hours of submission.

With prices starting at USD 9.95 for 250 photos, Tagcow lets users upload their digital photos to the site, which runs them through its "tag factory" to add descriptive tags. The photos and tags are then published to the user's Tagcow site, where they may be searched for based on descriptive attributes. Typing the word "soccer," for instance, might return every picture from a child's days on the field. Tagcow can also tag people, with the appropriate training, allowing users to sort their photos by the people included therein. In addition, Tagcow integrates with Flickr, letting users tag their Flickr photos through the Tagcow site without uploading them separately.

Launched in March, Seattle-based Tagcow is interested in partnerships and other business opportunities. (Related trend: Life caching.)

Website: www.tagcow.com
Contact: www.tagcow.com/contact_us

Spotted by: Benoit Rigaut

Swedish fashion label Filippa K is promoting a longer life for its products by letting customers sell them in its very own secondhand store, which just opened in Stockholm.

While Filippa K came up with the concept for a branded secondhand shop, the day-to-day business will be run by the founder of Judit Second Hand, a popular destination for vintage finds from the sixties and seventies. Situated next door to Judit's, at Hornsgatan 77, Filippa K Second Hand sells women's and men's clothing, and accessories. Items brought in by customers are sold on commission. In addition to used items, the boutique will also sell collection samples, which should help bring in the fashionistas. The shop is part of a larger effort to become more environmentally aware, and Filippa K doesn't aim to make any money reselling their garments.

Filippa K's creative director, Filippa Knutsson, stated that the concept is fully in line with what the brand stands for, pointing out that resales are made possible by Filippa K's high quality and timeless design. While brands like Patagonia and Uniqlo have programs in place that either recycle fabric from used items or donate them to charity, we like Filippa K's emphasis on reusing clothing, stressing its longevity and creating a healthy antidote to fast fashion. If you run a well-regarded secondhand store, now's the time to contact local brands that might be interested in following in Filippa K's footsteps. And the concept could be applied to other products, too. How about a branded bookstore dedicated to selling used Penguin books?

Website: www.filippa-k.se
Contact: info@filippa-k.se

Spotted by: Pastan via MZ

Shoppers at IKEA furniture stores in Denmark now have a new option for bringing their large, bulky purchases home: a fleet of Velorbis bikes with trailers that are available for loan at (virtually) no charge.

IKEA launched the program last month after market research found that 20 percent of its Danish customers ride their bikes to the store. It then partnered with Danish Freetrailer, an organization that loans out free trailers for both bikes and cars, to establish the service, which has already begun at IKEA's Gentofte store. To borrow a bike and trailer, customers must put down a deposit of about USD 100 and then either pay USD 7 for insurance or be liable in case the bike is damaged or stolen, according to a report in Treehugger. The trailers may be kept overnight and returned the next day. Since the program's launch at the Gentofte store, IKEA representatives from Sweden, Germany and China have flown in to see it in action, according to Copenhagenize.

Recognizing—and celebrating—the preferences of eco-minded consumers makes good sense for IKEA, which is bound to share in the eco-iconic glory. Next, it needs to start selling those bikes and trailers! One to emulate in bicycle-friendly cities around the world. (Related: Cargo bikes for greener business deliveries.)

Website: www.freetrailer.dk
Contact: info@freetrailer.dk

Spotted by: Copenhagenize via RK

Today's high gas prices are already forcing changes in the way many consumers live, but it's a pretty safe bet they won't look so bad in a year or two. A new service from MyGallons.com lets consumers prepurchase gas and lock in today's gas prices for the future.

Consumers who sign up for a MyGallons Card begin by paying an annual membership fee of USD 29.95. Up to three cards can be linked to one account, and the membership fee is backed by a 100 percent money-back guarantee if the consumer doesn't save money on at least one redemption during the year. Members can then monitor their current MyGallons price—a fluctuating quote that's good for purchase of unleaded gas at a particular point in time, including estimated local taxes—and prepurchase gas when they deem the price worth locking in. Purchasing gas is simply a matter of visiting a participating gas station, where the MyGallons Card is accepted much like a debit card, complete with four-digit PIN. The number of gallons pumped is deducted from the consumer's MyGallons account balance, with adjustments automatically made for more expensive grades or types of fuel and price differences caused by tax discrepancies or other local variations. If the consumer pumps fuel from a filling station for less than the lower end of the MyGallons range on that day, he or she will receive a credit, in gallons, to his or her account.

More than 80 percent of the prepurchase money consumers spend through MyGallons is placed in an escrow account and invested in money markets and US government-backed notes; the remainder is used for financial transactions to accommodate gasoline price changes, MyGallons says. There are no time limits on using the prepurchased gas, so consumers can save it for as long as they want, provided they maintain their MyGallons membership.

After a pilot program beginning in April, MyGallons.com just recently underwent a public launch. Due to an unexpected, last-minute pull-out by US Bank, it is in the process of negotiating with other payment networks to allow the MyGallons Card to be accepted at most stations in the US that already accept credit cards. Nevertheless, the service promises to be a taste of what's to come.

Website: www.mygallons.com
Contact: www.mygallons.com/contact_us.html

Spotted by: Ozgur Alaz

There are plenty of schools out there with green practices among their goals, but a new school opening this fall in Bali will be entrepreneurially green from top to bottom.

The Green School, which will offer preschool through year eight, aims to provide a place where students can become more curious and more passionate about their education and the planet. The school's eight-hectare campus in Sibang Kaja is divided by the Ayung River, on whose western bank are the school's classrooms, libraries, laboratories and kitchens. Aquaculture ponds, organic vegetable gardens, edible mazes and permacultural gardens are interspersed throughout the vast campus, which is built entirely of low-impact and environmentally conscious materials such as bamboo, alang-alang grass and traditional Balinese mud walls. For energy supplies, the school is experimenting with micro-hydro power generation as well as producing methane from cow manure to fuel stoves and developing a gasification unit that will use rice husks and other organic materials to produce electricity. A working organic chocolate factory, large sports fields, gymnasium, high ropes course and a network of bicycle paths are also part of the campus.

The Green School's curriculum, meanwhile, combines demanding academic content taught through a holistic approach that aims to inspire and enhance all of a child’s capacities. The school's Learning Village, for example, gives students a chance to apply lessons to specific disciplines and real business situations, making abstract ideas come to practical life. Students are involved in everything from manufacturing their own chocolate to helping manage the organic fields, bamboo plantations and rice paddies that are integral to the campus. The Green School is open to children from all over the world, with boarding available starting next year for those in seventh grade and up. Villas are available for international families whose children attend the school. Tuition ranges from roughly USD 4,000 to USD 9,000 per year, depending on grade.

It doesn't get much more eco-iconic than a thoroughly green school, and eco-minded consumers with the means to afford it will surely find the Green School compelling. Of course, the concept seems like one that could also work in other parts of the world. One to watch!

Website: www.greenschool.org
Contact: info@greenschool.org

Spotted by: Caramel

We've already written about several ride-sharing sites that help match up people in need of a ride with drivers heading in the same direction. Now French site Colis-Voiturage is bringing a similar service to the local transport of packages.

Individuals who need to send packages across drivable distances typically must make the trip themselves or pay expensive shipping charges. In the hopes of creating a more economical and eco-friendly solution, Colis-Voiturage aims to bring together those with a package to send and drivers who are already planning a trip to a similar destination. Members of the site register with their name, address, birthdate and contact information, and indicate whether they have a package to send or whether they're planning to drive to a particular destination—or both. Those with packages to send provide details of their shipment and search for those planning trips in the same direction; if there isn't one at the moment, they'll be sent an e-mail when one is added. Once a match is found, the parties arrange the details and financial contribution independently. Using the site is free for package senders. Drivers get a year free if they sign up before Oct. 2; thereafter, subscriptions cost EUR 5 per year. Among the benefits Colis-Voiturage cites are saved gas, reduced costs and a minimized carbon footprint. The company currently operates only within France.

In many ways, Colis-Voiturage's service is similar to that offered by uShip—which we covered last year and which works mainly with professional shippers—but on a smaller and more personal scale. Given the greater need for personal trust at this level, logical enhancements to the site would be to beef up user profiles and add social networking features like member reviews and reputation statistics. With concern over gas prices and global warming increasing every day, however, there's no doubt the idea is good. One to roll out in the rest of the world?

Website: www.colis-voiturage.fr
Contact: contact@colis-voiturage.com

Spotted by: Déborah Bianchetto

Thousands of bicycles are scrapped each year in Denmark because their owners can't be bothered to have them fixed, or would rather buy a new bike instead. A new initiative from Copenhagen-based Baisikeli aims to reclaim those discarded bikes to help the disadvantaged both in Africa and at home.

Similar to Bikes for Africa, which we wrote about several years ago, Baisikeli (named for the Swahili word for "bicycle") collects second-hand bikes from all around Denmark and sends them to Africa, where they create work, education and transportation. The group has set up projects in Ghana, Sierra Leone and Tanzania, and it ships bicycles to workshops it has established there to train local people in bicycle repair. Financing for the project comes from bike rentals back in Copenhagen, and unemployed people who have been out of a job for three years or more do the handling of the bikes on the Danish end.

In Africa, local mechanics then work with apprentices to repair the bicycles and sell them to local distributors. Many are sold to the local population—offering a better-quality yet lower-priced alternative to the bicycles commonly available there—while others are converted into specially adapted bicycles that can serve as local ambulances and cargo bikes. Baisikeli also donates some bikes to rural Ghanaian children who depend on them to get to school. Profits from the fixed-up bikes that get sold are invested in local projects, while a portion is put back into developing the workshops. Ultimately, the group hopes to offer local mechanics micro-loans so they can start their own businesses, as well as to develop a Fair Trade Baisikeli bike that will be built in Africa and returned to Denmark for rental to tourists there starting next year, according to Copenhagenize. A video on YouTube illustrates the project's goals.

So many projects intended to help Africa's poor are essentially just donations and produce only short-term effects. By developing a sustainable bicycle industry there, however, Baisikeli hopes to give Africans a better future. One to sponsor or partner with! (Related: Microfinance meets mentoring.)

Website: www.cph-bike-rental.dk — www.baisikeli.dk
Contact: niels@baisikeli.dk

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