We all know that protecting the environment has shifted from a nice-to-do to a must-do. One of the most promising, but still mostly unexplored, frontiers is green energy. As the world finds new ways to harvest nature to create power, it's inevitable that designers and engineers will find increasingly innovative ways to mix this technology into our lives.

Created by Australian design firm Büro North in partnership with the Victorian Eco-Innovation Lab, the VEIL Solar Shades do more than just transfer sunlight into energy. They also, thankfully, look really damn cool. Unlike old skool solar panels, the shades have an organic, natural sloping design. The pattern across the top looks like the veins of a leaf, harkening to the photosynthesis that solar collection is modeled after. Partially funded by the Aussie government, the VEILs are designed for schoolyards where they have the practical benefit of shading tykes from the hot sun.

The shades are also meant to actively engage both kids and adults in their operation: markings on the base show which positions are best to get maximum energy collection at different times of the day, and they are lightweight enough for a child to adjust. Underneath the awning, an LED feedback system shows whether the shades are getting enough sunlight. A pattern of indicator lights glows green if the shade is getting enough power, but turns red if the shades need to be re-positioned. Brilliant.

When we used to sneak out of our parents house in high school, it was just to party and drink beer. When Richard Reynolds started sneaking out at night, it was to plant flowers in front of his flat. We're sure it made his neighbors happy, but he had no idea that it would turn him into some kind of gardening superhero, fighting the forces of neglect, land shortage, and public apathy for garden aesthetics. He began recruiting his friends and started a blog called Guerrilla Gardening.

Years later the movement has inspired communities to don dark clothes and plant colorful flowers at night, throwing seed bombs out of car windows. He has recruited "troops" that have started chapters in New York, Berlin and other major cities. And their nighttime activities earned them praise from everyone from Esquire to Al Gore for fighting neighborhood filth with forks and flowers. Read all about Reynold’s green days and wild nights in his new book, On Guerrilla Gardening.

Your gal pals are always gushing on about how p.c. they are with their organic beauty products and all, but as a dude who likes to be clean and conscious of what you slather onto your body, why should you be accused of metrosexuality for wanting an alternative to your soap-and-shave regime? Organic Grooming is a men’s line of vegan personal care products, from cologne to deodorant, packaged in biodegradable and recyclable containers and contain ingredients you’d put in your lunch salad (like organic carrot and cucumber). According to the product’s backstory, these remedies were mixed in a log cabin in the middle of nowhere by a couple named Luke and Lisa (no last names listed), who received the first-ever organic personal care facility certificate in the States last year. We guess if you’re going to make a shaving cream from organic aloe, lavender and peppermint, you need a bit of privacy.

Not so long ago, the name Saab was not synonymous with sexy. Then, all of a sudden this “other” Swedish car company started telling the public it was “Born From Jets” and upping the sex appeal. Now we’ve spotted this British website for the Saab 9-3 BioPower Convertible, and we’re practically ready to find the nearest Tri-State dealership. The intro’s majestic soundtrack and car shushing down the slopes like a canary-yellow James Bond has piqued our interest. Apparently this “year round” convertible is one of the first flex-fuel vehicles from Saab. As you all now know, this means that the car can either run of off your run-of-the-mill peak oil gasoline, or E85, the ethanol-mixed gas (for debatable science, look here). But, as as we sit here in our organic, pesticide-free cotton, fair-trade, living wage boxer shorts, we can help but imaging dropping this soft top in less than 20 seconds and taking some hairpin turns on an Alpine road. So, good job Saab marketing team.

I went to visit my best friend last night. She still lives in the apartment we lived in together for eighteen months, and despite the fact that it’s a lot cleaner now than it was when I was there — three girls in 700 square feet is plain frightening, if a little sorority-esque — her kitchen is out of commission due to an overzealous exterminator. Ironically, when I got home, a book that the guys from Method wrote, Squeaky Green: The Method Guide to Detoxing Your Home was waiting for me on the kitchen table, in all its green, non-toxic glory. In parts it seems a little advert-y, but all in all it’s packed to the spine with great tips on how you can keep your life clean without using brutal chemicals that are a hazard to not only yourself, but your pets and the environment. Good one, guys.

Today is officially Earth Day, and while many companies will aim to show off how they’ve gone green for one shining moment in April, others are keen to the fact that earth day is not just on April 22nd, but every day and as such aim to make it a part of their every day existence. You can count Fashion boutique Fred Segal amongst the latter category. The Santa Monica-based winner of the LA Fashion Retailer of the year award is going green in a big way; their new home and lifestyle store, Fred Segal Green, conveniently located just down the road from their flagship store, features one of a kind products that are not only built for sustainability but also embrace the eco-friendly lifestyle. The store offers products ranging from bowls to benches, and plenty of other creations from accomplished designers from around the world, many of which are not available anywhere else. So if you fancy yourself eco-friendly and you’re a fan of well designed home wares, Fred Segal Green is the place to be this Earth Day and each day thereafter.

From our history of posts, you know we love a great cause. But we’ll especially love it if it’s promoting the type of thing we do here at JoshSpear, like writing. In an unexpected pairing, Anthropologie is throwing something called the Eco-Dermy Benefit for McSweeney’s 826LA, the literary empire’s two Los Angeles non-profit writing bases for kids. Six visual artists from the womenswear retailer created 20 very neat papier mâché taxidermy animal heads, from zebras to rhinos, in different sizes for a special auction happening May 1 at The Grove location of Anthropologie, with money from the sales going to the writing center. The choice and manner of the goods being put on the auction block also do double-duty as a message to protect wildlife. One good cause is already a brilliant idea, but two in one? That’s a freebie. RSVP for your seat at the auction by April 26 at (215) 454-4433.

While not a single day goes by where liberal guilt doesn’t haunts us for chucking three Starbucks grande cups in the trash a day, at least we can feel good about our home furnishings. Feel More Human wants to be your destination to find “green” furniture, lighting, and other home decor. Alongside articles about Earth-friendly architecture and bicycles for African villages is an online shop of mostly unheard of European brands (who are to the environment what China is to emphysema) that utilize sustainable production methods. And, it’s not just wall coverings made of post-consumer recycled toilet paper and lamps that are created from corn husks…this is solid sexy furniture.

Word to those out there who left their hearts in woodshop class and happily gobble up every new issue of Make magazine: ReadyMade is now totally and uninhibitedly free through a digital version. To mark the occasion of their new issue hitting newsstands under an environmentally friendly theme, the DIY enthusiast’s publication went the way of convenience, making all the links and table of contents clickable so you can jump past mere perusal and quickly get started on recommended projects, like doing something (friggin’ anything, your roommates have been moaning) with all those darn wine corks lying collecting in the vase on top of the fridge for years now. In 2008, there’s no such thing as a cheapskate — it’s called being resourceful. Thank you, ReadyMade.

Most wood shelving units aren’t very flexible when it comes to storing your stuff; they’re boxy and the shelves usually only fit things within one height range. Sometimes you have to cram things in sideways just so you can store the Joy of Cooking next to your copy of Catcher In The Rye. It all looks very messy and is not good for your Feng Shui. However, there is hope, thanks to IOLA Design. The Family owned and operated design and manufacturing company has come up with quite the innovative shelving unit with their beautiful bookshelf made from bamboo and maple, the Kumiko. The impressive free-standing furnishing allows for books, pottery, glassworks, knick-knacks and A-Team action figures of varying sizes to co-exist in one place, thanks to a thoughtfully flexible design that gives you more space than your wonderful ex-girlfriend (maybe too much space) by keeping the actual shelves from extending the entire width of the frame. If all that space doesn’t make you feel good, there’s always the fact that the fine people at IOLA will donate a minimum of 1% of all after costs profit to Us Doctors for Africa.

Via Design Milk

Trivets are important. Not as important as, say, a workable plan for Palestinian statehood, but can lasting peace in the Middle East prevent our nice wooden table from scorch marks? Swedish home accessory masters Hetta offer two bendable cork pot rests (in a ladder or chain style) that can hold several hot vessels at once. And, because they’re made of cork, they’re biodegradable, should you ever decide to throw them out. What does all of this mean? Szechuan hot pot party at your place!

Via Treehugger

Just because your new Mac Airbook is small enough to fit in a manilla envelope doesn’t mean you should be toting it around protected only by a flimsy layer of paper. There are more practical ways to transport your new precious piece of equipment. We recommend the new Steve Sleeve from Timbuk2. This sleek Mac Messenger, while appearing paper-thin, actually sports a durable softshell exterior made from a material similar to that of the jacket you go mountain climbing in (assuming you go mountain climbing). It also sports an eco-friendly soft brush fleece lining made from recycled soda bottles to pad your new baby from bruises on the inside. Did we mention the seam welds utilize a non-toxic glue? Well, now we did. Indeed, The Steve Sleeve allows you to be nice to your laptop and your environment at the same time.

Of the top three places architects look for inspiration, we’d say nature would be number one (two and three are always “art” and “the dumpster behind Frank Gehry’s house”). For Orquideorama in Medellin, Colombia (yes, the same place where Pablo Escobar had his cocaine empire), flora is more than just a design concept: it’s the freakin’ design. What looks like wicker platforms are actually pedal shaped, steel-reinforced modular structures. Architects Felipe Mesa and Alexander Bernal wanted their garden to be a garden in every conceivable way, so as the plants propagate, so do the platforms. At the vertex of these cones are self-sustaining gardens that drink up the rain water that gets funneled down. t’s a beautiful, functional space, and makes us realize that our father has a lot of improvements to make on our old treehouse.

Reuse, Reduce, Recycle. We employ those practices with everything from paper to aluminum cans, so why not furniture? The folks at Metrosofa do just that. Now, they don't necessarily find that ratty couch that you put on the street that's infested with larvae and brush it off. Metrosofa's process begins by taking antique or recyclable wooden furniture frames that would probably be left to serve as a seat for scraps at the local dump and fashion it into a new adornment for your home, using only the most eco-friendly cushions, fabrics, paints and means of manufacturing. Boasting a team of skilled upholsterers, Metrosofa has the ability to custom design and create a wide variety of furniture, from a loveseat to a French setee. On second thought, perhaps you should bring your ratty sofa off the curb and give them a call.

Several days ago at the TED conference we told you about Kluster's mission to create a product in seventy-two hours with the assistance of one thousand of the brightest people in the world. Well, the results are in, the votes have been tallied and we have your product. The result of the massive meeting of the minds is over there. No, don't look behind you, that's the name of the product. Over There is an ingenious (it better be if it had that many minds working on it) board game that both tests and fosters global awareness. It’s also the first of what we hope to be many productions developed start to finish through the Kluster team — and we couldn’t be more excited to watch what happens.