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7 Blogs All Environmentalists Should Know

By Cameron Filed in Sustainability May 16th, 2010 @ 11:17 am

Blogs are a great way to stay on top of current events, get inspired by new ideas and read interesting op-ed articles. They provide information on pretty much any topic you can think of.  Social media outlets, including Twitter and Facebook, can increase readership of blogs and make them more influential.   Here I have compiled a list of some of the most influential, most read, most interesting, and most frequently updated environmental-themed blogs.  And of course, we hope that you come back to the Merida Home blog often to quench your thirst for sustainable design.

7. No Impact Man. Colin Beavan started this blog in 2007 as a way to document a lifestyle experiment to make the least amount of impact on the earth as possible. His blog has spun off into a book, a film, and even a non-profit organization. Referring to himself as a “guilty liberal” his blog is the ultimate “walk the talk” journal.

6. EcoGeek. EcoGeek is a great blog for people interested in high-tech gadgets that still want to go green. Full of facts and statistics, this blog is perfect for science-minded readers.

5. Ecorazzi. One of my personal favorites, Ecorazzi is “The Latest in Green Gossip”. If you love watching shows like Extra, Inside Edition, or E! News, then you will love this blog’s eco-twist on traditional celebrity gossip. This blog makes going green totally fun.

4. Inhabitat. “Green Design Will Save the World” is certainly a mantra that Merida believes in. While the blog is mostly about green architecture and home design, it also touches on current events that relate to sustainability and public health. Recent articles include news that Coke cans still contain BPA and Earth Day greenwashing gimmicks revealed. Stay up to date at inhabitat.

3. WorldChanging. WorldChanging is a broad and newsy  environmental website run by a non-profit organization. Merida loves this blog because it goes beyond environmental sustainability to include social and economic sustainability issues such as refugee aid and quality of life around the world. The blog inspired a best-selling book entitled “WorldChanging: A User’s Guide to the 21st Century. I’m definitely adding that to my reading list.

2. Grist. Serving as a “beacon in the smog,” Grist has been bringing fourth environmentally themed news since 1999. Grist is both easy and fun to read and has become a trusted news source. Grist has also been praised for adding an element of humor to its articles which really helps engage more readers. Grist readers say that the articles are motivating and encouraging.

1. TreeHugger.  It’s no secret that Treehugger.com is the best, most comprehensive source for eco-minded news of all kinds. The treehugger blog has basically become the number one stop for environmental headlines, and through their twitter feed, treehugger brings their juicy current headlines right to you.

Sea Bags – Saving Sails One Tote Bag at a Time

By Whitney Filed in Fun Friday Finds, General, Sustainability Tagged with , May 7th, 2010 @ 1:04 pm

I love just about everything Sea Bags!  From their founding philosophy of repurposing old sails and their dedication to giving back to their local Portland, Maine community, to their fresh and clean website, Sea Bags has it all.

Sea Bags saves old sails from dumpsters and turns them into coveted tote bags that (like sails) are durable, water resistant and authentic.  They appropriately finish their totes with hand-spliced rope handles for a look that is beach-chic and fantastic!  Bags come in three sizes and each is unique in color, texture, and pattern.

Suitable for all ages, these bags make for wonderful gifts (a hint for last-minute Mother’s Day shoppers).  If your mom already has a plethora of beach bags, check out the fun nautical placemats and coasters in the “holiday” section of Sea Bags website.  I’m sure your mom will appreciate the creative re-use of old sails as much as we do.

Want to know more about this cool company?  Check out the “behind the scenes” link on the “the bags” page for a fun peek into the production process (bags are hand-cut and stitched!).  Also find short but fun bios in the “the crew” link under the brand section.   From pet rabbits to belly dancing mamas, the Sea Bags team is almost as much fun as the bags themselves!

Sea Bags Homepage

Green Gifts for Mother’s Day

By Cameron Filed in General, Sustainability Tagged with , , , , , May 7th, 2010 @ 10:59 am

It’s that time of year again! Mother’s Day is this Sunday, May 9th, but before you head off to CVS or the Hallmark store to buy a card, keep in mind that Mother’s Day is an easy time to get something eco-friendly. There are green gifts out there for all interests and budgets, you just need to know where to look.

First, of course, check out the Sale section of MeridaHome.com. Starting at just $49.99, a new stylish and sustainable area rug is perfect for a mom that likes to decorate, or just keep a cozy home. Cute sale designs for spring include the sisal Parquet area rug in Spring Green and the soho wool area rug.

Parquet Sisal Area Rug in Spring Green

If a new rug isn’t in your Mother’s Day budget this year, make sure to enter your mom’s e-mail address into May’s Free Rug Giveaway for a chance to win a 4×6 jute area rug.

Another green gift idea is a piece of jewelry from any one of the twenty major jewelry retailers that are funding the protection of Bristol Bay, Alaska. Zale and Tiffany are among the major jewelers that pledged in April 2010 to no longer use gold from controversial Alaskan mines including Pebble Mine. By purchasing a piece for your mom from these jewelers, you are indirectly helping maintain healthy salmon populations and protecting the natural beauty of Bristol Bay.

Is your mom a working woman? Help her pack her lunches in a green way by giving her a sandwich bag from ReUsies.com. The stylish sandwich bags are under seven dollars and come in an array of cute patterns. I know my mom would love the Garden Floral Snack bag for $6.75. Not only are the bags adorable and stylish, they also eliminate the need for hundreds of plastic sandwich bags per year.

Finally, when I need some new green gift ideas, I check out Green Your Decor’s Green Gift Guide. The guide is separated into categories: women, men, kids, teens, anyone, for the home, pet lovers, stocking stuffers, and gifts that give back, making it easy to browse for the perfect present. My mom would love the Azuri Organic Cotton Scarf on the women’s gift list; it comes in 110 different colors and is just $29.00! Green Your Decor provides a diverse list that is sure to satisfy all your Mother’s Day needs.

Azuri Organic Cotton Scarf

Have a Green Mother’s Day!

Factory Scrap Furniture

By Cameron Filed in Interior Design, Sustainability Tagged with , , , April 30th, 2010 @ 5:18 pm

Recently in the “Architecture and Design” column of Treehugger.com (one of the best environmental blogs on the web), there was an intriguing article about coffee tables that were made almost entirely of wood scraps from door and window frame factories in South America. The tables were designed by Chilean design students for Remade in Chile. Remade is a South American program in seven countries that promotes the reuse and recycling of everyday waste to create new desirable and fashionable products.  Founded by Marco Capellini, Remade in Chile encourages aspiring artists and designers to use waste materials in their work by hosting international design contests. Most recently, the Animal Gallery in Santiago, Chile held its third Remade in Chile Contest in the heart of the city’s capital.  By the deadline on March 17th, 2010 the contest received 250 entries! Other projects included a line of dresses made from old Puma sneakers, waterproof sheaths for electronics made from wool and fiber wastes, and children’s’ chairs made from tights and nylons just to name a few.

These scrap-based coffee tables are beautiful examples of Merida Home’s mantra “sustainability with style”. While the coffee tables are chic and polished, owners can rest easy knowing that they prevented more materials from ending up in landfills or littering Chilean streets. Marco Capellini says projects like these that use waste materials also help keep end costs down which make eco-design affordable, since raw materials would have been more expensive. I look forward to see more innovative products that come out of Remade in Chile.

Earth Day 2010

By Cameron Filed in General, Sustainability Tagged with , , , , April 23rd, 2010 @ 2:02 pm
This year marks Earth Day’s 40th Anniversary. The first Earth Day was on April 22, 1970. The day truly marked the beginning of the modern environmental movement in the United States, and inspired a new awareness for millions across the country. Society was coming to realize how strongly the health of the environment correlates with human health. Eight years later, in 1978, Merida Meridian was founded.
In celebration of Earth Day, I thought it would be nice to take a look back at Merida Meridian’s thirty-two year history of working towards sustainability. Since the company was started, Merida has been working towards three different types of sustainability: economic, social, and environmental. By combining these three avenues, Merida is ensuring that consumers are purchasing a responsibly created product.
Since the beginning, “Sustainability with Style” has been the true goal of Merida. Traditionally, the rug and carpet industry uses petroleum based products and harsh chemicals which means that the flooring industry is dependent on fossil fuels and that the products could potentially be harmful to human health. Furthermore, these traditional types of flooring usually are not biodegradable, so, when people are done with their rugs, they will sit in landfills for generations to come. Merida is constantly working to create change in the industry. Our Jute and Wool rugs are biodegradable and Merida uses natural and renewable materials whenever possible.
Merida has been praised for its efforts, especially over the past few years, when the environmental movement gained new momentum. Merida products have been featured in Real Simple Magazine, Martha Stewart Living, Elle Decor, and even ABC’s Extreme Makeover Home Edition. Over the years, Merida has also become a member to many influential organizations including: The International Interior Design Association, The Sustainable Furnishings Council, The Carpet and Rug Institute, The American Society of Interior Designers, and Wools of New Zealand.
Merida looks forward to many more years of working towards 100% sustainability and creating positive change in both the flooring industry, and consumer purchasing decision process. Happy Earth Day!

Fun Friday Find: Design a Reusable Tote Bag and win $2,000!

By Whitney Filed in Fun Friday Finds, Interior Design, Sustainability April 16th, 2010 @ 1:06 pm

Exciting news for designers and fashionistas alike!  I just learned that Bloomingdale’s is currently running a reusable, green tote bag design contest.  We all love our reusable bags; I use mine to haul my groceries home from Whole Foods, to tote my gym clothes to work, to carry my books and towel to the beach, and – for the particularly cute ones – I sometimes even use them as oversized purses.  So, you can imagine how thrilled I am to hear that I can have a stab at designing my very own bag!

Worried that you don’t have the software to design something on your computer?  Fear not; you can create your design directly on the Bloomingdale’s website with their easy to use tools.  Draw a design from scratch with the pencil tool, use their pre-defined shape tools, or type a meaningful message with their text tool. Sound fun? You can get started here (the page may take a few minutes to load).

But, the best news of all is that the winner (selected by the fabulous Rebecca Minkoff) not only gets to see their design created and sold on Bloomingdales.com, they also receive a $2,000 Bloomingdale’s shopping card!  Runner up will receive $1,000.  You also have the chance to win design of the day ($100 reward) each and every day that the contest runs.  There are only NINE DAYS left, so, what are you waiting for?  Put your thinking cap on and start designing…

Planning to submit a design?!  Tell us about it here!  Here’s a sneak peak of my fun Merida Design… !

My Beautiful Merida Tote Bag!

My Beautiful Merida Tote Bag!

Green Building Education in Boston

By Cameron Filed in Interior Design, Sustainability April 16th, 2010 @ 1:05 pm

Getting serious about going green, but need help? The NEXUS Green Building Resource Center in downtown Boston is the perfect place to start. NEXUS is an affiliate of the U.S. Green Building Council but expands their mission by also offering technical assistance, policy advocacy, and educational services. The Green Roundtable was founded in 1998, and has since evolved into NEXUS, a space where all can come to learn and network for the purpose of making buildings cleaner and greener- whether it be their own home or a huge commercial or industrial building. Green themed educational events and classes are held at NEXUS every week and cover a variety of topics for all types of audiences. From LEED exam prep courses to Boston Green Drinks social networking events, there is sure to be something that fits your interest level.

Even if none of the events appeal to you, the NEXUS exhibit space is a great resource to learn about green building materials and products. After all, owning a Merida natural fiber area rug is only one step in making your home green! In the Samples Library, Nexus has samples of floor tiles, countertops, insulation, window treatments and more. More about NEXUS and its mission can be found at http://www.nexusboston.org/

Fun Friday Find: Reknit reinvents your old sweaters!

By Whitney Filed in Fun Friday Finds, General, Interior Design, Sustainability Tagged with , April 2nd, 2010 @ 12:42 pm

The first time I heard about Reknit I fell in love with the concept behind it.  Reknit features a mother/child duo that is giving a whole new meaning to the age-old concept of reusing clothes…and we’re not talking hand-me-downs!  Launched in the beginning of this year, Reknit turns your ragged old sweaters into coveted new items for a minimal fee ($30.00).

Sounds great, but how does it work?   Each month there is a featured item, from gloves to hats to….thongs!  You can have a say in what you want next month’s item to be by voting between four or five suggested items on the site.  Whatever the month’s item is, you then pick one of your old sweaters and mail it in to the website founder’s Mom.  His/her Mom then unravels it and uses the yarn to knit something new and beautiful!

Reknit: How it works!

Reknit: How it works!

The only catch is that you have to act fast.  As pointed out on the site, the founder only has one Mom, and since all items are hand-knit they cap orders at a mere 30 per month.  Fortunately I got my order for a new laptop case in for this month.  Now I just have to decide what color I want it to be and which corresponding old sweater I can do without.  Just in time to free up some precious closet space for my spring wardrobe…

A New Room for an Inspirational Blogger

By Cameron Filed in Interior Design, Sustainability Tagged with , , , March 29th, 2010 @ 5:37 pm

If you are a green interior design enthusiast, you have probably stumbled upon a blog called Green Your Decor.   Recently I was visiting the GYD site and came across founder and primary blogger Jennae’s very personal piece about her four year old daughter’s heartbreaking battle with leukemia.  In the article, Jennae touches on the difficulties that come along with battling a  serious disease and the tremendous strength that her beautiful daughter Ja’Naya has exerted to overcome it.

Ja’Naya is now in remission, and Jennae and her family are celebrating the good news, however, they are still moving closer to Ja’Naya’s doctors.  Uprooting your home is difficult under any circumstance, and since Ja’Naya will be spending much of her time home recovering, Jennae decided to make the most of a tough situation by surprising her daughter with a beautiful, positive and (of course!) sustainable new bedroom.

Jennae put a lot of time and effort into planning Ja’Naya’s new sanctuary and knew that she wanted a colorful, uplifting wool rug.  After doing some research, she was particularly attracted to Merida’s Letter Lines wool kids area rug in Marker because of the fun vintage chic look, and also because she felt comfortable with the natural wool rug fibers and the socially responsible choices that were made to craft the area rug.  When approached to contribute a Letter Lines kids wool area rug to Ja’Naya’s new room, Merida Home gladly accepted and we are proud to be involved in such an inspiring project.

We can’t wait to read about Ja’Naya’s reaction to her new room (how could she not love it?!) and see photos documenting how the room turns out!  To read about the design and see mock-ups of Ja’Naya’s room design, click here.

Fun Friday Find: Mod Green Pod

By Whitney Filed in Fun Friday Finds, General, Interior Design, Sustainability Tagged with , , , March 26th, 2010 @ 12:02 pm

Hi, I’m Whitney, the online marketing specialist here at Merida Home.  As the online marketing specialist, part of my job entails searching the web to find like-minded businesses that share our passion for design and sustainability.  We hope to connect with and support these companies and we hope they connect with and support us too.  In my searching I’ve come across some really great sites that I want to share with you, so I am starting a “Fun Friday Find” that will feature the most interesting site of the week. Without further ado, this week’s first-ever Fun Friday Find is the Mod Green Pod website.

I have known about Mod Green Pod for a while since I had the pleasure of working alongside Lisa in her Boston studio space a few years ago.  I love the fun whimsical fabric and wallpaper prints, but am really inspired by Mod Green Pod’s emphasis on sustainability and dedication to creating local jobs here in the US.  After seeing Mod Green Pod featured in the Urban Sherp newsletter, I decided to check out their site and see what Lisa and the gals have been up to.  That’s when I found their Room Creator…..

The Room Creator features a traditional living room set-up with basic white chairs, a couch, a lamp and curtains.  The room looks pretty drab – but here comes the fun part!  You can drag Mod Green Pod’s wallpaper prints onto the walls and use their fabric to upholster the furniture.  Watch the room come together and get inspired to take some design risks with your own décor!  Don’t like what you create?  Refresh the page and try again.

Hint, you can even decorate the family cat…

Living Room Before Transformation

Living Room Before Transformation

Living Room After Transformation

Living Room After Transformation

Now all this room needs is a matching Merida Home Pavo Thrive Lagoon wool area rug to tie the flooring into the lovely blue color scheme…..

Think you can design a better room?  Send us a screen shot of your favorite design!

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