Part of the LiveOAK Network

About Us:

We are a new media company publishing websites that focus on energy, the environment and sustainable living. By leading the conversation about green issues, LiveOAK aims to advance the principals of sustainability by making them meaningful and accessible to a mainstream audience.

Archive | Concept+Design

Postcarden: From Greeting Card to Edible Garden

Postcarden: From Greeting Card to Edible Garden

Oh, greeting cards! You make us feel so torn. Yes, conventional greeting cards have a super-short lifespan, but there’s something about getting a card in the mail for special occasions.

Read the full story

Repurposed Pallet Adirondack Chair

Repurposed Pallet Adirondack Chair

What do you get when you try to solve a neighborhood problem from an industrial design perspective? Designer Shelton Davis did just that and came up with an amazing repurposed chair built from pallet wood that otherwise would have headed for the landfill.

Read the full story

Compostable Plastic that You Can… Compost!

Compostable Plastic that You Can… Compost!

Researchers at the Imperial College of London are about to change the bioplastics game, developing a truly compostable cup.

Read the full story

Fighting Energy Vampires with ‘Leeches’

Fighting Energy Vampires with ‘Leeches’

There are all manner of fancy gadgets out there to help folks reduce their vampire power consumption, but the simplest solution for plug-in chargers is to just unplug them from the wall -- but even that can be a bit of a pain.

Read the full story

Device Draws Energy from Inside Lights to Charge USB Gadgets

Device Draws Energy from Inside Lights to Charge USB Gadgets

What if you could charge your gadgets with the ambient electrical energy in your apartment or office? Enter the IllumiCharger, a light-powered USB wall outlet.

Read the full story

Hot or Not? Machine Turns Office Paper into Toilet Paper

Hot or Not? Machine Turns Office Paper into Toilet Paper

A new machine from Japanese company Oriental might make choosing recycled easier than ever, or it could be an expensive unitasker. You decide!

Read the full story

The growBot Project: Imagining the Future of Organic Farming

The growBot Project: Imagining the Future of Organic Farming

What do you get when you combine robotics and small-scale organic farming? Atlanta foodie Lady Rogue is examining that very question with her growBot project. Lady Rogue is a busy woman! She’s a cook, social provocateur, community organizer, asker of questions and maker of plans. She runs the underground food community rogueApron, its corresponding [...]

Read the full story

Making Teddy Bears (and Disposing of them) Just Got Greener

Making Teddy Bears (and Disposing of them) Just Got Greener

If you’ve got young children, they may have received a number of stuffed animals over the holidays. And you may or may not have given any thought to the lifecycle of these toys yet, but, by and large, they tend to end up in a basement or closet… if not in a landfill. A team [...]

Read the full story

What a 44 Year-Old Toaster Can Teach Us About Sustainable Design

What a 44 Year-Old Toaster Can Teach Us About Sustainable Design

How $2 bought me one of the best appliances I own I like my toast. I’m one of those people that believes bread simply tastes and performs a better when thoroughly warmed and a little crispy on the outside. So you can imagine my consternation when my toaster recently stopped working.  It’s not that the toaster [...]

Read the full story

Far Foods Carbon Footprint Labels

Far Foods Carbon Footprint Labels

So you are buying organic and mostly local, that’s pretty good, but if you live in New England like me come winter time local produce is a little harder to come by so end up buying tomatoes from… China!? The fact is there’s no reliable and easy way to know where your produce is [...]

Read the full story