It’s Friday…Let’s Shop!

I was thinking of what to write about for Friday’s Eco-Shopping entry, when I remembered this frame I got working as a buyer at Whole Foods. The frame is made out of an old car radiator. The company’s name is J Line Design out of San Diego, CA. I searched all over the World Wide Web and found nothing. :( They are the inspiration for today’s blog entry. I looked for three products made out of some sort of recycled auto parts. As a side-note if anyone knows what happened to J Line Designs please let me know.

The first thing I found was a chess set made from recycled auto parts. The artist who created this chess set is Armando Ramírez. Ramirez collects the leftover metal pieces off a die machine and shapes them into the pawns, horses, and parts of the kings, which also feature cogs from a car’s electrical system. The queens are made from screws, cogs and bearings from a car’s electrical system. The bishops are shaped from sparkplugs and the towers from cogwheels. The board is made from a metal sheet and features ornate iron wires and bendix caps taken from a car’s electrical system.

It looks pretty cool and is on sale for $98.95…That’s a steal in N.Y.C. and it is a green choice. I don’t need a chess board as I spent my childhood playing chess, striving to beat my father, the smartest person I know…and the day I did I never played again…I’m like that.

She’s a Martian made from a muffler!!! Excited? If so check out Muffler Art by Quick Stop Muffler Shop and Auto Service in Decatur, Alabama. There are all sorts of creatures and Aliens. I would call first to make sure they are still in business before placing an order or stop by 1303 6th Avenue S.E., Decatur, Alabama 35601 and tell them Cara sent you. ;) Maybe I’ll call tomorrow and ask if they are still open. UPDATE: I called today and they are still open. I also found an email…I should be a detective! :)

Last but not least, Simple a nice little shoe company out of Santa Barbara. A company that uses recycled tires on the out soles of their super fresh looking ecoSNEAKS… For now there is free shipping which is always a sweet deal. :)

Shop right.

-Cara

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Reason 28 from, 101 Reasons Why I Am Vegetarian:

By some assessments, the H5N1 strain of bird flu, which originated in Asia and is now spreading across Europe and Africa, has the potential to disrupt life on planet Earth second only to global nuclear war. Others predict that if the strain mutates, perhaps just slightly, a bird-flu pandemic could kill more than 140 million people and put a halt to [U.S.]$4.4 trillion in world economic activity. Influenza pandemics generally come three times per century, and we’re overdue for our next. Any strain of influenza that humans contract, including H5N1, would scarcely exist if people had never domesticated poultry.