If you’ve ever wanted to add the fancy term “Hotelier” to your business card but lack the capital to actually open a hotel, here’s your chance. Our Planet Retreats, an eco-friendly company aimed at providing truly unique accommodations, is relying on donations from people just like you to get their project off the ground. For a scant $30 donation you can become a shareholder, creating a rare travel experiences for eco-tourists while boosting the local economy. Each retreat consists of 12 rooms that are more or less spheres in trees that house four people apiece, giving travelers an incomparable connection to their surroundings. Each retreat location comes with activities tailored to their environment: whale shark diving, bird watching, turtle conservation projects, or surfing, among others. The current goal is to set up four locations in Vanuatu, the Philippines, and Papua New Guinea within the year. Maybe it’s time you got in on the ground floor.

Paper or plastic? Whatever you choose, the bags are inevitably getting tossed in the garbage. The fashionably eco-conscious minds at Ameico think it’s time you and everyone else got a brand new bag — or two. Their line of TwoBag vinyl shopping bags (available at Velocity Art and Design) give shoppers an alternative to wasting valuable resources. The unique design includes an outer bag that shuts completely with the help of a pair of hooks, and an inner bag that secures with a double hand grip. Plus it’s vinyl, so you don’t have to worry about the bottom falling out and dumping your month supply of Hungry Man dinners all over the floor. Not that that’s happened to us.

Tappening’s “Message In A Bottle” campaign against bottled water was a roaring success. The tap drinking crusaders collected one million water bottles to send to Coca Cola CEO Muhtar Kent to protest the pollution caused by bottled water consumption. But at the last minute Tappening had a change of heart. Rather than expend the environmental resources to send a truck to Atlanta and dump the bottles on Coke’s doorstep (giving the soda giant a positive publicity boost when they simply recycled them) they made Tappening Bags. The duffles are made from 100% recycled plastic water bottles and yogurt containers, and remind you the next time you reach for a Poland Spring or Dasani to “Think Global, Drink Local.”

If the terms “progressive” and “eco-friendly” were in third grade, they’d walk around holding hands and spend their entire recess period together talking about alternative fuel sources. Even though they’re not school aged-children they still go hand-in-hand, as they relate perfectly to Organic Stereo, the new apparel brand from Brighton-based designer Marie Rendina. After spending the last 12 years honing her craft across the English Channel, freelancing for the likes of Mambo, Fat Face, and Criminal, Rendina struck out on her own to create clothing that reflected the quirky yet relaxed lifestyle of her adoptive British backdrop that was also environmentally conscious. Her collection utilizes components such as chemical free dyes, organic cotton and buttons made of recycled paper, to assemble attire that maintains an amicable relationship with mother nature. Organic Stereo also deserves extra ethics points for belonging to 1% for The Planet, an organization that donates a percent of their gross revenue before tax to charitable causes around the world.

We write about T-shirts a lot on this blog. And, why not? They’re in our closet, they fit — our jeans would be lost without them. However, we’re much more keen to write about tees that help African children get much-needed school uniforms. Common Threadz uses the same spiel other hip T-shirt moguls do about about up and coming artists creating eco-friendly shirts for celebrities that like their shirts arty and eco-friendly. But, the cash you’re dropping on these shirts directly funds children who can’t afford this expensive necessity. And these kids aren’t going to expensive prep schools — the fact is without a school uniform, they’re not allow to get an education. If you’re thinking about heading over to Threadless this morning (of which we’re big fans), detour and spend the same amount to do a bit of good.

Now that summer’s in full swing, it’s pretty much a given that there’s going to be a lot of grilling going on. If you don’t have a gas grill, odds are you might have to employ the traditional combination of hot coals and lighter fluid to get the party started. Unfortunately, that often leads to a fluid-infused food flavoring. If you’d like to avoid that taste mingling with your marinade, break from the Kingsford tradition and grab a Baja BBQ Firepack from Mike and Maaike, available at gourmet grocery stores. Their chemical-free charcoal packaging makes starting your fire simple. Thanks to its 100% biodegradable paper pulp makeup, all you have to do is light the box and voila. The two pounds of natural lump coal contained within take a mere 15 to 20 minutes to be in perfect cooking condition with the aid of the package’s integrated chimney design. All you have to worry about now is overcooking.

One look at the Aptera, and you’d swear that it could fly. Coming off as a cross between a single engine Cessna and something George Jetson could be seen flying around in, this spectacular new breed of plug-in electronic hybrid vehicle sets our design obsessed, eco-friendly hearts aflutter. While this sweet ride may not be able to take to the friendly skies, it will save you a boatload of valuable gas money, getting over 230 miles per gallon. Not only does this awesome automobile set entirely new standards for environmental safety, but it does the same for passenger safety, employing a safety cage similar to that of a formula one racecar. It also contains an “eyes forward” vision system that gives the driver 180 degrees of rear sight. It may not be exactly ready to hit the road just yet, but for those living in California, you can reserve yours today. So if you inhabit the Golden State, want to be ahead of the environmental curve, and at the same time convince your neighbor that he or she overslept by about a hundred years, perhaps you should invest in an Aptera.

Time for some hard numbers. More than two million people die every year from water-related diseases and there are a billion people in the world who live without clean water. That's "billion"... with a "b." Think about that the next time you take a 45-minute shower. Singer Jewel and Virgin Unite want to change all that. Teaming up to support Project Clean Water, an organization Jewel founded in 1997 to provide safe water on a global scale, the not for profit foundation of the Virgin Group and the acclaimed singer-songwriter are looking for you to show you care with their latest campaign, Give A Drop.

The idea is beautifully simple; show you "give a drop" by donating at least $2. For most of us, that's less that what we'd spend on the average bottle of water. Add your name, location, and personal message to your donation and your drop appears on the homepage. Messages range from humane ("Clean water is a basic human right") to the truthful ("Because good intentions alone aren't very hydrating") to the hip ("I dropped it like it's hot").

All those drops can add up to make a big difference, with all donations going towards Project Clean Water's work creating sustainable solutions for villages around the world to access fresh, healthy water.

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.