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A man after my own braaaiiins, Matt Cipov. You can find his zombie prints (and more), printed on paper with recycled or partly recycled content, at his store.

Art by Matt Cipov

Art by Matt Cipov

Art by Matt Cipov

Art by Matt Cipov

Photo by Wired

A Very Special Interspecial Reunion
A lion that was raised by humans, but was released into the wilds of Africa, reunites with his former handlers a year later. What else can Treehugger say but “OMGKITTIES!!!11!!!”

Wired’s Artifacts from the Future: Fusion Food
Possibly coming to a produce store near you: Monsanto’s Cinna-Del, the only GM apple that expresses both cinnamon and sugar, only $26.99 per kilo!

Penguins March into New Patagonian Marine Park
Squawk if you’ve heard this one: The government of Argentina is creating a new marine park along the isolated Patagonia coast to officially safeguard more than half a million penguins and other rare seabirds, according to the Bronx Zoo-based Wildlife Conservation Society.

Peace, Love, Earth: Yeah, Baby
Designer Anna Mkhitarian reinvents that tired hippie standard—the ol’ peace sign—into physical, wearable mantras that, though unsubtle, remind us what our groovy voyage on Spaceship Earth is all about.

Global Warming Wants to Eat Your Flesh
We’d have used a picture of flesh-eating bacteria diligently at work, but all our options made us want to disgorge the contents of our stomachs, so here’s a nonthreatening—dare we say even cuddly?—microscopic look at the insidious beasties themselves.

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Photo by Secret Leaves

Ann Hirschfeld and Sharon Derry are the co-conspirators of Secret Leaves, a charming St. Louis, Missouri-based company that breathes new life into discarded books and vintage papers by transforming them into scrap journals, photo albums, and note cards. I spoke with Ann about her love of old paper, and the growing role the environment plays in running their business, right down to the smallest detail.

1. How did Secret Leaves come about?

Sharon [Derry] had a card/paper arts company called Papeterie, and I worked part-time for her here and there helping to assemble the journals. A little over a year ago, we were talking on the phone and she spoke of her desire to start a web-based paper arts business. She wanted to pursue it full-time but was not interested in doing it alone. She wanted a partner. I immediately said, “Pick me!” We met a few times to discuss her goals for the business and she did—pick me. This was April of ‘06 and we’ve been working together ever since. It seems like we’ve come a long way already.

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Photo by Steve Bailey, under a Creative Commons license

I love this quote from Susan Rubin, co-producer of the film Two Angry Moms and founder of the advocacy group Better School Food, from an article excerpted by CalorieLab:

You get angry when your boundary has been violated, and the food industry has violated our boundaries with what they are offering out kids. I’m just trying to protect my cubs.

I think every penny is worth it. To me, food is health care. You can pay the farmer or the doctor.

(Emphasis is mine.)

I can really attest to that—since I started cutting back on processed junk for mostly local, organic food two years ago, I haven’t been sick once. (Well, other than my regular migraines, for which no earthly balm can abate.) My friend Felicia trumps me with THREE.

Oh ginger nubbin, I’m going to plunge you into some dirt so fast, you won’t know what hit you.

Can you tell I’m avoiding real work? My mother used to have the same problem with me as a kid. She’d shake her head and ask, “What’s wrong with you?” And I say, “I wish I knew Ma, I wish I knew.” Except I never called her Ma. And I probably just grunted in response before shuffling off to my room to read comic books.

Photo by Gilles Mingasson/Getty Images

Yes, NASA made an honest mistake, but that doesn’t change the overall global trend. (Read top climate scientist James Hansen’s response.) Why is there still debate over this? It’s not a matter of religion, politics, or personal ideology—in this case there actually IS a right or wrong answer, and the fact is the earth is heating up because of unrepentant, unrelenting human folly. In the end, it’s not about the environment, it’s about the survival of the human species.

The environment will repair itself—flourish, even—after we’re gone, because, as David Suzuki (I love this man) says in The 11th Hour, the planet “has all the time in the world.” But we don’t. We who needlessly, recklessly consume and endure the drudgery of work just to be able to overconsume again, at the expense of another’s suffering; we who have lost touch with the things that are truly important and of worth—we, our children, and their children will just be a blackened footnote in Earth’s history.

Earlier, I overhead two men fussing over the volumes of their iPhones. Thousands of years of civilization and it all boils down to whose ringtone is LOUDER.

In theaters Aug. 17—that’s tomorrow!

Photo by Free People

Free People, the neo-bohemian sister company of Anthropologie, has such a delightfully spirited, eclectic eye. (Who would think to sew pom-poms around the border of a clutch? But it works!) How stupendous, for instance, is this vanity stool? Homespun yarns are whipped around its legs, while its seat is cushioned and covered with fabric cut from a vintage quilt.

This would make a lovely weekend project for a thrifted find if you have deep reserves of patience to draw upon. And if you don’t have a felonious cat who shreds your furniture and sneaks off balls of yarn when your back is turned. Otherwise, it’s $128, which isn’t altogether absurd considering how much work was involved.

Photo by Free People

This post is part of One Local Summer: Week 7

I’m madly trying to keep up with my CSA’s vegetable bounty. This scrumptious carrot, ginger, and beet soup, adapted from a recipe in Vegetarian Planet by Didi Emmons, can be savored hot or chilled—and is perfect for helping pare down beet and carrot inventories in fridges everywhere.

Local: Organic beets, organic onions, organic carrots, organic garlic, organic parsley
Non-local: salt, vegetable bouillon cube, canola oil
Unknown: Organic ginger

Carrot, Ginger, and Beet Soup
Serves 4

• 4 medium-size beets, cut into chunks
• 1 tbs canola oil
• 1 medium-size onion, chopped
• 1 pound carrots, coarsely chopped
• 1 tbs minced fresh ginger
• 3 garlic cloves, minced
• 6 cups water or basic vegetable stock

1. Heat oil, saute onions.
2. Add carrots, ginger, and garlic—cook for 5 mins.
3. Add beets, then water or stock.
4. Simmer covered for 50 mins.
5. Puree soup in batches in food processor or blender.
6. Salt and pepper to taste.

Illustration by Christian Northeast/The New York Times

I’m not a Potter-head, though my husband is¹, and one of our bookshelves holds a Polaroid of us wearing the iconic black-rimmed spectacles at a Barnes & Noble release party for Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. (Chekhov promptly sat on mine the next day, snapping them in two, possibly to indicate his lack of enthusiasm for J. K. Rowling’s oeuvre.) I do adore these illustrations by Christian Northeast, however, from an article about Harry-mania by an equally unimpressed Christopher Hitchens in The New York Times.

¹And he very thoughtfully keeps me abreast of everything that happens in and outside of Hogwarts, even when I pretend to have been momentarily struck deaf.

Illustration by Christian Northeast/The New York Times

Frugal Luxuries: Simple Pleasures to Enhance Your Life and Comfort Your Soul by Tracey McBride

Someone asked me if Frugal Luxuries, which I quoted from earlier, trod the same ground as Your Money or Your Life—it almost seemed that way in the beginning, but as Tracey McBride began to neatly (and maternally) check off the different aspects of frugal living—from finances to food to your wardrobe—while drawing from her family’s experiences, it became clear that hers was more reminiscent of the housekeeping manuals of the past, updated for our post-Susan B. Anthony era, of course.

Just some of the tips I’m eagerly lapping up from my tattered library copy, in McBride’s own words; her book contains multitudes:

1. To make nonstick cooking spray, combine equal parts vegetable oil and liquid lecithin (available at most health food stores and some drugstores) in a clean pump bottle. Use it as you would the more expensive sprays (at a fraction of the cost.)

2. Save water that vegetables have been cooked in, and use it as a basis for soups and gravies. It is best kept in a large (2 quart) recycled wine bottle, with a cork stopper. Or your can keep a large container in your freezer, and add vegetable broth to it.

3. Transform an ordinary dinner salad into a meal by adding rolls of prosciutto stuffed with sauteed red chard (saute in garlic and olive oil), or herbs and cream cheese; add chopped cucumber and sweet red onions.

4. You may easily sour fresh cream or milk by adding 2 teaspoons of vinegar or lemon juice. … To make a rich sour cream you may mix 1 tablespoon of vinegar into 1 cup of undiluted evaporated milk and let it stand for 5 minutes.

5. Cooked vegetables may be heartily improved by adding a bit of acid. Spinach is a prime example. Ordinary cooked potatoes become sublime by the simplest addition of lemon juice and parsley.

6. Remember the words of Thomas Jefferson: “Never buy what you do not want because it is cheap. It will be dear to you.” In other words, do not acquire a garment simply because the price is so low “you cannot resist” it. Avoid buying an item because it “will do.” Chances are you will not enjoy wearing it, and it will clutter your closet and unnecessarily drain your budget.

7. Make your own lingerie bags by running a ribbon through the casing of pillow cases to create a drawstring. Or attach Velcro on either side with Tacky Glue.

8. Make your own dryer sheets by pouring a tablespoon of liquid fabric softener onto a damp rag (or use a clean sock with a missing mate).

9. Candlelight at the dinner table, in the bath, or simply set strategically about your home (always away from the reach of little hands), used on a regular basis, can add a comfortable, romantic quality to daily life.

10. Always look for beauty in the ordinary. Use time-honored strategies and materials in new ways that suit your personal needs and tastes. When you treat the ordinary objects in your life with artfulness, they will become extraordinary.