His life-long passion for green building launched Building Green TV, a show for homeowners to learn the ins and outs of cost-effective green design.  He’s dispelling the myth that an environmentally-conscious lifestyle means doing without.  With how-to information and a social network for green enthusiasts to share tips and advice, Building Green helps to spread the message of sustainability. 

ThisNext caught up with Kevin Contreras to learn what makes it to the top of his green agenda:  

TN:  What are some ways to reduce your eco footprint while traveling this summer?

KC:  Stay put!  Rather than burning fuel to drive or fly to other locales, explore your own back yard.  Tell everyone you are going on vacation, don’t answer the phones and pretend you are in a new town.  Ride bikes to the nearest park, theater or museum.  Let the kids come up with something fun that involves exercise.

If you must go somewhere, try going by train.  It’s fun and eco-friendly.  Also, Do your best to reduce the amount of trash that’s so easy to produce when eating on the road.  Best is to carry your own containers for food or drink, and then just ask the server to hold the cups, Styrofoam, plastic, paper bags, plastic, and plastic utensils they are so accustomed to doling out.  Carry your own plastic knife and fork, or a pair of chopsticks and save them for the next take away meal.

...continued: Who Is Kevin Contreras?

Wired magazine and Living Homes have teamed up to create an efficient green house. Dubbed the ‘Wired LivingHome,’ the 4057 sq foot house will feature a 4 kilowatt solar power and energy efficient appliances from the likes of Hp and …… Located in an exclusive L.A enclave, Crestwood hills, the 4 million home will feature green building materials, and should be ready by fall this year. The house will be reconstructed from an existing house, which instead of being demolished will be deconstructed, therefore less materials will be sent to the landfill. Working closely with a non-profit organization dedicated to keeping usable building materials out of the landfills, will ensure a 75% reuse and repurpose of materials.  via  metaefficient

Donovan says: “First there is a mountain, then there is no mountain, then there is.” But for Brave Space Design, it’s more like: “First there is a big pile of scrap wood, then there is this adorable coat rack in mountain range theme.” Masters of sustainable style, the Brooklyn-based studio has spared no trees to create its cutely named wooden Coat Range. And, as Emily at Inhabitat notes, the design “takes advantage of the wood’s inherent colorations to create the snowy white (yet green) alpine snow caps.” So eco-sweet.

I’m not really green. 

I’m not buying the sell-out Anya Hindmarch’s “I’m not a plastic bag”  bag.

I’m not interested in giving up my blackhole of a white leather satchel for a talking bag, but if I did, it’d be for  the “I’m NOT a smug twat” bag, versus its less easy going mum.

Though I’m not sure toting such a cheeky chic tote that’s less ladies’ arm candy wouldn’t leave a certain type of smirk on your K’s pretty face.

Like ThisNexters cleo, dioverton, Annatarian, and barbrahorowitz, I’ve got a major thing for Linda Loudermilk. A pioneer of luxury eco, Loudermilk has been making me swoon ever since I first spotted her fall 2005 collection’s sheepskin-soft, nearly floor-sweeping scarves knitted from a blend of recycled cashmere, cotton, and repurposed plastic bottles. Whether she’s working with bamboo, soy, or seaweed, the L.A.-based designer has a way of transforming the most unlikely eco-fabrics into pieces so exquisite.

The latest Loudermilk creation to stop my heart: The fantastically fiery Lava Flow dress. Made from lyocell (a wood-pulp-based fiber that’s 100 percent biodegradable), the gorgeous and flowy thing features a cascading hemline and knit deep-V neckline. And I’m sure it’s so yummy to touch, as soft and smooth as it is stunning.

Spring is about lightening up, dolls.

You ditch all the unnecessaries — any designer duds that don’t highlight your hot little body, any ladies or fellas that don’t make you money or smiles, any piece of your day that isn’t invested in a brighter future, and —

Any shoe that’s a fat flat, or pulled down by a chunky heel that’ll never challenge you to poise your posture, watch your walk, or stand straighter so you’re closer to kissing the sky.

Jil Sander’s python cut-out wedge gets it — last season’s wedge is cut-out so you ditch unnecessary heaviness for a gorgeous arch disinterested in the gravity that’s tugging everyone else down.

[Via Shoewawa]

If you want to go all feng shui with your garden, a fountain can let you bliss out to the sound of trickling water. (Sort of like being at a spa, but without all that awful New Age music.)

To keep your garden green as possible, adorn it with a sun-powered Cascade Solar Fountain. It requires zero electricity to operate, and there’s no wiring to ugly up your pristine plot of land. You can even keep it in the shade, since the solar panel works up to 16 feet away. And since the pump is constantly recycling water, you’re not being wasteful with the H20.

The four-tier cascading “solar system” features glazed terra cotta bowls: My favorite’s the bright and cheery cobalt blue, but there’s also lovely lilac, antique brown, and blazing inferno red.

Though $3-a-gallon gas has some benefits —

At least a few hundreds in tax write offs for the power lunches and beauty bashes and soy latte dates your K cruised to.

— I’ve been toying with the idea of going more green.

And not just because that’s the color I almost turned after my Mr. Numbers accounted what I owe Uncle Sammy for 2006.

And not just because I finally went to pop organic food heaven Whole Foods and realized the girls are better looking there than at Ralphs.

It’s more because I’ve realized green can be chic, a happy marriage between form and function, style and substance, like these stock listings cufflinks tooled from recycled newspaper.

A little investment that maybe I can slip into my IRA contributions for 2006?

I generally don’t do pink nail polish. But if there’s ever a time for cotton-candy-colored nails, then Easter’s it. Trouble is, when it comes time to whisk the pink away the very next day, we’re left to rely on icky nail polish remover (aka one of the most toxic beauty products likely living in your bathroom cabinet right now).

For anyone who’s equally freaked out by the formaldehyde (and other scary chemicals) in nail polish remover, painting your nails can be so much prettier with Honeybee Gardens Peel Off Polish. The product lets you take a more do-it-yourself approach to getting rid of the color, and may even provide a little entertainment for those who got their grade-school kicks out of peeling dried Elmer’s glue off their hands.

Plus, the polish itself is nontoxic: It’s water-based and free of formaldehyde and phthalates, and it won’t release any nasty fumes while you’re performing your at-home manicure. The Fairy Dust and Ballerina shades are so Easter-perfect, and you can save the Wild Child and Rock Star polishes for whatever holiday comes next (Arbor Day?).

Who can forget the first time you tasted wasabi at a sushi restaurant? To be sure, for very many of us, it was the beginning of a lifelong addiction.

Too bad you got hooked on the cheap stuff.

Now, before you go feeling all dirty, it’s not your fault.  For a very long time, real wasabi simply wasn’t even available stateside. The rhizome of this piquant plant was too fragile and precious to be shipped overseas. And so, sushi chefs the world ‘round turned to an inferior concoction made from horseradish, mustard, corn starch and green food coloring. Yummy!

Today, what with overnight delivery and whatnot, we have the luxury of having fresh rhizomes dropped right at our door at the drop of a hat. And I do mean luxury — at $77 per pound, you’re not gonna be drowning this stuff in a puddle of soy sauce unless you’ve got Yakuza money to back it up.

But once you’ve had the the sublime burn of the real deal, you’ll never go back to that neon-green paste from a tube. Oishii desu ne!

(via Charles & Marie) 

They charmed Sofia Coppola’s Marie Antoinette — not bad considering they’re green instead of pink.

Numi Tea produces these exquisite “flowering” teas out of China’s Yunnan province. What starts out as a sere-looking bundle of green tea rapdily unravels in the presence of hot water, literally blossoming before your very eyes … and palate.

The Emerald Sun (pictured) bathes a white chrysanthemum in a brilliant jade brew, producing a beverage (and boutonnière) worthy of any upstanding St. Patrick’s Day fête. (And it’s so much more appetizing than green beer, no?)

Food finders Tutti Foodie sampled the Shooting Star, whose verdant foliage unfurled to reveal vermillion amaranth blooms within.

Yes, Marie. You can have your green and pink it, too. 

Hollywood may have just gotten around to going green, but lovers of The Lorax have long known the importance of protecting the planet from pollution and other environmental ills. One of Dr. Seuss’s most favorite creations, the 1971 classic tells the tale of a mossy, bossy character who “speaks for the trees” and strives to protect them from being obliterated by the greedy Once-ler.

Adopted as a cautionary fable by environmentalists the world over, The Lorax is also adored by ThisNexters such as ckilgore: “Long before saving the earth became a global concern,” she notes, “Dr. Seuss, speaking through his character the Lorax, warned against mindless progress and the danger it posed to the earth’s natural beauty.”

To honor Dr. Seuss’s way-ahead-of-his-time eco-smarts, shop green when you’re next seeking out a treat for your child, niece, or nephew - or any other budding treehugger in your life. ThisNexter mdh2992 has added enough selections to create her own green-kid gift guide: From fair-trade, nontoxic Wooden Sorting Toys and Stacking Toys to a Wildlife Tree Puzzle handcrafted from an environmentally-friendly hardwood, this shopcaster’s got the goods on toys that tread oh-so-lightly on Mama Earth. One of her coolest - and most Lorax-league - finds: the Trees-To-Be Seed Kit from Greenfeet. Including “everything you need to start and grow your own magnificent tree,” the kit is available in gingko and yule seeds.

...continued: Toys To Make The Lorax Proud

My vacation fantasy at the moment: a week (or two, or three) spent lounging around an impossibly glamorous eco-resort tucked away in some pristine landscape that I’ve never before visited. El Monte Sagrado Living Resort & Spa in Taos, Maho Bay on St. John, and Kamalame Cay off Andros Island in The Bahamas (all featured in DailyCandy’s Go Green Travel Guide) would each do quite splendidly, I’m sure - now I’ve just got to work out the part where I get magically whisked away.

Ever since visiting Tabernash, Colorado’s sustainability-minded Devil’s Thumb Ranch last fall I’ve felt slightly spoiled, hoping to find more and more getaways that pair the luxury of spa life with an eco-consciousness uncommon to far too many so-called sanctuaries. After all, the ultimate stress-melting experience can only become more healing when you know the planet’s being taken care of as kindly as your tension-addled body and mind. To others who wish to keep it green when blissing out, I suggest checking SpaFinder.com (a site that “gives a little mental escape and perhaps motivation to getaway,” according to ThisNexter Sharon Brown) to seek out the best earth-friendly spas around. And if you can’t manage an exquisitely eco escape at the moment, you can still pamper yourself with planet-protecting products at home.

...continued: Eco-Indulgence

Like ThisNexters John and Rose, I’m pulling for Davis Guggenheim’s An Inconvenient Truth to snag the Best Documentary Feature award at tonight’s 79th Annual Academy Awards. “A longtime advocate for the environment, [Al] Gore presents a wide array of facts and information in a thoughtful and compelling way in An Inconvenient Truth,” say John and Rose. “This is a rallying cry to protect the earth we all share. We are all walking on thin ice.”

One of the producers responsible for letting that rallying cry be heard by millions, enviro-activist/blogger/ThisNexter (and, of course, wife of Seinfeld co-creator Larry David) Laurie David offers up an “Activist Survival Guide” with a list titled “The Global-Warming Solution is YOU!”. To suggest your own solutions for going green and halting climate change, tag your planet-protecting picks “lauriedavid.” Just in time for Oscar night, here’s some inspiration to get you started.

...continued: Very 'Inconvenient'