As W flings his miniature body across his miniature piano, creating an avalanche of sound with his stomach and knees and feet (note: his hands are nowhere near the keys), I wonder if he inherited his father’s musical ability or if he’ll end up like me—tone deaf and instrument-phobic, left playing the egg shaker at his in-laws’ family gatherings.

I hope for the best and so encourage his musical experimentation (until the headache creeps up and begs for a quiet, introspective child prone to reading and drawing and other silent activities) with a variety of kid-sized instruments like Melissa and Doug’s piano complete with color-coded keys and songbook. Plan Toys also nurtures novice musicians with a starter baby drum or a more advanced drum set made from natural rubber wood and non-toxic paints.

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Eco Factor: Solar-powered street market concept.

In an era where multi-story shopping malls have transformed the process of buying goods and services, Israeli designer Yarel Yair is envisioning a world where sustainability will want small markets to be set up on the streets and powered by the abundant energy of the sun. His visions have taken a consumable form, which he has shared with us.

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Eco Factor: Prefab home made from ecologically farmed bamboo.

Made from ecologically farmed bamboo, the Modularean Eco House by designer David Baker is a stunning prefab that gives meaning to architectural craftsmanship. Featuring designer furniture, bamboo and soy-based interior finishes and floor to ceiling window panels, the modern and low-impact home also includes skylights, storm water abstract outdoor sculpture and a big caster to roll around the prefab. Developed by woodworker Julianna Sassaman in her office workshop, the eco house not just holds ecological and sculptural values, but at the same time it provides some highly functional spaces for the entire family.

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Eco Factor: Energy-efficient data center to be built for Syracuse University.

Syracuse University will house a new data center that will consume about half as much energy as a typical data center, which will place it among the world’s most efficient data centers. The 6,000-square-foot data center will cost $12.4 million and will flaunt the latest in eco-technology that will reduce its energy consumption by as much as 50%.

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Eco Factor: Bicycle is powered by clean solar energy.

Engineering students at Miami Coral Park Senior High school are building a bicycle, just like usual bikes on tires, but the only difference is that it will be propelled by a solar-powered motor. They hope to grab the first prize in the annual School Inventors Challenge, a competition sponsored by Popular Science Magazine. What these students actually want to build is a bicycle that will be powered by solar energy captured by solar panels that are almost foldable like a sleeping bag. This will make it easier to carry the power source along with you so that it could be opened anywhere and whenever energy is required.

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Eco Factor: Bio-fuel manufactured from cottonseed oil.

Cottonseed, which is usually considered a waste product of cotton manufacturing units, could one day be a new source of auto fuel. The findings came after a research group at the GMR Institute of Technology in India found that cottonseed oil was as efficient as petroleum diesel when used as fuel in small engines. Their findings got more significance when they found that a blend of both performed better than either of the fuels used alone.

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Eco Factor: Energy-efficient power supply units from Corsair for green computers.

Corsair has announced the launch of the new Corsair Professional Series HX850W and HX750W modular power supply units, which have been engineered to the highest quality standards to meet the demands of enthusiasts that expect the very best. The Corsair Professional Series HX850W and HX750W PSUs utilize advanced DC-to-DC circuitry and meet 80 Plus Silver certification standards for up to 90% energy-efficiency, reducing wasted energy and lowering the amount of excess heat generated.

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Eco Factor: Sustainable office complex to aim for LEED Gold Certification.

The Export Development Canada’s (EDC’s) 1,000 employees are eagerly waiting for their new home, which will be a $150m, 10-story complex covering 520,000-square-feet built near Slater Street. The complex is being built by Broccolini Construction Inc. and is scheduled to be completed by 2011.

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Eco Factor: Compact truck powered by electric engine.

Apart from polluting the atmosphere with their massive engines, trucks also create a problem when they’re running on a congested highway. The CarGo concept truck hopes to solve both the problems with an electric engine and a variable track and wheelbase that adapts to different load carrying configurations.

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Eco Factor: Boeing 747-400 powered by a 50-50 blend of fruit oil and jet fuel.

Severely criticized on the amount of carbon emissions their planes produce, aviation companies have started to try out new fuel combinations that could make their aircraft green. The newest endeavor is from Air New Zealand, which has tried to green a Boeing 747-400 by powering it with a 50-50 blend of oil from a plum-sized fruit known as Jatropha and conventional jet fuel.

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Eco Factor: Ecofriendly home made from green materials boasts sustainable features.

Green architects want homes to be illuminated by sunlight and ventilated by natural air, both of which require the design to be as open as possible. This strategy works well for designing homes on the countryside but when it comes to urban architecture, the openness of your home means a lack of privacy. Fiona Winzar Architects have designed a green home that lowers your carbon footprint and keeps your privacy intact under an “Eyelid.”

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Baby socks are exactly like the adult version. Just smaller. This means that they will eventually end up mismatched, stashed in the back of the wrong drawer or lost in the dryer forever. To prevent disaster your babe needs many socks of many styles and varieties. Trumpette’s got you covered. The company has been making foot coverings for over 20 years and has recently added an organic line. Grace a new mama or mama-to-be with a box of Trumpette’s organic baby socks and you’re guaranteed to get a grin.

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Outrageous scent combinations, 100 percent organic ingredients—Skinny Skinny is not your mama’s bar of soap. Well, actually it is my mama’s bar of soap. I bought her one for Mother’s Day as part of my continual quest to introduce her to safe, luxurious beauty products. And now I’m on a mission to try every luscious bar starting with Organic Blood Orange and Lemon with Oatmeal, moving on to Organic Lavender and Black Pepper then to Organic Rose and Almond (I can’t stop!), Organic Rosemary and Mint (I won’t stop!), Jasmine and Green Tea and Basil and Mint (don’t make me stop!).

Additional Lazy E recommendations for beauty products

Additional Lazy E recommendations for men’s grooming

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Eco Factor: Sustainable shelter made from recycled plastic bottles.

Have you ever thought that what happens to the thousands of plastic water bottles that are used during a marathon event? They’re mostly trashed if green-minded artists like Ashley Phillips aren’t around. The artist has shown his skills in designing a sustainable shelter known as “Igloo” from the plastic waste collected after the London Marathon.

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Eco Factor: Biogas powered German town to become the first in the world.

Lünen, a small town north of Dortmund, Germany, would soon become the first town in the world which will be powered by biogas generated from horse and cow manure. Apart from the manure the authorities are also planning to use organic material from local farms in the process which would eventually generate sustainable electricity for 90,000 residents.

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Eco Factor: Three-story high energy-efficient digital media façade.

AmericanAirlines Arena has unveiled MiamiMediaMesh, a one-of-its-kind 3.400-square-foot, energy-efficient digital media façade in Miami, which will be the largest digital LED display and will transform downtown Miami into Times Square South. Blending seamlessly with the Arena architecture, MiamiMediaMesh covers 3,400 square feet of the Arena’s west face, making it the largest digital LED display in the Southeast region of the United States.

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Eco Factor: Protective sheets for PV systems are tougher and stiffer than typical PV encapsulants.

DuPont, the company that has the largest portfolio of photovoltaic materials in the solar energy industry is not just making new advances in solar panels to make them easy to install, more efficient and cheap, but is also trying to better the technology making it more reliable and strong thereby increasing panel life by more than just a couple of years. The company has announced the development of a two new encapsulant sheets which deliver long-term protection for the most sensitive part of PV modules – the solar cells.

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Eco Factor: Laser fusion facility to produce more energy than it consumes.

It might look as if its defying the energy laws of physics, but scientists at the National Ignition Facility have got it all set up for the world’s first machine, powered by the world’s largest lasers to produce more energy that it consumes. The $3.5 billion NIF rests in a 10-story building covering an area of more three football pitches in California and once started it will harness the power of lasers to turn tiny pellets of hydrogen into thermonuclear energy.

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Eco Factor: UAV helicopter powered by an electric hybrid engine.

In a bid to green aviation, Falx Air has unveiled the final design overview of its hybrid electric coaxial helicopter UAV. The UAV is intended to be powered by an advanced fast charging battery systems that are being developed in the U.S. Keeping the weight of the aircraft under control had to be a priority, which the company hopes to implement by developing the airframe from aerospace certified composite materials.

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Eco Factor: Smart grid project envisioned for Austin.

Come August and Austin would see the launch the Pecan Street Project which hopes to provide the city with 300MW of renewable energy, which will be produced within city limits and the installation of thousands of smart meters in residential and commercial complexes. The smart metering project will cover 440-square-miles, 500,000 devices, 100TB of data, 1 million consumers and 43,000 businesses.

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Eco Factor: Speakers powered by solar energy.

While the Q-Sound Bluetooth headphone concept is still ruling the minds of all iPod owners, Tom Pritchard has designed concept speakers for the iPod, which run on solar energy and also recharge the iPod’s battery in doing so. The speakers, which are designed for the Gear4 brand, are compact, energy-efficient and portable, but their small size doesn’t have any effect on their performance.

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Eco Factor: Coffee table is made up of recycled steel, glass and wine bottle punts.

Blue Moon Bottles has utilized empty wine bottles and their punts to create some useful items such as furniture, candle holders and vases. Among these works, the coffee table with 18×24×17 dimensions looks fabulous. It has been shaped from recycled steel, glass and bottle punts. Bottle punts are embedded like jewels to give a soothing look to the design. Other than this, there are many other wonderful works from the same manufacturer that are available at their online store.

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Eco Factor: Bicycle design by Mardjetko Gonzalez and Jimena Guadalupe.

Riding a bike tens of miles to your office doesn’t sound like a practical way to reduce your carbon footprint. However, going to a market on a bike does seem green. Mardjetko Gonzalez and Jimena Guadalupe have designed a bike that can be folded into a trolley and kept in the trunk of your car and unfolded whenever you’re in the market to ensure that your shopping doesn’t hurt the environment.

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I still think about the banana. As a welcome to the world gift, W received Under the Nile’s fruit tote, a collection of stuffed, smiling fruits lovingly crafted from organic cotton. From day one we were all partial to the banana, though the pear, bunch of grapes and watermelon slice had their charms. We used to hand it to W, tiny and cooing in his car seat, and he would wrap his little fingers around the fruit and chew affectionately on its grinning head. Those were the days. The banana and the grapes disappeared about six months ago—perhaps they took off together—leaving the pear and watermelon to fend for themselves among a sea of gangly stuffed bunnies and bears.

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At 15 months, W has finally cultivated a legitimate coif, and though pressure abounds (um, grandpa, dad) to subject him to his first trim, I’m holding out, aware that the mother is the gatekeeper to her child’s do. But I’ve discovered that refusing to cut W’s hair is one thing. Contending with the semi-wild curlicues sprouting from his head is another. As his locks continue to grow, his post-bath grooming has become a knotty event—the brush often getting stuck in a tangled mess of curls. Foreseeing a future of squirming and tears, I took a field trip to my local health food store (ok, Whole Foods) and purchased an all- natural detangler (read: conditioner) for kids. Rainbow Organic Herbal Detangling Conditioner has proven to be a highly effective investment, smoothing out the frizzy spots with organic ingredients and leaving W smelling not unlike a vanilla cookie. Yum.

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