Marketers’ “green washing” eco claims are still going strong! Through my trend and design tracking activities I have seen a rise in truly green designs and the amazing rise in interest from readers who have decided to go “Full Monty” with little to no environmental impact.

Here are a few ideas of truly ambitious green designs:

The design of this outdoor bench (by Droog) is a brilliant inspiration to make do with what is already on site rather than shop for outdoor designs. You can find it at a conceptual art shop in Holland [vividvormgeving] for the recession price of…€7950!

Or, if you’re in the US, you can call Unica Home for a price quote. Given that buying it off the shelf means you need to add transportation, I guess you can easily make one to your own taste with an old tree trunk and some chair backs.

A qualified architect and active promoter of sustainable living, Paulina Wojciechowska creates earth-made homes and items such as this outdoor tub.

The outdoor kitchen can also provide an opportunity to go “zero carbon.” The outdoor cooking/BBQ market is developing in two extreme and totally opposite directions. On one end, the incredibly technical designs a la Coleman/Ferrari and on the other zero carbon designs developing fast with mud ovens using clay and hay!

Mud ovens are quite a fun project, and you can get instructions on the web and even tutorials on YouTube:

So, maybe you’d like go “Full Monty” too, and get the family together on a weekend and build yourself an earth oven or a tree bench!