Memo pad with built-in potted plant

To be honest, this reminds us a little of the gimmicky bud vase that Volkswagen included when it launched the New Beetle (like you're really going to keep a fresh flower on your dash — gimme more cupholders instead!), but at least it's a gimmick with a green spin. Taiwan-based designers Wei-Ran Lee and Bo-Chin Chu have created the Green Cycle, a memo pad with a built in potted plant. The idea is that, every time you use a piece of paper, you should water the plant and reflect on the fact that, while you're destroying plants by using paper, you are simultaneously caring for one, helping to restore nature's balance. Cute idea, but how about just using recycled paper — or a paper-free PDA — instead?

[Folkestone Gerald @ Dec 19th 2005 1:38AM]

The original beetle had a bud vase as an option, pretty classy I think... this was before magic tree was invented.

http://www.vw-online.co.uk/acatalog/Karmann_Konnection_Rarest_of_the_Rare_19.html

[encosion @ Dec 19th 2005 1:38AM]

Regarding the PDA sugestion: Uh, just how environmentally friendly is electricity?

[OctaneZ @ Dec 19th 2005 1:38AM]

PDA? right, cause batteries have no environmental impact

[Alan @ Dec 19th 2005 1:38AM]

Oh c'mon. Are you really complaining about electricity not being environmentally friendly?? Why don't you just stop using it then! And honostly, I'm gonna have my PDA anyway, so I might as well take notes on it. Gimme a break.

[Bob Stratton @ Dec 19th 2005 1:38AM]

C'mon folks, you're showing your age, or lack of it.

"Blumenvasen" are quite the tradition among German drivers. These didn't just arrive with the New Beetle. People have been picking wild flowers along the roadside and putting them in blumenvasen for as long as there have been Beetles, including the air cooled versions.

Americans (of which I'm one) don't seem to stop and smell the flowers enough to appreciate this sort of thing. I think it's a nice touch.

[Michael Moncur @ Dec 19th 2005 1:38AM]

[plant nerd]

I just have to point out that if you water the plant *every* time you use a piece of paper, you'll probably kill it. With a pot that small and no drainage, you probably want to water about once a week, depending on the plant.

[/plant nerd]

[Mike @ Dec 19th 2005 1:38AM]

If you're a prolific writer se an eye dropper to water the plant.

Regarding the "Blumenvasen" was this Hitler's idea? The Beatle, afterall, was.
Things that make you go Hmmmm....