The beginning of the school year is creeping up quick. Many of us Future Know-It-Alls will be heading to (or back to) college in the next couple of weeks. This year, why not get everything you need, and help save the Earth as well? Here’s a list of the hottest new eco-trendy items that you can either buy or make yourself!

First on your list: School Supplies.
GreenEarthOfficeSupply.com has absolutely everything you could possibly need. They offer Recycled Denim Pencils, Biodegradable Cornstarch Pens, Remanufactured Inkjet Cartridges, and Ergonomic Computer Accessories. You can even get some free stuff from their website like soybean crayons and a banana-paper rainforest journal.

Carry it all in these eco-trendy backpacks and Satchels. Ecolution’s hip and trendy Hemp Hiking Satchel is waterproof and sturdy enough to carry your pencils, iPhone, or some small books and a journal. Comes in four fab colors.

Need to carry more than just a couple pencils? Hempys’Hemp Deluxe Backpack is made from recycled cotton and a soda bottle lining, and is completely durable so you can carry all those heavy books you’re going to get this year.

Juice Bags by Reware are a thing of the future with solar panels on the outside that can charge your laptop in between classes, or while you get your work done in the park. Juice Bags makes backpacks, messenger bags and other super sacks in a very wide variety of colors.

Are you a do-it-yourselfer? Go to Threadbanger.com to find out how you can make your own notebooks, pencil cases, and even a backpack out of Dad’s old blazer. (Just make sure it’s one that your Mom hates.)

Thirsty?
Don’t waste oil and plastic by using one of those 30 billion plastic water bottles that are consumed and thrown away every year – that is sooo 20th century! Instead get a water bottle that’s not only biodegradable, but also compostable. Belu, a socially and environmentally friendly company makes just that. Demand it on your campus and put a major dent in your college’s carbon footprint.

Dress to the nine’s (or 3R’s)
All Saints offers an environmentally conscious, high fashion clothing line for men and women. Made for the fashionably daring as well as the more conservative crowd.

Attitude Clothing offers Gothic, Punk, Sk8r and Rockabilly threads for less carbon. This is a UK site, but it offers some of our favorite USA brands like ZooYork and DC Shoes.

Secret Sales is no secret, in fact you can tell all your friends if you want to. With deep discounts on high-end fashion and design labels such as UMA, Versace, Criminal Damage, Laguana and Elvis & Jesus, this is probably one of the most fun and Earth-friendly ways to hit the campus in style.

Other hot-spots for environmentally friendly gear:

• ShotDeadInTheHead.com for tee shirts, bags and other stuff.
• ProgressiveKid.com has tons more back to school supplies, plus some other stuff too including cutesy bath time sets.
• Nickel-free, platinum and sterling silver jewelry by GabrielXXO
• Ladies can look and feel their best because Lancôme is a strong supporter of CarbonFund.org.
• GoCarbonFree.com offers everything you could possibly think of to help you reduce your carbon footprint. Whether you need to decorate your dorm, dress for the party, or type your notes down quick, GoCarbonFree has your gear. Plus, you can earn “Carbon Credits” for everything you buy to put towards more carbon friendly stuff!

With global warming and landfills on the rise, it’s nice to know that people like Shelly Spicuzza are finding unique ways to recycle. Her new ReGlow lamp design is not only funky and stylish, but allows us to reduce and reuse our waste in a most tasteful way. These trendy light fixtures are made out of recycled plastics and metals. The center is a thin aluminum and plastic sphere that is lined in Styrofoam. It splits into two parts so the three standard light bulbs can be placed in the middle. Once pushed back together, the ball has several threaded holes where recycling savvy consumers can screw in any standard sized plastic water or soda bottle.

Spicuzza said the original prototype was “made from a hamster ball that I drilled holes in for the placement of the water bottles.” People can screw in any color plastic bottle that they can find, after they pull off the label. Presently there is a limited amount of choices as far as color goes. It’s pretty much a toss up between “Mountain Dew Green” and “Coca-Cola Clear.” But if the lighting fixtures become popular enough, someone is sure to create multi-colored recycled bottles that fit into them anyway. It would be easy to capitalize off this bright idea by introducing plastic bottle variations and accessories for it.

Once you have all your recycled bottles in place, you can arrange your ReGlow lamp anyway you can think of. ReGlow can be hung up in a vertical line, or horizontally on an aluminum poll and users can put as many or as few ReGlow Lamps as they want in a row. When light filters through the bottles, it produces a shimmer around the room that might even make Steve Dahl want to trip the light fan-plastic. While we don’t know how much these spectacular spectrums cost just yet, it seems like Spicuzza is planning to price it so classy urbanites, college kids and hobos alike will be able to afford them.

Shelly Spicuzza is a Senior majoring in Industrial Design at Purdue University in West Lafayette, Indiana. She has already created several exceptional and unique inventions with very practical uses including her award winning Baby Foot Rattles, the Fossil Watch, and a new sports drink bottle design called VLo. When she finally graduates and is unleashed into the world as a professional, her designs are sure to make “Shelly Spicuzza” a household name.