The greenest iPod yet: made of real wood

Like every other living thing that we as humans know exists, the earth is "breathing". Expanding and contracting. Stretching and moving. Everything in it and on it is always moving. Every cell. Every mountain. Every person. Every gas.

That being said...I don't believe for one second that the earth's climate is going to change much. And if it does then it won't last for long. The global climate will breath with the earth.

30,000 scientist agree. Global warming is not happening.

Humans simply are not presently capable of putting enough harmful gas into the atmosphere to effect it in any way. The earth is fully capable of inhabiting us for a very very long time.

I believe that of all of the gasses that make up the atmosphere, 3% is carbon dioxide, and of that 3%, .00000003% (roughly) is "man made".

What you should really be worried about is earthquakes, astroids, and nuclear war.

Use some of that passion for a cause that might actually save a human life or billion.

Hi all,

First off, thanks SO MUCH for the little article Victor! I really appreciate the write up hey.

Also, there does seem to be a bit of confusion (understandably) about why I made this wood ipod though. Just to clear it up, i simply set out to make this wood ipod purely as a fun challenge project for myself. Just fun and enjoyment of the whole building process. I guess it's sort of the same reasons why you build a big sandcastle on the beach when you're a kid. Simple, straight up fun.

I don't actually think modern ipods are 'crass' at all (that was a misunderstanding in another article that has been happily fixed) and it certainly wasn't ever meant to be called 'green' at all. (and as the article author said, it was meant to be lighthearted). But I guess that's to be expected with projects like this, some readers see the wood and think it's aiming to be 'green', or even on the other spectrum, see the wood and brass and immediately think 'steampunk!'. (which is isn't).

The wood I used was a $6 old turning block that I bought from a local timber supplier here in Australia. And I have no idea where that stock came from. But! I have learned a lot about how to think about projects that involve wood now in the sense of using sustainable stock etc. I actually didn't know much on the subject before making this wood ipod.

And to answer your question MARK about the clickwheel: It actually works really well now, pretty much as perfectly as the original click wheel did. The wooden clickwheel I shaved down from a block of wood ended up being around 2mm thick (the original plastic wheel cover is around 1mm thick), and I was happily surprised when I placed the wood wheel on the sensor and it picked up my finger just fine. The whole capacaitive process works totally fine. I guess it's the same principle as how you can often operate your ipod through a layer of denim while the ipod is in your jeans pocket.

Aside from all that, I'm glad some of you enjoyed and appreciated my little project. I can tell you it was a blast to create.

Thanks again for all the comments,
josh D

To all the people who are getting uppity about the articles title: IT'S PLAY ON WORDS! You do remember the MacBook ads from a couple of months ago right? "The Greenest MacBook ever." Oh, and the guy never said anything about the iPod being "green". Again, just the title.

yeah man you guys are debbie downers. the guy is just doing a little something productive with his time, unlike you jiggity-jerks. get a life. it's probably got like $3 worth of wood in it. srsly. i'd show mine off proudly. nice work.

I've seen this before, someone did it with an ipod 4 generation. Old news.

boom.

All raw materials used by mankind are either

• stolen from
• loaned out
• freely given

by Mother Nature. MN watches as she gives us freely many things. This can be likened to the state of being described as the mythological Garden of Eden.

Mother Nature watches as she waits for a loan to be paid back. This can be likened to the mythological warning of the exit from the Garden of Eden.

She also watches as she sees us steal from her. This can be likened to the mythological Expulsion from the Garden of Eden.

It's very likely that no amt. of praying, evangelizing, or confessing can help us return to the G. of E. until we first pay back the theft, and completely.

I do not have an answer on how this can be done while still maintain society's current standard of living; I admit, I love the iPod and I am a Mac fan. Therefore, I am complicit.

It's likely that this is closer to the meaning of "Original Sin" rather than a baby born with it, unless the authors of Original Sin meant that the baby will grow up to be no different than me or us.

I don't think the point of the wood iPod was to be environmentally friendly in the first place. It's just a cool mod with that is natural but not green.

geez, all these comments are real bummers...

I'm with Jash on this one: if you really wanted to make a green iPod, you wouldn't toss already-made plastics and metal, no matter how "crass" you think they are, and replace them with wood just to say it's "green."

Where'd the wood come from? I sure hope the designer just happened to have fresh timber from a tree that had fallen down on its own; if the wood he used came from a tree that was cut down FOR wood, then his creation isn't green at all.

Is Apple using recycled plastics and metal in the manufacture of iPods? If not, THAT'S how to make them more green.

It's log, it's log, it's big, it's heavy, it's wood!
It's log, it's log, it's better than bad, it's good!