The Zero Carbon Caravan

…many people simply do not believe that such a world is possible, so they need a good example giving a practical demonstration of what is possible. This is where the Zero Carbon Caravan comes in (here the word ‘caravan’ is used in the sense of a group of people traveling together, rather than a metal box towed behind a car.)

Maltese Falcon (290ft), and co., photo RobertGalbraithWe will demonstrate how it is possible to travel, work and play all without generating any carbon emissions at all. We will provide a positive, inspiring vision of the future, where, instead of merely consuming, we lead fulfilling lives.

clipped from culturechange.org The Zero Carbon Caravan: Sail and Bike to Copenhagen! The world stands at a crossroads. One way continues with business as usual and ends up with abrupt climate change causing the premature deaths of hundreds of millions, if not billions of people, and the extinction of many of the world’s plant and animal species. The other way leads to a future in which we do things in a radically different alternative way, and in so doing manage not only to avoid the worst outcomes of climate change, but also to make ourselves happier. Contrary to much of the propaganda put out by the mainstream media, this alternative does not involve “sitting in a cave with a candle,” but is instead one where technology becomes our servant not our master, where we have ample time for leisure and relationships with family and friends, which actually makes us happier, instead of living in the world we have now, being made perpetually unsatisfied by advertising selling us the latest consumer junk

Doctor recycles prescription drugs to the homeless

Seems like a very sensible practice. But, these doctors are probably breaking the law.

The article calls it “recycling” but in reality it is re-using [although the drugs have never been used]

clipped from www.cbc.ca Doctor recycles prescription drugs to the homeless A prominent Canadian doctor has begun to recycle unused prescription drugs to homeless people in Ottawa because he says they could not afford them otherwise, CBC News has learned. He and Dr. Ron MacCormick, an oncologist in Sydney, N.S., want provincial governments to establish regulations that would guide doctors who want to recycle unused prescription drugs that would otherwise be thrown out. “I think it’s a common sense issue where we could come up with common sense guidelines to direct this,” Turnbull said. Turnbull, who will become president of the Canadian Medical Association later this year, gives the unused drugs to patients at an inner city health centre in Ottawa.

Write for Reuse

This is great advice for anyone who writes blogs, or other content for the web.

clipped from www.useit.com Jakob Nielsen’s Alertbox, March 2, 2009: Write for Reuse Summary: Users often see online content out of context and read it with different goals than you envisioned. While you can’t predict all such goals, you can plan for multiple uses of your text. No matter your medium, it’s fairly standard advice to simply write for your readers and their tasks. For old media, reader goals are well known, ranging from being entertained (when reading a mystery novel) to getting investment ideas (when reading the Wall St. Journal’s “Markets” section). Writing for the Web differs, however, because various users might approach a given piece of content in different ways:

Confessions of a bottom feeder

Looks like an appealing lifestyle!

clipped from homepages.tesco.net Confessions of a bottom feeder Many modern city dwellers survive perfectly well without a ‘regular job.’ We live like millionaires but would be hard put to tell you what our true career was. We survive on air. And no, we are not the crazy homeless you see rooting in trashcans. We live in picturesque, old homes with huge, jungley gardens. Not all are rented homes; many are owned, bought with land contracts (monthly payments to old owner) or we use those new poverty sector Fannie Mae loans with a low cash down payment that don’t require proof of earnings or good credit, only proof of high, past rent paid by showing cancelled checks. And those rents we paid with several friends but WITH OUR OWN CHECKS! How do we afford homes when we don’t have ‘regular’ jobs? Well, I didn’t say we don’t WORK. We are well-paid for freelance work

Powering a Google Search

Have you ever thought about your websurfing as a contributor to global warming?

clipped from googleblog.blogspot.com a typical search uses “half the energy as boiling a kettle of water” and produces 7 grams of CO2. We thought it would be helpful to explain why this number is *many* times too high. Google is fast — a typical search returns results in less than 0.2 seconds.

Campaign Couture: Recycled fashions featured at inaugural ball

Setting a new tone…

clipped from license.icopyright.net January 3, 2009 Campaign couture: Recycle Runway owner to show off Obama fashions at inaugural ball “Nancy Judd, Santa Fe’s Dumpster fashionista, will be strutting her environmentally correct ensembles made from recycled materials — from crushed glass and audio cassette tapes to soda tabs and campaign signs — Jan. 17 at The Green Inaugural Ball in Washington, D.C. Judd, 40, owner of Recycle Runway, also has been invited to the inaugural party hosted by New Mexico’s congressional delegation on Jan. 19, the night before the Barack Obama’s presidential inauguration. Green Ball producers said “every facet of The Green Ball is designed to reduce the impact on the environment.”

Food needs ‘fundamental rethink’

“Essentially, what we are dealing with at the moment is a food system that was laid down in the 1940s,” he told BBC News.

It followed on from the dust bowl in the US, the collapse of food production in Europe and starvation in Asia.

clipped from www.enn.com Food needs ‘fundamental rethink’ By Mark Kinver  Science and environment reporter, BBC News A sustainable global food system in the 21st Century needs to be built on a series of “new fundamentals”, according to a leading food expert. Tim Lang warned that the current system, designed in the 1940s, was showing “structural failures”, such as “astronomic” environmental costs. The new approach needed to address key fundamentals like biodiversity , energy, water and urbanisation, he added.

Piezoelectrics – Is It Stealing?

This is an interesting energy-capturing idea.

clipped from www.ecogeek.org EcoGeek – Clean Technology of the most bountiful manmade kinetic energy out there – the movement of cars, trains and planes over roads, rails and runways. The idea is simple – stick a piezoelectric generator under the road. Innowattech claims that 1 km of piezoelectric highway could generate 500 kilowatts (that’s 0.8 MW per mile, for those of you keeping score at home).

What to do when Santa Goofs!

Some great ideas here for dealing with the stuff you really don’t want…

In Canada, in addition to freecycle, there’s FullCircles – http://www.fullcircles.org .

clipped from www.fool.co.uk What To Do When Santa Slips Up! If you think you’ll end up with a pile of presents you really don’t want this Christmas, don’t worry! Help is at hand…

Giving: It’s good for your health!

Who’da thought. Giving has health benefits.

clipped from www.muchmormagazine.com More proof that giving is good for your health Submitted by The Editor on Thursday, 11 December 2008No Comment Tags:gifts, Health, Holidays, Lifestyle, wellbeing “Several studies over the years have found links between altruistic behavior and improved physical and psychological health,” says Dr. Ann Vincent, an internal medicine physician at Mayo Clinic who researches the mind-body connection. “In general, I think altruism makes people feel better about themselves, which often translates into improved physical health. Other benefits that have been attributed to positive emotions include: enhanced creativity and ability to cope with stress and broadened cognition. In essence, thinking positively about ourselves is good for our physical and mental health.”