Do The Green Thing: Stories, videos, and more

RT @GOOD: How to politely r...

2010-08-01T05:20:11Z

RT @GOOD: How to politely refuse a plastic http://su.pr/1NonCo <a href="http://bit.ly/8cXrY">#dtgt</a>

The next four years will de...

2010-08-01T03:40:12Z

The next four years will determine the quality of life on this planet for the next one thousand. What will you do? <a href="http://www.fouryearsgo.org/">#4yg</a>

Save The Planet: http://www...

2010-08-01T02:40:11Z

Save The Planet: http://www.fouryearsgo.org/ <a href="http://www.fouryearsgo.org/">#4yg</a>

91,652 signups at #1010 let...

2010-08-01T02:00:15Z

91,652 signups at #1010 lets hit 100,000 by end day tomorrow #<a href="http://www.fouryearsgo.org/">#4yg</a> #350 #@climatedesk #tcktcktck#climatejustice @ekos @noirbp @drgrist #dkos

RT @fouryearsgo: Today is a...

2010-07-31T16:40:10Z

RT @fouryearsgo: Today is as good as any other day to start changing your life and changing the world! Believe in yourself and believe in humanity! <a href="http://www.fouryearsgo.org/">#4yg</a>

RT @lovepeaceunity: Breathe...

2010-07-31T02:20:10Z

RT @lovepeaceunity: Breathe new life into LOVE. Let's start a LOVEOLUTION! #LPU <a href="http://www.fouryearsgo.org/">#4yg</a> ????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????

DO GREEN- bestowed my to m...

2010-07-31T01:40:12Z

DO GREEN- bestowed my to my wife. sh...: bestowed my <a href="http://www.lastyearsmodel.org/">#lastyears</a> to my wife. she loves the <a href="http://www.lastyearsmodel.org/">#lastyears</a>. i love that... http://bit.ly/bEXSiU

bestowed my to my wife. sh...

2010-07-31T01:00:18Z

bestowed my <a href="http://www.lastyearsmodel.org/">#lastyears</a> to my wife. she loves the <a href="http://www.lastyearsmodel.org/">#lastyears</a>. i love that she loves the <a href="http://www.lastyearsmodel.org/">#lastyears</a>. <a href="http://www.lastyearsmodel.org/">#lastyears</a> is better than #yeastears.

Do you believe we can creat...

2010-07-30T21:00:13Z

Do you believe we can create a global shift to a just, sustainable and fulfilling world in just 4 years? http://bit.ly/9OGW8F <a href="http://www.fouryearsgo.org/">#4yg</a>

RT @fouryearsgo: Today is a...

2010-07-30T20:40:15Z

RT @fouryearsgo: Today is as good as any other day to start changing your life and changing the world! Believe in yourself and believe in humanity! <a href="http://www.fouryearsgo.org/">#4yg</a>

The future of urban farming?

2010-07-30T11:41:02Z

There's been an innovation in urban food growing. It's not earth-shattering, and it's not so new, it's just one of those things that makes sense and given the right conditions could really change agriculture. In sprawling cities with limited growing space, why not start growing up? It's the vertical growing movement.

Valcent is one of the pioneers in developing vertical crop technology. Although their strap line "High density vertical growth" sounds more like a building complex than a food source, they boast some pretty impressive crop yields- up to 20 times the normal production volume and only required 5% of the average water used in conventional growing conditions.

There have been questions over the amount of energy use required to manage the rather unconventional design (think matrix style tubing up the sides of a structure) but as the technology is still in its early days, no doubt it will be an important consideration.

Vertical farming isn't at all limited to massive companies or big areas, you can vertical farm at home. These Woolly pockets are a cool, all-consuming idea.

Made from 100% recycled bottles, the pockets let you grow stuff virtually anywhere- inside or outside, and you may not even have to get on your hands and knees to tend to your garden. You can even make your own version of a vertical farm.

(Spotted on Treehugger)

Squirrel steaks

2010-07-29T12:37:36Z

Mmmmmmm. Yummy. Squirrels.

From people being fined for killing them, to a company making the world's strongest beer in taxidermied one, Squirrels are a hot topic these days. Today, squirrels are in the news because of their meat.

Budgens, a North London supermarket is now selling squirrel meat. Apparently, it tastes like rabbit.

Andrew Thorton, owner of the Budgen's that's selling the meat claims that "squirrel meat is more sustainable than beef" and "Squirrels will be culled anyway. You have two choices. Either you dispose of them or you eat them."

It's really popular, despite animal welfare groups disapproval.

There you have it. Another reason to go easy on the meat.

(Spotted in the Guardian)

Sainsbury's Tree House

2010-07-29T08:53:41Z

Sainsbury's announced this month their pledge to plant 2 million trees over the next 5 years with the Woodland Trust. To mark the momentous occasion, they built the tiniest shop ever, in a tree.

Water as a human right

2010-07-28T11:24:34Z

Today the United Nations is holding a historic summit on the Human Right to Water. In 1948, when the Declaration of Human Rights was written, few, if any, predicted that we'd be having a global water crisis and wars over water resources 60 years later.

Now, world leaders are voting on a resolution to decide if 'Access to clean water and sanitation' should be a human right.

The vote that's taking place today, as set forward by Bolivia, is not about infrastructure, or sorting out how water and sanitation should be provided. It's about recognising water as a human right, the same way that dignity and the right to life, liberty and security of person are.

This is the part that makes my blood boil. There are countries that are opposed to this. It's astounding.

One of which is Canada, my home and native land. Why Canada, why? The Canadian government has very openly expressed opposition to the resolution. I feel ashamed. Could it be because now the government would have to act in native Canadian communities where water sources are of a developing world standard? Or is it because this would be potenially having to share our abundance of fresh clean water with others?

David Cameron, the Prime Minister of the UK is also opposed to the resolution. Apparently he's cool with the access to water part, but not the whole sanitation bit.

Not surprising, the US also rejects the resolution, as do Turkey and Egypt who fear boundary disputes once the resolution is passed. These are the problems that arise when a human right also happens to be a diminishing commodity, essential to industry, agriculture and life.

Getting countries to vote on water becoming a human right is not just incredibly important, but water is a fundemental, indisputable, basic human need.

A view from NASA

2010-07-28T09:36:16Z

NASA's got some pretty cool and informative images in their locker (having loads of satellites and technology helps). Their prespective on climate change is one from above. Like the things that can be seen from space, such as aquatic dead zones and forest canopy heights.

Aside from knowing where the tallest trees are in the world, NASA explains,

'Scientific interest in the new map goes far beyond curiosities about tree height. The map has implications for an ongoing effort to estimate the amount of carbon tied up in Earth’s forests and for explaining what sops up 2 billion tons of “missing” carbon each year'.

Another interesting NASA image is of aquatic dead zones. Without pointing out the obvious, one can see the dead zones happen to exist where the highest density of people live.

While all can maps have distortions, NASA's use of satelitte imaging and laser technology produce widely accepted and very real data- most of which is collected over several years.

NASA's Eye's on the Earth contains images of change which demonstrate how areas have evolved over time.

The same way you'd compare baby photos of a person to their present self, images of change show an ever changing and evolving planet.

You can see more images and things from NASA's observatory here.

Earthships

2010-07-27T10:57:22Z

Haiti was devasted in early 2010 by an epic earthquake. Throw in 52 aftershocks and the Hurricane season and you've got a country in desperate need.

There have been several ideas to emerge to help with the rebuild and aid in Haiti, but this one is one of my favourites. Earthship Biotecture builds dwellings from old tyres, styrofoam, bottles and other waste materials.

The brains behind the operation, Architect, Michael Reynolds says he intentionally doesn't use the word 'house' because people have preconceived notions about what a house looks like. Instead he calls them Earthships which are structures built from waste materials in local environments. They are durable and sustainable. Solar and wind energy are used to to generate power and heat and the homes are designed to collect usable water from rain.

Homes made from recycled materials is an excellent all-consuming use of what's around, especially in places that have lost all infrastructure, and have lots of waste around. This idea ticks all the boxes.

(Spotted in the Wall Street Journal)

Walk across America

2010-07-27T08:17:53Z

This stop motion video is brilliant- and not just because it uses 2770 timlapsed still framed shots across America. Mike, the handsome star of this viral (apparently) walks from New York to San Francisco. You can even see his trip highlights on this google map. Levi's advertising aside, doesn't it just make you want to embark on a cross-country walking trip?!

Ps- You don't need a new pair of levi's to walk. In fact you don't need trousers at all to walk the walk.

(Spotted on Welovestopmotion)

Grow your own home!

2010-07-26T15:08:52Z

Mitchell Joachim is an urban designer with a vision for sustainable, organic architecture.

I tweeted about his gloriously insane but quite possibly genius-tinged short TED talk about growing homes from plants and meat earlier in the year.

Now it's up online so judge for yourself. If the idea of low-carbon housing grown from plants or sphincter muscles sounds like your cup of tea, then put the kettle on and settle back - this is the talk for you.

Grown your own clothes

2010-07-26T11:54:32Z

Well, sort of.

Imagine if we could grow clothing...BioCouture aims to address ecological and sustainability issues around fashion. The BioCouture research project is harnessing nature to propose a radical future fashion vision. We are investigating the use of bacterial-cellulose, grown in a laboratory, to produce clothing. Our ultimate goal is to literally grow a dress in a vat of liquid...

Suzanne Lee, a Senior Research fellow at Central St. Martins is the mastermind behind Bio-Couture. It's an cross-discipline experiment involving scientists and designers, using cellulose bacteria to create sustainable, minimalist but functional clothing.

The process involves mixing bacteria with yeast and sweetened tea which makes fibres. The fibres get dried out and they form a leathery like substance. Various fruits and vegetables like blueberries and beetroot act as the dyes, by staining the fabrics.

Although seems a bit crazy sci-fi-esque (crazy good, not crazy scary) but could have a really big impact on the fashion and textiles industry.

(Spotted on Bio-Couture)

Google the Wind Engine

2010-07-23T09:56:42Z

Google is a noun, adjective and verb. It is also an internet giant. Now, Google may just become your next energy provider. Yesterday, the company announced a $38.8 million deal with NextEra Energy Resources for wind energy supply for the next 20 years.

There's this viral statistic going around that half a millilitre of water is needed for every Google search. I wonder if now, the new stat will be something about how much of a Google search is powered by the wind.

Now, although Google has made these investments into wind energy to work towards carbon neutrality, there has been a bit of speculation over the company selling some of the energy purchased back into the grid. Here's what Google have to say:

In this case, we’re buying renewable energy directly from its source – the wind farm. We cannot use this energy directly, so we’re reselling it back to the grid in the regional spot market – but retiring the RECs associated with the power. By obtaining RECs through the purchase of green power, our deal has a greater impact on the renewable industry than simply buying “naked” RECs from third parties; our long-term commitment directly frees up capital for the developer to build more wind projects.

Google's direct investment into wind energy is helping the clean energy develop in infrastructure, but it may also be the catalyst for other companies to follow suit.

The energy market just got a lot more exciting.

(Spotted on Google, obviously)

All Of Me

2010-07-13T18:45:00Z

You wouldn’t buy a ticket to a film and walk out half-way through would you? (Unless it had Miley Cyrus in it). Anyway, don’t do that with stuff, use it all up. You know it wants you to. Every pixel of this film was photographed by Richard Laing, and all the shots, every single one, directed by Michael Wright. The film was edited by Daniel McGuinness using nearly all of the footage, with total thanks to th1ng and of course Louis Armstrong and songwriters Gerald Marks and Seymour Simons.

Short Sharp Showercast

2010-06-16T06:59:00Z

Lose the leisurely lathering and stop dawdling in the douche - take Short Sharp Showers to save water and CO2 and BO(2). Don't sing Bohemian Rhapsody (6m), sing a short sharp number by Matthew And The Atlas, The Inner Banks, Blane Lyon, Tom Williams & The Boat, John Hegley, The Meanies, Zeep, or Martin Jones instead.

Stay Grounded Dance

2010-04-08T17:29:00Z

If you watched our Strange Meeting video and can't get the song at the end out of your head, blame Michael Mertens at Escape Route who wrote this magnificent piece of catchy electro-disco-skiffle-o-billy-Hi-NRG-trance-funk.

Quiz

2010-03-09T13:25:00Z

Strange Meeting

2010-01-22T00:25:00Z

How do you meet people half way round the world, dance in your pyjamas and Stay Grounded? Videoconferencing is the answer, Fay Ripley stars in the very funny Strange Meeting video that shows you how. Kelly: Fay Ripley Bob: Daniel Philpott Gerry: Arril Johnson Helmut: Marc Danbury Watanabe: Kinue Kato represented by AJSW www.ajsw.org.uk Denise: Lorraine Joseph Director of photography: Steven Murphy Additional photography: Richard Laing Film Editor: Lisa Chan Music: Michael Mertens at Escape Route Locations thanks to: Rothschild and The Alphabet Bar And thanks to all at th1ng and th2ng Written and directed by: Michael Wright No flights were taken to make this Green Thing video

Stay Grounded on the Videophone Guide

2010-01-22T00:03:00Z

Find out the quality, price and IQ requirement of the world's most popular video-conferencing kit in this reasonably thorough and totally foolproof Green Thing guide to Staying Grounded on the Videophone. * <a href='http://www.skype.com'>Skype</a> * <a href='http://www.google.com/chat/video'>Google Video Chat</a> * <a href='http://www.apple.com/macosx/what-is-macosx/ichat.html'>iChat</a> * <a href='http://get.live.com/messenger'>Windows Messenger</a> * <a href='http://messenger.yahoo.com'>Yahoo Messenger</a> * <a href='http://www.aim.com'>AIM</a> * <a href='http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/livemeeting/default.aspx'>Microsoft Live Meeting</a> * <a href='http://www.dimdim.com/products/dimdim_editions_pro.html'>Dim Dim</a> * <a href='http://www.webex.co.uk/product-overview/index.html'>Webex</a> * <a href='http://www.megameeting.co.uk'>Mega Meeting</a> * <a href='http://www.adobe.com/uk/products/acrobatconnectpro'>Adobe Acrobat Connect Pro</a> * <a href='http://www.nefsis.com/Best-Video-Conferencing-Software/index-internet-conferencing.html'>Nefsis</a> * <a href='http://www.polycom.co.uk/products/telepresence_video/video_conference_systems/index.html'>Polycom</a> * <a href='http://h20338.www2.hp.com/enterprise/us/en/halo/products.html'>HP Halo</a> * <a href='http://www.eyenetwork.com/'>Eyenetwork</a>

Copenhagen Summit Images

2009-12-09T12:51:00Z

We've partnered with citizen-journalism website Demotix (http://www.Demotix.com) to bring you streamed images direct from the Copenhagen conference. Between 7th - 18th December, Demotix will stream images direct from their freelance journalists and amateurs in Copenhagen to Green Thing. Each day we'll also pick and blog a photograph to sum up the mood of the conference as the events unfold.

Dr Will Powers

2009-12-02T11:35:00Z

Amazero

2009-12-02T11:35:00Z

Most Useless Gift

2009-11-23T13:50:00Z