post

Green From The Ground Up: On your Bike

Some people argue that we can’t make a difference, that only corporations or governments have the muscle to work on the huge ecological problems we’re all facing, that carbon emissions are someone else’s problem. So its refreshing to see someone that sees things differently and acts on the difference. Credit to 21st Century Citizen for writing about someone worthy of the name: Steve Loo.

We’re all part of the problem, so therefore we must be part of the change.

Pedal power – that’s roots. Here are Steve’s trails to sustainability:

1. Using my bike as my main form of transportation including winter time (I still drive once a week through carsharing)

2. Using less paper (in fact, I haven’t bought any new paper in 3 years);

3. Having not just shorter showers but also having staggered and fewer showers; recently we bought a dual flush toilet. Woohoo!

4. Creating my own artistic notebooks reusing old materials

5. Becoming more integrated with my local economy – not just local foods but also locally made products and services (yay Calgary Dollars)

6. Organizing and promoting documentary screenings focusing on social justice and environmental issues, and showcasing local activists working on local causes

7. Gardening (with mixed success but still trying)

8. Questioning and challenging our politicians, journalists, teachers and other “professionals” (along with fellow students) regarding government policy and media portrayal of all the issues

9. Encouraging my friends to take up more sustainable lifestyles while emphasizing that this is progression rather than perfection.

Just because the world is speeding up doesn’t mean you have to.

Photo courtesy of sandcastlematt. This post is nigh on perfect for the car obsessives over at Re*Move.

post

Paris Hilton and The Eco Whitewash

I make no apologies for the blatant traffic whoring, but this woman is the most powerful social object (hence driver of conversations) in the known universe. 21st Century Citizen has the inside skinny on the new overuse of “eco”. “Skinny” and “barf-bag” in the same blog post- could there be a connection? What I do know is that if Paris starts espousing green causes I hope we come to praise, not bury her. Either way it will drive up our media stats, whether we’re MSM or the endiest end of a Long Long Tail.

the Art of War- indeed…

post

Go Green Nippon Style: Turn Your Server Off at Night

I recently met with Fujitsu Siemens Computer about green data initiatives, based on what the joint venture calls IT with a sense of responsibility. The underlying hook to the narrative is Japanese/German engineering excellence (not a bad peg, I am sure you’d agree).

Bernhard Brandwitte, director of product marketing for FSC and perhaps more importantly in the context of behavioural change an excellent story-teller, told me something that really rocked me on my heels: in Japan its common to turn production servers off at night. Yup- apparently the Japanese insurance industry tries to avoid fires in plants at night by offering much cheaper cover for companies that power down after dark.

What does that mean in practice? A much more coherent backup and recovery strategy for one. A commitment to not 24/7, not follow the Sun, not have uptime for its own sake.

I have been thinking about this issue for a while, but it was a tweet from Chris Dalby this morning that pulled the trigger:

yellowpark is going green. I’m turning my server off each night 🙂

Chris is someone I deeply respect. Another cool thing is that he won’t shop at supermarkets- all his shopping is packaging free, from a local farm shop. When he tweets a delicious lunch menu you know the vegetables were never wrapped in plastic. That is a pretty good metaphor for Chris: He is very real, very passionate, and focuses on local issues. He is all about change from the grassroots.

Chris’ commitment to server-off computing is cool because he is an expert in technologies such as Windows Small Business Server, which he sells into small and medium-sized businesses. I wonder if he could set up a service helping SMBs become more green, given his bona fides?

All I know is that much as we should all turn off our appliances at night, and our cellphone chargers, so we should ask – do we really need that server on all night?

 

picture credit: Chris’s dog, from his moo cards, saying… “Turn that bloody server off, I’ll be your watchdog…”

disclosure: Chris is a friend.

post

The Daily Dump: Great Idea, Slightly Dodgy Name

Kris yesterday pointed to the DailyDump, an Indian startup trying to encourage composting. I like the way its setting out to mix high and low tech, taking advantage of Indian labour costs to get networked things done.

“Composting pots and vessels made of biodegradable terracotta in a variety of shapes and sizes can be purchased on the website, which features a guide to help customers choose which is right for their needs. Rakes, spoons, spatulas and other supplies are also available. The website offers extensive information and tips, such as what items can and can’t compost. Consumers who lack the time or desire to care for their composting pot can select a weekly, fortnightly or monthly service plan, with a Daily Dump ‘servicewalla’ dropping by to take care of maintenance: cleaning pots, adding dry leaves and stirring the compost. Those who don’t mind doing their own maintenance can opt out of the service plan and call Daily Dump when they have an issue that needs to be addressed by a professional.”

That’s the charm- a website and a “servicewalla”… We’re going to see some really interesting business models come out ofIndia, that’s for sure.  Sadly I can’t find the link to that story about dabbawallahs. You don’t have to automate everything for efficiency, just the right things.

We’re lucky enough in Hackney that the council’s recycling service runs to compost as well, so we already have a council-taz supported compostwalla. But private, rootsy, solutions to public problems are always interesting. For a bonus link WorldChanging has the story too.

I wonder what an open source water improvement project could learn from the business model, given WorldChanging also points out:

“They also encourage the development of micro-enterprise by training young people in compost pot design, composting and service.”

post

Why Don’t You Just Turn Off The Television And Do Something Less Boring Instead?

From 21st Century Citizen come suggestions for small things that could make a difference in the fight against global warming. One of the suggestions is turn off the TV and do anything. Join the Anything But TV club. Seems fair. We need to engage with challenges, not just watch them flickering past.

My own favorite small thing to make a difference is turning off the plugs at the wall when I leave the office, and when we turn off the TV in the evening at home. There is no need to power all of those appliances-or more pertinently their power supplies-overnight. Its good to turn off the plugs rather than just devices because otherwise you forget about phone chargers and so on…

post

On Clover-choked New Zealand, Christine Keeler and Food Miles

christine keeler

According to 21st Century Citizen the New York Times today carries an opinion piece about New Zealand-based scientists who “recently published a study challenging the premise that more food miles automatically mean greater fossil fuel consumption”.

Paraphrasing Christine Keeler’s immortal words: “Well, they would say that, wouldn’t they?”

Who sponsored the research?

Given this claim:

“they found that lamb raised on New Zealand’s clover-choked pastures and shipped 11,000 miles by boat to Britain produced 1,520 pounds of carbon dioxide emissions per ton while British lamb produced 6,280 pounds of carbon dioxide per ton, in part because poorer British pastures force farmers to use feed.” [italics mine]

my money is on a quango connected to the New Zealand Lamb Board.

picture borrowed from the V&A museum. Its nice to see the contact sheet rather than just the iconic chair shot.

post

Grassroots green and declarative living

Network and community effects are always more powerful than individual efforts. Building communities around Green profiles makes a lot of sense. Treehugger here asks about whether people will be willing to put up with more intrusive but smarter metering. It seems to me that if social software teaches us anything its that people are more than willing to share information about themselves. Privacy is an incredibly complex thing and depends utterly on context and intention. makemesustainable is trying to tap into our willingness to share, to make us more sustainable.

Yesterday I wrote that at RedMonk has yet to formulate a policy to lower our carbon footprint, but I also said that tracking our travel via the DOPPLR service was one potential route to reporting on our footprint. Arguably using DOPPLR already contributes to better environmental effects- if it saves one piece of travel by allowing trips to be “batched” then we all benefit. DOPPLR already knows how far I have traveled this year- about 36,421k miles.

What is declarative living? Its the willingness to share. It will likely be a huge benefit for greener living. DOPPLR at first glance looks like a service for traveling more, but with the right tools in place we can travel less. Which is nice- with any luck we can all spend more time at home with those we love.

post

On Africa: The Bush Administration Does the Right Thing

And that’s something you don’t hear from me too often. According to the New York Times the US will now be able to buy local cereal crops when administering aid, rather than shipping US surpluses abroad. Grain dumping overseas is a bad thing- it punishes local farmers by wrecking market prices, and uses up unnecessary food miles. This article explains the problem in some depth.

Small changes can lead to large effects, while unintended consequences are a problem for any policy area. So its very good to see the US administration making it easy to buy local crops at times of extreme need. Buying local helps the economy in ways dropping in grain never could – and we use less oil. This is aid through the grassroots.

post

Global Action Plan: Where is the blog?

Global Action Plan looks to be a very interesting organisation, predicated as it is on grassroots and behavioural change. According to Kable, GAP is currently doing some very interesting research which will be shortly published under the name The Inefficient Truth – what happens, for example, when government mandates force inefficiencies (what will be the environment impact of national ID card infrastructure, for example?). GAP looks really interesting but if its serious about fostering a conversation it needs to start using some social software tools- a blog would be a good first start. I would be willing to help the organisation on the front, voluntarily.