Archive for the ‘inspiring’ Category

Who on earth cares?

Sunday, January 6th, 2008

Climate change is one of the biggest challenges facing Australians today. It’s up to all of us – individuals, business and government – to act
quickly and ensure we protect this wonderful country for our kids and their kids too.

Who On Earth Cares brings together Australians from all walks of life who want to want to see Australia reduce its spiralling levels of greenhouse pollution and avoid dangerous climate change. Who On Earth Cares shows what we are all doing in our lives to save energy and helps each of us let our politicians know we want leadership and real solutions to this important issue.

Each of us really can make a difference, but together we can do even more. Put yourself on the map today at www.whoonearthcares.com to show you care about climate change.

The above are not my words, but the words supplied by the campaign itself. I think they would have said it better than me though. The only thing I would add is that I think this is a nice visual idea. I like visual ideas to represent information.

Posted in environment, inspiring, local community, politics | No Comments »

A mantra for 2008

Thursday, January 3rd, 2008

“You never change things by fighting the existing reality. To change something, build a new model that makes the existing model obsolete.” - Buckminster Fuller

Posted in ZeroWaste, apple, art, environment, inspiring, local community, peace, politics | No Comments »

The Story of Stuff

Thursday, December 6th, 2007

Ok, so I have a few iPods and in many ways I should not be the ideal bringer of this news, but ‘the story of stuff’ is not trying to tell us that we can’t have stuff, but that we do need to think about how we are producing this stuff. At the end of this 20min presentation (click above image) there are 2 things that you can do.

Discover handmade, locally-made, non-toxic products. And accept that the higher price is a more realistic price. This is a good place to start.

If you want to better understand these closed loop ideas etc, then you can watch a video by one of the leaders in this kind of thinking. His thoughts and actions, are so inspiring. His name is William MacDonough. The concept is called ‘Cradle to Cradle’.

Posted in ZeroWaste, environment, inspiring, politics | No Comments »

He’s back…

Wednesday, December 5th, 2007

Mark van Gurp was the founder of houtlust.nl, a weblog about social adverting that I was following everyday until it suddenly stopped. So like many others I joined his facebook group on the promise that houtlust.nl would return. And now it has but under a different name. Osocio.org is houtlust 2.0, and it is jam packed with cool stuff. Get an idea of what Osocio is then check it out. Now is a good excuse to learn about RSS.

Osocio is dedicated to social advertising and non-profit campaigns. It’s the place where marketing and activism collide. Formerly known as the Houtlust Blog, Osocio is the central online hub for advertisers, ad agencies, grassroots, activists, social entrepreneurs, and good Samaritans from around the globe.

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World AIDS Week

Thursday, November 29th, 2007

This week is World AIDS Week. It is about educating and raising awareness about AIDS. This is definitely a problem that needs the worlds attention especially when it comes to Africa. But just last night we were watching a TEDTalk by Emily Oster where she argues that education and awareness may only be effective where other problems don’t already exist. Here findings show that if the life expectancy of an area is already low then it is often the case that the same area will have a high number of HIV/AIDS cases. In a sense she suggests that treating other things along side education and awareness may be the most effective way of dealing with the spread of AIDS. It is a very interesting talk that I feel shows you how you can look at a problem from different angles and I urge you to click on the image above to watch the talk.

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An 11th Hour Opportunity

Monday, November 19th, 2007

Posted in environment, inspiring, movies | No Comments »

ONE LAPTOP PER CHILD

Monday, November 12th, 2007

12 Nov 2007

Dear Morgan,

Thank you for your contribution of $200.00 to the One Laptop per Child Foundation. Further we confirm that no tangible benefits were received by you, the donor, in exchange for the gift referenced above.

The mission of the One Laptop per Child (OLPC) movement is to ensure that every school-aged child in the lesser-developed parts of the world is able to engage effectively with their own personal laptop, networked to the world, so that they, their families and their communities can openly collaborate as they learn and learn about learning together.

The OLPC Foundation is focused on enhancing and sustaining learning among those children, their families and communities in lesser developed communities by ensuring rich, diverse and open access to innovative learning materials and by encouraging interactive learning, communication and exploration with their XO laptops. For this purpose the Foundation provides grants and other support for the development and use of collaborative learning resources and other initiatives that enrich children’s learning and learning about learning. We will also provide support the purchase of laptops for children.

Your contribution will help us move forward with these important programs for children. Please tell your friends and colleagues about the One Laptop per Child program (www.laptop.org) and encourage them also to support our mission.

Sincerely,

Robert D. Fadel
Treasurer,
One Laptop per Child Foundation

NOTE: This donation was made with Urban Grind funds even though it has been addressed to me personally. We just gave a laptop to a child in another country. How cool is that?

Posted in inspiring, peace | No Comments »

farmer john is coming to town

Thursday, November 8th, 2007

Food Connect is proudly hosting farmer John Peterson and two special movie screenings of his award winning film on Dec 1st at Ahimsa House, Horan Street, West End.

Screening Times: 5:30pm & 8:30pm.
$60 - Families (2 adults & 2 children),
$25 - Adults,
$20 - Concession/Student Cards,
$15 - Under 15’s
$10 - Over 5’s

Call Food Connect for further details and bookings: (07) 3216 7555

Oh and while you are at it. Sign up for Food Connect. They are our local example of what the movie is all about - Community Supported Agriculture.

Posted in environment, inspiring, local community, movies, peace | No Comments »

christmas food drive

Wednesday, November 7th, 2007

For most people Christmas is a time to celebrate and share in the magic of Christmas. However, for many families in our local community this time of year can be particularly tough. With increasing financial pressures being placed on families many face a difficult Christmas.

Each year Communify Qld in conjunction with Rotary conducts a food and toy drive to assist families experiencing financial hardship. We are asking local people to support this project by donating non perishable food items in the box provided.

With your help we can continue supporting families and individuals that would otherwise not have a Christmas meal or gift to give their children. All donations will go directly to families through food hampers, ensuring they are able to celebrate Christmas together.

Your donation will make a difference to someone’s Christmas.

You can find more info about Communify Qld’s programs at their website. Urban Grind will be endeavoring to do more with them in the future, and are glad to have found a local organisation that is servicing the social needs of Paddington and surrounding suburbs. It looks like they are doing great things, so if you have not heard of them please check out their website and look at ways that you might be able to help them to help those that need it in our community.

Posted in customers, inspiring, local community, peace | 3 Comments »

Freedom Writers

Tuesday, October 16th, 2007

Now I know what you are thinking because I was thinking it too. You’re thinking ‘Hasn’t Michelle Pfeiffer has already done that one?’ Freedom Writers is one of those Female teacher saves the gang kids movies. As much as I kind of love those stories, I found myself side-stepping this one for weeks at the video shop, and to be honest if it wasn’t for $1 movie night and a choice between Freedom Writers and Mark Wahlberg in Shooter I still might not have got it out.

We loved it. It is a great story. So much more than we were expecting. It is inspirational and well acted (I thought). It is a heart string pulling tear jerker but personally I like a movie that moves me. I hope that you get to see it, especially you Micky. If any of you do happen to miss it I will be getting it for the shop, as I really do think it is worth it.

Posted in inspiring, movies, peace | 1 Comment »

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