Archive for the ‘ZeroWaste’ Category

Until the sun shines out of your arse.

Monday, December 10th, 2007

Lets be honest, there are people that when it comes to the environment, they do think that the sun shines out of their arses.

Source: Until the sun shines out of your arse - Osocio, Social Advertising and Non-profit Campaigns

Posted in ZeroWaste, environment, funny | 1 Comment »

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 »

Toyota Prius Commercial

Saturday, November 10th, 2007

Via :: caradvice.com.au and my bro.

Posted in ZeroWaste, environment | No Comments »

Climate Friendly again.

Monday, October 1st, 2007

Just a little note to remind you that Urban Grind offsets its emissions using Climate Friendly.

Posted in ZeroWaste, environment | 3 Comments »

International PARK(ing) Day

Monday, September 24th, 2007

So what is PARK(ing) Day? Check out their website for the best explaination, but for me PARK(ing) Day is about challeging our ideas of space. I think it is good to question the norms. Cars are a very big environmental issue. Imagine for a moment that we did not need our car parks anymore, how would we use them? In San Fran they estimate that 70% of public space is used for cars in some way. That is a lot of possible park space or other space. Grass keeps the heat out and can keep the water in. Trees provide shade. Parks in general offer the opportunity for interaction. And this interaction is the bit I love.

We had some awesome conversations in the park. Sitting on the grass 2 feet from passing traffic seems to make you question. We met new people and were introduced to some new ideas. We slowed pedestrians and traffic. Many looked, but asked others what we were doing… only some asked us. So many walked past as though we were not there? The police were notified and drove past twice but did not stop? The ABC said they were coming but never arrived? There was no sign of the Brisbane City Council who constantly remind me that they only have the resources to respond to complaints or easy tickets when the football is on. I draw 2 possible conclusions from not seeing the council, either no one complained and that in it’s own right is cool, or the council deems what we did as an acceptable use of this kind of public space. What ever it is they better be ready because PARK(ing) Day is here now, and it is only going to be bigger next year. www.parkingday.org

See a Time Lapse by Adz here. And some pics here.

Big thanks to my friends that helped and to Shelter Design (the shop behind us) for lending us the chairs and trees.

Posted in ZeroWaste, customers, environment, inspiring, peace | 5 Comments »

Walk to Work Day Oct 05

Tuesday, September 18th, 2007

This is a great idea. Being in Paddington we are one of the arteries into the city. Latrobe/Given Tce is not a bad walk into the city, and the more people that do the walk the less car fumes that we all have to breathe in on the way. The Urban Grind staff all walk most days. I personally find it a great way to get the blood flowing a bit before I have to start. I like to do my walk with an Audiobook and my iPod. It is good to see that there are already a lot of people in the area that do walk. www.walk.com.au

Posted in ZeroWaste, customers, environment, inspiring | 1 Comment »

Free Dvds To Borrow

Friday, August 31st, 2007

I have always felt that drinking coffee is a great way to have the important conversations. One of my customers told me how he lends out An Inconvenient Truth from his doctors surgery and I thought that the least I could do was the same. I have now decided to fill our back wall with socially conscious DVDs. See the list below for what we have so far. Click on the titles for a Preview.

An Inconvenient Truth
Who Killed the Electric Car
The End of Suburbia
Love Actually
Gandhi
The Awful Truth (Donated by a Customer)
Supersize Me

Follow our free dvds page to see the above list grow.

Posted in ZeroWaste, customers, environment, inspiring, movies, peace | No Comments »

If it’s yellow let it…

Sunday, August 19th, 2007

…mellow. If it’s brown flush it down. I have always wanted to do this. And with the Brisbane water crisis now is a great time to start. I never thought that Rachel would go for the idea, but I was so excited when she started doing it first. If everyone can agree in the house then this is a great idea. Not to be imposed on guests though, I would think. They can just go outside on the lemon tree.

We have also started doing the bucket in the shower thing and I am simply horrified at how quickly that it fills up. Easily 2 buckets a day. We put it on the plants. Another great idea that one of our customers does is to use the shower water in the toilet. They just turn the tap off to the Tank part of the toilet, and after a brown flush, you just manually fill the tank up again with one of the buckets from the shower. Their son came up with the idea I think. He is 12.

Posted in ZeroWaste, customers, environment, inspiring | 3 Comments »

Feeling under utilised? Try being the wind.

Monday, July 9th, 2007

Posted in ZeroWaste, environment, inspiring | 1 Comment »

A Manifesto for Sustainability in Design

Sunday, April 8th, 2007

This is great. I like this kind of thing. Straight to the point without being offensive, in fact often being amusing. It is a quick read that nicely covers some very cool things that would normally require about 4 or 5 books. I think from the authors our comment you can see that it is interesting.

I don’t like the word manifesto. It reeks of dogma and rules—two things I instinctually reject. I do love the way it puts things on the line, but I don’t like lines, or groups. So a manifesto probably isn’t for me. The other thing about manifestos is that they appear (or are written so as to appear) self-evident. This kind of a priori writing is easy, since you simply lay out what seems obviously—even tautologically—true. Of course, this is the danger of manifestos, but also what makes them fun to read. And fun to write. So I’ll write this manifesto. I just might not sign it.

Anyway, here they are. Exactly 1000 words: A Manifesto for Sustainability in Design

Posted in ZeroWaste, environment, inspiring | No Comments »

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