Urban Grind can now collect your old, no longer working mobile phones and send them off to be recycled thanks to our Mobile Muster box. We can take your accessories too, and the chargers. And until we close for Xmas, we will trade you a free coffee for your old mobile phone in an effort to get you digging in those draws and scamming your friends for their old phones. It is very exciting for us to be able to offer this at Urban Grind.
Monthly Archive for December, 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
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’.
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.
By now you have hopefully heard of GetUp!, the
(…)independent, grass-roots community advocacy organisation giving everyday Australians opportunities to get involved and hold politicians accountable on important issues.
Whether it is sending an email to a member of parliament, engaging with the media, attending an event or helping to get a television ad on the air, GetUp members take targeted, coordinated and strategic action.
GetUp does not back any particular party, but aims to build an accountable and progressive Parliament - a Parliament with economic fairness, social justice and environment at its core.
GetUp is a not-for-profit and receives no money from any political party or the government. We rely solely on funds and in-kind donations from the Australian public.
They have over 230,000 members and raised $1.14 million in the lead up to the recent election. This effort has been recognised as having a real effect on the election outcome that was. In short GetUp! gave a voice to the Australian public. It put the power back in the hands of the people. And instead of simply having to listen to the 2 party preferred campaigns GetUp! were able to use the money raised to air their own ads. GetUp! spoke for the people while the parties spoke for the parties.
Personally I voted for the Greens and gave preference to Labor. One the reasons I didn’t vote for Liberals is the way they play Democracy as if it were a card trick. Watch this hand while I do something else with the other hand. I know many liberal voters that are the first to defend democracy, but what does it mean when a Liberal senator sees GetUps! power to the people success as “a very regrettable development in Australian politics”(smh - 28.11.07).
If you are truly going to defend democracy then shouldn’t you be greeting with open arms anything that enables or better facilitates it?
