The hundreds of choices we make each day impact the environment. Sometimes it’s a big decision… sometimes it’s as small as changing your toothbrush.

The plastic in tooth brushes has bothered me for a long time. When I used to rock climb we would reuse our toothbrushes to clean the holds but after that it still had to be thrown away. It doesn’t seem like much plastic but think of how many you might have personally thrown away in your own life the multiply that by everyone on the planet that is using a plastic toothbrush right now.

Made from bamboo and designed in Brisbane by a dentist. And as far as I can tell they are really good value. Read more on their website: The Environmental Toothbrush

As you might know we had a movie night planned at Urban Grind for this Wednesday night. The bad news is that the organiser has decided not to go ahead. The good news is that you can still watch this amazing documentary online for free. Watch HOME online for free.

Home is a 2009 documentary by Yann Arthus-Bertrand. The film is almost entirely composed of aerial shots of various places on Earth. It shows the diversity of life on Earth and how humanity is threatening the ecological balance of the planet. Source: Wikipedia

Our family volunteered last Sunday at our very first Permablitz and it was amazing. If you have never heard of Permablitz check out: blitzbrisbane.org. I think nearly 100 people turned up to volunteer their time to help build gardens for the school children of Seven Hills state school. At a guess more than half of them were not parents from the school, they were just passionate permaculturists that desire to see as many people as possible growing their own food.

In simplest terms, once you volunteer at 3 Permablitz events you are then eligible for the the Permablitz team to come out to your house and build your professionally designed garden. It was amazing to see how many people just turned up with all their tools and got busy.

So if you have been talking about having a vege garden one day but didn’t know where to start then consider signing up to volunteer at a Permablitz or 3. You get to learn as you go and eventually you get your own garden. And it’s seriously great, family friendly, feel good fun.

Over 16 million is the estimated number of mobile phones stored in cupboards and drawers all over Australia. 31% of mobile phone users have 2 or more old mobiles at home. 70% have 1 old mobile at home. If you are one of them you can now drop your old phones into Urban Grind and we will organise to have them sent off to MobileMuster for recycling.

Over 90% of the materials in mobile phones can be recovered and used as raw materials for new products.

MobileMuster give some pretty good reasons for recycling electronics:

• prevent pollution and protect our environment
• minimise solid and hazardous waste going to landfill
• recover resources to manufacture new products
• reduce the need to use raw materials and save our natual resources

Here is another very good reason: Conflict Metals

Facts from the One Day Without Shoes website…

• In some developing nations, children must walk for miles to school, clean water and to seek medical help.
• Cuts and sores on feet can lead to serious infection.
• Often, children cannot attend school barefoot.
• In Ethiopia, approximately one million people are suffering from Podoconiosis, a debilitating and disfiguring disease caused by walking barefoot in volcanic soil.
• Podoconiosis is 100% preventable with basic foot hygiene and wearing shoes.

Awareness is nice but how do we help these children? By buying a pair of shoes from TOMS SHOES. You see “TOMS was founded on a simple premise: For every pair you purchase, TOMS will give a pair of shoes to a child in need. One for One.”

So it’s fashionably easy to help put a pair of shoes on a child’s feet.

One Day Without Shoes
TOMS SHOES

So TEDx Brisbane is almost here and they have just released the Speaker List and it is a cracker. This is going to be a great TED event and right in our back yard. Very sad if you are a TED fan that missed out. I can sympathize with you as Urban Grind in partnership with Di Bella Coffee is sponsoring the event with free coffees for attendees which means that I will be lucky to see any of the talks on the day. I am honoured to be able to support such an event as this but have you seen that speaker list? It is going to be an inspiring day. And we have Carl Lindgren & Paul Fairweather to thank. They have done an amazing job putting it all together.

If you do have a ticket. Be sure to get there early and register first. Once registered you can head down to the Ideas Worth Spreading Tent and get a free coffee. Coffee will also be offered free for both morning tea and lunch time breaks.

To get in the mood for TEDx you could check out this amazing talk by Aimee Mullins. Such an amazing women.

“Adversity is just change that we have not adapted to yet.”

Aimee Mullins: The opportunity of adversity

But the hot topic at the moment is Cap & Trade or some variation of that. At first I thought it was a very good idea or at least a good place to start. Now I am pretty sure it is not a good idea and fear that it might in fact be a very bad idea. I would love to hear your thoughts but first please watch the video Cap & Trade, made by the same guys that made The Story of Stuff.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Click here to view the embedded video.

I have been thinking about solutions a lot at the moment so instead of trying to get your attention on the dangers of man made climate change I thought I might point you to a positive story of man made climate change that you might find even more unbelievable. What ever your position on climate change I am sure you will find this story amazing, inspiring and empowering. Sure we as humans have the capacity to destroy our environment but we also have the capacity to repair it. Now if we could just all be big enough to accept the responsibility the way Willie Smits has.

By piecing together a complex ecological puzzle, biologist Willie Smits has found a way to re-grow clearcut rainforest in Borneo, saving local orangutans — and creating a thrilling blueprint for restoring fragile ecosystems.