Archive for the ‘environment’ Category

The Story of Bottled Water

Thursday, March 25th, 2010

I promise that the next Urban Grind will not sell bottled water. I have cared about this for a while and it is time I got serious about it too. The whole bottled water thing really is crazy. Just the price we pay is crazy enough. But thanks (again) to Annie Leonard we have a great little animation that spells out the situation to make it easy for us to make the decision to stop drinking bottled water. I really do hope that you check out The Story of Bottled Water. I also can’t wait to see a Doco called Tapped on the same subject.

Posted in alternative media, design, environment, inspiring, movies, urban grind, zeroWaste | 1 Comment »

TEDx Brisbane next weekend.

Saturday, February 27th, 2010

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

Posted in alternative media, design, environment, friends, inspiring, local community, personal, urban grind | 2 Comments »

So what does Cap & Trade mean?

Thursday, December 10th, 2009

So I have tried to flog a little mini doco called The Story of Stuff for a while now and if you have not seen it yet please do… it’s relevance will be around for too long I think.

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.

Posted in alternative media, design, environment, inspiring, movies, peace, politics | 3 Comments »

Christmas Shmistmus

Monday, December 7th, 2009

So most people that know me know that I am not a big fan of Christmas. For so many years it was not a great time for family as we seems to fight every year though that is much better these days. I love the holiday but I would have a holiday for your birthday if I could. I am not religious though I would be if one could truly train to be a Jedi Knight. And when it comes to gifts it was special when we were kids and our parents would have to save all year just to buy us gifts for christmas, the rest of the year was spent waiting for christmas. But now most kids including the big kid in me can have his christmas whenever he wants. And now that I like to think about the planet and how we waste I can’t these days look past the waste that Christmas can be. This is going somewhere… but before it does and while we are on the topic of waste… please, please buy locally made or from your local small business, fairtrade, eco friendly or not at all. So my point… is to show you how the whole world can reduce (read eliminate) the use of wrapping paper.

Posted in design, environment, inspiring, zeroWaste | 1 Comment »

Is all climate change by man bad?

Thursday, October 15th, 2009

Today is Blog Action Day when bloggers all around the world are encouraged to write about a single topic worth highlighting and this years topic is Climate Change. A topic overwhelmingly chosen by participants, which means that this is not just another climate change campaign organised by a small group. People want to talk about this topic. So what do I have to say about Climate Change.

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.

Posted in alternative media, design, environment, inspiring | No Comments »