Archive for the ‘inspiring’ Category
One Day Without Shoes
Thursday, April 8th, 2010
Today I walked 9kms from my house to work in barefeet. It took me 2 hours. It hurt a lot and I have one blister on the sole of my foot. But I did it to raise awareness of children in countries that live everyday without shoes. A fact that creates many social issues for these children and their families. Issues that we don’t have to face here in Australia. I was planning to catch the train home barefoot and walk the last part home but thought better of it as I probably wouldn’t have been able to work tomorrow.
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
Posted in alternative media, environment, inspiring, social responsibility | No Comments »
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 Update
Tuesday, March 23rd, 2010
TEDx Brisbane was nothing short of a raging success. It was a big day for all but the coffee flowed well with a lot of help from friends and the wonderful team (also friends) at Di Bella Coffee who donated their time to support TEDx Brisbane. A big well done and thank you has to go out to Paul Fairweather and Carl Lindgren who put the whole event together. Simply an amazing job.
Posted in alternative media, friends, inspiring, local community, peace, urban grind | No Comments »
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 | No Comments »
Surprise!
Tuesday, February 9th, 2010
I just read a short story about throwing a surprise birthday party on a train. It made me so happy that my eyes watered and I wanted to share it with you too. The idea of strangers in a small room like a train carriage reminded me of Urban Grind – Paddington and West End. I am going to suggest it before you do. Urban Grind on a train carriage could be very cool. Anyway, one of the things I always tried to do at Urban Grind was to start conversations. My best Urban Grind days were the ones where I could stand back and look at the room and everyone was so engrossed in conversation that it was noisy and I didn’t matter. And honestly the worst days were the ones where the room would be full but virtually silent – uncomfortable. No energy, lifeless.
Surprise! by Improv Everywhere. Well worth the read.
Posted in design, family, friends, funny, inspiring, local community, peace, personal, urban grind | No 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.
http://www.vimeo.com/7908590Posted 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.
http://www.vimeo.com/2321507Posted 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 »
Validation Short Film
Tuesday, October 6th, 2009
This film made me smile a lot and was so touching that I couldn’t help but shed a few happy tears. I know you will love it because you are awesome! And when I say awesome I mean it with a Rhino style emphasis… click here for the full effect of that statement.
Thanks to Operation Nice for the heads up on this one.
Posted in alternative media, art, funny, inspiring, peace | 5 Comments »
An Awesome Book
Monday, September 21st, 2009
Our friends at map magazine first alerted us to this book as one of them there, in particular Carl Lindgren is very big on reminding us all to dream. I have lots of fun readying this with my son Oscar and every night as he is going to bed we all ask each other what we are going to dream about. We will continue to teach him to dream as he gets older and remind him that he can do anything if he ever forgets (he is pretty sure that he can already do anything that he wants).
So check out the Awesome Book. Buy it for you kids, as a gift or just for yourself. Find whatever excuse you need, cause for every book that you buy one gets given to a child for free. Get more details at the Awesome World Foundation. The video is well worth watching.
Posted in alternative media, art, design, family, inspiring | No Comments »
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“You never change things by fighting the existing reality. To change something, build a new model that makes the existing model obsolete.” - Buckminster Fuller
