Water sources? Not from taps only.

I read with interest that occupants at the D’ Cempaka residential area are getting their water free. Are they stealing from the public water utilities? No, they are just occupants who bought homes with water tanks fitted to collect rainwater. Since it rains all year round in Malaysia, that is a very smart move.

Why use treated water to flush your toilet, wash cars, water your plants or do your cleaning up when you can collect rainwater from the environment? So, is rainwater the only source of supply for free water you can tap on?

If you answered yes to that, then you ought to take a look at the lists of possible sources of water from the environment posted on:

Wilderness Survival.

So, look around you. Are you living near one of these sources? I think the children would enjoy working on building gadgets to procure water that they can pick up from Wildwood Survival:

Plants

Wilderness

Tree through transpiration

Can we drink water from such sources? Now that is very ambitious. You need to learn some water Purification Processes.

What if the odour of the water from these sources is too strong to swallow? Add charcoals to the container of water and let it stand for 45 minutes before drinking. Picked that up from a free eBook, "Life and Death Matters: Must Have Water" by Discovery Channel.

Talk about being ambitious; Singapore beats us to it again. To curtail their reliance of buying water from Malaysia, they are recycling wastewater or sewage water. So, when you are down in Singapore and want to do the "being there done that" thing, make sure you buy a bottle of their "safe to drink" NEWater.



May be psychologically hard to swallow but this treated sewage water is, in fact, cleaner than the other sources of water in Singapore. So, who said that one cannot make money from waste?

Note: Photo of Bottles of NEWater posted here found on WikiMedia is taken by Huaiwei.

Walk the Talk

I did it! I suggested joining SlideShare's "The World's Best Presentation Contest 2008" to create green awareness. I also wrote about saving time and energy cooking planned-over meal. So, did I do anything about these suggestions?

Check it out! My contest presentation of "Perk It Up Mushroom Soup; A Planned-Over Meal":

Perk It Up Dishes

view presentation (tags: meal planned-over tutorial recipes)

Like this? Vote for me then.

Need tools? Borrow them!

Check out "Design for the World" and decide what kind of message you have for the inhabitants of the world.

Design for the World

view presentation (tags: mfa design manifesto social)

From these slides, my search for "Eco Design Foundation" led me to iShareStuff. This is the place you can go to if you want to save money and reduce waste by sharing stuff you have or need with friends and family.

So, before you buy infrequently used products or tools, register to take a look at what other users would be happy to lend you first. Like the idea? Then post what you are willing to lend and earn yourself more space in your home.

Find time to check out the following websites from the slides to see if any of them share your ideals. Share your designs on the world for a better tomorrow.

• Design Altruism Project

• Designers without Borders

• Design for Development

• Design for Social Impact

• Design for the World

• Eco Design Foundation

• New Economics Foundation

• The Graphic Imperative (Posters for Peace, Social Justice, and the Environment)

Pencils too short? Check this out...

I have shown you how I managed to make use of colour pencils when they become too short to hold. So, do you throw them away once they are no longer practical to hold on to?

I bet you will not if you can create work like this with them.

Pencil Art

Tags: Pencil Art

Containers that conserve.

I think these are neat containers. There are three different sizes, one bigger than the next so that you can store one inside another thus saving storage space. There is also a handle on top to hold spoons that came with each container.



I like it that the rim at the top of the container can be removed.



I do not have to pour my bag of sugar into the container. I just slip the whole bag into it...



...and then slip the rim on top of the plastic bag...



...before I put the cover back on.



That means that I do not have to wash the inside of the container when that pack of sugar is used up. I just slip a new packet in.

What a great water and time saving idea.

Heal with torn fabrics and roots.

Have you ever seen a figure of a head carved out of tree stump and roots? I bought one for a friend many years ago and was told that it was from China. The facial features are carved on the stump part of the wood while the roots form the beard.

It should be easy for one to find a suitable plant but to uproot and dry it to work on may be an effort. But if you are on a look out for them, you may be able to find them, all dried up, in parks or by the roadsides. But then it would be a pointless effort if you are not good at carving.

OK, let us not be so ambitious. How about working on the roots of plants that are already dying on you in your garden? What's the point? You can use the roots to create dolls and dress them up with torn fabric. What's the point? Yeah, you want to know if one can make a living out of making dolls, right?

Barb Kobe is doing just that through her dollmaking classes and eBooks. She created dolls with fibers, painted fabric and materials from nature, such as, roots, sticks and clay. She used them as therapeutic dolls to heal herself and to educate, transform beliefs and situations.

She has definitely found abundance from the abandoned. Don't you think?

Body Art & Paintings on...

I am talking about Car Body Art & Paintings. What did you think I was on about?

Car Body Art & Paintings

view presentation (tags: paintings paint photos painting)

This should inspire you to look into an idea about getting rid of eye sore old bangers and vandals off the streets.

Following are some ideas of what one can do with the painted vehicles if they cannot be driven anymore:

1) Use them as stalls in shopping complexes.
2) Place them at parks so that they can provide shade from sun or rain.
3) Use them as private cubicles in restaurants.
4) Make them into beds for children.
5) Use them as art decor for your home.
6) As a keepsake if the vehicle used to belong to someone you love.
7) Keep the children occupied playing with it while you do your chores.
8) Make it your time out space.

Running out of papers? Use your fingers.

My daughter loves to doodle on little message pads that we have at home. Though I am able to use the blank side to record the type of vegetable that I store in my fridge, if I am not able to find pictures of them in junkmails or use them as bookmarkers, I think it is still a waste of good paper.

So, how can I stop her without curtailing her creativity? Maybe I should start getting her to work on her fingers.

finger art

view presentation (tags: humor nice amazing beautiful)

That is so imaginative. Maybe one day she will progress to this standard.

Amazing hand painting

Tags: painting hand

That is a good idea to use for a party game or a puppet show for an event. It should be fun. Don't you think?

So, can one make a living with this kind of creativity? You bet! Emma Hack makes a living from painting bodies to create her 3D 'human wallpaper' effect for advertisements, events and exhibitions. You think it is only a fad? She has been at it for over 20 years!

Free eBook on Global Warming

This is a mind map created by Sharon Genovese about global warming and issues related to it. If you like what you see and would like further information relating to it, you can download the ebook Global Warming: A Mindmapper’s Guide to the Science and Solution.



Check out more of such maps in other languages on Live The Solution.

Creating a green awareness? Join a contest!

Join a contest and create a green awareness.

SlideShare presents - The World's Best Presentation Contest 2008

view presentation (tags: contests world worlds best)

Will this be the winner?

the world

view presentation

Or this...

Me

view presentation (tags: design warming global change)

Do one better if you can and submit it by 31 July 2008. Even if you do not win, you have started a green bud growing. As a winner, you can create another presentation to say that, "It pays to think green!".

Cooking? Save time, save egergy.

I like this article about "Cooking for One or Two" by Food and Nutrition Specialist, Julie Garden-Robinson, Ph.D., LRD. She has included tips on reducing portions of ingredients required for a recipe and I like the links to websites that provide simple to cook recipes.

I have learned a new word from her and its “planned-overs” for people who do not like to use “leftovers”. I like the notion of cooking in excess so that your can create another dish with your “planned-overs”.

Recently I fried extra sausages for my children for breakfast. For dinner, I used my “planned-overs” sausages to decorate another mashed potato dish.



That way I saved on gas and time cleaning my frying pan.

Another way to save on time and energy is to find recipes that you can cook quickly. Just google "Cook It Quick .pdf" and you should be able to find many ideas and tips on recipes you are interested in.  By do that I found this website, Cook It Quick where you can find some useful kitchen tips. 

Try to figure out ways to use less utensils to cook. For example, I learn from Michael Smith that you can use vegetables, such as, carrots, potatoes and onions to replace the rack you need for roasting. Just place your meat on top of the vegetables. Now you do not have an oily rack to clean up.

Watch him on "Chef at Home" and you will be able to catch more tips and tricks that will help shorten your cooking time.

Too poor for tools? Check this out.

Have you ever attended courses that require you to buy tools or equipment to learn? I have when I attended a costume jewellery making course. The specialised tools required are rather expensive but I have no regrets acquiring them because I managed to pick up the craft.

However, I noticed that a number of my course mates were regretting making the investment when they realised that this was not for them after all.

So, before you take up any courses, try to find free tutorials available on the web and improvise tools that you need. Maybe you have friends who can teach you a trick a two. See how things go before you put more money or efforts into learning.

Another good example would be wood carving. Before you buy the wood or tools, try working with bars of soap.

| View | Upload your own

Soap are soft enough so you do not need specialised carving tools as yet. You can try using the tool for popping pimples or blackheads. If the creations did not turn out well, throw them into your bath or use them to wash the toilet together with the shavings.

Following are some tools used in my creations that I have improvised from...

Balloon Stick

Supplement Bottles


...and substitute materials that I have used or thought of using:

Strings for Raquets

Magazine / Junkmail

Fishing tools

Cords from Paper Bag

So, don't waste your hard earned cash. Look out for more postings on "Substitute Material" or "Improvised Tools".

How do you like your eggs?

How do you like your eggs? Some like them hard boiled, some like the yolk oozing out of the white either half-boiled or fried. You are already aware that the artistic may like the shells painted but do you know that some like them carved?

Never heard of that? Then check this out.

| View | Upload your own

You don't think anyone could make a living with that? Gary LeMaster did! He is also selling tools that he is using in his trade. And he is not alone. There are close to 800 members in the EggArt Group Home Page he set up at Yahoo!

So, if you can get your hands on eggs of Ostrich Goose, Emu or Rhea remember that there is a community out there waiting to share their talents and inspire you. Here is another Master Eggshell Sculptor/Carver, Alan W. Rabon, discovered from YouTube.



It is a news worthy profession.

Don't waste thoes visuals. Stitch them!

You have the fabric and the visuals, now what? Learn to stitch or all those work created by artists on public domain, from years before 1923, will be lost and forgotten.

No fabric? Find them in:

1) clothes your family have outgrown
2) scraps from tailors
3) samples from fabric suppliers or manufacturer
4) netting or clothe packagings
5) Caps

No designs? Check out:

1) listing on Wikipedia:Public domain image resources.

2) my listings on Philosophy Recycled now and then for more leads.

Don't know how to stitch? Learn from Sharon's Dictionary of Stitches for Hand Embroidery and Needlework.

You can also refresh your old tees by painting the free images you have discovered on them.

| View | Upload your own

Like that? Read this:

10 Tips for Fabric Painting

Other material to paint on:

1) Egg

2) Bottles

3) Stones

4) Abandoned Cars

As easy as eating local or seasonal food.

If you think that reducing energy consumption is a great way to go green, then consider going seasonal or eating food that are grown or prepared locally.

CSR Vending

The best way for children to learn something new is when they are able to pick it up the fun way. So, let us teach them to recycle beverage cans by taking a leaf out of Art-o-mat's book, through vending machines that are no longer in use. Modify them so that the machines can accept recyclables.

So who is going to fund this project? Here are some ideas to work on:

1) Make it a corporate social responsibility for companies to place their advertisements on such machines. The advertisement fees can be used to acquire the vending machines.

2) The "reward" from the slot machine can be monetary or corporate gifts of companies who sponsor this green project. A sense of suspense can be created if the recyclers are not aware of the "reward" they are going to get when they drop their recyclables.

3) The vending machines can be placed in public areas, beside trash bins or schools' canteens. The schools can encourage students to create stuff made up of abandoned aka waste material for such machines. If this project is carried out globally, you can have creations of students from other countries placed in vending machines in the local schools in exchange.

4) The money raised from the recyclables dropped into the machine should also be able to generate funds to make it work.

To make it a success, work the following motivation points and strategies highlighted by by Aceti Associates

1) Sign strategy - A vending machine is large enough to be seen from a distance.
2) Outreach volunteer strategy - children who have enjoyed using the vending machine will become natural ambassador to this recycling project.
3) Recycling incentive - the gifts from the vending machine should attract participation.
4) Commitment strategy - create gifts in sets that will be dispensed singly so that children will recycle to collect complete sets.
5) Bins decal - the vending machine provides sufficient space for decals.

If you think that this is not likely to happen, then you ought to check out ENVIPCO. The founder of this company, Bruce DeWoolfson, invented what is called "reverse vending equipment" that can make automatic cash incentive pay out for returning used beverage containers.

Do a search for "recycling vending machine" and you will find many more of such manufacturers worldwide. This could well be a business opportunity to look into if you have the space for such machines in your outlets.

Need concert costumes? Paper and cardboard will do.

When you have a budget to meet creating costumes for your children's school concert, what can you do about it?

The kindergarten my children attended, charged RM50 for costumes required for year end concerts. Most of these creations are not suitable for street wear when they were returned to them after the event.

I have volunteered to create chef hats out of "mahjong" paper and wings of parrots out of plastic bags for children performing "Burung Kakak Tua". It is a pity I did not have any pictures of these to post on my blog but you can be be inspired by Ennio Marchetto.



At Instructables, you will be able to find a few costumes to create for your children for concerts or for some fun at home.

Explore using other kind of scrap materials. For more ideas, do a search on the web for "diy costumes for kids" or "diy (?) costumes". Type in the material you intend to use where the "?" is or go to the local library to find such books in the craft sections.

Here are some websites I have discovered:

Make Your Own Costumes, Masks and Face Paint on Squidoo

Costumes at About.com

Muhammad will go to the mountain.

Working on the phrase, "If the mountain will not come to Muhammad, then Muhammad will go to the mountain"; what would you do, other than complaining, when you noticed that people are not recycling as much as they should?

Me? I would ROM, that is, "Research", "Observe" and "Motivate".

First, I do a search and start collecting data from articles I have read and pick up points from members of GreenYes, a forum I am active in. Here are some that I have collected.

From GreenYes members on used beverage containers being trashed at events:
1) Problem observed: Percentage of beverage containers in the trash is directly related to the distance from the trash receptacle to the receptacle (recycling bin) for beverage containers.
Solution: Place containers receptacle (recycling bin) right next to the trash can.

2) People love to set them on either side of a doorway or path.
Solution: Recruiting volunteers to stand by the waste/recycle stations and coach folks in getting their waste into the right receptacle.

3) A useful link posted:
Barrier/Motivation Inventories by Aceti Associates provides influential factors through studies conducted to uncover what would stop or encourage someone to a specific "green" activity.

Here are some observations extracted from Aceti Associates:

1) Sign Strategy: When signs were posted indicating the number of aluminum cans deposited each week in recycling receptacles, can recycling increased by 65% at a Minnesota University.
My take: Place such signs in areas where recyclables are often left behind; either side of a doorway or path.

2) Outreach Volunteer Strategy: When outreach volunteers in Claremont, California personally provided non-recycling neighbors with recycling information, 28% of the non-participants began recycling curbside on a weekly basis. In contrast, when recycling information was simply dropped off to another group of non-recyclers, only 12% recycled every week. Other studies have shown that the outreach volunteer strategy can also be used effectively in drop-off communities.
My Take: Recruiting volunteers earlier mentioned does work.

3) School Recycling Incentive Program: In Cambridge, Massachusetts, monetary and non-monetary incentives, combined with other behavior change tools, led public schools to increase paper recycling by 148% over a period of three years.
My Take: Create ideas that would provide monetary and non-monetary incentives.

4) Commitment Strategy: Residents of Portland, Oregon who signed a commitment to recycle newspaper recycled 253% more than another group that simply had information dropped off at their door. Furthermore, the group that had made a written commitment continued to recycle more than the information-only group even after being informed that their commitment to the project was over.
My take: Brochures or tickets sold at events to include a commitment to recycle form.

5) Waltham Pilot Report: A pilot project conducted in the City of Waltham tested three different strategies that involved distributing a curbside bin decal to residents. The decal displayed photographs of recyclable items.
My Take: Putting trash can and recycling bin together would work better by pasting decal with photograph of recyclable item for each bin.

So, based on these points collected, what can I come up with to motivate Muhammad (recyclables abandoner) to go to the mountain (recycling bins)?

Look out for my write up on CSR Vending; an idea that would provide monetary and non-monetary incentives for recycling beverage cans.

Love creating minis? Sell them!

If you love creating but find that you tend not to complete large arty projects you take on, then it is time that you consider creating miniature artwork instead.

Is there a market for mini art pieces? Yes, if you can create your piece small enough to fit into a cigarette box. So, why must it be in cigarette box size? That's because Art-o-mat have been re-using retired cigarette vending machines to vend art and they have 82 active machines in various locations throughout the country.

They currently have 400 contributing artists from 10 different countries involved in this project. If you think you have the chance to make the grade, find out about Art-o-mat's submission process.

Would it be a waste of time to create a prototype of your creation for their review of acceptance? Check out this calculation. Accepted pieces are sold on the vending machine at USD5.00 per piece, so that means that it would not be too high priced to sell. You, the artist will receive $2.50 per sale and you will have to deliver on consignment basis, a minimum quantity of 50 finished pieces. Sell them all and you get USD125.00.

Maybe it would be costly for you to ship your work, especially if you are living out of USA. But, if you are looking for global recognition of your creativity, it is a good way to start because there is a likelihood that your work will be posted on Art-o-mat's website.

There is also a way to increase your profit. By using abandoned material to reduce your cost to create, of course! And I have lots of ideas and free tutorials somewhere on my blog which will appeal to you.

Good luck with your mini ventures.

Need photos? Put down that digital camera!

According to Japanese camera industry's statistics, a digital camera uses about twice as much resource and energy compared to the old fashion film camera of the same grade or price. I have a big collection of used batteries to confirm this statement by Ryuji Suzuki of Silver Grain, a company that supplies environmental friendly photographic chemicals.

But going digital is so convenient when there is a need to share lots of photos electronically. So, what can an environmentally conscious blogger like me, who post lots of photos on my blog, do about it?

I put down my digital camera and did a search to learn more about the AAA batteries I have been using. According to Cnet:

1) Rechargeable Nickel-Metal Hydride (NiMH) based batteries are better for the environment than disposables.

2) The lithium type disposable batteries tend to last the longest and make cameras speedier compared to alkaline, oxy-alkaline.

3) Alkalines batteries do not last long and so is not good for the environment

I am on a look out for battery conservation tips and here are some I have spotted:

1) Turn off your digital camera when not in use.
2) LCD viewfinder drains battery.
3) Control using the playback mode after each shot.
4) Compact Flash cards use less power compared to the miniature MicroDrive media hard drives.

I rather like the write up by Health Care Without Harm about the recycling and disposal options of all kind of batteries used in the health care industries. Reading it will give you an idea of the kind of hazardous material each type of battery would produce.

I am also on a look out for sources of free graphics and photos for my blogs.

Make me keep yours.

I think that it is a challenge buying gifts for friends and relatives; that is, unless you do not mind the time and money spent getting them and realised later that they are not appreciated.

Money don't hang on trees! So, what can you do to reduce wastage in gifts? Me? I work on getting the "Oh! range" of gifts. "Oh! range"? What's that?

Just take a long at this orange and think, what factors would make the recipient said, "Oh! She remembers what I like".



And these are the "Oh! range" to look into getting.

1) If it is not orange in colour, what is the choice of colours seen in the car driven, bags used, walls painted, clothes worn, etc?

2) If it is not tangy, sweet or sour, what are the preferred flavours?

3) If it is not orange for fruit, what is the pet liking in fruits, pets, movie stars, games, collections, self, etc? Self? For example, a person who is born in the year of dog or who is a dog lover would appreciate this bone shaped paper clips and doggy photo holder, right?



4) If it is not small and round, what is the size and shape preferred? Example, buying your friend or family member a puzzle set of The Louvre Pyramids in Paris, France maybe boring but when you highlighted to that person that the triangular shape of The Louvre represents the fire element in his or her birth year. That would grade it an "Oh! She researched on the type of gifts to give me" range. Sound mighty cool if the gift is for a foreigner friend, right? I love doing that and I have even created a Feng Shui chart to help me out.



So, what if you received gifts that are not within your "Oh! range"? They are always ways to play around with unwanted gifts. So, before you consider giving or worse yet, throwing them away, read about "Added Value Junk" first.

I love it when my creative juices are squeezed out into a cuppa of blogs just looking at cut outs from a junk mail. While others may call that cheap thrills, I like to think that I have hit my green pleasure buttons.

Want to know what "Oh!range" I am still working on?

It's, "Oh! They could still remember my birthday!!!"

Need book stands? Find a paper bag and cardboard.

When one of my friends discovered that I can create with waste material, she has been giving me lots of lovely paper bags to work with. Looking through the collection, I noticed lots of bags from mooncake suppliers with lovely pictures printed on their thick quality paper.



I decided to make use of this paper bag and some cardboards I have collected to create a book stand. It will come in handy for my beading books.



Now look at my new book stand. Like it?



I also discover one thin brown paper bag from Kenny Rogers Roaster. So will I be able to create a book stand out of that? You bet, I can.



I used it to store comics my daughter has collected and placed it on the book shelf with the rest of the book stands I have made with cardboard. Since I have created that with the handle attached, she can carry her collection around with her. That way she can read her comics in the sitting room while watching TV during commercial breaks. A great way to encourage her to polish her Mandarin.



Since she will not be able to miss the carrier, she should no longer be misplacing her comics all over the house.

Neat and nice. The way I like things. And of course, you can learn how to make them too.