Tuesday 25 November 2008

Saturday 22 November 2008

Do we see the same thing the same way?

Take a look at what you can find at a junk yard.

Recycling
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Noemi who posted this slideshow on SlideShare think that they are junk. Do you see junk there too? I see opportunities for members of Garbage Reincarnation, Inc to create Scrapture out of scraps there.

You can view some "Scraptures" at the following link:

http://www.garbage.org/scrapturehighlights.htm

To view more, look out for link to 'Junk Artist Links' on its homepage. You may also want to check out the The Junk Art Workshop available for children and adults.

Now how can anyone call that junk when you can make a living out of them?

Friday 21 November 2008

Building characters with plants

Have you heard of Character Counts?

They have a very unique way of teaching the young about the importance of building good characters. This time they are teaching through a "Grow Your Character Bookmarks" science project.

In each bookmark there is a seed-embedded "pot" which the children can put in the soil to grow. The children involved will be given handouts showing the life cycle of a plant. There is also a table to print out to note down observations of the growth. This teaches children how to take responsibility of what they grow.

As the children learn through the experiment that plants need sunlight and water to grow, they will also be taught what they need to grow up to be healthy and strong individuals. The bookmarks are there to remind them of the importance of characters building.

Don't you think that is a marvelous green idea?

Can't afford to buy a gift?

Christmas is around the corner and you have lots of friends you would like to buy a gift for. What can you do if you can't afford it?

Start collecting raffia string and make your own friendship band to give away. Here are the instructions shared by Wynnie Kwok on SlideShare.

Frenship Band
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You don't have to buy strings to create. Crafters can also use:

1) raffia strings taken off packed food
2) strings taken off paper bags
3) strings taken off bags of rice
4) strings from Chinese sausages (not for Malay friends though)

In Malaysia, if you take time to go to the market after closing hours, before the cleaners start clearing the place up, you will find lots of material to work with. Like the sacks used for storing potatoes and such.

Thursday 20 November 2008

Hope for arid waste land.

Have you heard of permaculture? It is being practiced in the community of Kibbutz Lotan situated in the Arava Desert, south of Israel. That is the second most extreme desert in the world!

What could possibly grow there to be cultured? See for yourself.



Here is the video mentioned in slide 114 to show what swales, raised water table look like.



Like the idea of greening a desert? Find out how you can participate in Kibbutz Lotan Center for Creative Ecology.

Friday 14 November 2008

Nokia Recycles

Check out the survey carried out by Nokia on the awareness of recycling used mobile phones. The results? There are around 3 billion people using mobile phones in the world and only 3% recycle their old models.

Watch the processes of recycling mobile phones in the following videos.



Here is the survey report in slides.

Tuesday 11 November 2008

CBS's "60 Minutes" report on e-waste

CBS's "60 Minutes" ran a Basel Action Network (BAN) report on the hazards faced by people who make a living recycling e-waste in Hong Kong.

Do you know of any business organizations that have betrayed consumers and the public trust by advocating immoral, environmentally destructive practices for the sake of profits? Go to "BAN's Whistle Blower's Corner" to find out how you can report such organizations.

You can find responsible e-waste recycler by going to:

http://www.e-stewards.org/

You can also learn about efforts by Electronic TakeBack Coalition to achieve an export ban in federal legislation by going to:

http://www.computertakeback.com/

ACT: Fight climate change with Zero Waste!

From My InBox:

Dear friends,

The nations of the world are preparing their strategies for the climate
change negotiations in Poznan, Poland. Few governments understand the
potential of Zero Waste as a solution to the climate change problem. It
is important that they hear from you -- governments should commit to
Zero Waste as part of their climate change obligations.

GAIA is asking its members and allies to take a few easy steps:

1. Sign the open letter to the world's governments at:
www.globalgaia.org/poznan

2. Send this message to your friends and allies!

3. Contact your government representative to the climate change
negotiations and ask for a meeting before they leave for Poland
(December 1). Your representative (called "national focal point") is here:
http://maindb.unfccc.int/public/nfp.pl

4. If you get a meeting, take the sign-on letter (I can provide you with
a complete list of signatories) and some of GAIA's literature and
explain why Zero Waste is an important strategy for climate change. If
you're not up to this, write me and I'll help you with the arguments!

5. Whether you get a meeting or not, hold a press conference and let the
world know!

For more on the connection between waste and climate change, see the
GAIA website at:
www.globalgaia.org/climate


Thank you for all your good work!

Friday 7 November 2008

Composting in schools

Check out this video about why and how students at a school in New York, started composting their lunchtime food waste.



If you would like to start one in your school, this slideshow by Groton will give you an idea who can be involved in it.

Rot In Groton
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Mansfield Middle School in Connecticut even has a website to teach what composting is about. It is also touches on the variety of micro organisms that are beneficial to get a compost pile going. I think it is a wonderful way to pick up biology.

And if you considering a Vermicompost or worm compost, the website of The Adventures of Herman the worm should be a fun way to generate an interest of students in school to start one.

Don't miss out the many other useful information that you can find on Urban Program Resource Network. If you go to "Just for Kids", you will find the link to the award winning program, "The Great Plant Escape", where children can help Detective LePlant find clues that will uncover the importance of plants in their life.

Here is a good video of how you can start one at home posted on YouTube by : Kitchen Gardeners International.

Thursday 6 November 2008

Containers? Non-plastic alternatives.

Now that we know that chemicals from plastic containers can leached into our food, what can we use as an alternative?

How about reviving the traditional art of leaf fronds folding, which is called Puni, in the Philippines. Rheeza shared on SlideShare what it is about with instruction on how to create a bird with leaves.

PUNI (Leaf Fronds Folding Art)
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Monday 3 November 2008

Don't waste the corporate gifts.

When the former company I worked for changed its name, we still had stock of corporate gifts printed in its former name. And if you have attended corporate events or exhibition, you would have noticed that you can collect quite a fair bit of corporate giveaways.

These items are usually have the corporate logo printed on them. What do you do with those that you don't need or won't use because of the ads or logos? Check this idea out for some inspirations.

Looking At Ladakh
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Discards are not waste if you can find someone else to treasure them.