Ed Dowding

Category: Sustainability

Efficient & Affordable Wood House Made From Shipping Pallets

via http://www.inhabitat.com/2010/04/02/pallet-haus-an-efficient-affordable-modular-house/

Turn an old plastic bottle into a 50W lightbulb

Fill a plastic bottle with water, add a small amount of bleach to keep it clean, stick a film canister over the cap to stop it corroding in the UV, stick it in your roof, and hey presto an everlasting prismatic 50W lightbulb! httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_zMAWztZ6TI via http://www.inhabitat.com/2010/04/02/sundolier-robot-pumps-sunlight-indoors-for-powerful-daylighting/ and Slashdot

The UK's renewable energy is a national shame

Here’s some figures for renewable power generation in 2006: 62.9% – Austria 48.7% – Sweden 29.9% – Portugal 17.1% – Slovak Republic 19.2% – Romania 17% – Denmark 12.4% – France 4.6% – UK In November 2009, Spain generated 53% of its demand from wind alone last week (it was a bit windy). So if ...

Green Revolution in India Wilts as Subsidies Backfire

In the 1970s, India dramatically increased food production, finally allowing this giant country to feed itself. But government efforts to continue that miracle by encouraging farmers to use fertilizers have backfired, forcing the country to expand its reliance on imported food. India has been providing farmers with heavily subsidized fertilizer for more than three decades. ...

Ethical bottled water is an oxymoron

‘How Bad For The Environment Can Throwing Away One Plastic Bottle Be?’ 30 Million People Wonder All agreed that disposing of what would eventually amount to 50 tons of thermoplastic polymer resin wasn’t the end of the world. “It’s not like I don’t care, because I do, and most of the time I don’t even ...

A farm for the future

I finally got around to watching A Farm for the Future (available on Google Video) a few nights ago, and found it to be a great introduction to the concepts of permaculture. Key things to realise (some not from the programme): Current methods of farming will not continue to feed you during your lifetime. We ...

Do you have unused land in London? Get free money!

A share of £75,000 is now up for grabs for London’s green-fingered community groups. The cash is available as part of the Capital Growth scheme, supported by the Mayor of London and managed by London Food Link, which encourages Londoners to grow their own food in under-used areas of the capital. People can apply online ...

Good.is' most popular infographics of 2009

http://www.good.is/post/transparency-good-s-most-popular-infographics-of-2009/

Middle class virtue

I love this graph. WOT = Well Off, Thoughtful LIL = Low Income Lifestyle Basically it says “Yes, you may recycle and think you’re green and lovely and one of the people who should survive The Great Reckoning, but actually you’re about 3 times more environmentally impactful than that fat TV watching pikey you feel ...

What happened to the Biosphere?

This is what happened to the Biosphere. A great metaphor (is it a metaphor if it’s so literal?) of what happens to a neglected Earth.

What do we do now?

I’ve been thinking for a while what we do when Copenhagen fails. And then I waited to see if it actually did. And it did, so no surprise there. But no points for calling it correctly, either. I’ve been thinking about what I’d like to get involved in, and here’s my criteria: It must amplify ...

Act now – or I will

Peak Everything

The World According to Monsanto

I’ve just been watching ‘The World According to Monsanto’. It’s pretty compelling stuff. As one of the contributors says, “Seed is more powerful than bombs, more powerful than guns” and given that, you’d have thought that we’d be a little more careful about what we do it. 70% of the food in the USA contains ...

Mass dolphin stranding linked to navy exercises

An investigation into the UK’s largest ever mass stranding of common dolphins has identified military activity as the most probable cause – although no single activity can be definitively linked to the stranding. via  New Scientist.

Repurposing bikes

We recycle used bicycles to build pedal-powered machines, bicimáquinas, which support and help facilitate the work of small-scale, self-sustainable projects. Through this work we hope to contribute to the conservation of the environment, the health or the Guatemalan people, and the productivity of the local economy. MAYAPEDAL. Via @Al_Humphreys

Another reason not to buy plastic bottled water, or plastic bottled anything for that matter.

Plastic bottles leech chemicals which cause cancer and / or mimic oestrogen. WTF?! WHY DAMMIT?! WHY WOULD YOU MAKE SOMETHING LIKE THIS?!?!! And if you knew you were, wouldn’t you stop? Reusing Plastic Bottles Can Pose Serious Health Hazards Refilling and reusing plastic bottles can release toxic cancer-causing chemicals http://environment.about.com/od/healthenvironment/a/plastic_bottles.htm > Popular plastic baby bottles ...

In Transition

Wind powered car

The founder of Ecotricity is building a wind powered (well, electricity powered) car. Read about it as his blog, Zerocarbonista.

Link roundup

Belgian city plans ‘veggie’ days Just Add Spice – Spice is a social enterprise that develops credit systems for engaging people in communities and public services. Spice’s community credit systems have been tried and tested and are uniquely successful in dramatically increasing participation of community members in public services and in achieving community transformation. Spice ...