Earth Day
May 21st, 2012 § Leave a Comment
Earth Day was on April 22 – as it is every year. I didn’t know it before, but Earth Day has actually been around for a long time. Started initially in 1970, the first Earth Day aimed to raise environmental awareness among Americans. Over the years, it’s grown a great deal, with this year seeing 192 countries participate in Earth Day, involving over a billion people. Canada was one of those proud countries.
Of particular interest to me every year are the promotions that pop up in time for Earth Day. For a day that is dedicated entirely to generating awareness and action towards global sustainability and environmental stewardship, it’s always ironic to see the mass flyers, posters, and ads encouraging consumers to buy more stuff, albeit stuff claimed to be “green”, at a special price on that day. A little (or a lot) counter-intuitive to the mission of the day.
This year, as I walked down the neighbourhood streets of our fair city, one particular one struck me. It struck me so much I actually stopped and took a picture of it. Although well intentioned, it took the Earth Day promotions of the years past to an entirely new level.
The company? Kiehl’s.
The promotion: a limited edition rare earth deep pore cleansing masque.
The concept is… an earthen mask for your face just in time for Earth Day. Perfect! What could be better for Earth Day than actual earth for your face? I may be going out on a limb here, but I don’t think Earth Day had anything to do with soil from the earth, outside of protecting it. That said, what does soften the blow is that all proceeds from the masque go to a not-for-profit organization focused on promoting recycling. The limited edition masques are also sold in limited edition containers produced with their own Limited Edition Art Label series.
That’s better. A little art, a little donation, and a pore cleansing earthen masque for your face.
Homegrown 3D projection mapping
March 28th, 2012 § Leave a Comment
My man and a few of his friends spent the evening creating their very own 3D projection in our living room. A few boxes, tables, and set-ups later, they ended up with this one here. The end result… a complete success. Many hours were spent watching the different visuals they were playing with – the one shown here are the iconic Space Invaders, of course. Mesmerizing.Hug It Forward: Schools built from bottles
February 4th, 2012 § Leave a Comment
Meet Hug It Forward: a not-for-profit that has dedicated itself to building schools in communities in need of them all around Guatemala through the innovative use of materials that exist in abundance, and even better, are inexpensive and accessible: plastic bottles and inorganic trash. Their model is similar to that of the Bottle School Project Illac Diaz pioneered in the Philippines, but is approached in a slightly different way.
Image credit: Hug it Forward
Rather than being filled with adobe, as was the case in Illac Diaz’s schools, the bottles are filled with inorganic trash found in around the communities, which serve as insulation when the walls to up. The bottles then lined up and held together between layers of chicken wire attached to a metal frame. Other materials, like wood beams are used as the support frames for the classrooms, and concrete walls layered on over top.
Since the projects started in 2009, Hug It Forward has worked with communities around Guatemala to complete fifteen schools, with two more underway and ten more needing funding. In each project, whole communities have gotten involved – from collecting and stuffing the bottles, to building and putting up the infrastructure. Their first bottle school project used up over 5,000 plastic bottles and over 2,050 pounds of trash to build two classooms that now houses 297 children and youth attending the school.
Hug It Forward also organizes week-long volunteer trips for those wanting to help build schools, and accepts donations through their website and Paypal.
The next trip leaves in a few days on February 7th, which may be too soon, but there are also two trips leaving in March on the 2nd and 24th. Their booking site also stays current with upcoming trips.
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S’well bottles: a hit or miss on quality?
February 1st, 2012 § 3 Comments
Back in August 2011, I wrote a post on brain sugar about a new water bottle that I had recently come across and was very excited about: S’well. The design, function, and charitable contribution of the bottle and company were all things that really impressed me. I became a big fan and loudspeaker for S’well – but that didn’t last long.
At the time, I purchased two bottles for myself and my fiancé, and seeing how much I loved my bottle, his mother also purchased one. We live in Canada, and sourced it from a local distributor – particularly as at the time of my first order, S’well wasn’t shipping to Canada yet.
Initially, the bottle was everything I read it to be. It kept my iced water cold, and hot water hot for 24 and 12 hours. But after a few months of use, I noticed my bottle would get very hot to the touch when I put hot water in it, and the water itself become cool in a matter of one to two hours. A long cry from the 12 it once supported. Cold water resulted in condensation on the outside – which is the opposite of what should be happening – and didn’t stay cold. Somewhere along the line, my bottle no longer insulated. (Note that true to the recommended product care, I did not put the bottle through the dishwasher, or leave it immersed in water. Only the gentlest hand-washing, rinse, and air dry for my bottle!) « Read the rest of this entry »
Fruit label turns into organic soap
November 26th, 2011 § Leave a Comment
Image credit: Amron Exptl.
We’ve all been there. Standing wearily at the sink, washing our beloved apples, painstakingly removing the ever-persistent fruit labels from them. First, we gently pick at and peel back the label. If we’re lucky, the process ends here. If not, we find ourselves running the apples under increasingly warm water, rubbing off the paper. Then eventually, scraping at the fruit with our fingernails in the effort to remove the sticky glue from the fruit skin, before turning, with a sigh of submission, to the knife or vegetable peeler lying on the kitchen counter.
Now, it seems, Scott Amron, an electrical engineer in training now turned designer and “engineering atelier”, has a solution that not only removes the harmful pesticides and other residues from our apples, but also the pesky fruit labels as well. The solution: Fruitwash labels. These fruit label stickers effectively dissolve into an organic fruit soap when placed under water. With this solution, gone are the chemicals and the tiresome fruit labels.
“I’ve always been discontent with fruit labels and felt they could do more than just display product info and be difficult to peel off,” Amron told Gizmag. “We buy, wash and eat fruit. So, the wash step was the next thing the label should help with.”
Unfortunately, the product is not out yet, although Amron is selling a 10% stake in the fruit label patent as an investment opportunity.
Stop the Mega Quarry
October 14th, 2011 § Leave a Comment
On March 11, 2011, the Highland Companies — backed by a US hedge fund, the Baupost Group — applied for a license to excavate a quarry in southwestern Ontario, just north of Orangeville. The quarry would be the largest Canada has ever seen and span 2,316 acres. For those living in the area, this would be the equivalent of the area in Toronto from the Don Valley Parkway to Dufferin Street, and St. Clair Avenue down to Lake Ontario. Of particular importance is the destruction of precious Class 1 farmland, which would result from the excavation, as well as the impact to the water in the area. The proposed quarry would plunge 200 feet below the water table, which feed in the headwaters of five rivers. The result would be that 600-million-litres of water would need to be pumped from the mega quarry every day, in perpetuity.
What is especially disturbing is that this prime farmland was originally purchased with the stated intent of farming it. However, immediately upon consolidating ownership of the land, Highland Companies has turned around and promptly filed application for a mega limestone quarry; a quarry that will destroy the high-quality soil of Ontario’s farming heartland, disrupt the waters of 5 major rivers for generations to come, require water pumping generators to pump the water in perpetuity due to the permanent disruption of the underlying water table, and create immeasurable impact to the vast acres of neighbouring farmland, not to mention very real potential of pollution of the pristine water that currently serves over one million Ontario residents.
More information about this issue can be found at Canadian Chefs Congress.
In particular, on October 16th from 11am to 5pm, an event will be held where Chef Michael Stadlander and 70 other of Canada’s best Chefs will be cooking in solidarity with the movement to Stop the Mega Quarry. Be there to share the land and make a stand. Tickets are pay what you can and can also be bought either through the site, or at the event the day of. All proceeds will go towards assisting with the legal costs of fighting the Mega Quarry.
Thank you very much for reading this post, and do pass the word along. This land and water is ours. We have an opportunity to take a stand, so let’s take it.
Bringing light into some of the poorest parts of the Philippines
September 17th, 2011 § Leave a Comment
They call him “Solar Demi”. The man known in their community as the god-send who is illuminating their homes. Demi is a volunteer who is a part of the Isang Litrong Liwanag (A Litre of Light) project.
The latest brainchild of Illac Diaz of the MyShelter Foundation, Isang Litrong Liwanag is a project that aims to bring sustainable lighting to some of the poorest communities in the Philippines. The concept, designed and developed by students at MIT, is surprisingly simple. Filtered water and a few tablespoons of bleach are placed into a 1L plastic bottle and a metal sheet is affixed around the bottle with a sealant to seal the seams. A hole the circumference of the bottle is then punched into the metal sheet roof of the home, and the bottle is placed through the hole and attached to the roof. The result: a previously dark home that relied heavily on electrical connections, that can be faulty and present fire hazards, can now be illuminated with free, and clean solar light during the day.
Each eco-friendly Solar Bottle Bulb transmits the equivalent of approximately 55-60 watts of light from the sun, and can last up to 5 years. The bleach in the filtered water prevent algae from building up in the bottle, extending the life of the simple bulb.
As of this year, over 10,000 bottle lights have been installed in underprivileged homes across Manila and the nearby province of Laguna. Isang Litrong Liwanag and MyShelter Foundation aim to install bulbs to light up a million homes by 2012.
To make a donation, or to volunteer for this amazing cause, go to Isang Litron Liwanag.
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The opportunity in crisis
August 2nd, 2011 § 1 Comment
In the last few weeks, there has been a lot of chatter generated by a host’s recent experience having her apartment ransacked, robbed, and trashed by fraudulent guests via AirBnB.
Initially, AirBnB appeared to be helpful and supportive, but according to the host, EJ, after she posted her horrific experience to her personal blog, AirBnB’s supportive stance seemed to stop. Since then, her post has gone viral, and the story has been muddied – with some even going so far as to challenge the truthfulness of her story. For weeks, EJ remained silent, until more recently, when she finally posted a follow-up that provided her point of view on some of the key events that had unfolded and to shed light on her appalling experience with the online rental start-up.
It would seem that after the supportive trail seemed to go cold, one of the founding members of AirBnB went so far as to call her and ask her to take down her blog or make her post about her experiences private, as it could impact AirBnB’s growth and chances of securing funding. News statements released seemed to insinuate that her claim and story may not be legitimate. All the while, to the media, AirBnB gave the strong impression that they were being supportive and helpful to EJ, and that a suspect had been apprehended with their help. EJ strongly noted to the contrary.
Through these collective actions over the weeks, AirBnB has demonstrated a very short-term, shallow, and immature response to a crisis that has only served to undermine the strong brand equity they have managed to gain in a very short period of time. For an online service company that relies heavily on good faith and trust between community members, the erosion of that very foundation can be devastating.
When crisis hits – particularly for an online service company like AirBnB – it is integral that the reaction is focused on their customers and the resolution of any situation – in this case, crisis – with integrity, compassion, and authenticity. Do that, and ironically, everything else that seems of grave importance – like reputation management and containing the damage – will be positively affected as a byproduct of the swift actions taken to demonstrate listening and crisis resolution. To do anything but will only detract from the the crisis at hand.
The silver lining to this story is that AirBnB reconsidered and decided to turn back and fully address the situation and look to make improvements to help prevent future tragic losses like what EJ experienced. Brian Chesky posted an address to their blog today, which is a positive move in the right direction. A very similar address has also been sent via email to all AirBnB members. Unfortunately for AirBnB, a lot of damage has been done to their community’s trust in them, not to mention what EJ has had to go through – a great deal of which could have been prevented. However, where others have pressed on in their old habits, AirBnB at least took inventory and made efforts to turn things around. So long as they continue on this path, I have no doubt they will be able to recover from this incident.
Besides, a lot of people will be watching and reading in the coming weeks on the next follow-up and hopefully conclusion in time for EJ. As a community, I’m sure those same people hope AirBnB makes good on their strong words and promises.
That can’t be an electric car: the Fisker Karma
July 17th, 2011 § 2 Comments
I’m a huge fan of electric cars, or rather, the concept of electric cars. I say “concept” because currently without them having taken off in the mass market yet, they’re not fully suitable for the typical driver’s lifestyle, depending on how far you generally need to drive. There aren’t an abundance of charging stations around yet, and without those, who wants the risk of getting stranded? No one.
And then, there’s the look of the electric car. When you think of an electric car, you’re probably like me and visualize the small, cute, round-looking 2-person (or physics-defying 4-person) cars that are not quite buggy, not quite car.
So, to date, an electric car hasn’t been fully suitable from a functional and design aesthetic perspective… so it’s not fully in the consideration set of most car buyers, right?
Enter the Fisker Karma – a luxury (real) four-seater electric car that looks – well, it looks sexy! Now that’s a car. What’s better, it’ll go the distance you need it to without the frequent charge ups.
Politics riding the social wave
July 7th, 2011 § Leave a Comment
We’re starting to see strong instances of social media being brought into politics in a big way. Governments and agencies around the world have certainly been dabbling and taking small steps towards social media for some time, but so far, they haven’t taken any major actions to plunge in and take full advantage of social media for the things its good for: two-way communication. In the last few months, it’s refreshing to see this is starting to change.
The first example is very recent. Of course, it’s Obama’s Facebook and Twitter town halls.
I was excited when I learned of Obama’s live streaming Facebook Town Hall a few months ago – and was pressed up to my phone on a streetcar trying to catch every word. I was even more impressed last night when I saw the news about Obama’s Twitter Town Hall. The combination of the two events likely makes Obama, in my opinion, one one of the most progressive and savvy world leaders when it comes to leveraging the power of social media as a means of communication. We saw it on the campaign trail in the run for Presidency, and we see it now three years later. While the raw, uncontrollable democracy and equalized voices of social media may cause fear and apprehension for some, it’s heartening to see Obama trying it, embracing it, leveraging it to reach deeper into the minds of his audience. While it’s been causing a stir around the quality of some of the questions asked, on the other side, there have also been some very real issues to Americans, and frankly the global community, that have been addressed as well. With democratic discussions, you take the good with the bad.
Dan Pfeiffer, Obama’s Communications Director was quoted saying:
If you’re going to communicate with the broad public, it is no longer sufficient to simply do it through the traditional mainstream media. We’re always on the lookout for ways to have a productive interaction with the public in new and exciting ways.
I have to say, I fully agree.
And then, there’s Iceland. Having suffered a catastrophic financial crash in 2008, Iceland is doing everything it can to bounce back… including crowdsourcing their new constitution. They’ve engaged 950 randomly selected citizens to come together to brainstorm and discuss the new constitution, and have opened up the process to the public for further input and discussion: a process which has been overseen by a committee of 25.
They’ve built out their new website as a hub of their progress that houses line-by-line posts of new constitutional clauses for public commentary. They have established a Facebook page to encourage further discussion and to give updates on progress. And finally Twitter to push out links to information and to field public questions. Iceland, has in effect, methodically put in place a full-blown cross-channel digital strategy, and they’re doing it right.
As a bit of trivia, it turns out that Iceland has never actually written its own constitution before. The one currently in place was based entirely on the Danish constitution and carried over in 1944 when Iceland gained independence from Denmark. It’s certainly time for a change – and what a way to do it.
I’m looking forward to seeing what happens next – and whether other countries will start following suit.
