Small Actions to Change the World #9 (Blog Carnival)

Welcome to the 9th edition of Small Actions to Change the World! It's been quite a while since I've written the last post and I apologise for that. The reason is that I had exams/studies, my vacation, my work and I am in the process of starting a sustainability organisation (check it out here :-) - in german only though). But without further delay, here are the great posts that I have received since the last edition!

Peter Crump presents 4 Unique Christmas Gifts For The Socially Conscious Male posted at Find That Gift For Him.

poetloverrebelspy presents Travel in Your Own Backyard posted at Less Than a Shoestring, saying, "There are many frugal and ecological benefits of nearby excursions vs. far-flung vacations. If you’re a traveler at heart but can’t pull yourself away from work or family for any number of reasons, consider planning a few days out to feed your travel bug. This post walks you through the planning."

Susan presents A New Generation of Carbon Offset Travel posted at The Innovative Traveler.

Nathan presents One Man’s Trash, Another Man’s Electricity posted at It's Easy Being Green, saying, "Something as simple as using our trash to create energy and keep stuff out of the landfill

Nathan presents The Gift of Green Travel posted at It's Easy Being Green, saying, "The gift of "green" travel".

Stretch Mark Mama presents Trash Talk posted at Stretch Mark Mama.

TheLittlestGuy presents carbon offsetting posted at TheLittlestGuy, saying, "Great new site on global warming, climate change, and what you can do to help stop it."

Holly Ord presents Stop Being Stupid About Green posted at Adventure Sports Weekly, saying, "A letter from the editor of Adventure Sports Weekly, Wina Sturgeon, about green, going green, and what is needed to save our planet from inevitable global warming."

Phil B. presents The Secret to a Well Kept Yard « Phil for Humanity posted at Phil for Humanity, saying, "The Secret to a Well Kept Yard

Pelf presents How do you convince your friends to go green? posted at The Giving Hands.

Repeat Revenue presents Solar Power Home » Blog Archive » Parts of a residential Solar System posted at Solar Power Home, saying, "Federal, State and Local incentives are available to use alternative forms of energy on your home. See what's available to you."

Pelf presents Some tips to green your office posted at The Giving Hands.

Marie presents Enlighten Your Apartment in 2008 posted at Green Your Apartment.

Samuel Bryson presents Christmas & Goats: a Time for Giving posted at Total Wellbeing.

Samuel Bryson presents Pedalling Money - Saving Money by Cycling: posted at Total Wellbeing.

Kevin Heath presents Involving Kids in the Fight Against Global Warming posted at More4kids.

Pelf presents 10 things you can do to conserve sea turtles posted at The Turtle Talks..

Silicon Valley Blogger presents Love Light Displays? 6 Ways To Trim Your Energy Costs, Not The Cheer posted at The Digerati Life, saying, "Thank you!"

As always at the end of the po st, here is a nice motivational something :-). It's an inspiring talk from Bono on activism in Africa. Have fun!

That concludes this edition. Submit your blog article to the next edition of
small actions to change the world!
using our carnival submission form.
Past posts and future hosts can be found on our

blog carnival index page.

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Small Actions to Change the World #8 (Blog Carnival)

Bzzzz, welcome to the 8th edition of SustainaBee's Blog Carnival: "Small Actions to Change the World!". We've received a lot of great submissions for this edition, so I hope you enjoy them very much!

isabella mori presents change therapy » Blog Archive » would you like a hug? posted at change therapy, saying, "our experience at free hugs day"

Todd Goldfarb presents 50 Ways You Can Be The Change posted at We The Change, saying, "hi there-- here is a terrific article which describes 50 Ways we can "be the change". Enjoy!"

Adam Zekmueller presents Give Better Glasses: Mission for Vision posted at Get Better Glasses!, saying, "Have old prescription glasses sitting in a drawer? Millions of people throughout the world cannot lead a normal life because they cannot see. This organization is working to change that."

Shannon Bullard presents Eco-Friendly Oahu posted at Go Oahu Card Blog.

FitBuff presents 4 Free Stress Relief Games | FitBuff.com's Total Mind and Body Fitness Blog posted at FitBuff.com's Total Mind and Body Fitness Blog, saying, "Just a few minutes a day can change the way you see the world. Here are 4 games scientifically designed to do just that by
forcing your brain to notice the joys of life, rather than the obstacles."

Aruni Gunasegaram presents entrepreMusings » Rock. Paper. Scissors. How Do We All Win? posted at Entrepremusings, saying, "It doesn't take mountain moving to make a difference. We can all do a little to help a lot.

Louise Manning presents 10 Ways to help the Environment in your garden posted at Green Garden Chat.

Christine presents Being Green in France: The Styrofoam Dilemma posted at Me, My Kid and Life: An American Single Mom Living in France, saying, "Deciding to go and stay green even when it's not the easiest choice, but rather because its the right choice!"

Edith presents 50 Ways to Change the World posted at Edith Yeung.Com: Dream. Think. Act.
Alex Blackwell presents A Time for Thanksgiving posted at The Next 45 Years

Jeremy Neal presents Thoughts on Quotes: Common Courtesy - Creative Thoughts - Famous Quotes posted at Thoughts on Quotes, saying, "Life is short, but there is always time for common courtesies."

Aisha Zoe presents Bouton de train posted at The Student Socialite.

Alex Blackwell presents There's Some Hero in You posted at The Next 45 Years.

Meredith Mathews presents Trees are among my favorite things posted at Lemonade Stand, saying, "A single tree will absorb 1 ton of carbon dioxide over its lifetime."

Tupelo Kenyon presents Inspire Yourself on Purpose – Inspiration from Inside Out posted at Tupelo Kenyon, saying, "Here are twelve common sense reminders on how to inspire yourself. The word “inspire” derives from root words that mean “in spirit” or “spirit within.” Although there’s always another step to take, these points are a natural result of recognizing and identifying with this realization of who we really are."

David B. Bohl presents Personal Fulfillment: Why Hobbies Matter posted at Slow Down Fast Today!, saying, "In my previous life, before I threw up my hands (and my career as a financial trader), moved to Wisconsin and started living a life I truly enjoyed, I didn’t have time for a hobby. I was like the guy in the recent New Yorker cartoon lying on the beach with his laptop. He says to his wife, “It’s not that I’m a workaholic. I just work to relax.”"

That's it for thizzz edition of Small Actions to Change the World. As always, I will end it with an inspiring story. I won't buzz too much around it, the girl in the video clip will explain who she is in the first few seconds.

carnival submission form.
Past posts and future hosts can be found on our

blog carnival index page.

Technorati tags:

small actions to change the world!, blog carnival.

Small Actions to Change the World #7 (Blog Carnival)

Welcome to the November 7, 2007 edition of small actions to change the world! The delay is again due to my full schedule these past 2 weeks (I'm sure many of you have really busy schedules as well); so that I had to take at least half the weekend off to do nothing and re-energise :-). Without further delay, here is the 7th edition of the Blog Carnival "Small Actions to Change the World"!

ISPF presents Get Rid of Unwanted Mail. It's Bad for your Wallet and Bad for the Environment posted at Grad Money Matters.

FitBuff presents 7 Easy Breakfast Recipes: Healthy Breakfast in Less Than 5 Minutes posted at FitBuff.com's Total Mind and Body Fitness Blog, saying, "You've heard breakfast is the most important meal of the day, but the RIGHT breakfast is the key to starting your day with energy, productivity, and alertness. Whether you're rushing off to work or getting the kids out the door, there never seems to be enough time to prepare a healthy morning meal. Until now! Here's 7 easy and healthy recipes that you can prepare in less time than it takes to find your keys."

Riversider presents Preston Council Leaders Get A Sandbagging In Ribble Flood Furore posted at Save The Ribble, saying, "A city councillor uses sandbags creatively to make a serious point about flood risk."

Tupelo Kenyon presents Listen with Your Heart posted at Tupelo Kenyon, saying, "When someone is talking to you, do you hear with your ears, monitor with your mind, or listen with your heart? Invest a few minutes thinking about the importance of listening well – a deliberate conscious act – and watch your relationships grow to a new level of closeness and understanding."

Alex Blackwell presents 10 Things to Say or Do Every Day posted at The Next 45 Years.

poetloverrebelspy presents Road Trip Savings: Fuel Costs posted at Less Than a Shoestring, saying, "Lower consumption = better for the environment + lower costs"

David B. Bohl presents Personal Fulfillment: Why Hobbies Matter posted at Slow Down Fast Today!, saying, "In my previous life, before I threw up my hands (and my career as a financial trader), moved to Wisconsin and started living a life I truly enjoyed, I didn’t have time for a hobby. I was like the guy in the recent New Yorker cartoon lying on the beach with his laptop. He says to his wife, “It’s not that I’m a workaholic. I just work to relax.”

sasha presents Washing the washing posted at Tempyra, saying, "A follow-up post to an earlier one about taking stock of the small lifestyle choices that influence one's ecological footprint."

Roger Carr presents How Many People Do You Influence? posted at Everyday Giving Blog.

That concludes this edition. Submit your blog article to the next edition of
small actions to change the world! using our carnival submission form.
Past posts and future hosts can be found on our blog carnival index page.

To conclude this edition I want to show a video clip of Hans Rosling on TED. It is about looking at things differently; at TED he gives a wonderful speech on Africa and aid. But one of his core messages is, you can't look at Africa as one big land with aid needs. With his enthusiasm he shows us that African countries have so much economic diversity and that we should take this into account when looking at this continent with 50+ countries.

Small Actions to Change the World #6 (Blog Carnival)

Hi there, I'm really glad you stopped by to check out SustainaBee's "Small Actions to Change the World" Blog Carnival. This is the 6th edition and it keeps growing and growing! Of course the Blog Action Day on the Environment a couple of weeks ago helped a bit :-).
I am sorry for posting a week late, it was my birthday a week ago, and since then I have had really full days. Especially that I'm starting a new student organisation on technology and sustainability (e.g. asking questions like "what are the social implications of technology?" or "what is the role of engineering in development assistance?") I've been running from one place to another.

I'm thinking about having the carnival posted on a different blog every second time (i.e. SustainaBee once, two weeks later a different sustainability/environmental/social blog and so on). If you are interested in hosting a "Small Actions to Change the World" carnival, let me know by writing me an email!

Without further waiting, I present you the "Small Actions to Change the World" :-).

Summer presents Save Money By Saving Water posted at Your Frugal Family.

FitBuff presents Negativity is Contagious, Are You Immune? posted at FitBuff.com's Total Mind and Body Fitness Blog, saying, "This study shows how the smallest actions and ideas can not only change the world, but our own minds!"

Kevin Bedell presents A Simple Step You Can Take: Install a Low Flow Shower Head posted at 21st Century Citizen.

Tupelo Kenyon presents Choose the Companionship of Positive People Who Inspire You posted at Tupelo Kenyon, saying, "If the people you spend the most time with are inspiring, supportive, encouraging, and they demonstrate qualities you want to emulate – great, you are on the right track. If not, it's up to you to do something about it. Life is too short to put up with other people's pity parties, bitch-and-moan marathons, and oh-woe-is-me clubs. (Enjoy soothing instrumental music as you read plus songs with lyrics related to each article – all free.)"

Phil B. presents 3 Reasons to Stop Using Dryers « Phil for Humanity posted at Phil for Humanity, saying, "Dryers, also known as drying machines or clothes dryers, may be fast and convenient to quickly dry our clothes and linens, however we seldom consider how much they really cost."

WhatWorksForUs presents What Works For Us: Save $$ - Go (Lime) Green posted at What works For Us.

Karen (aka Karooch) presents Shower with a Friend for Blog Action Day 2007 posted at Scraps of Mind.

Edith presents How You are Impacting the World (Blog Action Day) posted at Edith Yeung.Com: Dream. Think. Act..

Phil B. was quite active , presenting another post: Recycle Christmas Trees « Phil for Humanity posted at Phil for Humanity, saying, "It is almost that time of year again when we buy a new Christmas tree. Are you going to just throw it away when done with it?"

Matthew Spears presents Joy at All Times posted at Loving Awareness, saying, "We tend to think of joy as somehow mutually exclusive to other experiences. If we're feeling sad, then of course it's impossible to have joy. Likewise if we're having a fight or our business is having a downturn. This article points out how they're not exclusive, and helps the invitation of joy into your life."

SpiKe presents 20 Tips For Laying The Foundations Of Your Environmentally Friendly Habit posted at Organize IT.

Silicon Valley Blogger presents 10 Simple Ways To Save Money And The Environment posted at The Digerati Life.

That's it again for an edition of "Small Actions to Change the World". If you want to submit a post to this carnival use our carnival submission form. Past posts and future hosts can be found on blog carnival archive.

And as always I will end with something inspiring. This time it's a speech of one of of the Nobel Peace Prize winners this year Al Gore. It's a talk he did on TED (Technology, Entertainment, Design), an exclusive gathering of many inspirational people. In the second part of this video he talks about how the individual can help by doing his or her part in averting climate change. Have fun!

A call for a 'Stern Review' on Biodiversity (Blog Action Day)

Background You've probably heard of the Stern Review, now a much-quoted 600-page study. It is a report written be the ex-Chief Economist of the World Bank stating that inaction towards climate change (i.e. doing business as usual) will cost the world economy 5% to 20% or more of the global domestic product (GDP). It has done a lot to push forward the idea that environmental management and climate protection also makes financial sense and to show that it is in fact not contradictory to economic growth. Through environmental protection new markets will even open up, especially in the energy sector. New technologies will emerge.

Focus and 'concentration': CO2, CO2, CO2 Now the problem is that much of the focus is concentrated on CO2 and ppm (parts per million) and how we can reduce the CO2 concentration in the atmosphere. But the global problem goes much more than there - once CO2 emissions are stabilised it's not the end of the job. We might have stopped climate change but we should not forget the other things in life. Most importantly - biodiversity. To explain shortly, biodiversity means the varieties of life and living beings. It is essential to life. You could even go as far as saying it IS life. But the diversity of living creatures is decreasing day by day. If you've seen Planet Earth (BBC environmental series), it is really sad to think that younger children today can only see some of the creatures featured in the series on video because these animals will have gone extinct by the time the children grow up. Some of the creatures were even captured on film for the first time. It is sad to think that it might be the last time as well.

A call So I want to make a call for a Stern Review on biodiversity. Sometimes the only language people will understand is money. The Stern Review showed that inaction will cost up to 20 times as much or more than stern actions (excuse the pun :-) ) on climate change. This finally made some politicians and business people listen to the problems of climate change.

There is the IPCC Report from the UN that focuses on the scientific basis of climate change (which just recently won the Nobel Prize along with Al Gore, by the way), and the "financial" counterpart to this is the Stern Review.
There is also a huge UN Biodiversity Report called the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment, it is similar in scale as the IPCC report. But what is missing now is the "financial" counterpart for this one.

Quantifying biodiversity in monetary terms will be a huge challenge, especially because of the interrelations and connections between the different organisms. Who is to say what an ant, whale, horse, bee costs as an animal group? It is already hard to put a money value on an animal species in a small part of a small region of the world. Doing this on a global scale will be a challenging and daunting task, and whoever takes it up will get hard criticism and praise at the same time. But it will shed light on the biodiversity problems we are heading at. If a report of this kind doesn't work, maybe we need an Al Gore for biodiversity.

(This post is part of the Blog Action Day on the Environment)

Small Actions to Change the World #5 (Blog Carnival)

Hi everyone and welcome to the 5th edition of "Small Actions to Change the World" carnival. This is the first one that is published after 2 weeks. If this turns out to be good, I will keep on posting these editions every 2 weeks. That's why this post will be a bit shorter than you are used to. And I'm sorry this post is a day late; next to organising my university courses, my part time work, my volunteer work and the weekend class reunion I had little time in between, so I hope you forgive me :-).

FitBuff presents Lifeline Screening: 15 Types of Blood Tests and Checkups You Need posted at FitBuff.com's Total Mind and Body Fitness Blog, saying, "So, how do you make sure you are aware of your true overall health condition without becoming a paranoid hypochondriac? Below is a list of tests and screenings that should be included in your regular checkups..."

sasha presents Making a Personal Difference to the Environment posted at Tempyra, saying, "An article on me taking stock of the little changes I've made to my life with the aim of reducing my personal impact on the environment and a list of further improvements I want to make. I'm looking for comments and ideas about reducing your environmental impact."

SustainaBee says: That's a great idea; it can be very encouraging to see what things you've done and to set goals that you want to achieve!

Ravi Vora presents 5 Creative Ways to Have a Great Week | Ravi Vora posted at Ravi Vora. Thank you for a nice and short post :-).

Summer presents Save money by saving water posted at Your Frugal Family.

SustainaBee says: Another example of how saving the environment also makes financial sense!

Sarah Filipiak from German Sheperd Central presents Don’t Buy That Puppy In The Window saying: "The simple move of bypassing pet stores in your search for your next dog will save lives." Wow, what an insightful post. I didn't know these things about puppies.

That's it for this edition of "Small Actions to Change the World". I hope you had a nice read :-)! If you want to submit a post, use the carnival submission form.

Past editions of the carnival can be found here.

And as always, I will conclude this carnival edition with an inspiring story. This one is a lecture (a edited WSJ.com-version YouTube video is included in this post) that has inspired me in the last few weeks. Here is a part of the WSJ article (and at the bottom you can find the YouTube video and the link to the complete lecture on Google Video):

"Randy Pausch, a Carnegie Mellon University computer-science professor, was about to give a lecture Tuesday afternoon, but before he said a word, he received a standing ovation from 400 students and colleagues.

He motioned to them to sit down. "Make me earn it," he said.
What wisdom would we impart to the world if we knew it was our last chance? For Carnegie Mellon professor Randy Pausch, the question isn't rhetorical -- he's dying of cancer. Jeff Zaslow narrates a video on Prof. Pausch's final lecture.

They had come to see him give what was billed as his "last lecture." This is a common title for talks on college campuses today. Schools such as Stanford and the University of Alabama have mounted "Last Lecture Series," in which top professors are asked to think deeply about what matters to them and to give hypothetical final talks. For the audience, the question to be mulled is this: What wisdom would we impart to the world if we knew it was our last chance?

It can be an intriguing hour, watching healthy professors consider their demise and ruminate over subjects dear to them. At the University of Northern Iowa, instructor Penny O'Connor recently titled her lecture "Get Over Yourself." At Cornell, Ellis Hanson, who teaches a course titled "Desire," spoke about sex and technology.

At Carnegie Mellon, however, Dr. Pausch's speech was more than just an academic exercise. The 46-year-old father of three has pancreatic cancer and expects to live for just a few months. His lecture, using images on a giant screen, turned out to be a rollicking and riveting journey through the lessons of his life."



The full lecture can be seen on Google Video

How CO2 is stealing the show

This is a post from another blog that I started but have unfortunately discontinued. But only so I have more time to focus on SustainaBee :-). So this post might sound a bit more serious, because it was for a more serious blog. Here it is:

===

News about climate change is increasing. And more and more the focus is set on the big bad Greenhouse Gas called Carbon Dioxide, also known as CO2. The focus of many studies is how we can reduce CO2 emissions, be it through more efficient technology, by consuming less, by driving less and so on. Study after study are confirming: Yes, CO2 actually IS bad.

Maybe because CO2 is so specific and is (relatively) easy to explain we read about it in the newspapers. Some companies are betting on nuclear energy because it is almost CO2-free. CSS is an up-and-coming technology that stores the CO2 emitted by coal power plants. Some are putting their money on nuclear fusion, e.g. the international ITER project costs 5 billion Euro for construction and another 5 billion Euro to keep up and running. All noteworthy, but what happens when we have found a source of CO2-free energy? Are all our problems solved? Not quite.

One of the main reasons we start to care about CO2 is - selfishly - because our winters are getting warmer and oil is getting more expensive. It sort of initiated this green wave, which I hope lasts quite a bit. What happens when oil prices drop dramatically and we have a cold winter (which is possible for a short term), is global warming put into the book shelve next to Al Gore's "An Inconvenient Truth", picking up dust?


The Millennium Ecosystem Assessment
What about biodiversity? What about the poor people especially in the third world most affected by nature's changes? What about overfishing? It is quite a shame that while the UN-backed IPCC (Climate Change Report published in 2007) report got as much notice as a Take That Reunion Tour the findings of the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment from 2005 is comparable to the Spice Girls (something's happening, but no one really cares).

Similar to the IPCC report the Ecosystem Assessment is UN-backed, more than 1,000 scientists worked on it for a period of about 4-5 years. Even the structure is based on the IPCC report (and might I add, the design and layout of the Ecosystem report is quite much better). The board of members included renowned scientists, leaders and several nobel prize winners. And some of the scenarios were just as horrifying but not that many people took notice.

(The first image is a statistic on cod fishing in Newfoundland)

Small Actions to Change the World #4 (Blog Carnival)

Hi everyone, welcome to another edition of "Small Actions to Change the World", this being the 4th edition of the series and I'm positively surprised that it has been gaining popularity. So much so, that I will post an edition every 2 weeks now! Now you don't have to wait a whole month for another edition anymore! And once an edition arrives, it will now be shorter and the chances are bigger that in total you will read more of these inspiring posts from all over the world!
Once there are enough editions I will start making "Best of" theme issues. But more on that next time :-). Enjoy the post and have a nice read!

FitBuff presents Free Water, What a Novel Idea! | FitBuff.com's Total Mind and Body Fitness Blog posted at FitBuff.com's Total Mind and Body Fitness Blog, saying, "This article explains how I'm saving over $50 a month AND decreasing the amount of plastic water bottles that I was throwing away on a daily basis."

Millionaire Mommy Next Door has a post on consumption called How to Treat Affluenza: Spend Less and Live a Happier Life posted at Millionaire Mommy Next Door, saying, "David Wann (co-author of Affluenza: The All-Consuming Epidemic) encourages us to become historical superheroes. We can change our world; save our world. Let's curb our consumption so that our grandkids can read about our generation in their history books with reverence."

Dean presents 21 Tips on How to Stay Cool This Summer For Less posted at Mr. Cheap Stuff, saying, "How to stay cool with out turning off your Air Conditioner."

marguerite manteau-rao presents The Big Monster posted at La Marguerite, saying, "Thoughts on how to handle the big monster - global warming."

Tiffany Washko presents Down To Earth Guide to Global Warming posted at Natural Family Living Blog.

Melissa presents Coupon Karma posted at A Penny Closer, saying, "Thanks for considering my submission!"

Tupelo Kenyon presents Make Assumptions Obsolete by Communicating posted at Tupelo Kenyon, saying, "We assume because we don’t know. We don’t know because we don’t ask. We don’t ask because we act as if we already know. Or, we don’t want to appear stupid. [...] The solution is clear communication. When we know the truth, assumptions are forever unnecessary."

Edith Yeung presents A Voice to Remember posted at Edith Yeung.Com: Dream. Think. Act..

Vihar Sheth presents The Debate Heats Up: Vegetarianism & Climate Change posted at Vihar Sheth.

Todd Goldfarb presents A Simple Way to Make Your Home Green posted at We The Change, which is about switching to green power and how small changes can make a bigger difference than you think.

Activist Mommy presents It's Easy Being Green posted at Activist Mommy, saying, "Win a copy of It's Easy Being Green by sharing green living tips". Having been a regular submitter of articles, I'll gladly promote Activist Mommy's promotional activity :-)

Marilyn Terrell presents Orbitz Adds Eco Options posted at Intelligent Travel, introduces Orbitz' new eco options.

That's it for this edition. I hope you had fun reading it as much as I had fun posting it :-)! If you want to submit a post, use the carnival submission form.

Past editions of the carnival can be found here.

And as always, I will end this post with an inspirational story. It's a nice story about changing yourself and leaving the past behind. It had made me smile at the end :-).

I had not really planned on taking a trip this time of year, and yet I found myself packing rather hurriedly. This trip was going to be unpleasant and I knew in advance that no real good would come of it. I'm talking about my annual "Guilt Trip."

I got tickets to fly there on Wish I Had airlines. It was an extremely short flight. I got my baggage, which I could not check. I chose to carry it myself all the way. It was weighted down with a thousand memories of what might have been. No one greeted me as I entered the terminal to the Regret City International Airport. I say international because people from all over the world come to this dismal town.

As I checked into the Last Resort Hotel, I noticed that they would be hosting the year's most important event, the Annual Pity Party. I wasn't going to miss that great social occasion. Many of the towns leading citizens would be there.

First, there would be the Done family, you know, Should Have, Would Have and Could Have. Then came the I Had family. You probably know ol' Wish and his clan. Of course, the Opportunities would be present, Missed and Lost. The biggest family would be the Yesterday's. There are far too many of them to count, but each one would have a very sad story to share.

Then Shattered Dreams would surely make an appearance. And It's Their Fault would regale us with stories (excuses) about how things had failed in his life, and each story would be loudly applauded by Don't Blame Me and I Couldn't Help It.

Well, to make a long story short, I went to this depressing party knowing that there would be no real benefit in doing so. And, as usual, I became very depressed. But as I thought about all of the stories of failures brought back from the past, it occurred to me that all of this trip and subsequent "pity party" could be cancelled by ME! I started to truly realize that I did not have to be there. I didn't have to be depressed. One thing kept going through my mind, I CAN'T CHANGE YESTERDAY, BUT I DO HAVE THE POWER TO MAKE TODAY A WONDERFUL DAY. I can be happy, joyous, fulfilled, encouraged, as well as encouraging. Knowing this, I left the City of Regret immediately and left no forwarding address. Am I sorry for mistakes I've made in the past? YES! But there is no physical way to undo them.

So, if you're planning a trip back to the City of Regret, please cancel all your reservations now. Instead, take a trip to a place called Starting Again. I liked it so much that I have now taken up permanent residence there. My neighbors, the I Forgive Myselfs and the New Starts are so very helpful. By the way, you don't have to carry around heavy baggage, because the load is lifted from your shoulders upon arrival. God bless you in finding this great town. If you can find it -- it's in your own heart -- please look me up. I live on I Can Do It street.

The Big Green Apple

New York has been making headlines lately by announcing its steps to make the city greener.

Just a few weeks ago it announced that by 2012 it wants to make its cab driving greener by using hybrid taxis. Though taxis still create emissions (as opposed to electric cars like the Tesla) hybrid cabs are an ideal choice for New Yorkers. The traffic in New York is very dense which means they have to "stop and go" all the time, re-charging the batteries every time they break and using it when they drive.

The Master Plan - PlanNYC 2030
This is all part of a Master Plan for greening New York by the year 2030 (I'm amazed a city will plan for that long!). They even have a nicely designed website and a 158-page report to go with it. Here are some of the interesting measures that are part of "The Plan":

• Energy: Create the New York City Efficiency Authority (NYCEEA) responsible for reaching the city's demand reduction targets
• Transportation: Increase Capacity on key congested routes - Seek to fund five projects that eliminate capacity constraints
• Water: Encourage the installation of green roofs through a new incentive program (I don't know why this was put under "water")
• Air: Waive New York City's sales tax on the cleanest, most efficient vehicles
• Air: Partner with stakeholders to help plant one million trees by 2017
• Land/Open Space: Fulfill the potential of at least one major undeveloped park site in every borough
• Transportation: Complete the City's 1,800-mile bike master plan
• Transportation: Seek to use pricing to manage traffic in the Central Business District (CBD)

These are very ambitious goals for greening New York. The question is, whether they will achieve these. But with a good plan in place and a motivated mayor it's possible. But with 23 years to go in the plan, we have to wait and see.

But they're off to a good start. According to the SustainLane rankings (which ranks US cities' urban sustainability) New York is already in 6th place, just behind Oakland and before Boston with Portland leading the race. (article continues)

Mayor Bloomberg interviewed on green cabs



London Calling
London is another big city that is working on its green image. London's mayor Ken Livingstone has introduced a congestion charge of 25 pounds (about 50 dollars) for every day you drive in Central London. It's that high because it has to "hurt". And this actually only effects about 5% of the drivers.
People who live in Central London and who own a "gas-guzzler" will have to pay an additional annual fee with which you can buy a small car - 6000 pounds. (article continues)

Listen to London's Mayor Ken Livingstone being interviewed


Even Abu Dhabi is working on creating an almost zero-carbon, zero-waste city extension by 2009. It would be nice in the future to see a big city in one of the emerging countries like China or India to push towards greenery. Though China have set many new regulations, implementation by the local and regional government is still lacking.

It's very encouraging to see London's and New York's plans in place. The cities' high visibility and popularity will make them a role model for other cities who wish to become greener.

Small Actions to Change the World #3 (Carnival)

I'm glad to be able to welcome you to the third edition of this carnival! And it seems like it's getting more and more popular. Starting next month, I will think about making this carnival a bi-weekly thing since there are so many great submissions that have been handed in and I would really like to include so many of them, but at the same time I don't want to make one edition too long. And it also seems that some of the submitters are becoming regulars, which makes me really happy :-).

Tupelo Kenyon presents Take Time for You posted at Tupelo Kenyon, saying, "Don't put yourself at the end of the list. You deserve to be first, at least some of the time. Don't let your entire life slip by with everything else (and everyone else) getting preferential treatment over your most important priorities. Their needs are important, but yours are important too. Celebrate life by taking time for YOU!" I highly agree, too often we don't think about ourselves and taking time for us. (Don't confuse this with becoming selfish, it's more about setting priorities.)

Tiffany Washko has some nice ideas on how to host an Eco Friendly Birthday Party posted at Natural Family Living Blog. It has some really nice and specific ideas, I might use 1 or 2 of them myself :-)

Louise Manning has some great gardening tips in 10 Ways to help the Environment in your garden posted at Green Garden Chat. At first it might seem like a lot of work, but once I think about it, I don't think it's more work, it's just different work.

Stretch Mark Mama presents a very short post called You Vegan! posted at Stretch Mark Mama.

marguerite manteau-rao presents Laurie David’s list « La Marguerite posted at La Marguerite, saying, "Our family's small steps to change the world, based on Laurie David's list, from La Marguerite's blog, relating "My Inconvenient Truth: the Daily Sins of a Green Girl Wannabe"". What a long list of nice ideas - have you started implementing some of them? Why not start today?

vivek khemka presents some really nice ideas how to act and make a difference in Ten Simple Ways to save the World - One at a Time. posted at The Red Pencil.

Millionaire Mommy Next Door presents Memories are made of the things we DO, not the things we BUY posted at Millionaire Mommy Next Door, saying, "Should we buy a boat? Or would we rather go fishing?" This gives us something to think about.

Toni presents Plants: The office cheerleaders posted at Happy Nest, saying, "A plant can help transform the dreariness of your work desk AND make you feel more positive. They're the office cheerleaders!" This is a really good idea. Fortunately, my boss also likes plants and has placed them around the office.

Patricia doesn't just give one or two ideas but presents 30 Things That Take 30 Seconds Each: Which Will You Do To Change The World? posted at Patricia. It takes 5 seconds to read each idea - for a combined 35 seconds for each action :-). Why not start now?

Stretch Mark Mama presents a second post with a really nice story (with a really cute picture) at Trash Mash posted at Stretch Mark Mama.

Silicon Valley Blogger presents Curb Appeal: One Of My Best Investments Yet Or How I Turned $80 Into $5,000 With Minimal Risk posted at The Digerati Life. I've never really looked at trees in this way - what a great idea.

edithyeung presents How to Clean Out Your “Closet”, and Make Space for More Good posted at Edith Yeung.Com: Dream. Think. Act.. I think that cleaning out your closet doesn't just make physical space, but it also clears up your mind sometimes!

That's it for this edition of "Small Actions to Change the World". Thanks so much for reading. As always, I will end this post with an inspiring story!

If you want to submit a story, you can do so here by using the carnival submission form.

Past posts and future hosts can be found in the
blog carnival index page.

Today's inspiring story is somewhat different than usual - it's a YouTube video. If you've never heard of it, it's about something really nice and simple - a hug. I've seen this video a couple of times and I've heard the news of this spread a bit. I've even seen someone doing this in Germany :-). Take a look!

When good things go bad: Re-thinking environmental choices

I've had several occurences where people try to do a good thing, but instead of checking the facts, they just assume what they're doing is the best way because it seems intuitively so or the media says so. This does work a lot of the time, but some things - some of them intuitively "right" things - might do more damage than good. This post is about debunking (or at least re-thinking) some myths:

1. Myth: Separating trash into as many categories as possible is always good. Germans are crazed with separating trash, often up to 4 different types of trash categories at home plus several others for other trash (like empty bottles - sorted by colour). And of course some bottles you can return to the store where you bought them. The fact is, in many big cities, the trash separating machines at the utility company have become so efficient that it's actually inefficient for the consumer to separate it into so many categories. Check out how your city/community does it.

2. Myth: Eating organic makes my carbon/CO2 footprint THAT much lower. It usually does make your carbon footprint lower provided that you're comparing to someone who has the same eating habits as you. But often it's the type of food that makes a bigger difference. Eating a salad instead of a steak makes SO much more of a difference than eating an organic steak.

3. Myth: Local food is always more energy-efficient to make. This generalisation is quite wrong. It depends on a lot of factors to see what food is more energy-efficient. Buying local and in season is a better guide to higher energy-efficiency. Sometimes driving to the supermarket to buy the food that is shipped in from Kenya is more energy-intensive than the rest of the supply chain altogether. The Boston Globe has a nice article on this.

4. Myth: It's ok to create a lot of CO2, I can just buy some certificates and it's as if it never happened. This is currently a very popular subject. But many difficulties arise and often it doesn't really work. Read about whether or not certificates live up to their hype in "The Big Carbon Offset Lie?". Here's one tip: Reducing emissions is much better than "compensating" for it.

5. Myth: Paper is better than plastic. Is it really? If you take a look at the whole life-cycle of plastic and paper bags, plastic actually comes up on top often. Read about this in a TreeHugger article. Re-Usable bags are usually better than either. If you re-use them.


These are just some examples of how good things or well-intentioned things do not really work. So, next time you have to make an environmental choice, check out whether the facts support your intuition. Whether it's traveling to a far-away place, buying a computer or even washing the dishes: Which choice is the most environmentally friendly?

Small Actions to Change the World #2 (Carnival)

Welcome to the second edition of the "Small Actions to Change the World" Carnival! After a short absence (more on that in a later post) I will present to you an exciting array of posts on how small actions do make a difference! It's not just about small changes to save the environment (although that will form the majority of this post) but it is also about other things that make our world a worthwhile place to live.

edithyeung presents an inspiring post I Have a Dream posted at Edith Yeung.Com: Dream. Think. Act.. The british readers might know about this already, but check out the video for inspiration :-). (I have to admit, after I checked out Paul's video I looked up some other videos of this show on YouTube. Look up Connie's video once you've seen Paul's :-).)

Here's a nice tip on how to save water, Dean presents How to Save the World One Flush at a Time posted at Mr. Cheap Stuff, saying, "Save up to 15% off your water bill while helping save the Earth." It's another example on how helping the environment actually saves money.

Tupelo Kenyon has a very interesting post called Meaningful Spiritual Relationships – Namaste Matters posted at Tupelo Kenyon saying "How we interact with people we meet every day has a ripple effect, and you'll never know what a difference your kindness makes. This small action of regarding others with kindness and respect can make a difference in people's lives and therefore the world."

This is a really interesting post by Frugal Panda. I learned some new things, and I will be sure to look into Habit 8 (I've never tried that before). The Beginner's Guide to Going Green: 8 Painless New Habits posted at Frugal Panda.

I like this short post, it's about a nice way on how to confront a person who has gotten into trouble (through drugs or so). Praveen presents The Anti-Intervention posted at Tao of Simplicity.

Scott presents 6 Ways College Students Can Help Save The Environment posted at College and Finance.

Neil Ransom presents Country Count 139 and Falling posted at Kate and Neil's Official Website. His comment: "Sometimes all it takes to make a difference is changing the way you talk about things." This post put a smile on my face, because I have had some discussions on this as well, especially with my girlfriend (who was a tour guide at the UN).

Sometimes it's the small thing that make people happy. Samir Bharadwaj demonstrates this in his post Rediscover The Pure Pleasure Of Paper Crafts And Pop Up Cards posted at SamirBharadwaj.com.

Josh Brady presents What The Dr Ordered posted at Green Bag Blog. This is an update post on his campaign to reduce the number of plastic bags used in his community. Take a look at the whole blog, you might just get inspired.

Mary Jo Manzanares presents the post Backyard Sanctuary Program Helps Keep Washington one of the Best Places to Live. Read it and maybe you can start something similar in your community!

Alvaro Fernandez presents Mental Training for Gratitude and Altruism posted at SharpBrains: Your Window into the Brain Fitness Revolution, saying, "on why, and how, we can become more altruistic and more thankful for the gifts we receive. For example: what about writing every day a quick list of 5 good things that happened to us that day?"

That's it for this edition. Thanks for reading and I hope this edition of the carnival makes a small difference in the world!

If you want to submit a post to the next edition of the carnival, use our carnival submission form.

Past posts can be found on our blog carnival index page.

Just like the first edition, I want to end this post with an inspiring story (which I've found here):

Gandhi went from city to city, village to village collecting funds for the Charkha Sangh. During one of his tours he addressed a meeting in Orissa. After his speech a poor old woman got up. She was bent with age, her hair was grey and her clothes were in tatters. The volunteers tried to stop her, but she fought her way to the place where Gandhi was sitting. "I must see him," she insisted and going up to Gandhi touched his feet. Then from the folds of her sari she brought out a copper coin and placed it at his feet. Gandhi picked up the copper coin and put it away carefully.
The Charkha Sangh funds were under the charge of Jamnalal Bajaj. He asked Gandhi for the coin but Gandhi refused. "I keep cheque worth thousands of rupees for the Charkha Sangh," Jamnalal Bajaj said laughingly "yet you won't trust me with a copper coin."
"This copper coin is worth much more than those thousands," Gandhi said.

"If a man has several lakhs and he gives away a thousand or two, it doesn't mean much. But this coin was perhaps all that the poor woman possessed. She gave me all she had. That was very generous of her. What a great sacrifice she made. That is why I value this copper coin more than a crore of rupees."