I live without cash – and I manage just fine

Armed with a caravan, solar laptop and toothpaste made from washed-up cuttlefish bones, Mark Boyle gave up using cash....

In six years of studying economics, not once did I hear the word "ecology". So if it hadn't have been for the chance purchase of a video called Gandhi in the final term of my degree, I'd probably have ended up earning a fine living in a very respectable job persuading Indian farmers to go GM, or something useful like that. The little chap in the loincloth taught me one huge lesson – to be the change I wanted to see in the world. Trouble was, I had no idea back then what that change was.

After managing a couple of organic food companies made me realise that even "ethical business" would never be quite enough, an afternoon's philosophising with a mate changed everything. We were looking at the world's issues – environmental destruction, sweatshops, factory farms, wars over resources – and wondering which of them we should dedicate our lives to. But I realised that I was looking at the world in the same way a western medical practitioner looks at a patient, seeing symptoms and wondering how to firefight them, without any thought for their root cause. So I decided instead to become a social homeopath, a pro-activist, and to investigate the root cause of these symptoms.

One of the critical causes of those symptoms is the fact we no longer have to see the direct repercussions our purchases have on the people, environment and animals they affect. The degrees of separation between the consumer and the consumed have increased so much that we're completely unaware of the levels of destruction and suffering embodied in the stuff we buy. The tool that has enabled this separation is money.

If we grew our own food, we wouldn't waste a third of it as we do today. If we made our own tables and chairs, we wouldn't throw them out the moment we changed the interior decor. If we had to clean our own drinking water, we probably wouldn't contaminate it.

So to be the change I wanted to see in the world, it unfortunately meant I was going to have to give up cash, which I initially decided to do for a year. I got myself a caravan, parked it up on an organic farm where I was volunteering and kitted it out to be off-grid. Cooking would now be outside – rain or shine – on a rocket stove; mobile and laptop would be run off solar; I'd use wood I either coppiced or scavenged to heat my humble abode, and a compost loo for humanure.

Food was the next essential. There are four legs to the food-for-free table: foraging wild food, growing your own, bartering, and using waste grub, of which there is loads. On my first day, I fed 150 people a three-course meal with waste and foraged food. Most of the year, though, I ate my own crops.

To get around, I had a bike and trailer, and the 34-mile commute to the city doubled up as my gym subscription. For loo roll I'd relieve the local newsagents of its papers (I once wiped my arse with a story about myself); it's not double-quilted, but I quickly got used to it. For toothpaste I used washed-up cuttlefish bone with wild fennel seeds, an oddity for a vegan.

What have I learned? That friendship, not money, is real security. That most western poverty is of the spiritual kind. That independence is really interdependence. And that if you don't own a plasma screen TV, people think you're an extremist.

People often ask me what I miss about my old world of lucre and business. Stress. Traffic jams. Bank statements. Utility bills.

Well, there was the odd pint of organic ale with my mates down the local.

Mark Boyle is the founder of The Freeconomy Community.

Red Nev goes Green

Manchester United defender Gary Neville has applied for planning permission to build a flower-shaped eco-home in Bolton, UK.

Neville, wants to build a four-bedroom, single-story house with a wind turbine, solar panels and ground-source heating. It will be 8,000 square feet, mostly submerged in the Pennines and covered in a grass roof, making it partially invisible. The former England right-back - known as 'Red' Nev for his loyalty to Manchester United and role as PFA shop-steward - has applied to Bolton Council for the project, which Make Architects claim will be the first of its kind in the North West.

"The client has been heavily involved in the design process and is passionate about preserving the natural beauty of this area," Make's Stuart Fraser said. "It has been a privilege to be given a brief which has allowed us to truly test the boundaries of current sustainable thinking in terms of design and construction and to work along some leading experts in this field."

Work has been penciled in to begin later this year.

Are You Ready To Go Solar At Home?

Solar panels have never been cheaper. How to tell if your house is a good fit.
You recycle, you buy organic, and you drive a hybrid car. What's next if you've got greenbacks burning a hole in your pocket and you want to spend them on something green?

Get your house some solar panels. Soon you will smile with glee as you slash the amount of money you fork over to the electric company every month, while reveling in the satisfaction that your home is producing its own zero-emissions power.

Solar panel prices have plunged by half in the past year as manufacturers have opened new plants, ending a multi-year shortage of silicon for photovoltaic chips. That glut will be bad for manufacturers' profit margins, but good for you. For SGD 20,937 (USD15, 000) installed, a 3.5 kilowatt system could generate 5,000 kwh of electricity a year, about a third of most homes' needs.

And if your time horizon is long enough, your homemade solar power won't cost any more than what you pay the power company. Currently the US federal government gives a 30% investment tax credit, and assuming that one can finance a solar system at the going mortgage rate of around 5%, over 20 years his/her solar power will cost between 10 cents and 13 cents per kwh.

Costs will be even lower if you can finance the system yourself with cash you have sitting around collecting 0.1% interest in a money market fund. John Berger, chief executive of Houston-based solar installer Standard Renewable Energy, maintains that because many additional state and local green energy incentives will run out of money or expire by the end of next year, there's never been a better time to install a solar system.

You've heard of smart meters? When your solar system is installed you get a genius meter that shows how much power your solar panels are generating, how much power your house is drawing from the electric utility and (if you're really power-frugal) how much power you're sending back to the grid. Lazy summer day? Grab a beer and watch the metering levels flip around as clouds wander over your neighborhood and block the sun for a few minutes.

Looking for a last-minute Christmas gift for the high-tech early-adopter nerd in your life who has everything? Solar panels are better on the environment than a new high-def TV, less annoying than a robotic dog and probably about as much fun to drive as an all-electric car (kidding). There are some caveats: Panels don't work if you have a big tree blocking the sun. And in some of your more uptight (i.e., "nicer") neighborhoods, the local spy agency (i.e., homeowners association) won't let you install them.

At least $58 million raised by "Hope for Haiti Now" telethon

The "Hope for Haiti Now" telethon, shown Friday on 25 different networks around the world, had by Saturday raised $58 million, with organizers saying that donations continue to be received.

Hosted jointly, from three different locations, by Wyclef Jean, George Clooney and CNN's Anderson Cooper, the telethon featured performances from some of the best-known names in music. Anderson Cooper was actually reporting live from Haiti, struck by a magnitude 7.0 earthquake on January 12, during the event. And in addition to viewers being able to watch the likes of Bruce Springsteen, Bono, Jay-Z, Rihanna, Shakira, Beyonce, and Mary J. Blige perform some of those calling in to make donations had, says MTV, the opportunity to speak to one of more than 100 of the biggest names in film, television and music who were helping professional operators man the phones.

Jon Stewart, Brad Pitt, Tom Hanks and Clint Eastwood were among those thanking callers for their donations and CNN reports that one donor was told by the actress Reese Witherspoon: "Thank you so much for your donation. You can't imagine how much love and great, wonderful energy is here today. People are doing everything they can to make a difference in these people's lives."

The figure of $58 million includes donations made by phone, online and mobile but not those that have been promised by corporations. Nor does it include the largest of the private donations or the money generated by iTunes sales.

MTV, the production company responsible for the telethon - developed in conjunction with George Clooney and setting a new record for donations by the general public to a televised event raising funds for disaster relief - confirms that the "Hope for Haiti Now" album is "the biggest one-day album pre-order in iTunes history ", having gone to number one in 18 different countries.

In addition "Stranded (Haiti Mon Amour)", the track that Bono, The Edge, Jay-Z and Rihanna prerecorded in London for the telethon, which had the official title "Hope for Haiti Now: A Global Benefit for Earthquake Relief", is currently the most popular iTunes song in 12 countries.

Donations for "Hope for Haiti Now" will be accepted for another six months and the money received will be distributed to seven organizations working to bring relief to the survivors of the Haiti earthquake, including a fund established by former U.S. Presidents Bill Clinton and George W. Bush.

Oxfam America, Partners in Health, the Red Cross, UNICEF, United Nations World Food Programme, Yele Haiti Foundation and the Clinton Bush Haiti Foundation/Fund are the seven organizations in question.

With the exception of the fund set up by Mr Clinton and Mr Bush the other organizations were, notes MTV, selected because of their "history of operation and collaboration within the nongovernmental organization (NGO) community in Haiti".

On Sunday the government in Haiti announced an official death toll of 150,000. In recent days the final toll was being estimated at 200,000, a figure that has apparently been revised upwards to 300,000.

To make a donation please visit The Red Cross website.

5 Tips for CNY Green Spring Cleaning Bliss!

Get into The Chinese New Year groove with these eco friendly spring cleaning tips

Spring brings many things: budding flowers, April showers, birds chirping and mops mopping. Yes, besides the new signs of life popping up all around you, spring also brings upon the ritual of spring cleaning. It’s a dirty task, but somebody has to do it, or the mess of the last few winter months will continue to cultivate in your home. Instead of making a bigger mess this spring, make a few smaller changes that will be great for your home and green for the environment. Here are 5 tips that you can follow to have an eco friendly spring cleaning experience:

1. V is for vendetta and vinegar
Vinegar wages a personal vendetta again germs in your house this spring! This acidic liquid can be added to baking soda to make a natural drain cleaner, and it can be added with salt to make a pasty chrome sink cleaner. Want to learn other eco-friendly uses for vinegar? Check out the website below.

2. Become friends with your windows
This means to release them from the bonds of locks and to open them up. Let them enjoy the cool spring air as it comes into your home, and give them a good, clean scrubbing. Your windows will look great and you’ll be reducing your energy bill.

3. Switch from paper to cloth
Reduce your household paper waste consumption by using cloth dish rags or pieces of old clothing to wipe counters and other surfaces. Instead of using wads of paper towels, you can use the rags to clean what you need to. Then the rags can be washed and reused over again. Click on the picture to access a cool blog post on how to make cleaning rags from old clothes.

4. Sweep in sustainable style
Spring brings pollen, buds, loose dirt and other wonders from nature that get tracked into your home and on your porch or deck. Instead of using a vacuum and consuming energy, grab a green broom that will sweep away the mess! Try a Dinuba Broom, which is made with 100% recycled plastic bristles and sustainable wood.

5. Get rid of clutter with recycled storage units
Organization plays a big role in spring cleaning, especially inside your home. You can organize what’s inside your home (after you’ve cleaned and de-cluttered it) with a recycled storage unit. Way Basics is a cool company that offers completely recycled and easy to put together storage units. The best part about the company, besides its cool creations, is that its employees work towards helping victims of natural disasters obtain the furniture that they desperately need. Oh, and they plant trees at the Red River National Wildlife Refuge.

Just try a few of these tips this spring, and you’ll see just how nice it feels being happy with yourself, your cleaning habits and your environment.

Global oil reserves and fossil fuel consumption

The world is showing no sign of weaning itself off fossil fuels: in the 28-year span covered by the BP data below, worldwide reserves of oil fell only twice – in 1998 and 2008.

Oil has been the world's fossil fuel of choice since the late 1960s and our taste for it doesn't seem likely to diminish in the short term. Oil companies are still keen to secure any undiscovered reserves while continuing to be a powerful lobbying presence. You may think that with pressing concerns over peak oil and global warming, the world would be slowly weaning itself off the energy-rich liquid. But in the 28-year span covered by the BP data below, worldwide reserves fell only twice – in 1998, and a decade later in 2008.

Opec nations control the lion's share, with 76% of the world's reserves. Interestingly, many of the Opec countries' proven reserves have barely changed in the past 20 years, despite massive exporting activity.

The largest percentage growth in oil wealth is in Vietnam, with a 39% surge in its proven oil reserves from 2007-08. This newfound wealth corresponds to 1.3bn barrels, which may sound like a lot, but would feed the world demand for less than three weeks (17 days) at 2008 levels of consumption.

Oil consumption fell by 0.29% from 2007-08, while its more polluting relation coal saw a 3% increase in its use. Reasons for coal's recent rise include the low price of emissions trading permits and the fuel's increasing promotion as key for 'energy security'.

Make your own face masks, foot scrubs and more!!

Right now, schedule yourself an at-home spa day. The holidays are a perfect time to do so because you may have some time off of work (or someone else who can watch the kids for a few hours does). And, the holidays are stressful, so you deserve a moment of release.

You don’t need to break the bank. And, you don’t need to expose yourself to questionable chemicals. Here are some DIY recipes to get your gorgeous self glowing again. (Hint, hint – some of these make great gifts, too!)

Refreshing Orange Scrub
This recipe is courtesy of Noreen Finneran "Incredible Edible Spa"
1/2 of an Orange
4 T Cornmeal

Squeeze orange juice and pulp into a bowl and add the cornmeal. Mix into a paste. Apply onto freshly washed face and body. Scrub gently for 2-3 minutes. Rinse, tone, moisturize.

Chocolate Facial Mask
This recipe is courtesy of Practically Green by Micaela Preston
2 T unsweetened cocoa powder
2 T plain yogurt
1 T honey

Mix all ingredients in a small bowl. Apply to face and neck, avoiding eye area. Kick back, relax and enjoy the delicious aroma for about 15 minutes. Rinse off with warm water.

Lavender-Honey Milk Bath
This recipe is courtesy of The National Honey Board
3 Tablespoons dried lavender flowers*
1-1/2 cups whole milk, cream or combination
1/3 cup honey

Process lavender flowers in a blender until they become a powder, turning off the blender and scraping down the sides as necessary. Whisk together lavender powder, milk and honey in a glass bowl, then pour into a jar. Before each use, shake the jar and pour half of the mixture into the bath. Store covered in the refrigerator for up to 1 week. Makes enough for 2 baths.
*Dried lavender flowers can be found in the spice section of gourmet and specialty stores.

Smoothing Skin Lotion
This recipe is courtesy of The National Honey Board
1 teaspoon honey
1 teaspoon vegetable oil
1/4 teaspoon lemon juice

Mix together honey, vegetable oil and lemon juice. Rub into hands, elbows, heels and anywhere that feels dry. Leave on 10 minutes. Rinse off with water.

Avocado Foot Softener
2 T cornmeal

2 T mashed avocado or avocado oil

Mix ingredients in a small bowl until they form a paste. Apply to feet, working the gritty paste into calluses and rough spots, and up and around the toes. Rinse with warm water and dry feet thoroughly. For maximum softening, repeat once or twice a week.

Lemon Facial Toner
1/2 cup fresh lemon juice
grated zest of one lemon
1 cup distilled water (any water should do)
2/3 cup witch hazel (you can get this at any drugstore)

Shake well before use, apply with cotton balls until face is clean. Keeps one month.

Banana Hair Mask
1 banana
3 tablespoons mayonnaise
1 1/2 tablespoons olive oil

Mash ingredients until creamy. Apply to hair, cover head with plastic wrap, let sit for 15-30 minutes - in the sun if possible. Rinse completely and shampoo as usual.

The greatest threat of the 21st century: not AGW but Eco-Fascism

This is Peter Spencer, he’s a farmer in New South Wales, and his livelihood has been stolen by the Australian government in the name of – you guessed it – “combatting climate change.”

That’s why he is now sitting atop that windblown tower you see in the photograph, on sheep farmland rendered useless by eco-legislation, starving himself to death in protest at his government’s callous disregard for his property rights. This is his 46th day on hunger strike.

Jo Nova from the Telegraph (UK) has been following the story closely. Here’s the eco-political background:

As a part of Australia’s commitment to protect native vegetation and to reduce carbon emissions under the Kyoto protocol, Peter Spencer and thousands of farmers like him, have been subjected to a government imposed ban on land clearing.

The saved trees are natural carbon sinks worth an estimated $10.8 billion to the government in reduced carbon emissions, should Kevin Rudd’s emissions trading scheme go ahead. But the farmers, who can no longer develop this land have received no compensation.

Peter Spencer is among the victims of this legalised theft. He first told his story here in 2006.

In recent decades, thousands of farms have become economically marginal and have gone out of business. What is not widely known is that this “marginality” has often been the result not of market forces but of government regulation. In particular, governments in pursuit of urban green votes have imposed a vast range of devastating new costs on farmers.

My farm is probably one of the worst affected in Australia, so I can speak about this with some knowledge. “Saarahnlee” is at Shannons Flat in NSW. Our northern boundary fence is the southern boundary of the ACT and its Namadgi National Park.

The farm consists of about 14,000 acres, about 60 per cent of which was cleared before World War II. When I bought it in the 1980s, I had been working overseas to earn the money to buy the place. Unfortunately, I was unable to farm it for some time so extensive regrowth occurred. When I returned to Australia to begin to farm, I found that various laws to preserve native vegetation had been enacted in the meantime, and I was unable to “reclear” the land.

I could have applied for permission to clear, but not only was it unlikely this would have been granted, at that time it would have cost us over $300,000 merely to prepare the necessary farm plan. This was because of the number of different ecosystems present due to the 900 metre altitude variation on the property. There would have been no refund if the plan was rejected. It should be pointed out that under the just-released regulations (December 1, 2005) this cost would now be paid by the relevant department.

The result was that I was left with only 800 acres to farm: not nearly enough to live off and a financial catastrophe. The bank foreclosed on our mortgage and at the moment we are barely hanging on, thanks to the help of our extended families.

I protested to the state government and was told nothing could be done. Our plight has received extensive publicity and it’s worth putting on the record that I haven’t received one message of sympathy from any environmentalist. It appears the Green movement is prepared to destroy the property rights of despised groups such as farmers and devastate their lives in order to achieve its ends.

The rest of the article shows that Peter Spencer was no whingeing slouch. As Jo Nova reports, he really did try everything before resorting to his final, desperate pass.

After the land-clearing laws came into effect, Peter paid hundreds of thousands of dollars to set up ponds for trout fishing. But new water laws ended that too (and also without compensation). Tenaciously Peter then set up a fine-wool breeding program, but the bushfires of 2003 (that destroyed 500 homes in Canberra, and native forest near Peter) meant that hundreds of wild dogs were forced out of burnt areas. They over-ran his property, killing hundreds of sheep.

Spencer gave a moving interview on ABC radio’s Counterpoint programme.


Every one of my projects is destroyed, every one of my…it’s just disgraceful, Michael, I just feel sick. I was just thinking last night, I can remember going off to court, day after day, sometimes the last eight or nine weeks I would come back, spend one night [unclear], change all my files, back to Sydney again. I spent nearly five weeks there non-stop the last two months. And I’d watch sheep dying in the paddock and I couldn’t go round and shoot them because I had nobody left to help me. I had to let them die on their own, just kicking and struggling because they couldn’t stand up anymore, nothing to feed them with, it was just unbelievable.

One of Spencer’s neighbours wrote to an Australian senator, describing the kind of man Spencer is:

I have known Peter since 1989 when I became one of the Spencer Family’s next door neighbours and the two families spent a lot of time together especially the children as living 42 kilometers from the nearest town..

In those days Peter spent a lot of time in the highlands of Papua New Guinea as he had various… tourism accommodation type businesses and had been operating them for 10-15 years prior to us knowing him. Peter is/was accepted as a Chief in one of the Highland Tribes in Papua New Guinea and has been known to be called in by the then Papua New Guinea Government to negotiate peace between the two… fighting tribes putting his own life on the line in these situations but coming out with very positive results. In 1996/97 there was a riot at his Hotel in Mt Hagan where rascals tried to rob and burn his Hotel, Peter was taken captive and placed on his knees with hands tied behind his back and a gun placed at his head, fortunately for Peter the gun misfired and in the rascals confusion he was able to escape.

Peter Spencer is an example to us all. I’m not suggesting we all go on hunger strike but we ought surely to emulate his clear-eyed courage in facing up to the greatest menace of our age. That menace is not, of course, the illusory threat of AGW which our governments so cheerfully use to fleece us and impose control of over us. That menace is eco-fascism. It’s real, it’s terrifying and it’s time we fought back.

I agree with Gerald Warner. The only way to get our message across that we’re sick to the craw of Green lies, Green taxes, and Green tyranny is to punish all the mainstream parties – and that very much includes Cameron’s Green Conservatives – at the polls.

Singapore Green Landscape 2010

Singapore Green Landscape 2010 gives an overview of the various non-governmental organisations (NGOs), green groups, business associations and groups, green websites, government agencies, and institutes and centres in Singapore, which are related to the environment.

We hope that this publication is useful for everyone who wishes to find and connect with the environmental organisations in Singapore, and explore personal and business opportunities.

This publication is free for download.

Thanks Eugene for the link! :)

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year from Green Cleaners

Of course the holiday season is upon us, with lots of magic and merriment. But as wonderful as this time of year is for many of us, the planet isn't quite so happy. The holiday season produces a lot of waste. Household waste jumps an astounding 25 percent in December, according to the EPA. That excess "25 percent" totals 1 million tons of trash.

So as we head into the holiday season, let's all agree to take it easy on the Earth and try to reduce that insane amount of waste that seems to come with our festivities. From us all at Green Cleaners we wish you a Very Merry Christmas and Prosperous New Year.

We look forward to seeing you very soon!!

Apes 'threatened by climate change'

Some species of monkeys and apes are in danger of being wiped out by global warming, say scientists. A new study suggests that many of the animals will not survive if temperatures around the world rise by just 2C.

Those that cannot adapt could be driven to extinction, experts warn. The species most at risk are the already endangered gorillas and colobine monkeys, say the British researchers.

The study, published online in the journal Animal Behaviour, pinpoints which primates are are most threatened by climate change. Old World populations in Africa will be hardest hit, especially species such as colobines whose diets are mainly leaf-based, the scientists predict.

New World monkeys in South America are much less likely to be affected by a rise of 2C in average global temperature. However, they would not be spared if temperatures rose by 4C, causing their habitats to become fragmented.

The researchers coupled climate models with an analysis of behaviour, diet and group size of different primate species across the world. African monkeys and apes with leafy diets are vulnerable because their habitats are so restricted, being confined to a narrow region of the equator. Fruit-eating species such as the baboons and guenon monkeys of Africa typically have a much wider latitudinal range and could cope with more variable climatic conditions.

Green Cleaners on Channel News Asia - 'Eco Ventures'

As featured on Channel News Asia's 'Eco Venture' highlight in November 2009. Green Cleaners' director and founder Colin Pudsey talks about the type of people that choose Green Cleaners and who can benefit from our eco friendly services.

A bit of humour for you :)

Award winning stand-up comedian Jon Richardson gets hot and bothered about living with climate change....

8 Ways to Give Up Buying Wrapping Paper Forever

Avoid store-bought supplies and still end up with a present, perfect....

We know you can't judge a book by its cover, or a present by its wrapping, but a pretty presentation can go a long way toward making your holidays merry and bright. But when you think about all the money you spend buying paper that gets cut, ripped, and then (hopefully) recycled, it's hard not to feel some green guilt. Here, we've tracked down eight ways to use what you have on hand—from empty cereal boxes to old magazines—to present your gifts in beautiful wrappings (without blowing the budget).

1. Prepare for Odd Sizes

Some gifts just don't wrap easily—like footballs, action figures, and body lotion. To keep the contents a secret until opening time, you need boxes—so why not try making your own? This tutorial from Eco-Artware shows you how to repurpose a Corn Pops box into a square cardboard container custom-sized for whatever you're giving. Keep the patterned side out for a fun and funky finished look, or show off the plain side and decorate with stamps, paint, or a simple bow.

2. Have a Boxing Day

If you're the type who prefers online ordering to braving the stores during the holidays, then chances are good you have a ton of cardboard boxes in your house—or on their way. Skip the paper entirely with this kid-friendly idea from Morton Skogly: just mix up some childsafe paint, collect some old or spare sponges, and let the little ones put their own stamp on your decorating. Plain cardboard works fine, but you can also use smaller boxes from your pantry, old shoe boxes, or even tissue boxes since the paint will cover the design.

3. Cut and Paste

When it comes to wrapping gifts, don't underestimate the power of your magazine rack. You know you're not going to read those weeklies from July, so why not put them to good use? This mosaic decoupage project from Bellenza lets you create bright, colorful patchworks by gluing one-inch squares cut from magazines to crumpled newspaper for a look that's both eco-friendly and inexpensive.

4. Let It Shine

Covering your gifts with recycled aluminum foil gives them a holiday sparkle worthy of even the fussiest decorator—just picture a pile of these underneath the tree, reflecting your new collection of LED lights. On smaller gifts, you won't even need to use tape, and you can finish off your wrapping job with ribbon, bows, or even a simple piece of twine or colored string. Then once the unwrapping chaos has settled, collect your foil and reuse it in the kitchen—or on next year's gifts.

5. Get on a Roll

Prefer a more traditional look? Try making your own wrapping paper from a roll of plain butcher paper. At A Little Hut, designer Patricia Zapata sketched a leafy design and let her kids color in the pattern; try drawing a winter- or holiday-themed picture instead, or just freehand it. In the end, you'll recycle this paper just as you would any other wrapping paper, but you'll spend a lot less making it than you would buying.

6. Try Stripping

We like this project from MAKE because it feels like a take-off on the classic wrapping-a-gift-in-the-Sunday-comics route—though the finished product is more magazine-spread chic than preschool birthday party. The woven design comes from cutting wavy lines on one sheet of paper that's big enough to wrap your gift; then cut strips from magazines, newspapers, construction paper, or any other paper you have on hand and thread them in an alternating over/under. You're right: this is a lot of work. But the reuse possiblities—and the looks you'll get when people hear you made the paper—will make it worth it.

7. Know When to Fold

Want to give your gifts a more luxurious look? Try upcycling old fabric—shirts, sheets, pillowcases, towels, napkins—by dyeing, marbling, or painting it, and then folding it around your present for a unique wrap job. If you don't have any spare cloth on hand, look for old (good condition) pieces at your local thrift store or at yard sales; give yourself a bonus if you can find something (like an apron, kitchen towels, or placemats) that your recipient will use again.

8. Take a Bow

Then there's that perfect finishing touch: the bow. Anyone who's found a bag of unusable crumpled bows in last year's holiday carton will understand the relief of having just as many as you need, in just the right colors, without having extras to store; this year, try making your own from strips of magazine pages or paper cut to length and folded onto each other. You can also use pages from old books, scrapbook paper, or even spare photos to add an even more personal design to each present.

Climate change puts us all in the same boat. One hole will sink us all

Global warming does not respect borders. A mindset shift is required if world leaders are to save us from ourselves - Says former UN secretary-general Kofi Annan....

The UN climate change conference in Copenhagen offers the prospect of a robust political deal, endorsed by the world's leaders and witnessed by the world's people, that sets out clear targets and a timeline for translating it into law. To be a truly historic achievement, such a deal must do two things.

First, it must lay the basis for a global regime and subsequent agreements that limit global temperature rise in accordance with the scientific evidence. Second, it must provide clarity on the mobilisation and volume of financial resources to support developing countries to adapt to climate change. The stakes are enormous. Economic growth has been achieved at great environmental and social cost, aggravating inequality and human vulnerability. The irreparable damage that is being inflicted on ecosystems, agricultural productivity, forests and water systems is accelerating. Threats to health, life and livelihoods are growing. Disasters are also increasing in scale and frequency.

But despite the mounting evidence of negative impacts, reaching a deal will not be easy. It will require extraordinary political courage – both to cut the deal and to communicate its necessity to the public.

A mindset shift is required. Distrust and competition persist between regions and nations, manifest in a "no, you must show your cards first" attitude that has dogged the negotiations leading up to Copenhagen. This has to be overcome.

A deal that is not based on the best scientific evidence will be nothing better than a line in the sand as the tide comes in. But short-term considerations, including from special interest groups and electoral demands, are working against long-term solutions.

Success in reaching a deal will require leaders to think for future generations, and for citizens other than their own. It will require them to think about inclusive and comprehensive arrangements, not just a patched up compilation of national or regional interests.

A deal that stops at rhetoric and does not actually meet the needs of the poorest and most climate vulnerable countries simply will not work. The climate cannot be "fixed" in one continent and not another. Climate change does not respect national borders. We are all in the same boat; a hole at one end will sink us all.

For it to work, climate justice must be at the heart of the agreement. An unfair deal will come unstuck. Industrialised countries such as the United States must naturally take the lead in reducing emissions and supporting others to follow suit, but developing countries like India or China also have an increasing responsibility to do so as their economies continue to grow.

Tragically, it is the poorest and least responsible who are having to bear the brunt of the climate challenge as rising temperatures exacerbate poverty, hunger and vulnerability to disease for billions of people. They need both immediate help to strengthen their climate resilience as well as long-term support to enable them to adapt to changing weather patterns, reduce deforestation, and pursue low-emissions, clean energy growth strategies.

The deal must include a package of commitments in line with the science and the imperative of reducing global emissions by 50-85% relative to 2000 levels by 2050.

This requires a schedule for richer countries to move to 25-40% emission cuts by 2020 from 1990 baselines; clear measures for emerging economies to cut emissions intensity; and clarity about both immediate and longer term finance and technical support for developing countries, notably the poorest and most vulnerable among them.

Will we get there? The targets that have been proposed for emission reductions by many industrialised countries such as the EU, Japan and Norway are encouraging, as are those being made by the big emerging economies including Brazil, China, India, Indonesia, and South Korea.

Recent announcements by the US on emission targets represent a significant shift and provide a basis for scaling up commitments in the coming years. So does the recognition by emerging economies that they also have a role in supporting the most vulnerable countries.

Welcome too are the proposals for financial support to LDCs and small island states made at the Commonwealth summit in Trinidad, as well as proposals by the Netherlands, France, and the UK, among others.

But much greater specificity on finance is needed. Existing official development assistance (ODA) commitments to help the poorest countries meet the Millennium Development Goals need to be met. And significant additional finance that is separate from and additional to ODA needs to be mobilised to support them meet the incremental costs generated by climate change.

A deal that is not clear on the finance will be both unacceptable to developing countries, and unworkable. Finding the additional resources and communicating its necessity will not be easy, particularly in the current economic climate, but it must be done.

A successful deal could incentivise not only good stewardship of forests and more sustainable land use, but also massive investment into low-carbon growth and a healthier planet, including in sectors such as energy generation, construction and transportation.

And it could usher in an era of qualitatively new international co-operation based on common but differentiated responsibilities – not just for managing climate change, but for human development, social justice and global security.

Ultimately, at stake is whether our leaders can work to help us save ourselves from … well, from ourselves. The legacy of today's politicians will be determined in the weeks to come.

Please help the world

"Please Help the World", film from the opening ceremony of the United Nations Climate Change Conference 2009 (COP15) in Copenhagen from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Denmark. Shown on December 7, 2009 at COP15.

Plea over chemical in baby bottles

Campaigners are calling for baby bottles containing the Bisphenol A chemical to be removed from UK shelves.

Scientists, charities and representatives from the National Childbirth Trust said there is "compelling" scientific evidence that the chemical is linked to breast cancer and other conditions. Scientists have long been divided on whether Bisphenol A (often abbreviated to BPA) causes health problems in people after several lab studies showed problems in mice, including changes to the reproductive system. The chemical is widely used in plastics and is commonly found in food and drink containers. Some experts believe young children may be particularly vulnerable.

In March, baby bottle manufacturers in the US removed BPA from their products, saying they were reacting to consumer demand. The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is currently reviewing BPA after experts questioned its view that BPA remains safe for food containers and baby bottles.

Breast Cancer UK has released a survey of more than 2,000 adults which found that 50 per cent strongly agree and another 29 per cent agree "it is important that the UK Government acts in a precautionary way when it comes to protecting babies and very young children from BPA". It also published a letter to Health Secretary Andy Burnham from a group of scientists backing its No More BPA campaign.

The experts, from universities in Stirling, Ulster, London, Plymouth and Reading urged the Government "to adopt a standpoint consistent with the approach taken by other governments who have ended the use of BPA in food contact products marketed at children".

Copenhagen climate change talks must fail, says top scientist

The scientist who convinced the world to take notice of the looming danger of global warming says it would be better for the planet and for future generations if next week's Copenhagen climate change summit ended in collapse.

In an interview with the Guardian, James Hansen, the world's pre-eminent climate scientist, said any agreement likely to emerge from the negotiations would be so deeply flawed that it would be better to start again from scratch. "I would rather it not happen if people accept that as being the right track because it's a disaster track," said Hansen, who heads the Nasa Goddard Institute for Space Studies in New York.

"The whole approach is so fundamentally wrong that it is better to reassess the situation. If it is going to be the Kyoto-type thing then [people] will spend years trying to determine exactly what that means." He was speaking as progress towards a deal in Copenhagen received a boost today, with India revealing a target to curb its carbon emissions. All four of the major emitters – the US, China, EU and India – have now tabled offers on emissions, although the equally vexed issue of funding for developing nations to deal with global warming remains deadlocked.

Hansen, in repeated appearances before Congress beginning in 1989, has done more than any other scientist to educate politicians about the causes of global warming and to prod them into action to avoid its most catastrophic consequences. But he is vehemently opposed to the carbon market schemes – in which permits to pollute are bought and sold – which are seen by the EU and other governments as the most efficient way to cut emissions and move to a new clean energy economy.

Hansen is also fiercely critical of Barack Obama – and even Al Gore, who won a Nobel peace prize for his efforts to get the world to act on climate change – saying politicians have failed to meet what he regards as the moral challenge of our age.

In Hansen's view, dealing with climate change allows no room for the compromises that rule the world of elected politics. "This is analagous to the issue of slavery faced by Abraham Lincoln or the issue of Nazism faced by Winston Churchill," he said. "On those kind of issues you cannot compromise. You can't say let's reduce slavery, let's find a compromise and reduce it 50% or reduce it 40%."

He added: "We don't have a leader who is able to grasp it and say what is really needed. Instead we are trying to continue business as usual."

The understated Iowan's journey from climate scientist to activist accelerated in the last years of the Bush administration. Hansen, a reluctant public speaker, says he was forced into the public realm by the increasingly clear looming spectre of droughts, floods, famines and drowned cities indicated by the science.

That enormous body of scientific evidence has been put under a microscope by climate sceptics after last month's release online of hacked emails sent by respected researchers at the climate research unit of the University of East Anglia. Hansen admitted the controversy could shake public's trust, and called for an investigation. "All that stuff they are arguing about the data doesn't really change the analysis at all, but it does leave a very bad impression," he said.

The row reached Congress today, with Republicans accusing the researchers of engaging in "scientific fascism" and pressing the Obama administration's top science adviser, John Holdren, to condemn the email. Holdren, a climate scientist who wrote one of the emails in the UEA trove, said he was prepared to denounce any misuse of data by the scientists – if one is proved.

Hansen has emerged as a leading campaigner against the coal industry, which produces more greenhouse gas emissions than any other fuel source. He has become a fixture at campus demonstrations and last summer was arrested at a protest against mountaintop mining in West Virginia, where he called the Obama government's policies "half-assed". He has irked some environmentalists by espousing a direct carbon tax on fuel use. Some see that as a distraction from rallying support in Congress for cap-and-trade legislation that is on the table.

He is scathing of that approach. "This is analagous to the indulgences that the Catholic church sold in the middle ages. The bishops collected lots of money and the sinners got redemption. Both parties liked that arrangement despite its absurdity. That is exactly what's happening," he said. "We've got the developed countries who want to continue more or less business as usual and then these developing countries who want money and that is what they can get through offsets [sold through the carbon markets]."

For all Hansen's pessimism, he insists there is still hope. "It may be that we have already committed to a future sea level rise of a metre or even more but that doesn't mean that you give up.

"Because if you give up you could be talking about tens of metres. So I find it screwy that people say you passed a tipping point so it's too late. In that case what are you thinking: that we are going to abandon the planet? You want to minimise the damage."

Siberia melting away

If you live in a developed country, you're pretty well insulated from climate change. Shifts in weather patterns, heavier rainfall, gradually rising sea levels and temperature increases - at the moment western society absorbs these changes without us really noticing much difference. But for the indigenous peoples of the arctic who live on one of the front lines of climate change, such shifts in the planet's behaviour are much more obvious.

The Nenets people of the Yamal peninsula are nomadic reindeer herders who live within the Arctic circle on the northern coast of Siberia. In summer they graze their herds on the tundra of the peninsula, and in winter as the ground freezes they move south to milder parts of the Siberian steppes. They use the frozen surface of the landscape to cross the large rivers that criss-cross the peninsula. But things are changing.

The arctic is the most sensitive area of the planet to climate change. While the global average temperature has risen by around 0.8 degrees, some parts of Siberia have warmed by as much as five or six. And so the Nenets have noticed the freeze is happening later and later in the year. The reindeer herders have to wait longer and longer before they can move their animals south across frozen ground.

Here, on the frontiers of the world, the warming of Siberia is already threatening a way of life that has remained fairly constant for thousands of years. It's not only that the Nenets have to move later in the year - many of the freshwater lakes that dot the landscape are leaking away as the frozen walls of earth that contain the water melt, and collapse. And so the Nenets are also losing the fishing that provides one of their main sources of food.

Eternal ice
Siberia is a landscape that's underpinned by frozen ground called permafrost, but this ground is beginning to thaw. Off the coast, the coastline and even whole islands made of permafrost are vulnerable to an Arctic sea that is increasingly turbulent as sea ice also disappears. The sea is literally washing away the melting land. Melting permafrost is causing roads, pipelines and foundations to collapse across the country. Every year, there's an increase in the area of ground that melts in summer and the area that doesn't refreeze in winter.

This isn't just a problem in the arctic. This melt has global implications, because it's going to speed up climate change. Permafrost is like a giant frozen compost heap - full of dead plants, animals, trees and other carbon-rich organic matter, and in places it reaches 1500m deep. While it stays frozen, that carbon is locked up in the ground. But as the arctic warms and the permafrost thaws, microbes start to break down that organic matter, releasing carbon dioxide and methane into the atmosphere.

Flaming lakes
Methane is a potent greenhouse gas - probably causing, tonne for tonne, around 25 times more global warming over a hundred years than carbon dioxide. By lighting escaping methane, scientists can capture dramatic images of plumes of flame bubbling up through holes cut into Siberian lakes.

Melting permafrost is releasing additional emissions of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere, accelerating climate change. Permafrost contains massive amounts of carbon - probably about twice what's currently in the atmosphere, and about five times more than all greenhouse gases we've released by burning fossil fuels. While we don't have a really clear understanding of how much carbon might be released as the permafrost melts, it's fair to say that any extra greenhouse gases in the atmosphere from melting permafrost are bad news.

Because of the melting permafrost, what happens in the arctic doesn't stay in the arctic. And so we need strong political action from world leaders at Copenhagen. We need to control the warming that's leading the arctic to melt away. It's probably too late to stop climate change ending the Nenets' traditional way of life for good. But if we don't act now, that's going to be the case for pretty much everyone.

Mount Everest to host Nepal cabinet meeting

Nepal is to hold a cabinet meeting on Mount Everest to highlight the threat global warming poses to glaciers.

On 4 December prime minister Madhav Kumar Nepal and those politicians physically fit enough will ascend 17,192ft (5,250m) to base camp. In October the Maldives held a cabinet meeting underwater to warn of the effect of rising sea levels.

This meeting, to be held before the Copenhagen climate conference, aims to highlight Himalayan glacier melt. With ice in the region melting at a rapid rate, lakes have been formed which could flood nearby villages.

Melted ice and snow also makes mountaineering routes more hazardous. At such a high altitude health is a major concern, so a team of doctors will accompany the politicians. They will fly to Everest's only airstrip, Lukla. Doctors will make a final health assessment before a helicopter takes the cabinet to base camp, at the foot of Everest. Once there they will hold a brief outdoor meeting.

Mount Everest is the highest point on earth, with a summit 29,035 ft (8,850 m) above sea level.

Amazon summit in Brazil

Brazil is hosting a regional summit to discuss climate change and ways of tackling deforestation in the Amazon.

Delegates from eight nations who share the Amazon basin, as well as France which has an overseas department there, have been holding talks in Manaus. They are discussing Brazil's plan on slowing deforestation with the financial help from rich nations.
The meeting comes ahead of a global summit on climate change in Copenhagen, Denmark, next month. Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva is chairing the one-day summit. Delegates from Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, Guyana, Peru, Venezuela and Surinam, are attending, while French President Nicolas Sarkozy is representing French Guiana.

'Ambitious message'

Presidents Sarkozy and Lula said richer nations must increase their aid to help the poorer countries fight global warming. "The poor need to be supported without any country giving up its sovereignty," President Lula said.

The BBC's Paulo Cabral reports from Manaus that for the past few days diplomats have been negotiating a common position to be presented by the Amazon countries and France at the conference in Copenhagen. He says most of the presidents invited did not come to Manaus, though diplomats say that the ministers and ambassadors sent in their place are in position to close a deal. Mr Lula's spokesman said the Brazilian leader hoped that the talks would yield "an ambitious message on issues of great relevance to the region".

"Brazil believes it is crucial for the [Amazon] region to have a converging and co-operative participation," AFP news agency quoted the spokesman as saying. Brazil is proposing to combat deforestation in the Amazon basin with financial backing from wealthy nations. "Let no gringo [foreigner] ask us to let an Amazonian starve to death under a tree," Mr Lula said in a speech ahead of the meeting. "We want to preserve [the forest], but [other countries] have to pay for that preservation."

At the summit, the Brazilian government was expected to present its efforts to reduce destruction in the Amazon as a key part of its strategy to combat climate change. Earlier this month, Brazil's government said the rate of deforestation in the Amazon had dropped by 45% - and was the lowest on record since monitoring began 21 years ago. It said that just over 7,000 sq km (2,700 square miles) had been destroyed between July 2008 and August 2009. Brazil is seeking an 80% reduction in the deforestation rate by 2020.

The environmental group Greenpeace has welcomed the latest drop but says there is still too much destruction in the rainforest. Earlier this month, Brazil said it aimed to cut its carbon emissions by at least 36% below 1990 levels by 2020.

Obama to vow greenhouse emissions cuts in Denmark

Putting his prestige on the line, President Barack Obama will personally commit the U.S. to a goal of substantially cutting greenhouse gases at next month's Copenhagen climate summit. He will insist America is ready to tackle global warming despite resistance in Congress over higher costs for businesses and homeowners.

Obama will attend the start of the conference Dec. 9, a week from next Wednesday, before heading to Oslo to accept the Nobel Peace Prize. He will "put on the table" a U.S. commitment to cut emissions by 17 percent over the next decade, on the way to reducing heat-trapping pollution by 80 percent by mid-century, the White House said.

Cutting U.S. carbon dioxide emissions by one-sixth in just a decade would be likely to hike energy bills, but the administration says there would be important health trade-offs. Slashing carbon dioxide emissions could save millions of lives, mostly by reducing preventable deaths from heart and lung diseases, according to studies published this week in The Lancet British medical journal.

The White House said Obama's decision to attend the international conference in Denmark was "a sign of his continuing commitment and leadership to find a global solution to the global threat of climate change." But Obama's stopover on the conference's second day — instead of later when negotiations will be most intense and when most other national leaders will take part — disappointed some European and U.N. climate officials, as well as some environmentalists. Others said Obama's personal appeal will resonate with the delegates from more than 75 countries and help reset the U.S. image on the climate issue after eight years in which the Bush administration staunchly opposed mandatory reductions in greenhouse gases.

The president's first trip to Copenhagen — just last month — was less than fruitful. He made an unsuccessful pitch for the 2016 Summer Olympics to be held in Chicago. Obama's participation had been in doubt since it became clear that the Dec. 7-18 conference was unlikely to produce a binding agreement, The original goal of the conference was to produce a new global climate change treaty to replace the 1997 Kyoto Protocol. But in recent weeks it became clear that delegates were likely to produce at best an outline for an agreement to be considered late next year. Administration officials don't want to repeat the mistake of Kyoto, when the U.S. agreed to emission reductions but never implemented them because of strong political opposition at home. The U.S. never ratified the Kyoto agreement.

Most environmentalists hailed Obama's decision to go to Copenhagen, even if it's early in the conference. They said it will help set the tone of the talks and reverse America's image internationally on climate change. Said Michael Oppenheimer, a professor of geoscience and international affairs at Princeton University: "The U.S. has stood as the bad guy for so long that it's critically important for the U.S. president to set the tone for the meeting." But Kyle Ash, climate policy adviser for Greenpeace USA, said Obama should be even more involved, and later in the conference. "The Copenhagen climate summit is not about a photo opportunity. It's about getting a global agreement to stop climate chaos. President Obama needs to be there at the same time as all the other wold leaders," he said.

Not enough time for climate change deal?

China and the US say there isn't enough time left to agree a legally-binding agreement on climate change this year.

Charlie Kronick, senior climate advisor at Greenpeace, argues that the vast majority of countries signed up to the convention are still clamouring for an agreement with
188 countries still wanting a deal in Copenhagen....

Radio Link

World Food Summit Opens Amid Charges It May Be ‘Waste of Time’

World leaders start a United Nations summit on food security in Rome today that international aid agencies say may be a “waste of time” because it won’t commit donors to provide more money to end world hunger.

A draft of the final declaration for the Nov. 16 to Nov. 18 “World Summit on Food Security,” promises no new financial commitments. Governments will “reinforce all our efforts” to halve the number of hungry by 2015, it says, and rich nations should reverse the decline of aid dedicated to agriculture, which fell from 19 percent in 1980 to 3.8 percent in 2006.

Jacques Diouf, who is hosting the meeting as director general of the Food and Agriculture Organization, has urged governments to invest $44 billion a year to end chronic hunger suffered by 1.02 billion people and achieve “food security.” World hunger has continued to rise even with food prices falling from their peaks of last year, which coincided with FAO’s previous summit where donors pledged $11 billion in aid.

The lack of new funding requests prompted two aid agencies, Oxfam and ActionAid, to say on Nov. 12 the summit may be a “waste of time and money,” and that “governments are at risk of throwing away a great chance” to reduce the number of hungry. Francisco Sarmento, ActionAid’s food rights coordinator, called the declaration “just a rehash of old platitudes.”

Sixty heads of state and government plan to attend the meeting, which Pope Benedict XVI and UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon will address, FAO said.

Previous Crisis

Last year’s surge in food prices sparked riots in more than a dozen countries from Ivory Coast to Haiti, where the unrest prompted the dismissal of Prime Minister Jacques Edouard Alexis.

Prices for wheat, which supplies about 20 percent of food calories consumed in the world, more than doubled between the start of 2007 and a peak in March 2008. Soaring energy prices boosted costs of fertilizer and transport while also lifting demand for grain-based alternative fuels like ethanol.

Today’s summit opens as the Rome-based UN agency predicts world cereal stocks will expand by about 4 million metric tons to 509 million tons next year, the highest level since 2002. Saudi Arabia has agreed to pay the $2.5 million cost of the gathering.

The Group of Eight nations, at a July summit in L’Aquila, Italy, approved $20 billion in aid over three years to help farmers in developing nations grow and sell food.

‘Summit Fatigue’

“My biggest concern is that we have to make sure that there is no summit fatigue,” Abdolreza Abbassian, a senior FAO economist, said in an interview. “If FAO felt there was a need for another summit, it is probably because it felt that the previous ones haven’t achieved what they were supposed to.”

Ertharin Cousin, U.S. Ambassador to the UN agencies in Rome, says the international community should use the summit as an opportunity to redefine how rich and poor countries work together to boost food production and cut poverty.

“When there is an opportunity, you don’t say ‘it is just another summit,’ you say ‘OK we are having this, how do we make it add value,’ and that was our goal,” the ambassador said in a Nov. 10 interview.

Developing countries must design their own plans and donor nations must work with them as partners, Cousin said.

“For us to suggest at the global level that we can have a patterned answer that is going to resolve all the issues on the entire continent of Africa of 54 countries is far too simplistic and very naïve,” she said.

Private Sector Role

At a FAO-organized meeting with food and agriculture companies, including Nestle, Unilever, and Bunge Ltd., in Milan on Nov. 12-13, private sector officials pledged to increase investment in farming in poor countries.

“We stand ready to invest meaningfully to help build national capacities in applied agriculture and food systems research and technology transfer in developing countries,” the companies said in a statement after the meeting.

Foreign direct investment in agriculture tripled to more than $3 billion since 2000, FAO said in report on its Web site.

Oxfam and ActionAid say the best way to reduce the number of hungry is to target resources on small farming families, who make up a third of the world’s population, FAO estimates.

Hunger Frontline

“Smallholder farmers, mostly women, are on the frontline in the fight against world poverty, hunger and climate change and we must not continue to ignore them,” said Frederic Mousseau of Oxfam.

While increased cereal production has slowed the rise in global food prices, Abbassian of FAO predicts future shortages and price hikes.

“The one certainty is that there will be a food crisis, and the reason is simple: we haven’t done much to prevent such a thing from happening,” he said. “We have talked a lot, we have committed a lot, but we haven’t really acted.”

How to Be Green: Dishwashers

Water, energy, and and often chemicals are involved in the act of washing dishes. Increasingly, so is a dishwashing machine. To stay out of hot water with your dishwashing habits, you wash and we'll dry with our dishwasher tips!

Top Tips for Greening Your Dishwashing

Check Your Habits: As usual, going green starts with a re-evaluation of what we take for granted. For example, by using fewer dishes and utensils over the course of the day, you will end up doing fewer loads in the dishwasher, saving energy, water, and detergent. Of course, you could sometimes wash your dishes by hand.

Wash Wisely: The most efficient way to use your dishwasher includes waiting until you have a full load and then running it at off-peak hours, not pre-rinsing the dishes in the sink, using an earth-friendly cleaning product, and allowing the dishes to air dry.

Shop Around: Which dishwasher you buy and use naturally plays a role in the greenness of your kitchen. To find the right machine for you, check Energy Star ratings and look into compact dishwashers.

Did You Know?

- 80% of the energy used by dishwashers goes to heating hot water
- The amount of water saved by using a fully loaded dishwasher, without pre-rinsing, in relation to the water consumed by hand-washing all of those dishes: 35%
- 400 gallons of water can be saved each month by running your dishwasher only when it is full

Punggol Waterway to have eco-friendly features

Singapore's first public housing project along the Punggol Waterway will have eco-friendly features and resort-like designs.

The 1,200-unit waterfront project will be launched in the middle of next year. The firm behind the winning design is a partnership between international architectural firm Group8asia and local design company Aedas.

They stole the crown with a distinctive sky terrace concept which creates public spaces along the waterway. More than 100 design firms from Europe and Asia took part in the Punggol Waterfront Housing Design Competition. They had to submit plans that matched the housing board's theme of "Green Living by the Waters".

HDB said the waterfront flats will be kept affordable. National Development Minister Mah Bow Tan said: "New HDB estates look like private condominiums, but don't cost as much as private condominiums.

"New innovative construction methods like pre-fabrication reduces cost and construction time. And that's one of the reasons why we are able to keep the cost of construction down."

Japan planning solar station in space!

It may sound like a sci-fi vision, but Japan's space agency is dead serious: by 2030 it wants to collect solar power in space and zap it down to Earth, using laser beams or microwaves.

The government has just picked a group of companies and a team of researchers tasked with turning the ambitious, multi-billion-dollar dream of unlimited clean energy into reality in coming decades. With few energy resources of its own and heavily reliant on oil imports, Japan has long been a leader in solar and other renewable energies and this year set ambitious greenhouse gas reduction targets.

But Japan's boldest plan to date is the Space Solar Power System (SSPS), in which arrays of photovoltaic dishes several square kilometres (square miles) in size would hover in geostationary orbit outside the Earth's atmosphere. "Since solar power is a clean and inexhaustible energy source, we believe that this system will be able to help solve the problems of energy shortage and global warming," researchers at Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, one of the project participants, wrote in a report.

"The sun's rays abound in space."

The solar cells would capture the solar energy, which is at least five times stronger in space than on Earth, and beam it down to the ground through clusters of lasers or microwaves. These would be collected by gigantic parabolic antennae, likely to be located in restricted areas at sea or on dam reservoirs, said Tadashige Takiya, a spokesman at the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA).

The researchers are targeting a one gigawatt system, equivalent to a medium-sized atomic power plant, that would produce electricity at eight yen (cents) per kilowatt-hour, six times cheaper than its current cost in Japan.

The challenge -- including transporting the components to space -- may appear gigantic, but Japan has been pursuing the project since 1998, with some 130 researchers studying it under JAXA's oversight. Last month Japan's Economy and Trade Ministry and the Science Ministry took another step toward making the project a reality, by selecting several Japanese high-tech giants as participants in the project. The consortium, named the Institute for Unmanned Space Experiment Free Flyer, also includes Mitsubishi Electric, NEC, Fujitsu and Sharp.

The project's roadmap outlined several steps that would need to be taken before a full-blown launch in 2030. Within several years, "a satellite designed to test the transmission by microwave should be put into low orbit with a Japanese rocket," said Tatsuhito Fujita, one of the JAXA researchers heading the project.

The next step, expected around 2020, would be to launch and test a large flexible photovoltaic structure with 10 megawatt power capacity, to be followed by a 250 megawatt prototype. This would help evaluate the project's financial viability, say officials. The final aim is to produce electricity cheap enough to compete with other alternative energy sources.

JAXA says the transmission technology would be safe but concedes it would have to convince the public, which may harbour images of laser beams shooting down from the sky, roasting birds or slicing up aircraft in mid-air. According to a 2004 study by JAXA, the words 'laser' and 'microwave' caused the most concern among the 1,000 people questioned.

2009 MTV Europe Music Awards

Music industry leaders find time for charity too.

Major celeb-packed events like the EMAs are not exactly light in the consumption department. To put it in perspective, we're talking 600 false eye lashes, more than 25 different glitters, 60 eye shadows, 300 nail polishes, 20 pots of loose powder, 200 powder puffs, and 125 different shades of lipstick to get those faces in the limelight alone, reports Reuters.

The arena, which boasts an energy-efficient design, 400 bicycle stands, and a bicycle rental service, does have vocal green efforts. And while it would be better to ban the bottled water, staff will recycle the 24,000 bottles of water artists, crew and guests were predicted to drink on site during the event.

With precision-highlighted curly locks flying in the wind machine, Beyoncé Knowles cleaned up at the 2009 MTV Europe Music Awards (EMAs), held at Berlin's O2 World arena. From four nominations, the 28-year-old Knowles took home three coveted awards: Best Female, Best Song, ("Halo") and Best Video, ("Single Ladies (Put A Ring On It)"). The Houston, Texas native gave a shout-out to hubby Jay-Z for "putting a ring on it" and a gushing thank you to friend and fellow nominee for Best Female, Shakira.

Now U2: Were the Environmentalists in the House; despite a tour said to have the same carbon footprint as a trip to Mars, U2 was probably the most environmentally active group in the house. The Irish rockers landed Best Live Act and gave a free show at the Brandenburg Gate the same night. With organic clothing company Edun, launched by Bono and his wife Ali Hewson to drive trade into Africa. Bono also wears recycled clothing, combats HIV/AIDS, and fights poverty and pushes for trade reform with One, the global activist organization he co-founded. Take that Beyoncé!

Cambodia Relief Efforts Donation Drive

Hi everyone! I would like to raise awareness of donation drive from our good friends at Olive Ventures aimed at bringing some much needed relief to people afffected by floods in Cambodia.


Stuart from Olive Ventures will be heading to Cambodia on the 19th of November 2009 to provide relief efforts for the recent floods and as such we are organizing a donation drive for food, clothes and cash donations to purchase food and medical supplies there! Help spread the word and bring down your donations to our shop at 26A Sago Street S(059021). The donation drive is daily from 10am - 8pm and will close on the 13th of November 2009. Call us at 63230651 if you have any questions!

All support much apreciated - Thanks!

Global warming could create 150 million 'climate refugees' by 2050

Global warming will force up to 150 million "climate refugees" to move to other countries in the next 40 years, a new report from the Environmental Justice Foundation (EJF) warns.

In 2008 alone, more than 20 million people were displaced by climate-related natural disasters, including 800,000 people by cyclone Nargis in Asia, and almost 80,000 by heavy floods and rains in Brazil, the NGO said.

President Mohamed Nasheed of the Maldives, who presented testimony to the EJF, said people in his country did not want to "trade a paradise for a climate refugee camp". He warned rich countries taking part in UN climate talks this week in Barcelona "not to be stupid" in negotiating a climate treaty in Copenhagen this December. Nasheed urged governments to find ways to keep temperature rises caused by warming under 2C. "We won't be around for anything after 2C," he said. "We are just 1.5m over sea level and anything over that, any rise in sea level – anything even near that – would wipe off the Maldives. People are having to move their homes because of erosion. We've already this year had problems with two islands and we are having to move them to other islands. We have a right to live." Last month, the president held a cabinet meeting underwater to draw attention to the plight of his country.

The EJF claimed 500 million to 600 million people – nearly 10% of the world's population – are at risk from displacement by climate change. Around 26 million have already had to move, a figure that the EJF predicts could grow to 150 million by 2050. "The majority of these people are likely to be internally displaced, migrating only within a short radius from their homes. Relatively few will migrate internationally to permanently resettle in other countries," said the report's authors.

In the longer term, the report said, changes to weather patterns will lead to various problems, including desertification and sea-level rises that threaten to inundate low-lying areas and small island developing states. An expert at the Institute for Sustainable Development and International Relations in Paris recently said global warming could create "ghost states" with citizens living in "virtual states" due to land lost to rising seas.

The UN's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) predicts sea-level rise in the range of 18-59cm during the 21st century. Nearly one-third of coastal countries have more than 10% of their national land within 5 metres of sea level. Countries liable to lose all or a significant part of their land in the next 50 years, said the EJF report, include Tuvalu, Fiji, the Solomon islands, the Marshall islands, the Maldives and some of the Lesser Antilles. Many other countries, including Bangladesh, Kenya, Papua New Guinea, Somalia, Yemen, Ethiopia, Chad and Rwanda, could see large movements of people. Bangladesh has had 70 climate-related natural disasters in the past 10 years.

"Climate change impacts on homes and infrastructure, food and water and human health. It will bring about a forced migration on an unprecedented scale," said the EJF director, Steve Trent. "We must take immediate steps to reduce our impact on global climate, and we must also recognise the need to protect those already suffering along with those most at risk." He called for a new international agreement to address the scale and human cost of climate change. "The formal legal definition of refugees needs to be extended to include those affected by climate change and also internally displaced persons," he said.

A bit of humour....

Jim Carrey - Environmental Guy

With so many serious climate issues affecting us and our planet - sometimes a bit of humour can be a great tonic and raise just as much awareness in the process! Enjoy :)

5 Fun Green Ways to Manage Stress

Want to stop stressing? Then start swearing, kissing, getting dirty, cluttered and eating garlic instead!

Being "stressed" seems to be as trendy as being "on a diet." Everyone's doing it, throwing the terms around as if it's an excuse for a bad mood or short fuse. Problem is: stress has some serious side-effects that can be detrimental to your health and happiness if it isn't addressed. Of course there are lots of pills to help you ease off angst, but we prefer to do it green… naturally. No drugs, no chemicals, just good natural cures. Our favorite and the most fun by far: Kissing!

Touching, Kissing, Hugging

Touching, kissing, and hugging (or any other affectionate activities) are eco activities that stimulate the brain's release of the hormone oxytocin. If you want to take it up a notch, get a room! Recent Studies reveal that the surge of oxytocin released during orgasm can lower blood pressure, calm nerves and tame tension. In fact, according to the British Medical Journal, sex is so good for your heart that it cuts your risk of heart attack and stroke in half when performed three times a week.

Reduce Stress by Swearing it Off!

Swearing has been shown to minimize stress and increase workplace camaraderie. That's according to scientists at East Anglia Norwich University in England.

Reduce Stress by Eating Garlic

The main ingredient in garlic when digested is organosulfur allicin, which triggers your body to produce hydrogen sulfide. The combo creates an internal reaction that relaxes blood vessels and encourages blood flow. Translation: garlic is good for your heart and your head and helps manage stress.

Reduce Stress by Eating Chocolate

Balance isn't just for yoga. In fact, a little bit of chocolate can go a long way when it comes to your diet. Dark chocolate has been shown to be filled with antioxidant flavonoids (which can minimize your risk of heart disease and reduce blood pressure). Some scientists have gone so far as to claim that the sweet stuff has more flavonoids than any other food (including blueberries). According to research published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, those said flavonoids help blood vessels relax, helping calm overall stress. Word to the wise, choose the lower fat dark chocolate to milk chocolate. It has a higher count of the good stuff. And of course opt for organic chocolate.

Reduce Stress by Rubbing your Hoku

Your "hoku" is that flap of skin on your palm that connects your pointer finger to your thumb. It's also an acupressure spot related to upper body tension that, when squeezed, can minimize stress by up to 39%—that's according to scientists at Hong Kong Polytechnic University.