Al Gore recently gave a speech in Washington, DC that hasn’t received as much press as I thought it should for such a powerful message and brilliant plan for the future of our country. I believe Al Gore has been solidly planted in innovation and quietly working on making connections between some major issues in the world in order to map out ideas for real change. Because he has radical ideas, some of which are not popular, he may be perceived in a bad light. Please watch this video and decide for yourself.

 

Visit this website to find out more: We Can Solve It

Al Gore’s website 

The Watercone is the most effective invention that I have seen to get clean drinking water. Amazingly simple, portable and brilliant. The only problem now is cost, but I believe they are working to get these mass produced, so they will be more cost effective to provide to the villages that need them the most.

I just bought the book Design Like You Give a Damn: Architectural Response to Humanitarian Crises. The Watercone is described on page 285.

I would like to share some links today about gardening. You can learn about gardening in your own yard and how people are using gardens in communities all over the world. Or if you don’t think you can garden yourself, you can find local farmers to purchase your food from. 

Last week, we purchased 11 rain barrels. We turned one into a manual rotating compost bin. This will give us compost faster than our 3 bin system. The remaining barrels will be linked together under the deck for all of our outdoor watering needs. We hope to plumb our shower and kitchen sink too, but more research is required. My husband wants an outdoor shower as well, so we will see how far we can get!

Here are a few links I have been studying. The Spin Farming method is how we would like to plant our garden next year. Very organized and productive!

Spin Farming

Victory Gardens

Local Harvest

Somerton Tanks Farm 

Your Backyard Farmer

Seasonal Ingredient Map from Epicurious

City Farmer

Diggin Food

Vermont Compost  

If you don’t know about TED yet, I suggest checking it out. 

The video I have posted below is a talk from Alisa Miller, the CEO of Public Radio International, about “Why we know less than ever about the world.” When I saw this video on TED, I thought it did a good job illustrating how our news sources are centered around us. 

The first real job I landed out of college was at CNN International in the summer of 2000. Until then, I had no idea that CNN International is totally different than CNN Domestic. The CNN that you see in the United States is dedicated to the United States only, but CNN International broadcasts all over the world. As a designer, I did graphics for business shows in Asia and England. I also saw all the special news packages that were being put together for Africa and Asia. These are things that we, as Americans, never saw. The news that we get in America is catered and focused on us. Personally, I thought CNN International should be the only version and it was much more interesting and thought provoking. Even the marketing and advertising spots were targeted quite differently. It seemed that the international side was much more design savvy and refined.

If I ever ran into someone from another country and we started talking about where we worked, they always asked why they couldn’t see CNN International in the United States or why the CNN is so different here. They thought that the domestic version didn’t have enough reporting about other countries that they were used to. They felt like they were closed off from the world. Maybe that is how we should feel too.

Check out this “news map”

 

One reason why I love TED videos is because of the comments after the video, so please go to this link and check out the comment section for this one. There is a lot of interesting thought and debate!

 

Just the other day, I was telling someone about how I wanted to put together an experiment to figure out what would make plastic decompose faster. Well, today I got an email about this high school guy who beat me to it!

At 16 years old, Daniel Burd had my undivided attention as he explained his scientific process in an article from The Record. He knew that plastic would eventually break down, although he may never see it in his lifetime, and knew that microorganisms were the key. Daniel preceded to mix yeast and water to grow microbes. He isolated the ones that were eating the plastic and made them more concentrated. Then, he worked on the perfect temperature for his microbe army. The output from the decomposing process is only water and carbon dioxide in very small levels.

Daniel Burd won the top prize at the Canada-Wide Science Fair in Ottawa and received a $10,000 prize and $20,000 scholarship! Go Daniel! Where can I buy some stock?  

that I think break dancing is super cool? Well, check this out!

I know that people have already started receiving and spending those stimulus checks. We haven’t gotten ours yet, but when we do, it will go towards paying my husband’s student loan. 

See how others are spending their money on this website: How I Spent My Stimulus. There are some good ones here … people really trying to make a statement or stick it to “the man!”