Switch off the computer -- it's Green IT Week

This week is the inaugural Green IT Awareness Week (1st – 7th June 2010), “IT” standing for “information technology”. The idea behind this week is to start bringing some consistency to green IT approaches within organizations across the world, in the hope that sustainable IT practices can be made more cohesive and commonplace worldwide.

ComputersOFF.org is the organization behind Green IT Week, and we love its slogan "Saving the planet, one idle computer at a time". ComputersOFF.org is looking to give us all an opportunity to learn and find innovative ways to reduce the environmental footprint both of our own IT usage and that of the organizations we're connected to, whether as workers, volunteers, or owners. It’s a great initiative and we hope it will spark many new ways forward for implementing green IT.

There is a lot each of us can do if we’re benefiting from IT at work or at home:

• Unplug: Switch off your computer and all of its peripherals when not in use. The energy is still in use unless you’ve switched everything right off. Use energy savings settings on your computer, copier, and printer. And forget the screensavers - they consume energy and aren't needed with LCD screens.
• Be paper-free: Reduce your printer usage, use recycled cartridges, double-side print and use draft mode. Practice reading on-screen and not pressing print as an automatic reaction. Communicate electronically rather than by paper trails. Use cloud computing to share information easily and to store without printing. Send invoices electronically.
• Recharge, recycle: Charge your mobile devices using solar, use rechargeable batteries for all electronic devices, and recycle all old cell phones, computers, and spent batteries.
• Go small: Prefer laptops or thin clients over desktop computers; they use a lot less energy.
• Telecommute: Try telecommuting, even just a few days a week, and support others in your workplace who are already telecommuting.
• Search green: Use green search engines such as Gigablast.
• Buy green: Check Greenpeace’s Guide to Greener Electronics. Look for ENERGY STAR on all electronics, including computers, power adapters, etc.
• Host green: Have your servers hosted by green, renewable energy. MiniMonos does.
• Wider green: Purchase or make eco-friendly carrying cases for all portable devices. Buy software online and use eco-friendly cabling.

And you can check out the initiatives, activities and discussions at the Green IT Week website.

5 good reasons to never stop learning

"I have never let schooling interfere with my education." ~ Mark Twain

Learning is an important part of growing – for our entire lives. As a child going through school, with all the tests, exams, and constricting expectations, I yearned for the day my “learning” could stop and I could start “living”. Leaving aside what that says about the educational system, it was pure delight when I discovered the point and beauty of learning at university. From that time to now, I have continued to love learning, having my perspectives challenged when I discover new ways of seeing things, and arriving at new understandings about how our world is.

Yet sadly, learning beyond educational institutions isn't always well appreciated. Apparently, even 42% of college graduates never read a book again after college! Learning lifelong matters. And here are five good reasons why:

1. It unleashes your real, unexplored talents instead of focusing on your limitations.
2. It keeps you aware of the world around you, the one well beyond your own neighborhood.
3. It stops you from stagnating and releases you to enjoy life to its fullest.
4. It prevents you from being bewildered by or enthralled by "expertitis"; and
5. It teaches you that the questions are as important as the answers.

And it's never too late to start learning again:

As Hunter Nuttall says: “You were given a large brain for a reason. Use it.”  At the end of the day, those who remain involved with learning stay healthier, happier, and a whole lot more connected than those who think learning stopped the day they left school. Learning is for life; it's only your schooling that ceases.

Friday Featured Friend -- Peace One Day

 
“It is the peoples of this world who can create peace.” Ahmad Fawzi

Peace One Day is our Friday featured friend we’re honoured to introduce you to this week. Peace One Day was launched in 1999 when filmmaker Jeremy Gilley sought to have a calendar date fixed for an annual day of global ceasefire and non-violence. He succeeded - within two years 192 member states of the United Nations unanimously adopted 21 September as an annual day of global ceasefire and non-violence on the UN International Day of Peace, known as Peace Day. Peace Day is not only about creating peace between nations - it’s also about non-violence in our homes, communities, and schools, making Peace Day relevant to every human being on the planet. Here is a short introduction about its beginnings:

A non-profit organization, Peace One Day remains impartial and independent of any government, political persuasion, corporation, or religious creed. It seeks to engage all sectors of society, including governments, organizations of the United Nations system, NGOs, and individuals with the aim of encouraging action that will create a united and sustainable world.

Peace Day has had some amazing highlights celebrating the 21 September occasion over the past decade. Steadily the message  about celebrating Peace Day is spreading to all corners of the Earth. Jeremy Gilley is now firmly focused on reaching out to “3 billion people with the message of Peace Day by 2012", and says that "ultimately it is your support that will help make it a reality."

The most important message the team behind Peace One Day wanted to pass on to us is that they’d dearly love for all of you to become involved in Peace Day this year, and beyond: "We are trying to get as many commitments as possible on our website and have a mass participation around the world, especially from young people and children." They have made it easy to become a part by providing an action portal on their website where you can sign up and make your own commitment. In addition, if you can tell others to join up too, it will help get as many commitments as possible, bringing us all closer to a peaceful world.

We asked Peace One Day for an example of making a commitment and the team explained to us that one super way to become involved is through the One Day One Goal football (soccer) campaign. Through this campaign, and with the support of Puma.Peace, Peace One Day is taking a beautiful game that so many people love to spread the message of Peace Day by encouraging football matches in all 192 member states of the United Nations, and beyond, on 21 September! The reason for this is simple: these matches have the ability to unite people from different communities and different cultures who would never normally play together. Since this call to action covers a number of things dear to our own heart here at MiniMonos – promoting peace, getting outdoors and being active, having fun with friends, and being involved in community - MiniMonos has decided to take up this commitment too – we’ll provide a separate update later explaining more about how you can have your own football or soccer game in honor of Peace Day.

Peace One Day does a great deal to involve and enthuse children with the peace initiatives, something we are really thrilled about. Jeremy believes very strongly in educating the next generation about peace, and how children can change the world. He has visited a lot of schools and has even held “Skype” visits to talk directly with students. As well as Jeremy’s direct involvement with young people, Peace One Day provides a lot of free educational resources on the site, with the aim of helping today’s children become tomorrow’s peacemakers. The lesson plans have been created with the goal in mind of getting resources to teach about peace into every school in the world. The multimedia resources are designed to enable students to develop a sense of perspective in relation to our multicultural and interdependent world, and include reflective group and individual activities and development of critical thinking skills, all using modern technology. The principal hope behind these lessons is to awaken the students' awareness of Peace Day and to understand just how they too, as global citizens, have an active role to play in ensuring peace.

The future of Peace One Day includes continuing to liaise with organizations and individuals keen to expand the pathways to peace, using film to spread the message of peace, educating students worldwide, using football to bring peace, holding inspirational live events, and ultimately, continuing to focus on every single one of us to believe in and act on the message of creating a peaceful world. We’ve signed up the MiniMonos team and we’ll be sharing with you over the coming months the ways we're committing to a peaceful world, with the hope our actions might inspire you too. We'd like to thank Patrick Thompson of Peace One Day for helping us to share the Peace Day story with you.

You can find more information at:

• Peace One Day website
• Taking action for Peace Day
• Educational resources
• One Day One Goal
• Twitter
  
• Facebook

Sir Ken Robinson -- Bring on the Learning Revolution

"Human communities depend upon a diversity of talent, not a singular conception of ability. At the heart of the challenge is to reconstitute our sense of ability, of intelligence." ~ Sir Ken Robinson

In the following brilliant video, Sir Ken Robinson talks about the crisis in creativity and education. He laments that we make very poor use of our talents and many of us simply don't know what our talents are. He is saddened by meeting so many people who go through life thinking that they're not really good at anything.

He makes a compelling case for us to become "disenthralled" from what we take for granted and from what we expect education to be. He says it is time to shift from an industrialized educational model that standardizes what children learn, expects everyone to go to college (and not just any college) regardless of talent, timing, or interest - what he calls an obsession with linearity and conformity. Instead, he says we need to adopt an agricultural model of education, one that is personalized to the needs, talents, and interests of children, one that resonates with their spirit and organically creates the conditions in which personal talents flourish.

We think you'll enjoy the following talk by Sir Ken:

Friday Featured Friend -- Michael Coyne and Seaturtle.org

It’s World Turtle Day on May 23rd, 2010, and it occurred to us what a great opportunity this is to introduce you to this week’s wonderful friend Michael Coyne, and his organization Seaturtle.org. 

In starting and maintaining Seaturtle.org, Michael’s ongoing aim is to “organize the world’s sea turtle information and make it universally accessible and useful.” A strong advocate of collating knowledge about turtles, Michael says that “we can better understand and more effectively protect sea turtles by improving the way that we collect, manage, and share information about them.”

Michael's answer to achieving timely and dynamic sharing of sea turtle information was to form a community where sea turtle enthusiasts, advocates, government officials, researchers, and anyone else interested in sea turtles, or learning about them, could connect and open the lines of communication together. By helping researchers more effectively communicate their research results to resource managers, as well as making it easier for researchers to share information with the public and gain public feedback, Seaturtle.org ensures that sea turtle information is made widely available. The site's data management system allows researchers to process and analyze information quickly, and often the data can be communicated as it is being collected.

Of great importance is the ability for the public to access this information and one of the simplest examples of this sharing process in action is the site's Image Library. This allows registered users of Seaturtle.org to submit and share their sea turtle photos with the world. Michael says that these photos are popular, and that in addition to being freely available through the website, the photos frequently appear in both professional and informal presentations, news articles, books, and other websites.

We were fascinated to learn about the successes Seaturtle.org has experienced using its data management for on-the-ground action. The most successful effort to date is the Satellite Tracking website. This site allows all of us to follow thousands of sea turtles that have been fitted with satellite transmitters. You can watch the movements of all seven species of sea turtles and hundreds of sea turtle and conservation projects around the world through this tool, as well as subscribing to daily e-mail updates from your favorite projects, or even adopting your favorite turtles! If you're a teacher, there is also a way to sign up for access to tracking data that will let you follow sea turtles in the classroom. Michael proudly explains that the Seaturtle.org tools that help turtle trackers around the world to manage, map, and analyze very complicated and large datasets have become so helpful that "nearly every sea turtle tracking project in the world uses our system, and a growing number of non-sea turtle projects have started signing up." Indeed, there is now even a separate Wildlife Tracking website for the non-sea turtle projects.

Michael recently launched two similar systems, one that deals with sea turtle strandings, and the other with sea turtle nesting. Strandings are a way of monitoring dead sea turtles that wash up on the beach (or other places) so that resource managers can keep track of how many turtles are dying, and hopefully identify and take steps to reduce the causes. The Sea Turtle Nest Monitoring System is helping thousands of volunteers who monitor sea turtle nesting to record the information they collect in a standardized way and more quickly report nesting information to project managers. Project managers, in turn, are able to share the status of sea turtle nesting in their region with the public, as data are submitted. These are both relatively new systems and it is hoped that they will become more widely known and that more sea turtle projects around the world will participate. And if you're interested in trying this out, sea turtle nesting season is just getting started in the southeastern US and you can follow the progress of sea turtle nesting in North Carolina, South Carolina, and Georgia as it happens.

Another great program Michael wanted us to know about is the International Sea Turtle Observation Registry, or ISTOR for short. This program aims to more directly engage the public and allows you to submit information on sea turtles that you have observed in the wild. This information is used to generate a map of reported sea turtle sightings, and it is also hoped that as more information is submitted, that there will be a better understanding of where sea turtles are, and when. Michael says: "I encourage anyone that sees a sea turtle to report it to ISTOR!"

And we couldn't help but ask Michael about how he involves children in Seaturtle.org. With much love and pride, he told us that his own children are "very much engaged with sea turtles because of what I do. I take them on sea turtle research trips whenever I can, and we are frequent visitors to the sea turtle hospital on Topsail Island in North Carolina, where we learn about the latest patients and talk to Jean Beasley, who runs the hospital." Michael also takes time out of his busy schedule to give presentations to local schools and other groups about sea turtles and the work he is doing. He tells us: "I hope that by sharing my knowledge and passion with children that they will gain an appreciation for sea turtles and the marine environment that they will then share with their friends and relatives and take  this knowledge with them as they get older." We certainly believe the children will!

We're really grateful to Michael for taking the time to explain Seaturtle.org. We think it's awesome that the public plays a vital role in both giving and using the information that can help us to protect and learn more about sea turtles. Projects that involve everyone with an interest will always have more success because we all feel responsible. Great work Michael and we're keen to keep "tracking" your progress over time!

Cooking for a friend

Today I have been cooking. Tomorrow we have a funeral, and we expect 70 people to come.
I feel grateful to be given a task to do.  I was blessed with the gift of oratory (Whaikorero in Maori, the indigenous language here).  As a five year old, I began listening to the elders (kaumatua) giving speeches on the Marae (meeting place).  Sometimes political debate, often about building relationships, and at times after the death of a friend – I was lucky to hear them. The real masters at it used a mixture of spirit and heart, with the intellectual thrusts and parries only occurring once the spirits had been connected and the hearts opened.  I learnt to love the power of metaphor and shared experiences.

I am the one who speaks at family gatherings.  The oldest child, indeed oldest grandchild of my generation, I am called upon to speak at life’s important moments.

I also love to cook.  Sometimes it is best to be in the background -- to provide service.  Tomorrow we have a funeral.  Val has a husband and children, and maybe grandchildren who will speak, and as someone who was in the choir at church – she has women to sing for her.

I found myself staring at the beautiful food in the market this morning – the bread, and the cheese.  I also found myself staring at the mothers and children, joyful new life, with tears streaming down my face as I contemplated the losses we all bear, the friends and family who die, and indeed my own mortality.

The food at the wake is all part of the service/ceremony.  Here, we say it is the process of “whakanoa” – that the rituals we have with death are sacred, and we must return to the world of the body by sharing food together – thereby grounding us again and reminding us of the rhythms of “normal” daily life. 

We often forget the women in the kitchen, the ones who provide us with the grounding comfort.  It is so easy to take them for granted.

It is forecast to be a cold day so I have made warm food (garlic bread and rolls); baked chocolate slice and ginger crunch; there will be pikelets (mini pancakes); and I could not resist the beautiful wheels of cheese with cherry tomatoes and herbs from my autumn garden.

We all contribute in different ways – sometimes out front with the speeches, and sometimes out back with the food.  Either way, it is an honor to be allowed to serve.

I have previously blogged about my best friend giving me this quote: “We all need something to do, someone to love, something to look forward to.”

I am grateful for the work I do (like Minimonos, and cooking for a friend).  I am grateful for the people who allow me to love them.  I look forward to the future, and all the amazing things these incredible children of ours will do.  I look forward to the gathering tomorrow, and the honor of being asked to serve.

What service will you provide today?  What are you grateful for?

Talking Oil Spills with Kids - Some Quick Resources

With the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico in the news constantly, it's a good time to get the information right when talking about oil spills with your children. Here is a brief round-up of some sites that we thought might help you, in no particular order:

• Geekdad: A Parent's Guide to the Oil Spill


• National Wildlife Federation: The Big Oil Spill, Ranger Rick answers your questions - good for elementary/primary aged children


• Earth Scouts: Gulf of Mexico Oil Spill - recently created, has a neat round up of resources


• Global Marine Oil Pollution Information Gateway: Kids' pages on oil in the sea


• WSRE, PBS on the Gulf Coast: Oil Spill Response Resources for Teachers, Parents, & Kids


• Australian Maritime & Safety Authority: Oil Spill Information and Educational Material - good range of home and classroom materials, elementary/primary upward


• The Wildlife Society: Oil spill coverage - even though not strictly for children, the depth and breadth of the oil spill coverage on this site makes it worth using


• TLC: Oil Spill Lesson - this is an actual activity to try with your children to demonstrate how oil spills affect animals and their habitat

Jeff Kart of Treehugger has great advice: "Be age appropriate. Follow your child's lead. Invite participation and empower action."

Feel free to leave suggestions for other parents and educators in the comments.

Small wonders

"I know I am not seeing things as they are,
I'm seeing things as I am." ~ Laurel Lee

I was staring out the window of the train today and wondering about life in general, pondering about my penchant for seeing things in an overly-complicated way. In the corner of my eye I espied a screwed-up train ticket on the windowsill. More garbage left strewn without a care, I thought.

The train meandered along through the hills, wending around corners, through tunnels, into stations. I’m not sure what made me look more closely but I did. And what I thought was carelessly tossed garbage turned out to be the most intricate little origami bird fashioned from a train ticket.

Gone in an instant was my indignant, self-righteous irritation at the apparent littering -- replaced by instant wonder at the ingenuity, imagination, and creativity of the human being who took a moment or so to craft this ticket bird. That such a commonplace object could be turned into a small marvel was completely striking.

And I wondered - are we always ready to assume the worst about people’s motives? Are we always geared up to be proven right in our beliefs that people are going to make a mess over creating something incredible? Here I had assumed first that it was mere garbage but on closer inspection, it was a beautiful reminder that we’re just as capable of creative resourcefulness and exquisite creativity. A reminder that it’s this side of our talents that will tie us into a more fulfilling and proactive trajectory to ensure our planet’s well-being.

Small wonders are around us every day, and yet sometimes we’re too busy, too rushed, too self-assured to notice them. Yet, it is precisely when our picture of the world is already set in stone and we don’t want it rippled, that it makes sense to take time out to challenge our notions, to let in the small wonders. And then, to remind ourselves that we too, are a small wonder in all that we are and do.

P.S. That little origami ticket bird now sits on my desk, a reminder to keep things simple, to stop and notice life’s little moments.

Update: Friday featured friend Return to Sender wowing all!

We love to continue following our Friday featured friends after featuring and we're always thrilled to see their achievements continue to inspire others and grow in strength. So, with this in mind, we're keen to share with you a write-up of Return to Sender's continuing success that has been published in the Sunday Star Times (a New Zealand based paper). You can find it here: Coffin-maker nails American dream.

Great work Greg and Leanne, we're so proud of your fantastic achievements!

And remember, you can now see the Return to Sender Artisan eco-casket at the Smithsonian's Design Museum: www.cooperhewitt.org.

Friday Featured Friend -- Breast Cancer Action Montreal

We're featuring Breast Cancer Action Montreal (BCAM) this week as our Friday Friend, known fondly as BCAM (pronounced "Bee-Cam") for short. BCAM is a non-profit activist and advocacy group based in Montreal, Canada. Run by extraordinary, dedicated, amazing women who have either experienced breast cancer personally, or who have been impacted by a loved one (mothers, daughters, spouses, friends, etc.) suffering from breast cancer, the group's principal aim is to raise awareness of preventing breast cancer, with the long-term commitment to erasing the disease.

BCAM was founded in September 1991 when five Montreal women with breast cancer joined forces to end their isolation and to move the disease from the private to the public sphere. They formed the group to raise awareness of breast cancer issues, to advocate for better diagnosis, treatment, and care; and to give women a voice in decisions about treatment, services, health policy, and research.

BCAM is different from many organizations concerned with breast cancer. Taking its inspiration from a San Francisco organization called Breast Cancer Action, BCAM actively expresses concern that over 95% of the funds raised for research into breast cancer research are focused on improving screening and treatment rather than researching into the causes of the disease. BCAM is much more concerned about spotlighting the reasons why breast cancer develops, along with asking the question "why are more and more women being diagnosed?". The hope behind taking this approach is that breast cancer can be stopped before it starts.

BCAM is very careful about its source of funding. It will never accept funding contributions from pharmaceutical companies because BCAM wants the freedom to provide unbiased information about the primary prevention of breast cancer, its diagnosis, and treatment. This means that BCAM must be free of any appearance of a conflict of interest and therefore will not accept funding from any corporate entity who is involved with products or services that include cancer diagnosis or treatment.

Of concern to BCAM is what it terms the "cancer industry". The sheer prevalence of cancer has caused an entire industry to revolve around cancer from health care providers and cancer clinics, to manufacturers of machines, devices, and tests used to detect or treat it, pharmaceutical companies producing oncology drugs, advertising and public relations organizations, cancer research institutes, cancer funding agencies, etc. BCAM says: "This “cancer industry” keeps thousands of people employed and pumps masses of money into the economy, all of which divert attention away from the need to find the causes of cancer." BCAM is extremely concerned that some companies produce both cancer-treating drugs and at the same time, cancer-causing chemicals. Moreover, the downplaying of the role of environmental contaminants that are potential carcinogens surrounding us on a daily basis is a major challenge for raising greater awareness about prevention of cancer, and BCAM spends much of its time bringing back the focus to environmental contaminants.

The Pink Ribbon campaigns raise another concern for BCAM. Using the pink ribbon as a part of cancer cause marketing leaves enormous unanswered questions.  BCAM says: "In almost all breast cancer cause marketing campaigns, it is the consumers' money that raises funds for the cause, not the corporation. The corporation uses the pink ribbon to grab consumers' attention and money while attracting a little more visibility for the cause." The amount of profits made and actually given to breast cancer research is not transparent, and BCAM asks: "How much money is being raised through cause marketing — and is it being well spent? These are impossible questions, not only because of the large (and growing) numbers of corporations jumping on the breast cancer bandwagon but also because the money side of breast cancer cause marketing transactions is often explicitly confidential." BCAM recommends that instead of buying these products, it is a far wiser choice to donate directly to a research project or breast cancer organization that you think is important and has meaning to you.

As part of BCAM's ongoing activism efforts, BCAM actively targets the use of cosmetics through its safe cosmetics campaigning. BCAM says: "The average woman uses 12 cosmetic and personal care products every day, exposing her to 126 unique chemicals. Canada’s weak cosmetic regulations, and the influence of the powerful $5.4 billion Canadian cosmetic industry, allow compounds such as carcinogens, mutagens, and reproductive toxins, for example, to be used in our cosmetic products." And while the focus is on Canada for BCAM, it's important to note that few countries in the world are any better on regulating the content of cosmetics. FemmeToxic is a BCAM youth-focused campaign targeted at the toxins in the environment, particularly those found in cosmetic and personal care products that are detrimental to human health and can increase the risk of cancer and other health-related disorders. FemmeToxic seeks to empower women and increase their awareness of the toxins in products they use, their impact on health, and the safer alternatives, while motivating women to join in giving the beauty industry its long overdue makeover. Here you can see a video resulting from this campaign:

BCAM's basic message is that breast cancer doesn't have to happen. The assumption of cancer's inevitability allows the status quo to continue, allows companies to continue manufacturing products that harm us and our environment, and it causes us to think that somehow we are personally responsible if we get a disease rather than realizing that the very lifestyles we lead are filled with products and services that are poorly regulated, contain chemicals often either vaguely clarified, or not identified at all, and that are not questioned by greater society. BCAM says: "Too often, when we talk about causes of the disease, women themselves are made to take the blame: we're told that we eat the wrong foods or don't exercise enough, or drink too much alcohol. This tendency to blame the victims, coupled with the grossly unequal distribution of research dollars, means very little money for research into the root causes of the disease. The carcinogens in our air, water, and food are often an afterthought in Canadian cancer messages, as are the serious hazards in our homes and workplaces." BCAM feels strongly that more money must be devoted to the investigation of the environmental effects of toxins in our food, air, water, household cleaning products, and cosmetics if we are to stop what is rapidly becoming epidemic. Focusing on fun runs, pink ribbons and medicalization of breast cancer removes the very pressing need to return to the source of cancer, to stop it in its tracks and to free us from a scourge that is connected with the entire health of our environment as well as our own well-being.

Finally, on a personal front, I count many BCAM members as friends from my time in Montreal and I think the world of these women whose dedication and commitment to preventing breast cancer is underpinned by real action and real achievements. The inspiration to prevent breast cancer lives on strong in BCAM and it is to be hoped that the prevention message will become increasingly the norm in the near future. It has been a pleasure and an honor to share BCAM's story here.

You can find out more about BCAM from their website, BCAM's Conscious Cosmetics blog, FemmeToxic and you can follow them on Twitter at @toxicaction and @femmetoxic. You can also find many excellent articles about breast cancer prevention on the BCAM site.