On the Way to Ecocity

Came across this very cool video while doing a little search for the Ecocity World Summit coming to San Francisco in April 22-26, 2008. It is not connected to the World Summit as far as I can tell.





About
"VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland is an impartial expert organisation. Its objective is to develop new technologies, create new innovations and value added thus increasing customer's competitiveness. With its know how VTT produces research, development, testing and information services to public sector and companies as well as international organisations."
(source)
Headline 2.29.08-
"Finnish research institute will draw up a preliminary plan to build an EcoCity in the MenTouGou District of Beijing (source )."

"The site also acts as a significant showcase to the world since the district is a popular tourist attraction in China. The EcoCity will also be one of the themes to be displayed during the Beijing Olympic Games."

Daily Acts- Sustainability Tours Summer Schedule

Located in the North Bay Area, California, Daily Acts provides some really cool unconventional tours. Last year I headed out to Bolinas in Marin County for a truly unique tour of two permaculture facilities. I highly suggest signing up and taking a tour. If you are visiting the San Francisco region this Summer, what a great way to get off the beaten path and see some of the real west coast.

2008 Calendar March March 22 – Drumming, Dancing, Digging April April 5 – Living Earth Wall Finishes April 12 – The Alive Home April 12 – Sustainable City Vistas and Urban Forage April 19 – Personal Ecology May May 10 – Greywater-fed Oasis May 17 – Kombucha to Compost June June 7 – Water Wise & Well Fed June 8 – Food Cultures June 28 – Food, Fuel and Fruitful Living June 29 – East Bay Cohousing Crawl July July 12 – Permaculture Paradises Found! July 19 – Water-Savvy Stars July 20 – Biodynamic Composting July 26 – Greenhouses & Greywater August Aug. 2 – CityScape Makeover Aug. 3 – West County Delight Aug. 9 – Cohousing Communities Coalesce! Aug.10 – MycoDynamic Gardening Aug. 23 – Community & Urban Sustainability Aug. 23 – Food Preservation: Canning September Sept. 13 – Natural Cleanup Sept. 20 – The Glory of Green Building Sept. 27 – Your Water’s Worth Sept. 28 – Advanced Food Cultures October Oct. 4 – Food Preservation: Drying Oct. 25-26 – Designing for Diversity Daily Acts Website Daily Acts 2008 Schedule Pdf

Visual Aide- Visualization for Business, Education, Communication, Engineering, Fun

Have you ever drawn a knowledge map? With the help of visual expression we can break down complex issues and ideas, like climate change and resource scarcity, by putting it out right in front us. From that data, just add water and salt as desired.

Picking up a pen and staring at a board can be new and intimidating, so here are a few suggestions from a right brained guy;

1. Get a large piece of paper, whiteboard (preferable), chalkboard, and a pen (get colorful and creative).
   
2. Pick up pen, apply desired pressure.
3. Don't be afraid of failure. Deciding that your thought is wrong or untrue is ok. Don't hesitate get part of the idea out!
4. If you can't start try this; close your eyes and think about the purpose of the project, assignment, or task of your visual aide.
5. Create an environment that allows you to practice as a habit, because it takes work to some.
   

Here is a organization called Visual-Literacy.org, that will help you get started.
http://www.visual-literacy.org/

Be sure to check out their Periodic Table of Visualization!
http://www.visual-literacy.org/periodic_table/periodic_table.html

The Tool Revolution is Upon US!

Clive Thompson wrote an interesting piece in Wired this month about reviving American innovation through our grassroots Do It Yourself revolution. I believe the web 2.0 revolution will allow us to figure out innovative solutions to a growingly complex and difficult future ahead of us.

Here is what Clive had to say;

"Why am I so inept? I used to do projects like this all the time when I was a kid. But in high school, I was carefully diverted from shop class when the administration decided I was college-bound. I stopped working with my hands and have barely touched a tool since. "

". . . it's a problem for America. We've lost our Everyman ability to build, maintain, and repair the devices we rely on every day. And that's making it harder to solve the country's nastiest problems, like oil dependence, climate change, and global competitiveness."

"If you can't get under the hood of the gadgets you buy, you're far more liable to believe the marketing hype of the corporations that sell them. "

"Neuroscientists have shown that working with your hands exercises different parts of your cerebrum than sitting and cogitating. "

"They aren't ripping open cars to see what's possible, the way those amateur ultra-mileage Prius hackers do (some of whom, by the way, have modded their hybrids to get 100 mpg)."

"A counterrevolution is afoot"

"Notably, all this is happening outside our broken educational system. America is healing itself at the grass roots — rediscovering the mental joy of making things and rearming itself with mechanical skills. "

So apparently as a developed society we've taken a short vacation from our DIY mentality and we dove headfirst into the information economy. It has brought about new, exciting, and beautiful technologies. Now we need to start incorporating a culture that is a hybrid of the two. It's a true win win situation if we can leverage our new information seeking/publishing abilities on the web and get start coming up with some real solutions to the coming climate crisis and resource depletion.

So here are some resources to do it yourself:
For plans and ideas:
Make Magazine


Ready Made


Videos
Expert Village


Zipidee


Read Clive Thompson's full article

Or comment with your favorite builders paradise.

Web 2.0 - Best Explanations Ever by Common Craft

We learn in many different ways; seeing, doing, hearing, and saying. CommonCraft does a good job of making complexity simple. They do it by creating videos harnessing the power storytelling and low tech visuals to teach various topics. By the way they're available for hire.

Here are some of their videos presenting Web 2.0. Which is basically "user-generated" content. So here we go web 2.0 tools made simple by CommonCraft:

Blogs-


Want to do now?
Blogger.com
Typepad.com

Wiki-


Want to do now?
Google Groups
Wikispaces

Social Bookmarks-


Want to do now?
Del.ic.ious--> check out my del.ic.ious bookmarks.
Digg

RSS feeds-


Want to do now?
Google Reader
Bloglines

Social Networks-


Want to do now?
Facebook
Myspace
See my other post for more

Just for fun. . .Zombies-

Have a resource you want to share? Comment back and let 'er be known!

Footprint? Shouldn't it be Feetprint?

Yeah I know the footprint is old (2002), but have you taken it?
http://www.earthday.net/footprint/

Here's how I'm doing: 2.5 planets,


CATEGORY ACRES
FOOD 4
MOBILITY 0.5
SHELTER 3.2
GOODS/SERVICES 2.5
TOTAL FOOTPRINT 10

vs. 24 for my location.