Harold's blog

By Guo Shipeng and Emma Graham-Harrison

BEIJING (Reuters) - China launched a surprise crackdown on plastic bags on Tuesday, banning production of ultra-thin bags and forbidding its supermarkets and shops from handing out free carriers from June 1.

China uses too many of the bags and fails to dispose of them properly, wasting valuable oil and littering the country, China's cabinet, the State Council, said in a notice posted on the central government Web site (www.gov.cn).

"Our country consumes huge amounts of plastic bags every year. While providing convenience to consumers, they have also caused serious pollution, and waste of energy and resources, because of excessive use and inadequate recycling," it said.

http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSPEK25589820080108

by Clive Thompson in WIRED

Australia is suffering through its worst dry spell in a millennium. The outback has turned into a dust bowl, crops are dying off at fantastic rates, cities are rationing water, coral reefs are dying, and the agricultural base is evaporating. But what really intrigues Gleen Albrecht – a philosopher by training – is how his fellow Australians are reacting. They’re getting sad.

http://www.wired.com/services/press/

Dear Harold,

The whole crew here at Adbusters took the afternoon off to go see the 11th Hour at a theatre near our office.  Time well spent.  The film was informative and challenging.  Along with other significant events like Al Gore's  Nobel Prize, and the UN's IPCC report, the 11th Hour contributed to an extremely green year in 2007.  Global warming deniers are in retreat thanks in part to your efforts.  Great work!

Warm regards,

The Adbusters Staff

http://www.adbusters.org/home/ 

ACROSS the road from a golf course and next to a verdant, cow-filled field in Whetstone, a village about as far from the sea as it is possible to get in England, there is a ship's engine-room in a barn. The area is dripping with history—Frank Whittle, one of the inventors of the jet engine, used a neighbouring shed for his project—but this is not some clanking historical curiosity, such as a steam engine rebuilt by an amateur enthusiast. The whirring gas turbine and whining motor being put through their paces in bucolic Leicestershire are at the cutting edge of maritime engineering. The electric drive being tested there could represent the next leap forward in ship design, as significant a technological shift as the one from sail to steam power in the 19th century.

SSOURCE: The Economist

Two hundred Greenpeace activists shut down the annual meeting of the European Union Fisheries Council meeting where EU fisheries ministers were to gather for their annual meeting on fishing quotas, demanding an end to mismanagement of European fisheries. The activists constructed a wall in front of the building's main entrance bearing the message "Shut Down until Fish Stocks Recover."

http://www.greenpeace.org/international/news/fisheries-council-locked-out

The new American handbag and satchel compony Noon Solar has gone deeply sustainable.

Noon Solar has just created a line of truly sustainable purses and satchels with incorporate thin and flexible solar panels (and adapters for cell-phones and ipods) made with cradle-to-cradle manufacturing process based on 11th Hour expert William McDonough. They are also made in the U.S. with fair labor practices and hand-made techniques.

The bags are made with materials that can either biodegrade naturally or be reclaimed and re-used by future users/generations (“cradle to cradle” philosophy) rather than the common “cradle to grave” product lifespan that has caused the rapid growth of landfills.

http://noonsolar.com/

http://11thhouraction.com/ideasandexperts/William%20McDonough

Colin Bulthaup, the visionary founder of Potenco—whose mission is to make clean power universally accessible and immediately useful all over the world—shared a few thoughts and inspirations behind his work.

Me and some friends at MIT in the basement of Media Labs started Squid Labs.  Our goal to start creating an innovation “factory” to take technology and creativity with direct focus to make a huge impact on world.  We were part of this community around 2000-1.  We tried structure our passion.  We spun off 5 companies:

Instructables—a do it yourself website to share projects w/ others…an open-source application for everything.
Optiopia—creating technology to make low-cost eyeglasses for developing countries for less than $1/piece.  The machine costs $100 and can be carried on the back of a motercycle.
Makani Power—to make the ultimate renewable energy—high-altitude wind generations
Howtoons—for creating educational cartoons for kids on how to build things
And Potenco.

We decided to tackle a large problem—Power.  We were involved in the human power concept and developing the power for the one-laptop project per child project.  We took the opportunity, developing the underlying power technology for it.

http://www.potenco.com/
http://laptop.org/
http://squid-labs.com/companies/

Aerial artist and environmental activist John Quigley (whose "Global Warning" image appears in the 11th Hour) created with Greenpeace an aerial “human banner” with a thousand people to highlight the dangers of Indonesia’s growing dependence on coal ower plants. The art/action coincides with the UN Climate Summit happening in Bali from December 3-14th. Quigley also participated in a high-altitude banner hang off a coal plant on Java highlighting the link between climate change and burning coal.

http://www.greenpeace.org/international/news/wind-turbines-and-warning-shots-031207

http://www.spectralq.com/

Report on Social Entrepreneurs: TZEPORAH BERMAN: CO-FOUNDER OF FORESTETHICS
If a tree falls in the forest, she knows
CATHRYN ATKINSON

December 4, 2007

VANCOUVER -- November finds Tzeporah Berman spending a few quiet weeks with
her family at their home on Cortes Island, near the haunting Desolation
Sound on British Columbia's Sunshine Coast. She is pleased about the
haphazard cellphone reception and reflects on a busy, successful year for
ForestEthics, the non-profit forest protection group she co-founded in 2000.

SOURCE:  The Globe and Mail

Parisians are known for favoring revolutions over peaceful reform.

On the morning after Bastille Day 2007, Paris awoke to
thousands of new gleaming, pearl grey bicycles stationed
at former parking spaces all over the city. Within hours of
the system’s opening, the streets were filled with “freedom
bicycles.” Vélib, the new bicycle-based mass transit system,
proved that the revolution will be non-motorized.
By the 18th day, Vélib had logged one million rides. The
ubiquitous bikes are now an integral part of the city’s identity,
a symbol of Mayor Bertrand Delanoë and Deputy-Mayor
for Transportation Denis Baupin’s multifaceted efforts to
address traffic congestion, reduce air and sound pollution,
and revitalize the city’s public space.

SOURCE:  Sustainable Transport Fall 2007