Pappmaskin.no

I saw John Francis talk at ted.com a few months ago, and I was facinated with his story.

After witnessing the devastation caused by a 1971 oil spill in San Francisco Bay, he stopped riding in motorized vehicles, a vow which lasted 22 years from 1972 until 1994. From 1973 until 1990, he also spent 17 years voluntarily silent. During this time he earned a Ph.D. in land management and traveled extensively, walking across the entire width of the lower 48 states of the USA as well as walking to South America.

I heartily recommend this book to everyone who loves our earth, and who loves building communities.

I bought mine as a Kindle edition from the Amazon bookstore, and read it on my iPhone.

PS: There is one thing that bothers me about Johns story, something I would like to ask him if I get the chance. When he gives in and starts riding in cars again it is because he realizes that he will be a more effective communicator of his environmentally friendly ideas if he uses motorized transportation. But that is the same argument the rest of the world uses for riding in cars, it makes us more effective in what we need to achieve. But that doesn’t mean it’s good for the environment.

John Francis at Ted.com

I’ve started stripping this room in preparation for making a new bathroom.

I pulled out every single nail I could find and used a powerful magnet to collect them all on a wonderful little nail-ball. Harcore recycling going on, but also to prevent kids and animals to step on them when I put the planks outside. I also did it to make it safe for my kids to “help” me. I want them to take as much part as possible, but a teardown involves many small dangers for tiny people. On this project my two sons age four and five helped tear down panels and cupboards, beating the crap out of everything I pointed to. Great fun! And after removing all the nails my oldest son Noah helped me throw it all out the windows.

Linklove: This photo was favorited by the National Wildlife Foundation on Flickr.

How-to transform a boring cardboard box into something cute, beautiful and worth taking care of instead of throwing away, with very little work. This is a good little project to do with your kids.

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I recently found about 40 meters of electrical cables in the trash at work. It’s threaded with 4-7 strands of solid core wire which I needed for a DIY project (to be revealed soon), and I ended up with quite alot of white plastic tubing that I really didn’t want to throw out.

So I simply cut them up into beads, and mixed them into our little art supply box.

If life deals you an excess of electrical cables…

… then upcycle them into lemonade! No, beads! These are telephone wires I believe.

The people behind the Fun Theory (www.rolighetsteorin.se) believe that the easiest way to change people’s behaviour for the better is by making it fun to do.

Piano stairs

via vuraltuna.posterous.com

Posted via web from mskogly’s posterous

There are many prophesies predicting the end time. The bible talks about several signs that is supposed to tell if the end is near, but I prefer to look for my own:

Inspired? Join the Flickr Group “Signs that the end is near”

I took a nice little evening trip in my kayak yesterday (my fourth trip ever, I’m a total newbie). Launched from the nearest beach, just a kilometer from my house, and headed straight out to sea, towards the sun as it was setting, then turning around as it went down, catching the breeze on my back. Perhaps I should have just kept going? How far is it to Island?

I’ve decided to start bringing my trusty garbage picker with me on my trips. On my last outing, I saw lots of little pieces of plastic on the shoreline, just out of reach. It is a bit of a hassle getting in and out of the kayak, so a mechanical grip like the one in the picture above is a must.

Oh, and I might add that I started beach-combing / beach-cleaning last year, after finding the 46000 art project. 46000 being the number of plastic artifacts floating pr 1 mile of ocean! Isn’t that just crazy? What the hell are we doing to our planet?

Happily I didn’t find any floating debris on this trip, not even along the shoreline (I found one lonely red plastic cup).

But the situation on the beach where I launched and landed was different. There was plenty of junk, leftovers from a hot and beautiful day: Ice cream wrappers, empties, potatochip packets, etc. I am actually more than a little dissapointed that my neighbours are such litterbugs, I believed them to be better than this. To me, throwing garbage in nature is simply unthinkable, and I really feel that such behaviour is a sign of the fall of man. If you ever see me litter, then please shoot me!

This is a good project to do with kids. Just start gathering bits and pieces of junk in a box, or clean out a few drawers, and you soon have enough raw material to create your own little eco warrior tribe!

Any material can be used. On the creature above we have a wine cork body, milk bottle cap feet, Elton John glasses made from a piece of balsa from a broken 3d puzzle, some feathers, a thumbtack nose, and eyes made from nuts. Oh, and the mouth was cut from a newspaper.

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economics marketing psychology philosophy consumerism

Psychologist Barry Schwartz takes aim at a central tenet of western societies: freedom of choice. In Schwartz’s estimation, choice has made us not freer but more paralyzed, not happier but more dissatisfied.