Thank you to everyone who entered for my Live Earth Gibson. Entries ranged from the many of you who do the commendable and valuable tasks of recycling your trash or swapping to energy efficient bulbs to bigger collective entries. All entries touched me and please please keep up the good work! : )
Peter from CA brought to my attention the work he is doing with Cal-Earth (California Institute of Earth Art and Architecture) the insanely Star Wars style eco structures by Architect Nadir Khalili. Aside from looking dam cool, the homes are very special as they have little manufactured components. Most of the buildings are from earth found on the site.
This makes earth homes not only cost effective but they can be built anywhere that there is earth. Heating or cooling is not always necessary as the earths constant temperature of 55 degrees keeps the home in a comfort level that barely needs help to warm or cool. Peter’s contribution is spreading the word of Cal-Earth and keeping Khalili’s vision alive by running workshops and reaching out via the internet. Good work.
I love Harriet Jerusha Korim’s entry on behalf of her ‘friends of the dump’ she told me about ‘The swap shopification of Cape Cod’. I loved it because showed a real sense on community. When the old fire chief’s house in they town became vacant they all worked together to turn it into a swap shop! This then inspired several other swap shops. She is also part of the climate action network of Cape Cod.
One of the more creative and thought-provoking entries came from Sarah in London. Part of the Craftivist Collective her aim is to expose the scandal of global poverty, and human rights injustices though the power of craft and public art. I loved this because although the message is strong yet the delivery is subtle - little messages to make you stop and think.
The thing that struck me about Rebecca Felitas’ from Argentina’s entry was her passion and commitment to the cause of climate change. Reaching out globally through social networking Rebecca’s aim is to kick start some action – something I of course approve of! This is Rebecca’s Facebook group Salva el Mundo; The group is where idea’s are shared and hopefully action will be taken : )
Escrap – now there is something I had never given much thought to. But now, thanks to Rodri da Costa Martins, I have. Escrap or Electronic scrap is as you might guess electronic waste.
In order to fight against e-scrap, Rodri and some friends started carrying out a disclosure campaign in Argentina to make people acknowledge the danger that tossing escrap in sanitary land fills. This was a real eye opener as to how dangerous escrap is – just the other day I pondered on what to do with some old batteries!
This story made my heart my melt. ‘Mr lovely barn man’ or Tim Walker : ) told me his that in 1996 Hurricane Fran passed through central NC. His 8.5 acres sustained damaged of 80 trees down, all hardwoods. On weekends for the next 2 years, he cut the best trees into 12 foot lengths, skidded the logs to a central location, then contracted a local portable saw mill owner to come out multiple times to create boards from the logs.
From this he built a horse barn, with they locally created wood, of extremely high quality, using a local person to do the work. This is a true example of making the best of a bad situation.
Ach, another entry that goes straight to the heart, Mercedes Migliora was moved by the plight of the blind kids in a school near her home and enlisted her friends (and mum) to help her collect tactile old toys, paper and objects to donate to the school to teach the children about different surfaces. A small effort but I’m sure it made a big difference.
Lots of great efforts came my way from India too, for example, Umesh Rathod, who has brought together a whole team of friends to look at ways to save electricity, water and waste and has set up seminars at his college to spread the message.
Keyur Patel, also in India, wrote to tell me that that he has been naming trees after bollywood actors, religious figures and cricket players. Why? Well, the simple act of naming the trees transformed them from objects few people cared about and were happy to chop down into objects to be respected. What a wonderful way to make people think twice!
So many to mention but for now I will leave you with a mention to the Blue Can Group. Kirsten Bergren (and friends) are dedicated to getting their city to eco-jump into the 21 century. Many of her friends had never thought of recycling they basically did not know what to do! So educating all the generations of the local community was decided as their priority – starting with the school kids – the ‘future caretakers of our precious earth’.
