This is your invitation to activism.
We don't follow hype of going or being "green". Instead, we've looked into the future and see the world being transformed by millions of everyday activists who are rooted in love.
Here, we bring this future of activism into the present, to press us toward creating daily lifestyles of practical, tangible, relational and compassionate action. Because real change is found in the simple, everyday action of people just like you.
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Plastic-Eating Fungi Found in the Amazon May Solve World’s Waste Problem
A group of students and professors from Yale University have found a fungi in the Amazon rainforest that can degrade and utilize the common plastic polyurethane (PUR). As part of the university’s Rainforest Expedition and Laboratory educational program, designed to engage undergraduate students in discovery-based research, the group searched for plants and cultured the micro-organisms within their tissue.
Several active organisms were identified, including two distinct isolates of Pestalotiopsis microspora with the ability to efficiently degrade and utilize PUR as the sole carbon source when grown anaerobically, a unique observation among reported PUR biodegradation activities.
Polyurethane is a big part of our mounting waste problem and this is a new possible solution for managing it. The fungi can survive on polyurethane alone and is uniquely able to do so in an oxygen-free environment. The Yale University team has published its findings in the article ‘Biodegradation of Polyester Polyurethane by Endophytic Fungi’ for the Applied and Environmental Microbiology journal.
This article originally published at PSFK here.
Zambikes Bamboo Bikes Turn Heads In The U.S., Fight Poverty In Africa
An African bike company builds bikes for the poor, funded by selling you a super-light sweet bamboo ride.
In Zambia, bicycles grow on trees, or rather bamboo, the primary building material for many Zambikes. Groves of it grow outside the company’s factory, which is run by two Zambians and two Americans on a quest to build a local bike for Africans, and employ the “uneducated and underprivileged” to make them for the rest of the world.
So far, Zambike has cranked out at least 8,000 metal bicycles and 900 bicycle ambulances and cargo carts in Southern Africa; they’ve sold 200 bamboo bicycle frames worldwide. The company’s goal, besides benefiting communities around it, is to sell affordable, effective transportation throughout Zambia, a country where theaverage life expectancy is 47 years old, and infant mortality approaches one in 10 births. The for-profit firm was founded in a a partnership with U.S. nonprofit Akerfa, and has employed more than 100 people, says Zambikes cofounder Vaughn Spethmann.
“Our products are saving and changing lives,” said Spethmann during an interview withSOCAP Europe. ”We are creating opportunity and employment. “Our goal of having Zambikes be run by Zambian nationals will ensure that Zambikes will be a catalyst for change for decades to come.”
The design is relatively straightforward, though labor intensive. Three-year-old bamboo is cut, preserved, and cured for several months before being cut to size. The frame is then bound with wood glue and plant fiber cords soaked in epoxy, and affixed to the metal components. The whole process takes as long as a week, but produces a 95% bamboo bike that is “one of the classiest, comfortable rides in the bike industry” with almost “magical” vibration absorption, says the company. Models have fetched about $900 abroad, and a messenger bike version is now available for export.
But you may soon have pick of bamboo bikes. While Zambike has perhaps the strongest environmental and social credentials, a growing number of shops and designers are crafting bicycles out of the material and some are even expanding into solid wood.Renovo, inspired by wooden WWII fighter planes, handcraft their frames from hardwood simply because it’s a superior material, says the company, with “engineering properties suit the requirements of most bicycle applications better than any other material.” Although not a good candidate for large-scale manufacturing, “where production is limited, and the properties of wood are matched to the product, it is difficult to surpass.”
[Image: KKTourAfrica]
Can 1 miracle plant solve the world’s 3 greatest problems?
99% v 1%: the data behind the Occupy movement - animation
It has been the rallying cry of the Occupy movement for the past two months - but is the US really split 99% v 1%? As poverty and inequality reach record levels, how much richer have the rich got? This animation explains what the key data says about the state of America today.
MAKE IT BETTER
This is a great example of how good design thinking can make things better for users and the planet. With a simple rethinking of the ink container, this pen can hold more ink for longer use. Longer use of a single pen means not using other pens, and saving plastic. Smart design.
(via gregmelander)
How Many Slaves Are Working For You?
A new website and mobile app looks at your purchases and determines the amount of forced labor that’s gone into everything you own. The number may surprise you.
http://www.slaveryfootprint.org/
It’s not easy to be a socially responsible consumer. Even if you buy mostly local products and diligently keep track of corporate environmental footprints, you may still be leaving a trail of slaves in your wake. After all, who do you think is digging up the minerals in your smartphone or picking the cotton for your T-shirts? Slavery Footprint, a new website and mobile app that launched today (the 149th anniversary of the announcement of the Emancipation Proclamation) can tell you approximately how many slaves have pitched in to make the goods you enjoy on a daily basis.
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Matilija Dam is scheduled to come down some time in the near future. An activist ninja decided to help create a plan for the dams demise.
Don’t Buy New Patagonia Products Unless You Really Need It
Tonight, Patagonia and eBay announced a new partnership, the Common Threads Initiative. Together, they asked owners of fleece and Gore-Tex everywhere to pledge to reduce consumption, reuse old gear, recycle, repair what’s broken, and reimagine a world where people don’t stress the earth with purchases.
Yes, you read correctly. Patagonia is asking us not to buy their stuff, or any stuff, unless we really need it. And then they’re asking us to buy used stuff when we can. And they’re asking us to sell those still warm puffys and barely frayed packs gathering dust in the back of our closets on eBay, to a troller who will buy an old jacket instead of buying a new one.
To show they really mean it, Patagonia and eBay have partnered on a Patagonia-specific resale site powered by eBay that you can access from Patagonia’s website. But there is one catch—you have to pledge to the five “Rs” to use it.
Patagonia wants 50,000 pledgers this year. Sign today, and whether or not you start bidding, you’ll be one of the first. But don’t just sign so you can get first dibs on nearly new gear which for the next few days is probably mostly from the Patagonia sample racks. Think about what you’re agreeing to, and like Patagonia, walk your talk.
Consumerism
“there’s none but ourselves to make this thing last, none but ourselves.
everybody take a long hard look at you.”
(via featherlightheart)
Composting is easier than you think, and you’d be surprised what you can toss into the bin. If you’re still unfamiliar with the concept, check out our favorite how-to guide on starting a compost in the summer. Once you’re up and running, start tossing! Here are eight common items from your household that you can throw in your compost.
“To take risks and to make the world better by being amazing. … You get to make a choice. You can remake that choice every day, in fact. It’s never too late to choose optimism, to choose action, to choose excellence. The best thing is that it only takes a moment — just one second — to decide.”
Seth Godin, Time to take action
This message is in partnership with Levi’s®
When water is easily accessible, it’s hard to remember just how crucial it is for human life. But for nearly one billion people today, finding safe water is a daily struggle. An estimated one in eight people don’t have access to clean water and nearly 2.5 billion people don’t have access to improved sanitation.
Lacking access to clean water isn’t just inconvenient, it has a devastating impact on communities throughout the developing world. Each year, 3.5 million people die from water-related diseases. Nearly 84 percent of them are children.
Today, groups like Water.org, a nonprofit organization dedicated to water and sanitation accessibility, have simple, cost-effective tools to bring safe water and sanitation to people who desperately need them. Levi’s and Water.org are teaming up and, with your help, hope to bring a lifetime of clean water to 8,000 people.
Help them reach this goal by clicking here and pledging your support for water accessibility for all. Spread the word and tell your friends—reaching 100,000 Facebook pledges will bring safe water to 8,000 people, changing their lives for good.
