Innovate or Die

February 1, 2008

It’s not just a catchy headline. “Innovate or Die” is a contest, sponsored by Specialized Bicycles and Google, “to build a pedal-powered machine that has an environmental impact. A positive one that is. I would love to tell you more about the contest and the innovative ideas it inspired but the contest website is to annoying for me to delve any further.

The Aquaduct was the winning project.

“The Aquaduct is a pedal powered vehicle that transports, filters, and stores water for the developing world. A peristaltic pump attached to the pedal crank draws water from a large tank, through a filter, to a smaller clean tank. The clean tank is removable and closed for contamination-free home storage and use. A clutch engages and disengages the drive belt from the pedal crank, enabling the rider to filter the water while traveling or while stationary”

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Written by Ryan · Filed Under Innovation, Video, The Environment

The Story of Stuff

January 24, 2008

The Story of Stuff Official Site

What is the Story of Stuff?

From its extraction through sale, use and disposal, all the stuff in our lives affects communities at home and abroad, yet most of this is hidden from view. The Story of Stuff is a 20-minute, fast-paced, fact-filled look at the underside of our production and consumption patterns. The Story of Stuff exposes the connections between a huge number of environmental and social issues, and calls us together to create a more sustainable and just world. It’ll teach you something, it’ll make you laugh, and it just may change the way you look at all the stuff in your life forever.

I would like to hold a public showing of the Story of Stuff here in town. Anyone that would like to assist in this endeavor should contact me. If you have a good idea for a date, time and location shoot that info to us as well. I’ll make a couple of calls and get back to you in a couple of days with some more details.

Have you got your own story of stuff?

If you do add it as a comment below because I think we are overdue for a local discussion about stuff.

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Written by Ryan · Filed Under Energy, Feature Video, Conservation, Video, theOwen

Lester Brown Lectures at Google

January 4, 2008

The holidays have been busy. Too many things to do and too few hours in the day it seems. Over the past few weeks I have spent a good deal of time reflecting on 2007 and looking forward to a great 2008. There has also been some behind the scenes work going on including a number of articles and some audio cued for release in the next little while that will lay out the 2008 road map for theOwen.com. We have learned a lot in the past 8 or so months and we will surely incorporate these lessons moving forward.

For all the “work” done over the holidays I have also found myself watching a lot of online video. Since a lot of what is coming up at theOwen.com has to do with looking forward I figured I would share the following video of Lester Brown, lecturing at Google.

Lester Brown, has a long track record of looking forward as a thought leader in the areas of sustainability and food to name just a couple. He is the author of many books on the topic, including Plan B: Rescuing a Planet under Stress and a Civilization in Trouble, which has undergone two additional revisions leading to “Plan B 3.0″

“Plan B 3.0 is a comprehensive plan for reversing the trends that are fast undermining our future. Its four overriding goals are to stabilize climate, stabilize population, eradicate poverty, and restore the earth’s damaged ecosystems” — Lester Brown

You may have noticed during our site design overhaul that our “sustainability” category got a prominent spot in the site navigation above. This is a topic that is near and dear to me and I think it has been proven the residents of Grey and Bruce counties are starting to get it. More on that one to come and in the meantime I encourage you to take the time to listen to Lester…

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Written by Ryan · Filed Under Feature Video, Sustainability, Video, The Environment

An idea for the Festival of Northern Lights

December 20, 2007

There has to be a few handy folks around town that could pitch in to bring a little of this kind of showmanship to the Festival of Northern Lights. If you know anyone with the skills have them contact us.

Chevy Chase ain’t got nothing on this!