Some more love from Huntley Muir. When I sent over a list of things they needed to do (part of the digital strategy I’m helping them with) they sent me this in response:
(As in they are knuckling down). Best clients ever.
Oh and ps- this is the Olympic stamp they were commissioned to draw. Cool, eh?
Every year over 1.6 million tonnes of food goes to landfill in the UK. That’s huge. And the majority of the waste is completely unnecessary.
Where does all the leftover food go in supermarkets? Food that may be perfectly fit for consumption but has packaging that is slightly damaged. Or produce that’s about to go off but still good, like bananas that can be made into banana bread. Where do all the freshly made sandwiches go from cafes when they close?
Slowly public opinion and pressure is moving towards wasting less and better policies and practices are slowly tackling some of the issues. This much welcomed shift could be because the cost is immense and we’re in tough times economically. But also it’s because people are becoming more and more aware of global inequalities and how bad it is that us in developed countries to take what we have for granted.
Things like legislation being introduced that scraps sell-by dates on food, and retailers like Sainsbury’s getting rid ‘freeze on day of purchase’ labels are helping to pave the way to reduce food waste.
And There are some brilliant organisations out there now tackling food waste issues, like Fareshare and Foodcycle.
Fareshare redistributes product from the food and drink industry to organisations working with vulnerable people in the community.
Foodcycle collects excess food from local farmers markets, supermarkets and other retailers and turn this surplus into delicious meals that get served to people in the community in need. Kind of brilliant, right?
There’s also my new favourite thing at the moment: Zero Gachis. It’s an app for finding reduced food near you. It matches businesses to consumers by sharing the details of food that’s about to expire. Conceived at a Start-up weekend in Brittany (and they won first place!) the app is still in it’s early days.
I’d love to know that I can buy carrots for 0.20p a bag because they’re close to their best before date, rather than a buy a bag for £1 when I’d be eating them as soon as I’m home. It’s both saving money and alleviating the guilt of wasting food.
Of course like most rampant social problems, technology at this scale likely won’t solve world hunger but it will definitely help reduce the amount of food that goes to waste on a retail level and of course increase awareness and ultimately that’s what it’s all about. Make people aware of the issue and then provide the necessary tools, knowledge and organisations to manage – and reduce- food waste.
Despite years spent as an editor, I’m still pretty rubbish when it comes to spelling. There are a few words that get me every time, like: non-environmental (hyphenated or not?) and commitment (one t or two?). So I installed a brilliant tool called Wordweb, an app that lives on my desktop and lets me spot check spelling and access a thesaurus. Perfect, right?
Sadly, today Wordweb and I had a falling out. A little box came up asking me how many times a year I fly. Being the honest person I am, I self reported the third option: 2 return flights. I went home for my mum’s wedding in the summer and home for the Christmas holidays. Bad, I know. (In my defense I hadn’t been home in years!)
Then this box appeared:
Oh the shame. And of course the irony and given I work in sustainability for an environmental charity.
Shut out of my favourite super useful tool because of my carbon footprint. I deserve it, really.
It’s quite a genius setup and I really admire wordweb for this. Create a fabulously addictive and helpful service and then take it away from excess carbon emitters. And use a portion of the profit to contribute to environmental causes. More and more businesses are walking the talk and holding their values close to their business model.
So from this ordeal (yes, it has been an ordeal for me) I now know to lie when self-reporting behaviour. Just kidding.
I’ve learned to read the fine print more often – this was outlined in their T&C’s and I bow my head in shame for not fully reading through them. I’ve also learned that it is this sort of awareness raising, frustration building experience makes people think. Some will pay the 20 -some odd pound subscription and just get on with it. And others may think twice about their environmental impact. And then of course there’s the third type of person – those that will find a way around it. Regardless, kudos Wordweb, rather oddly, you’ve made my day.
I’ve recently taken on a project working with Sue and Donna, two fabulous illustrators who run Huntley Muir E-cards. After a long chat (and far too much coffee!) they sent through this:
So nice, right?
My friend Diego is quite the clever one. He is a dental technician (he makes tooth implants) and has lots of long bright lights in his office. To make the lighting less harsh he has made these light shades from old card board tubes. Impressive, right?
Beccy and Hannah, the lovely pair behind the Crafternoon Tea Club bring you this ‘Christmash’ spesh: an evening of re-gifting, re-distributing, re-packaging and other low carbon creative fun. Oh and free booze and fabulous music. Go on, tell all your friends.
These are such beautifully shot films of time lapsed images from around Toronto and Ottawa.
The super talented Ryan Emond made ‘Toronto Tempo’ as well as the one below called ‘Capital Cruising’.
I’m in awe (and a bit homesick).
Recently I came across the most heartbreaking and moving blog post I’ve ever seen. A man called Derek Miller, wrote and published his last blog post, ever.
I suppose one should expect more online legacies and tributes in the increasingly connected digital space but this was the first post-mordem post I’ve ever come across.
Derek was suffering from prostate cancer for a few years now. I’d never come across his blog before he died, despite him being from Vancouver, where I used to live. When I read his last post I was moved beyond words. In addition to sending wishes of love and hope to his family, friends and supporters, he shared this truth:
“I’ve also been lucky. I’ve never had to wonder where my next meal will come from. I’ve never feared that a foreign army will come in the night with machetes or machine guns to kill or injure my family. I’ve never had to run for my life (something I could never do now anyway). Sadly, these are things some people have to do every day right now.
And he couldn’t be more right.
After thinking about all of the places I’ve lived and where I call home (Canada) I started looking online to see if there was a way for me to qualify or quantity the quality of life I’ve experienced living in Canada and the UK.
Low and behold, I found an excellent website: If It Were My Home. IIWMH is a comparison tool between countries based on an index of various factors. So I can find out things like if Colombia were my home instead of Canada, I’d die 6.8 years sooner. Or if I lived in Haiti instead of the UK, the chances of me having HIV/AIDS is 90.91%.
The service can also tell you the impact that disasters have on areas such as the BP oil spill and the damage experienced by populations in and around the Gulf of Mexico.
Many of us are so lucky to have the lives, freedom, mobility and education that we have. Yet every day we get so stressed about pretty unimportant stuff in the grand scheme of things.
Derek Miller will have many legacies, least not, being the stranger who reminded me of just how lucky I am compared to most people in this world.
A sad and abandoned house is awaiting its demise. Rather than watch passively as it confronts its fate, artist Candy Chang decided to create a place for others to empathise with the house by facing their own mortality and sharing the things they’d like to do before they die.
This is one of those public art projects that is so imaginative, so inspirational and so good you wish that was in your neighbourhood. But, by the sounds of it, Candy is in the process of sorting out large stencils so it’s easy to reproduce. I can’t wait! It’s such a beautiful, original and interactive project.
(Spotted on Brain Pickings)
Brought to you by the people at We Are Change, this is honest, beautiful and interesting.
I can *really* relate to this video. Day in and day out I ride the London’s underground and buses alongside millions of other people. Millions of interesting, unique, different and alike, other people. Yet no one says a word. People’s heads go down as though someone has instructed everyone to not appear at all conspicuous or fall outside of the norm. Like a secret, unwritten code.
While this is a symptom of living in a big city, I don’t believe that everyone wants to stay silent and unapproachable. The same way that trains have ‘quiet’ cabins, perhaps the underground needs chatty sections? Or at least areas on the tube where smiling at someone is an OK thing to do.