Green Options

London wants to allow cyclists to pick up one of 6,000 bikes at the 400 docking stations planned for the capital by 2010.

Londoners will soon be able to hire bikes in the centre of town for short journeys, under plans announced this week by the mayor, Boris Johnson.

For the entire month of October, Blue Planet Run is hosting a nationwide 30-mile challenge. Athletes can run, walk or cycle anywhere, anytime. So far, over 150 events have sprung up across the country to support the effort to provide safe drinking water to three schools in Tanzania that serve 1,200 students and their families.

It’s not too late to register. You can join a team, form a team or go solo. Cover the miles however you’d like! http://www.blueplanetrun.org/30-mile

One of the Tanzanian schools sent out a message that the 30-Mile Challenge participants can read before they start their 30-mile run, walk or cycling. Blue Planet Run is working to build communication bridges between the athletes and the communities that benefit from their efforts.

Note: My inspiration for posting this is attributable to the many radically creative and excellent ideas in Food Not Lawns: How to Turn Your Yard into a Garden and Your Neighborhood into a Community by H.C. Flores.

The clock is ticking. On Wednesday, I am to shoot a segment for the Sust Enable film project in which I construct a draft box (alternative to a refrigerator), solar cooker (alternative to a stove/oven), and hot water solar shower, in order to illustrate how easy and cheap it is to build such items for the average person. Once applied, these technologies can divert significant amounts of energy that would normally come from the plugs in your home, to free energy provided by the sun and wind. (Of course, the issue of winter and weather conditions arises, but I believe that every little applied creative technology helps in the approach toward sustainable living.)

But there is one obstacle looming… can I overcome it in the hours before the shoot begins?

How do I sustainably acquire the necessary materials?

If I am claiming to live a 100% sustainable lifestyle, then certainly I cannot acquire anything new–all supplies must be redeemed from the waste stream of others. Or must they? I began to realize that the likelihood of me garbage-picking a 55-gallon drum, spigots, fixtures, tools, aluminum foil and black hose was rather slim in the time frame given, and with the transportation resources I have (i.e., a bike).

Hence, I must consider the tradeoff of my actions as thoroughly as I can. What are the consequences of the manufacturing of a metal spigot, bought new from Home Depot? What’s the tradeoff if I were to continue to use conventional hot water heaters for all of my showers for the next few years of my life?