Tuesday, October 30, 2012

Gone in 60 secs

Gone in 60 secs Parts 1 & 2 (LETS FIGHT BIKE CRIME) on Pinkbike

Earth Days (2009)



"No external force is imposing these environmental problems on us.

They have arisen because every morning 6 billion people get up and have breakfast, and go to work, and do their thing, and come home at night...

Environmental problems emerge out of daily life and the solutions for the environmental problems are also rooted in daily life."

Dennis Meadows, "Earth Days" (PBS 2009)

Friday, August 24, 2012

Dr. Bernie Krause: The Great Animal Orchestra


Dr. Bernie Krause: The Great Animal Orchestra from California Academy of Sciences and California Academy of Sciences on FORA.tv

"Dr. Bernie Krause, creator of Wild Sanctuary, demonstrates that every living organism produces sound. This presentation focuses on the symbiotic ways in which the sounds of one organism affect and interrelate with other organisms, local and regional, within a given habitat."

He is author of the book from this year; The Great Animal Orchestra: Finding the Origins of Music in the World’s Wildest Places. He show in this presentation how sounds effects organisms calling it the soundscape ecology. Dr. Bernie Krause has records of animals which are no longer present in different areas, he also show how the range of sounds change when the ecosystem change.

Friday, June 01, 2012

Willie Smits restores a rainforest



"Willie Smits works at the complicated intersection of humankind, the animal world and our green planet. In his early work as a forester in Indonesia, he came to a deep understanding of that triple relationship, as he watched the growing population of Sulawesi move into (or burn for fuel) forests that are home to the orangutan. [..]
"Smits believes that to rebuild orangutan populations, we must first rebuild their forest habitat -- which means helping local people find options other than the short-term fix of harvesting forests to survive. His Masarang Foundation raises money and awareness to restore habitat forests around the world -- and to empower local people. In 2007, Masarang opened a palm-sugar factory that uses thermal energy to turn sugar palms (fast-growing trees that thrive in degraded soils) into sugar and even ethanol, returning cash and power to the community and, with luck, starting the cycle toward a better future for people, trees and orangs." Ted.com

“If we want to help the orangutans- what I actually set out to do – we must make sure that the local people are the ones that benefit. I think the real key to doing it, if you want a simple answer, is integration.”

Tuesday, May 22, 2012

Transition 2.0


In Transition 2.0 is the new film from Transition Network, capturing inspiring stories of Transition initiatives around the world, responding to uncertain times with creativity, solutions and 'engaged optimism' - http://www.intransitionmovie.com/

Thursday, May 17, 2012

Paul Gilding: The Earth is full


"It takes a good crisis to get us going. When we feel fear and we fear loss we are capable of quite extraordinary things.” (Paul Gilding)

Wednesday, May 09, 2012

Planning an ecocity

Pic. 1. The compact living is the key to explain the ecocity. No energy- efficiency program is that efficient.

Pic. 2. The ecocity concept should integrate the old in the new to get a feeling of settlement. Personal integration is needed for the human mind and orientation.

Pic. 3. Eco means householding and also relations. In the ecocity, many relations is necessity. Bigger trees and not only plantations should be there. Save old trees!

Pic. 4. Space for room. Rooms for feelings. Three- dimensional thinking in whole city.

Pic. 5. Compact living and not too high. Take a look closer to the picture and you see that there are spaces for recreation on top of the roofs and in between buildings.

Pic. 6. Green, compact and several dimensions.

Pic. 7. Open spaces with shade and places to sit should be planned in the ecocity.

Pic. 8. Water gives more life in form of birds and life in itselves.

Pic. 9. Kids should have spaces where they can behave like kids.

Pic. 10. Use all different kind of levels in the city and make places where people want to go. Up there, its a playground with a view over the city and the ocean.


See more about ecocity planning at What is an ecocity? and What is an ecocity part 2.


Friday, May 04, 2012

Trail run camp Fuerteventura


Fuerteventura. A moon-like canarian island. The only green larger area is the golf course close to the hotel- and apartment resort. We took the flight six hours from home, just to run here for a week. Breakfast buffet and dinner buffet, pure sun, Olympia pool and sport events everyday. We rest and we use our bodies, and we ate good. Expect the flight (bad, bad, bad), we now transport ourselves several miles a day by foot. One important question doe, is were the hell the food comes from and the water we have to buy (that might be an answer for that later). Now the feeling of cycling at the moon!


Above the village of Las Playitas you can find a fantastic viewpoint at the Faro de la Entallada.The road to the Lighthouse is 6,5 km long and is made of asphalt and large sharp pebbles. The sport center down in Playitas told me it was easy to take a road bike up, but gritty and bad, a mtb-bike would go better on that ground. Wind blow hard in all uphills on my way there, wind blow hard in all uphills on my way back. 



One of many attempts to photo myself and the view (unsuccessfully but there is the light-weight bike))! My running group was here just one hour earlier. Cheater as I was, I rented a bike and cycled slow up with tired legs. After six days with runs and body exercises my legs did not want to run one more step. To cycle up in my own tempo worked, and what a landscape! When I was on my way down from the Lighthouse, two cars met here and they could almost pass each other.


Close to Playitas; The red bike line was like a long racetrack beside the car road. And very easy to follow and to see it in the grey landscape; we are only 5 km from the hotel. Quite clever and not so busy trafficked.


In the small town Gran Tarajal the traffic was so calm and considerate, there was no problem to cycle on the street. A good rest in the shade from the trees.


Now on top of the mountain between Playitas and Gran Tarajal. Moon-like and beautiful in large scale and the island is pretty fine to road cycle and the hills are magnificant to walk. What I was there for- to run- was not too fun in the hot climate! An interesting trip anyhow:)

Friday, April 06, 2012

Bike lines Göteborg


Was cycling one sunny autumn day through this place, when realizing what was going on around me I braked and forgot the shoes stuck into the pedals. But it was worth a small fall, look at this! Its roads for bikes! No cars allowed here! Signs only for bikes and pedestrians.


Bike have to rest some at the grass while owner take pictures at this very special junction of only bike lines!
Bikes, pedestrians and a nice feeling of nothing disturbing the sight. To find cycle paths in Göteborg you can use the cycle planner, mainly along car roads, in bad conditions and a lot of crossings. The bike road to Särö is a little like this, but that path has speed limitations and hindrance and some road crossings. And if you want to go faster, cyclist goes on roads with less traffic anyhow. But good bike lines, they are rare, and places with only bike lines are extremely rare- because planning is not like that, bikes can go along the road, on a smaller road.

If you know any place like this, tell me because this is the first -just for bikes- I ever seen here.


Something similar can be found in the post of Amersfoort. This is something more than a small path along a heavy trafficked car road. With bends and turns in angels you can't do within speed. But here, we are alone, and lines are adapted to bike conditions. This is so good for cycling that I had to stop and share those photos. Hopefully I find some more this year!

Thursday, April 05, 2012

Wednesday, March 21, 2012

Complexity of ideas

picture from here

What if technology could be used to build artificial city environments. What if people had insight in processes in forehand, and in the same time could influence with ideas. What if the users would be the ideas put in a platform like a community sort of like facebook with users able to discuss future plans. What if this platform had some elements ready and others able to upload. What if costs could be transparent from scratch and every changes could be saved and be able to watch over and over and be compared to find the best solution.

Think like a 3-d computer world, with existing buildings in place, like what we can see in the Super sustainable plan about Gothenburg from Kellberg and Kaminsky but with the slight difference that people have insight and can be able to upload their ideas to this.

What if we would understand that in some issues, it is the users and not the professionals who have the answers. Like when building Vauban (and other neighborhoods in Germany) use Baugruppen that decide the appearance of their own house. And what would happen if we would let ideas grow not in meetings but over time.

See also Visable Strategies for more information about the importance of transparency for sustainability.