JULY 23rd, 2009
A collective of social entrepreneurs, activists, policy-makers and social thinkers convened at RebootBritain this month to discuss the challenges and opportunities currently facing the country. Organized by the UK-based National Endowment for Science, Technology and the Arts (NESTA), the public event included an activity in which participants were challenged with developing their own idea of what would help to reboot Britain. To get the creative juices flowing, participants built with their hands using LEGO blocks, and came up with same inspiring stuff. View the entire Flickr set of LEGO images here!
JULY 14th, 2009
Striving to demonstrate the importance and beauty of alternative energy, a solar-powered flower garden is being used to light up the night in Jerusalem.
Giant flowers of different shapes and sizes brighten the night with changing colors while opening and closing to the sound of music composed especially for the installation by artists Ravid Hang and Andy Isler. The installation is charged during the day, and comes to life in the dark with energy-saving LED lights, creating a beautiful, tranquil setting.
The Enchanting Night Garden is a co-operation between Israel Electric Corporation and O*GE Architects. Go to this link for more pics and videos.
JULY 9th, 2009
Today, many cities can be self-sustainable during the summer months, but come winter, all of a sudden cities become dependent on getting fresh fruits and vegetables from warmer countries that get transported in by planes, trucks and boats with a very high cost to the environment.
Swedish-American company Plantagon have come up with a solution to that problem. Their idea is to build greenhouses to use within urban environments that will make cities
self-supporting.
JULY 9th, 2009
The Make Lounge invites busy Londoners to “meet people and make stuff”. Journalist Jennifer Pirtle felt there was no place to relax, socialize with drinks as you sew, knit, make jewelry or paper crafts. Seeing the need for a creative break after a day at the office, she started to arrange crafting gatherings for beginners, intermediate and advanced adults and kids.
JULY 6th, 2009
On the 2nd of July the latest part from the Prince’s Rainforest Project campaign went live in London at Piccadilly Circus. The key image of the campaign is Kermit the Frog. The McDonald’s sign gives members of the public the chance to interact with the breathing frog, allowing them to be photographed in front of the screens with the frog seemingly on their hand, head or shoulder. Alongside this, the red Coca-Cola sign turns green before showcasing some of the well-known faces from the campaign including Daniel Craig, Harrison Ford and Kermit the Frog. In the picture above British actress Talulah Riley interacts with the frog.
JULY 5th, 2009
The United Kingdom’s Hanham Hall Development is the largest eco-village aspiration to date. Designed by HTA and funded by Barratt Developments and the Homes & Communities Agency, there are a rumored 188-195 zero carbon homes in the overall housing scheme. The development will include an onsite biomass CHP plant, strategically placed reed beds, shops for farmers to sell their goods, bicycle storage throughout, and a carefully crafted drainage system. Hanham Hall is the first major eco city underway that is part of the government’s Carbon Challenge Programme. The government has set a goal for all new builds to be zero carbon by 2016.
JULY 2nd, 2009
In Kansas City USA Johnson County Library couriers are making their book deliveries between Library locations in some specially decorated, literary-themed trucks: Captain Ahab’s Fine Seafood, Benjamin Button’s Diaper Service, Kafka’s Pest Control, and Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde’s Pharmacy with the tag line “Available at Johnson County Library.” The messages on the trucks are part of campaign to promote the library, the many stories that can be found there and to encourage reading, even the classics.
JULY 2nd, 2009
From age 5, micro-miniaturist Willard Wigan, started to express his inner fantasy world by making houses, and later shoes and hats for ants. Wigan, whose micro-sculptures stand a fraction of a millimetre tall, all but invisible to the naked eye, gives the phrase steady hands a whole new meaning. Using tools like a tiny surgeon’s knife, he carves figures out of materials including dust particles and sugar crystals, fragments of gold and grains of sand. He scrapes with immeasurable precision and uses a hair plucked from a dead fly’s back to paint his creations, sometimes spending months on end over a single piece. Incredibly, as he sculpts, he enters a meditative state, slowing his breathing and heart rate to avoid hand tremors that might prove disastrous. As he told the BBC: “You have to control the whole nervous system, you have to work between the heartbeat – the pulse of your finger can destroy the work”. He often toils through the night, when there is less chance of being disturbed by vibrations like those from traffic outside. Willard Wigan is currently displaying his work at the My Little Eye Gallery, Bloomsbury.
