JUNE 4th, 2010
Many would assume that its all hands on deck, as BP continues to unsuccessfully stop the deepwater oil spill. Apparently however, the firm has managed to find the time and money to shoot some adverts to tell everyone how sorry they are. As it emerged recently that two refineries owned by BP are responsible for a mind-boggling 97% of all flagrant violations in the refining industry over the last three years, one could be forgiven for thinking that the apology rings a little hollow. At a time when it seems BP is spending more time making sure that its attempts to stop the oil flow sound like Steven Seagal vehicles ( ‘Junk Shot’, ‘Top Kill’ ) then it is ensuring they will actually work, this PR attempt surely risks the attempt of backfiring with the american public.
Source: Treehugger
JUNE 2nd, 2010
There are few things quite so depressing as a vast expanse of concrete. Artists Haas and Haan have declared war on concrete carbuncles, and with the help of local youth have been transforming Brazilian favelas into an explosion of colour and a source of local pride. For more information and fantastic pictures head over to their website.
Source: inhabitat
JUNE 2nd, 2010
The beeping of an alarm clock is enough to send a shiver down most spines. It is inextricably linked to thoughts of bleary eyes, hurried showers and wolfed down breakfasts. This unpleasant feeling was obviously in the mind of the creators of the Wake Up World app for the iphone. The social alarm clock supplies you with a username and secret code. You then share your code with other Wake up World users, who in turn can choose a video to be played at the time you set your alarm to go off. Altogether a more pleasant start to the day.
Source: PSFK
JUNE 1st, 2010
Jessica Simpson once memorably described tuna as the chicken of the sea. This is not a line of thought that it is wise to pursue too far, however one can see her point, tuna is versatile and tasty. It is also dangerously over fished and despite the dolphin friendly signs on your tins of tuna, fished irresponsibly and unsustainably by many fishermen.
Amidst distressing reports of bluefin tuna possible heading towards commercial extinction in the meditarannean, it is all the more important to check to see that the tuna in your can is caught by pole-and-line. If you are a sandwich fan, then M&S and Pret a Manger are the only high street chains with guilt free tuna sandwiches. Sainsbury’s are also poised to make the switch. Tesco however are lagging behind and have only just committed to making sure ten percent of their tinned tuna is caught by pole-and-line.
Source: Greenpeace
MAY 27th, 2010
The Grist blog reports one small ray of sunshine emrging from the gargantuan black cloud that is the BP oil spill. The spill is forcing politicians to confront the dangers of fossil fuels and look to cleaner alternatives. First Shwarzenegger withdrew his support for off-shore drilling outside California. Now Obama is connecting the Gulf spill with clean energy and saying ‘we’ve got to start cultivating solar and wind and biodiesel’. Hopefully as the American public begins to see first hand the devastation that is only just beginning to descend, there will be sufficient good-will to support the required investment in clean energy infrastructure.
source: Grist
MAY 27th, 2010
The Financial Times reportedly lost its nerve at the last moment after previously agreeing to place a hard-hitting advert from Amnesty International. Timed to coincide with Shell’s AGM in London, the decision was in contrast from the Metro and the Evening Standard who went ahead with the advert. One bright note from the FT’s twelfth hour cop-out is that the story has been covered in The Guardian and numerous blogs, hopefully ensuring the advert has had wider coverage for less money.
Source: Osocio
MAY 27th, 2010
Given a pair of furniture legs and used bike tire tubes the average person might at best come up with with some kind of homemade catapult. The cunning folks at SystemDesignStudio have gone at least one better. In a bit of recycling inspiration of the sort not seen since Murdock and the A-Team were in full flow, the team have created the ElasticShelf. Easily re-creatable at home, the shelf definitively proves the old saying that one man’s junk is another man’s bookshelf.
Source: inhabitat
MAY 26th, 2010
Parisians had a glimpse of a carless future last Sunday when intrepid french farmers turned the busiest road in Paris, the Champs Elysées into a huge farmers market. The stunt which was billed as a celebration of agricultural life, helped to serve as a good natured reminder of the rural life which farmers believe is all too easily ignored by Parisians, including one Nicolas Sarkozy. Involving 8,000 plots of earth 150,000 plants, sheep, cattle, and three-quarters of a mile of the thoroughfare, this was no half-hearted affair.
Serendipitously the Neo team found themselves in Paris at the time, taking a break from their high-thresher jobs, and were able to get some photo’s in before the farmers culled the crops.
Source: Guardian
