Buffalo Project: on-demand mobile electricity. A simple and unique solution

In recent years mobile phone communication has been a major contributor to economic growth in developing countries but its spread has been hindered by limited charging options for the 650 million off-grid mobile phone users who have network access. Having an operational phone means access to services that have improved banking, health and farming in Africa and Asia. Many millions of people at the bottom of the economic pyramid are expected to acquire mobile phones, greatly benefiting their lives, business activities and access to information. However, most of these new subscribers will not have direct access to electricity. In response to the growing problem, London-based Buffalo Grid have developed a text message activated solar-powered...

Read more »

Indonesian students create eco-friendly deodorant from cow dung

DwiNailul Izzah and Rintya Aprianti Miki are two students who won the gold medal at the Indonesian Science Project Olympiad (ISPO), which is held every year at the end of February in Jakarta, with their original invention and respectful of environment. The two young inventors have create an affordable air freshener made from cow dung. Yes dung, as weird as it sounds, the formulation actually has a pleasant herbal smell. This two girls overcame 1,000 other competitors with their surprising freshener, which was created by collecting unused cow manure from a cattle farm in Lamongam, East Java, and fermenting it for 3 days: "Then they extracted the water from the fermented manure and mixed it with coconut water. Finally, they distilled...

Read more »

Waiting for the spring: Ecology of Colour Pavilion in Kent, UK

UK-based Studio Wave created Ecology of Colour, a colourful pavilion for holding a variety of sustainable craft workshops within Dartford Central Park’s Ecology Island. This is the third Artlands public realm commission for North Kent. Made from local materials, was designed “to act as a jolly custodian" and encourage community involvement in a neglected corner of a public park. In response to this unique context, Studio Weave have designed a small versatile structure with a semi-outdoor space at ground level and an enclosed area on the first floor with many windows that open wide onto the landscape. As well for bird watching and art studio the building will be used as an outdoor classroom, a dyeing workshop and simply as a...

Read more »

The most beautiful, and green, street in the world: Rua Goncalo de Carvalho

Sustainable diary has found another amazing green tunnel, so let's go in Brasil. RuaGoncalo de Carvalho is a street located in bairro Independência in the city of Porto Alegre, the capital of the state of Rio Grande do Sul. Flanked by trees on either side, the street became internationally known after a campaign for its preservation spread on the Internet leading it to be dubbed "the most beautiful street in the world", and today it is considered "environmental heritage" by the city. It is a forest. Over a span of 500 meters the sidewalks are lined with more than one hundred trees of the genus Tipuana, going up to the seventh floor of the buildings in some cases. These trees were planted in the 1930s by employees of German origin who...

Read more »

My space is small. My life is big

TreeHugger founder Graham Hill describes his lifestyle in the New York Times, Here youcan read the complete interview. I did not consider the case to summarize it, it is very good and well worth to read it all! "I sleep better knowing I’m not using more resources than I need. I have less — and enjoy more." He draws the principles of degrowth theory. The decrease is a current of political thought, economic and social environment to the controlled reduction, selective and voluntary economic production and consumption, with the aim of establishing relations of ecological balance between man and nature, as well as fairness among human beings themselves. Degrowth is something that we need to think: "Our fondness for stuff...

Read more »

Make food not war! Vegetable Weapon by Tsuyoshi Ozawa

Sustainable diary loves speaks about food and food culture, so when we watched the pictures of Tsuyoshi Ozawa on Inhabitat we thought: "This is a good story for start the week". The artist was born in 1965, Tokyo. In 2001, he began “VegetableWeapon”, a series of photographic portraits of young women holding weapons made from vegetable. He realized this photo project in different countries around Asia, America, Europe, and Africa. He finds a woman that live in the place and asks her to gather vegetables and other ingredients needed to make an indigenous hot-pot dish. After the food is creatively arranged in the shape of a firearms, he starts shooting the absurd war-like portraits. Once the photograph is made, Ozawa and his model...

Read more »

Sunday's tale: the Thai Temple of recycled beer bottles

Sunday's Tale: a post from the past In the Thai landscape, Buddhist temples are very common sight. Deep in Sisaket province, in the north-east of Thailand, lies one incredible temple complex. Its official name is Wat Pa Maha Chedi Kaew but it is known by almost everyone as Wat Lan Kuad or the Temple of a Million Bottles.  There’s an estimated 1.5 million bottles bound in concrete into the temple. It is a novel way to recycle any empties. The construction of this temple complex began in 1984, as the monks found themselves with an excess of donated beer bottles that they previously used just to decorate existing buildings. The resident Buddhist monks at the complex encourage local authorities to deposit any used bottles...

Read more »