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Less stuff, more happiness (video)
Graham Hill, Ted Talk
Writer and designer Graham Hill asks: Can having less stuff, in less room, lead to more happiness? He makes the case for taking up less space, and lays out three rules for editing your life.
1. Edit ruthlessly
2. Think small
3. Make multifunctional
(posted October 2011)
Six-minute video at original. -BA
WWOOF UK: Forty years of inspiration, education and perspiration
Katherine Hallewell, Permaculture Magazine (UK)
2011 is WWOOF’s 40th birthday. For those who haven’t heard of them before, WWOOF (World Wide Opportunities on Organic Farms) connects willing volunteers with host farms and smallholdings around the UK in a hands-on educational exchange. It’s now a truly global movement, but it all started in deepest Sussex
To mark the 40th birthday of WWOOF, they have interviewed 6 of their 500 hosts, their ‘hosts with the most’. It’s a fascinating insight into the joys and challenges of being a WWOOF host, as well as offering a tantalising glimpse of the huge range of WWOOFing experiences on offer to members of the organisation.
Smallest host: Phoenix Woodcrafts, Kate Fox and Andy Gill, West Sussex
Kate and Andy describe their 120 square feet of garden as their ‘micro-holding’. From this diverse patch they are almost completely self-sufficient in vegetables, fruit and eggs. They became WWOOF hosts last October. “We were WWOOFers ourselves and always chose to visit places that would inspire us, that we could learn from. What we have created here is exactly what we wanted to see – essentially a normal house with a garden.”
The row of terraced Victorian cottages where Kate and Andy live were built with big front gardens, “…so that the railway workers living here could grow all their own veg and keep pigs, chickens and goats.” Today they are the only ones in the terrace growing for self-sufficiency. “We live in quite a conservative area, there’s not really an alternative culture at all. But people are very open-minded. Our neighbours probably think we’re a bit mad, as we’re a bit elaborate in our design and layout of things in the garden, but they generally seem impressed.”
… The most challenging thing about becoming a WWOOF host has been learning how to successfully share the tiny house with volunteers. “It’s been a massive learning curve – not a bad thing, it just takes some getting used to. By the time we had our third WWOOFers we decided to write some house rules!”
“We get at least 2 emails a day, people seem to really want to come here. We try to choose those who are really looking to learn from us, as the best bit about being a host is when people leave us excited and inspired.”
Their hopes for WWOOF 40 years from now? “More of the same please! I’m sure WWOOF will continue to grow, but hopefully the organisation will stay much the same.”
Largest Host: Claire and Andrew Fletcher, Ardlussa Estate, Isle of Jura
Claire and Andrew moved from Glasgow about 4 years ago to live full time in their family home on the Isle of Jura. The house is on the Ardlussa Estate, and at 18,000 acres this is the largest WWOOF host property.
(3 October 2011)
Transition Toronto’s winning film! ‘The people in my neighbourhood’
Rob Hopkins, Transition Culture
Transition Toronto recently held a film competition for people to use film as a way of communicating Transition. The winner was Mariko Uda with her film ‘The People in my Neighbourhood’. Rather lovely it is too. Here it is:
The judge, Gregory Greene, producer of ‘The End of Suburbia’, said of why he chose this film as the winner:
“I really enjoyed Mariko’s film. Her vision of a possible urban future based on local skills and innovation, progressive resource-and-energy taxation, future compost “consultants”(loved that one) and Ministry of Transportation folks on bikes – embraces so many Transition principles. I found myself learning quite a bit and developing new ideas about what the future might feel like. I also loved the friendly, up-beat tone and diversity of faces, so reflective of our city! This video is the winner by a long-shot. I’ll say it again I LOVED IT!”
Mariko makes the point that the various stories in the film are already a reality… she writes:
“Yes, that rooftop garden really exists! It’s one of a number of urban agriculture projects at UofT.
The composters are at the Stop’s Green Barn. Check out the Farmers’ Market there every Sat. morning!
When I thought of buildings for the future, I thought of Rohan Walters. Get to know him here.
Need something fixed? Go to a repair shop like Fix-It-Again Sam! Want to make a skateboard?
For the composting toilet I had to go all the way to Vaughn to the Toronto and Region Conservation Authority’s Restoration Services Building.
I kid you not – they did not smell at all!
The lovely singing at the end were UofT students in Hot Yam! who prepare yummy vegan lunches every Wed. at noon. http://hotyam.ca/
If you’ve watched this film, and want to know what to do, start by discovering and enjoying the treasures in your neighbourhood. Go to a Farmers’ Market. Walk, ride your bike! Smile & talk to your neighbours 
Nourish yourself, envision a positive future & work together with others towards it.
(6 October 2011)
Geothermal Power Plants Could Help Produce Lithium for Electric Cars
David Biello, Scientific American
A new process aims to extract lithium from the brines used to generate electricity in a geothermal power plant
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An industrial add-on to geothermal power plants near the Salton Sea in California could one day produce the lithium that is required for electric car batteries. Already, Simbol Materials, the company behind the process, has begun purifying lithium from conventional mining operations in Argentina, Chile and elsewhere for the global battery market at a demonstration facility in Brawley, Calif.
“We developed the technology and the process to take the brines coming out of geothermal power plants’ post–power production and harvest lithium, manganese, zinc and, maybe in the future, some other materials, and we convert those into usable compounds,” says Simbol CEO Luka Erceg. “We’re essentially leveraging the best renewable resource and co-producing strategic materials.”
(29 September 2011)
Suggested by EB contributor Luane Todd who writes:
“My favored renewable energy technology is geothermal as described in this article. To me it is the most benign of all the options as well as the most practical because it is 24/7/365.
How interesting that there may be additional benefits in the process….note that potassium is a possibility….an agriculture need. I always look for more than one benefit from any single technology I consider using…more bang for the buck.”
