1. Go Digital – Save Trees

Going Digital means cutting out many of the paper based systems we use as business people and many times unnecessarily so. I use almost no paper and I don’t use a printer at all. Take you data assets online and back them up using various mechanisms. It will not only save trees but can drastically improve you efficiency.

2. Work Remotely – Save our Atmosphere

There really is no good reason for knowledge workers to be commuting in their thousands on a daily basis. The web has made it extremely easy to setup online collaboration spaces which help keep remote teams in touch with each other. This can also improve your quality of life and reduce stress, save valuable travel time and reduce carbon emmisions.

3. Less is more – Save our Resources

Or should I say, less is less. We tend to go over the top when we get involved in things and go on spending sprees for our hobbies, work and families. Embrace a more simple life and you’ll be consuming less valuable earthly resources as well as needing less money which leads to needing to work less. Humans can survive very comfortably with very little.

4. Re-use – Save money

I buy everything I own or need on a cash basis, keeps me in a almost permanently debt free state. When I do need to make a purchase, most times I opt for a good quality used item whether it be a car, computer, desk you name it. Why should we be increasing the need for production of more and more when the items in circulation are good enough.

I don’t go around hugging trees regularly nor am I obsessive about every last purchase or action, but a few simple life principles naturally reduces the impact I make as an individual. What are you doing to make a difference? I could do with a few extra bits of advice.

Calling all photographers and Earth-lovers … Help us record a day in the life of our planet, in pictures.

If you’re into all things environmentally friendly or just want to celebrate the beauty of this wonderful planet we call home, take a few snaps of your little corner of Earth and submit itto the Earth Mosaic Project!

2,848 cities, towns and municipalities in 84 countries have already committed to VOTE EARTH for Earth Hour 2009, as part of the worlds first global election between Earth and global warming. – www.earthhour.org

The concept is simple, at 08:30pm on Saturday 28 March, if you’d like to cast your vote for the planet, switch off all your lights and go without electricity for an hour to do your little part for the environment.

Human powered energy generators are on the rise and many different designs have been surfacing in the last year or so. This one uses an existing fun activity to produce some much needed energy.

Daniel Sheridan, a student in consumer product design, won three separate awards amounting to GBP 5,500 earlier this year for his see-saw design, which can create enough electricity to power a classroom by capturing the energy generated when children play on it.

What more can I say, brilliant idea, South Africans could do with a combination of sober entertainment & energy production all rolled into one.

Check it out here

Both aim to approach 21st Century transportation in an innovative yet clean way, but don’t expect these to meet each other on the same street.

bamboobike meets env bike.

The 2 solutions are suited for the worlds they have been designed for, but both have a similar purpose, provide transport in an environmentally friendly manner.

Bamboo has a lighter footprint

Of course the bamboo bike wins the carbon footprint game hands down as it’s a completely sustainable product manufactured from around 70% biodegradable materials available in the locality it will be used in. It’s low-cost, fuel efficient, healthy, and doesn’t need huge production factories and machinery powered by huge energy resources to put together.

Slick, powerful, clean and extendable

On the other hand, the env is made for the modern city dweller who wouldn’t be caught dead on a bamboo frame with wheels. It’s slick design is only the beginning.

The fuel cell is an electrochemical device which produces electricity, water and heat directly from hydrogen and oxygen. The water by-product can be evaporated, drained or even drunk.

It’s hydrogen powered fuel cell(the core as it is referred to) is at the centre of this sophisticated design. The idea is that the core, as the detachable heart of the env can be used to power just about anything anywhere.

Back to the Bamboo Bike and it’s many advantages in a not so teched up environment. I can see the Bamboo bike having a much greater impact not only on the environment but on the lives of thousands of people living in sub-economic locations.

In Africa, very few people can own cars or even motorcycles and people without bicycles have to rely on inadequate and relatively expensive buses. Bicycles are creatively modified to become boda boda taxis.

Transportation issues on different sides of the economic/tech divide couldn’t be further apart, but it’s good to see that on both sides, practical attempts are being made to find sustainable & efficient solutions.

I’ve thought of getting myself a bicycle and electro scooter many times and hope I might get a chance in the near future to play my own part in conserving and lightening my footprint in this regard.