Environment has been an increasing concern for the generation “now”, and will be taken more seriously by generation “next”, though we all will have “good intentions towards our mother earth” it would make more sense is to make money while we are doing the “good cause”. Out here is a list of some trends / startups / initiatives, which are simple yet useful solutions to our complex mechanical world.
Rural Beekeeping has been catching lots of attention lately … out here we’ve got few initiatives initiated a unique trend called “rooftop beekeeping”. First one to check in the list is London based Fortnum & Mason where you can also buy honey online, followed by Toronto’s Fairmont Royal York hotel and Paris-based Pullman Hotels & Resorts who use it for their own internal usage & to provide it to their customers. Pullman partnered with Bee My Friend recently on Earth Day.
Car Pooling saves us miles with smiles. There have been quite a few online initiatives to facilitate searching car pooling partner online, this includes, Zimride, Galp Energia’s Galpshare which allows users to specify their interests (music / sports / business etc.). Zipcar recently has partnered with Zimride to provide a car pooling system to college and university campuses and making it further easier by Facebook-based carpool matching system.
What alternative vehicle you use when you drop your car for servicing? Bicycling … is in trend back again … Noticing most of people opting for bicycle while leaving their car for servicing, Clive Brook, a Volvo dealership in Yorkshire, thought of an idea of offering bicycles instead of courtesy cars. Waitrose, a British supermarket chain, on the other hand picked up an age old method of delivering their goods on bicycle and cart. Watch out more on bicycle trends – convertible bicycle & stroller, Cargo bikes for greener business deliveries , Lightweight electric bike, bike sharing in North America by Bixi.
Too much advertising adds too much noise, but this one is different & refreshing, these advertisements are made by salted water and stencils and stays on earth for 5 odd minutes. Since it stays temporarily there is no need for permissions from the local authorities. This company, Curb, has been involved earlier in advertising which uses natural materials, check their other work on sand sculptures, turf cutting and snow tagging innovations.
When it comes to re-cycling, TerraCycle is a company which is worth noting. Started with a very unique idea of making eco-fertilizer from organic waste and worm poop, they struck a chord with The Home Depot, Wal-Mart and Target, which gave them a turnover of USD 6 million in sales for 2007, and I believe it is quite good for a four-year-old, 12 employee company. Their other initiatives turning old wrappers into eco-chic bags and accessories, collecting non-recyclables at big boxes stores, and also worth noting, hair waste used to clean up oil spills …
And we are not missing on energy here, compiled here we have initiatives such as, Google’s PowerMeter, smart thermostat by Ecobee, Open Source Car designed by Wiki, wind energy mapping tool, Vegawatt which focuses on the upside of grease turning restaurants’ waste oil into electricity and hot water, home security with energy monitoring.
Also worth noting about some green initiatives are Communal Living, green home improvement, Green Groove which is a site that aims to help consumers create and stick to a plan to eliminate their unsustainable ways and embrace new greener habits, also Nagging service for dieters , A public incentive to stick to one’s goals, and similar to UK’s Green Homes Concierge, New York-based Green Irene aims to help consumers reduce their homes’ carbon footprint.
What more we have now grandmothers also contributing to people plan our living, Oxford recently recruited a team of Green Grannies to offer advice to the UK public about everything from how to darn socks to how to make delicious food from leftovers. Interesting, isn’t it?
That’s it for now folks … hope my compilation will help few people to make a difference to the world. :)
Posted in Environment, Human Network Tagged: Clean Energy, Climate, Environment, Global Warming, Renewable Energy
