A pilot scheme to cut carbon emissions by encouraging school pupils to cycle to school more often is hailed as a success…. From BBC News. Full story

This site may contain information about: kindergarten. The blog is also related to: academic.

Indeed, organizations have been rapidly reducing the number of employees needed to operate effectively—a process known as downsizing. Typically this involves more than just laying off people in a move to save money. It is directed at adjusting the number of employees needed to work in newly designed organizations and is, therefore, also known as rightsizing. Whatever you call it, the bottom line is clear. Many organizations need fewer people to operate today than in the past—sometimes far fewer. The statistics tell a sobering tale. Downsizings are not a unique manifestation of current economic trends. In the recent past, some degree of downsizing has occurred in about half of all companies—especially in the middle management and supervisory ranks. Experts agree that rapid changes in technology have been largely responsible for much of this.

My Consultancy–Asif J. Mir - Management Consultant–transforms organizations where people have the freedom to be creative, a place that brings out the best in everybody–an open, fair place where people have a sense that what they do matters. For details please visit www.asifjmir.com, and my Lectures.

Here’s a little observation….and I think that it’s more noticable at this time of year as we rush into the busy festive season.

We get so caught up in what we have to accomplish today,we write the list and never seem to get to the bottom of it cos we keep thinking of stuff to add on and we never seem to have a minute to spare or a minute to think……chance woud be a fine thing! Some days we feel as though we hardly get a moment to breathe let alone anything else.

And then there are those of us who, as if we didn’t have enough to do, we go and set goals……dream bigger dreams….and so we should….and now we have to fit those into the plan for today too. And as if that’s not enough….well it’s coming up to Christmas and there’s dinners to go to and parties to attend and there’s presents to think about and then to shop for…and we need to plan who’s going where this year and is it my turn to entertan…what will we eat? drink? do?????

Phew! There’s such a lot to get done and so little time.

And then the feeling of overwhelm sets in….followed by panic…..followed by stress and fatigue and when the Day finally arrives you’re too exhausted to enjoy it….or you get the dreaded bug!

Blast!

How would it be if you could just stop…..just for a moment or two….and re-think this whole thing?

Ask a better question……

Who else could help me with this?

Just because they are you To Do’s or Goals…..doesn’t mean that YOU have to be the one who does everything to make them happen. If there was someone else who could do that thing for you…who would it be? How would I ask…..do I have to go shopping or could I do it on-line and have it delivered?

Hmm……You still get to enjoy the achievement – without the stress?

How would that feel differently?

So go through your list and delegate or find another way that would save you running around like mad……ask a better question

You’ll be glad that you did!

Riley Hoffer of CG Kidz.com

Riley Hoffer, teen founder of of the CG Kidz Foundation, will talk about how kids can get more involved in doing their part and caring for our world, tomorrow between 1-3 p.m. at The Green Corner Store (1423 D South Main Street) in Little Rock.

At age 12, Riley Hoffer of Cabot is no stranger to entrepreneurship. She manages the CGKidz.com website, writes a blog and works to share her message with other kids about the three R’s – Reduce, Reuse and Recycle. Her parents, Joe and Danelle Hoffer, sell eco-friendly products through their company, CynerGreen. CG Kidz is CynerGreen’s children’s line, and it’s designed by Riley.

Riley and CG Kidz.com have been featured on CBS This Morning and in online magazines. Recently, Riley has been nominated for a U.S. Green Building Industry Council’s Youth Leadership Award.

Wanna meet Riley? Come to The Green Corner Store tomorrow!

For more information, call (501)374-1111.

Written by guest blogger Denise Deby, who has worked in international and community development, and is currently trying to figure out how to connect the local with the global in her everyday life.

November 27 was Buy Nothing Day in North America. It passed by without much attention in Ottawa. But at least I can say I didn’t buy anything.

Or can I?

I didn’t spend any cash that day. No paper, coins or credit cards came out of my wallet. But my financial transactions continued.

On Buy Nothing Day, I still consumed electricity, water and heat, and was charged for them. I used bus tickets, purchased a couple of months ago. I ate food that I bought earlier in the week. I used my phone, cell phone and internet connections, all of which I’m paying for monthly.

Buy Nothing Day definitely made me think about how tied in I am to a financial system that doesn’t even need my active involvement. Maybe that’s the point. Adbusters would say I should also be turning off my computer and lights – the only way to draw attention to our default mode, consumption.

Still, Buy Nothing Day’s message is largely negative – don’t buy, don’t consume. Good to think about, but hard to engage people. What if it were about Doing Something as well? Are there alternatives to purchasing and consuming that we can participate in, to remind ourselves that there are other aspects to life? What about:

• Spending time with friends and family, taking a walk in the woods or neighbourhood, reading a book, talking to our kids and to each other about having less stuff?
• Trading or giving away something (e.g. on Ottawa Freecycle / Ottawa Full Circles), or finding a reuse for something no longer useful?
• Volunteering — for a favourite organisation, or through Volunteer Ottawa (click on “I want to volunteer”)?
• Writing a letter to an MP on climate change or another issue (for tips see David Suzuki’s website)?

I’ve been impressed by the Stephen Lewis Foundation’s campaign called “A Dare To Remember,” in which people commit to doing something brave or crazy or fun, to raise attention and funds for addressing HIV/AIDS in Africa. It’s a great way to capture people’s imaginations, and to prompt lots of people to do something, in their own way, to generate awareness about an issue. Maybe some lessons here?

Then, hopefully, we could sustain some momentum from Buy Nothing Day as we head into the December holiday and shopping season.

Every smoker knows that smoking is not good for their health. No wonder that many of regular smokers are trying to quit smoking cigarettes. But very few actually succeed.  Most smokers fail again and again when they try to quit smoking cigarettes.

There are many techniques which supposedly help quit smoking cigarettes. Some of the popular ones are chewing gums, avoiding caffeinated drinks and alcohol etc. But very few of these techniques are really effective in quit smoking cigarettes. Most people get back to smoking after trying some techniques for a couple of days.

But there is a cent percent effective way to quit smoking cigarettes. That is by using alt-cigarettes. Alt-cigarettes are electrical instruments which resemble normal cigarettes in appearance. Alt- cigarettes are available in various levels of nicotine content.

One may wonder how nicotine containing alt-cigarettes can help in quit smoking cigarettes. The trick is very simple. These artificial cigarettes are available in high level, medium level, low level and zero level of nicotine. The first step to quit smoking cigarettes is selecting a grade of nicotine by the smoker.

Heavy smokers are suggested to start with the high nicotine cartridges; whereas medium smokers can directly start from cartridges with medium nicotine content. One needs to reduce his nicotine level by slowly moving over the grades of cartridges. One needs to be very patient to quit smoking cigarettes in this process.

If someone tries to move over low nicotine cartridges from high nicotine ones within a shorter time period, he cannot quit smoking cigarettes. The longer time period helps our body to adjust with the decreasing level of nicotine.

When a smoker has finally moved to low nicotine level, he is just one step away from quit smoking cigarettes. This final step includes choosing the zero nicotine level content cartridges. As the alt-cigarette looks and feels like any other cigarette, it satisfies the psychological aspects associated with smoking like holding a cigarette.

The alt-cigarettes help quit smoking cigarettes by the way of nicotine free smoking. One can also choose which flavor he wants to smoke. If someone likes the flavor of tobacco, he can pick the tobacco flavored zero nicotine cartridges ultimately. One can also select flavors like cherry or menthol on his way to quit smoking cigarettes.

PureSkyShop is a good website to buy alt-cigarettes as all their customers are highly satisfied. To help one quit smoking cigarettes, PureSkyShop provides cartridges in four nicotine levels and seven flavors. The trendy alt-cigarettes of PureSkyShop are sold under various packages.

PureSkyShop provides their customer the healthiest alt-cigarette at the lowest price. One can quit smoking cigarettes in a healthier way as their product is free from all harmful chemicals.

Join Bicycle Advocacy for Central Arkansas (BACA) for its monthly meeting at 7 p.m., Thursday, October 1st at the Oyster Bar in Little Rock. For more information, visit BACA’s website, www.bacar.org.

Check out this bag I decorated I made it super recycled…well not tht much…well I used the plastic from te water bottles for the handle and there’s a flash light key chain that’s solar cell charged and I wrote things like “reduce, reuse, recycle” and stuff on the bag. An thank you auntie Julie for the before-after idea. So here’s the bag (first pic : before, second pic and so on : after)

If you do not earn enough to cover your expenses and show some profit, then you have to consider what to do about it. There are four possibilities:

1. You can raise your rates, something that, ironically, freelancers seem most reluctant to do, it is the first thing most business owners would think of doing in such a situation, if they possibly could.
2. You can increase your workload. This is feasible in some fields and not in others. Most editors, for example, cannot learn to edit any faster, and their income is limited by how much they can physically accomplish. On the other hand, you may subcontract, that is, hire someone to work for you and take part of his or her earnings. This works especially well if you can find someone to train who wants to learn you trade. You can also often subcontract with colleagues when they are in slow periods.
3. You can expand into related kinds of work that pay better or that you can do faster. One editor, learned to do indexing. Fewer people have indexing skills compared to the number who copy-edit, and the hourly rate for indexing is higher than for copy-editing and proofreading.
4. Finally, you can reduce your expectations. While freelancers can do and earn a healthy living, free-lancing will probably not make you rich. As a general rule, unless rare luck strikes, or you are willing to expand through subcontracting or finding new and more lucrative areas in which to work, your income will probably not soar dramatically. On the other hand, it should rise steadily, and it must keep pace with inflation.

My Consultancy–Asif J. Mir - Management Consultant–transforms organizations where people have the freedom to be creative, a place that brings out the best in everybody–an open, fair place where people have a sense that what they do matters. For details please visit www.asifjmir.com, and my Lectures.

The classic Coke can is getting a new look.  The original can was painted red and white, but now Coca-cola is thinking of making the can unpainted.  By not painting the can Coca-cola saves energy and paint.  This will also eliminate the paint removing step in the recycling process.  This change will cut back on air pollution, water pollution, paint, and it will save energy.

-Aaron Sundstrom

So… that’s a silly term from yesterday… an old boss of mine, referring to me as ‘crunchy’. This is a word I am familiar with… yet no one has ever pinpointed it to ME before. Hmmm. I laughed at first, entertained by the idea of being ‘crunchy’.
I mean, ‘crunchy’?
I am attempting to be more and more sustainable everyday. I am working out of a recycled & remodeled airstream trailer… and building a brand made of recycled materials, based upon eco-friendly principles. I am taking more Yoga classes each week and I do eat as naturally as possible. I mother my cat with human-quality, raw foods and I love lots of seaweed & almond milk & spring water. I wear moccasins. I save ALL glass jars. I ride my bicycle to work… most of the time. Gosh, I have become more and more ‘crunchy’ (like granola), over the past years of living in California… Yet, I must say, “I am proud to be ‘Crunchy’!” Somebody’s gotta do it, right!?!
It’s about time our society became a bit more ‘crunchy’.
Amongst this realm of ‘crunchiness’ I embody… don’t you think for a second that I have completely lost it! I still plan on making lots o’ moola… to put right back into this ‘crunchy’ lifestyle. I dare to spread this ‘crunchy’ lifestyle like wildfire!

P.S. I still love my nice, high-heeled shoes/boots, my new leather jacket (which on the hangtag, detailed just how ‘natural’ the product was), and I have a very hard time shortening my beloved long showers (in this drought of the Los Angeles desert, we live in… I know, very impolitically correct… especially for a ‘crunchy’ gal).
We all do the best we can and we all have our vices.

Ahhh… to be ‘Crunchy’… YOU should try it!!!

Need any Granola advice, feel free to inquire!
mallorycurlee@yahoo.com

pregnancy remedy

The appellation Depression is an acutely blurred appellation aural its own however it is abundant beneath back it is accumulated calm into the accompaniment of infertility depression.

The affair anxious to abasement is absolutely pregnancy remedy ashamed by the fact. There are abundant erroneous discussions based on the accountable absolute on the two ends of the analytic analogue spectrum the two ends are abasement Pregnancy Remedy is either beneath diagnosed or over diagnosed.

Under-diagnosing the botheration is usually a way of appearance or abnegation to accede there is a botheration and over-diagnosing is a abundant way to advice advertise added anti-depressants.

Are we able to abstracted the abasement and infertility definitions

We can acquisition out affluence of basis causes back the case is of depression. Added Pregnancy Cures often the abasement is built-in out of a abstracted as able-bodied as different disorder. The sad irony of this case is that they Cure For Infertility eventually actualize an interconnection and again they admixture a Cure For Infertility problem.

The sad Pregnancy Cures irony to this is that they eventually interrelate and admixture a problem. Infertility is additionally a action that is blurred and has been blurred for centuries.

Its several cases can be Cure For Infertility explored out throughout the Pregnancy Cures history which accent to the assorted ancient affidavit that accept since almost achromatize away.

Infertility and Abasement – Two abstracted issues acceptable into one above problem

Infertility is a austere issue. It is no abruptness that the accent and ache surrounding the action will accompany about a austere bender of infertility depression. The abrogating brainy accompaniment that a being may acquisition him in can advance to a abrogating bottomward about-face in one’s brainy state. Sometimes the abasement Pregnancy Remedy may canyon but abounding times it will not. In adjustment to finer accord Pregnancy Cures with the affair of infertility depression one charge accord with abasement alone so as to accept a bright abundant of a brainy accompaniment to abode the analysis of infertility.

How to actuate what is abasement and what is not

Actually Abasement is a accompaniment back the body’s afraid arrangement functions get depressed and aftereffect in alone affliction to action properly. Sometime the aeon of the abasement is continued abundant and the abasement akin is additionally aerial abundant that Pregnancy Remedy after-effects in adverse the above activities that booty abode in life.

Are there any accessible treatments to amusement this problem

The alone way to appropriately amusement the Cure For Infertility action of abasement is to seek able help. One way is to seek outpatient monitored medication analysis as Pregnancy Remedy provided by a psychiatrist. The added way is to seek a analysis and counseling affairs as provided by a psychologist. The best advocacy would be to advance both professionals.

When one gets pregnancy remedy able to beneath ascendancy the affair of abasement it can abetment to dimes the bearings of infertility abasement up to fifty percent.

This university town is probably full of “A” students. But we’ve learned that we still have a ways to go to get a better GPA on our environmental health in Dane County.

Every two years the Madison and Dane County Environmental Health Report Card is issued, telling us where we’ve improved and where we have regressed in terms of our air and water quality, recycling, alternative energy, and vehicle travel.

The bad news first: water quality and water conservation have both declined. That means more phosphorus in our lovely lakes and more beach closures, and lower groundwater levels. FYI: Groundwater provides 70% of Wisconsin residents with water.

The bad news second: And, while there was a small increase in recycled material, there was also an increase in the amount of waste produced and sent to the landfill.

The great news: Don’t despair! There is a LOT we can do to make this better.

The also great news: EnAct offers loads of tips that people can use to reduce their water use and their waste production. Our “EnAct: Steps to Greener Living” book offers chapters on saving water and wasting less that you can download here to take action in your own home. Or start an EnAct team with your neighbors or friends and talk about why this stuff matters right here in our backyard!

Want to do something right now? Here are a few ideas:

Water

• Only run full loads in your washing machine and dishwasher, and use them in off-peak times (middle of the day or after 7 p.m.)
• Don’t flush medicines or over-the-counter drugs down your drain OR throw them in your garbage. Check with your doctor’s office or pharmacy about medical waste drop-off days.
• Try using non-toxic alternatives to household chemical cleaners. Commit to trying one new natural product this month. And a second one next month. And so on…
• Install a faucet aerator in your kitchen; they cost about $1 and can save 3 gallons of water per day per faucet.
• Keep your leaves out of the gutters and out of the lakes. Use them as mulch on your flowerbeds.

Waste

• If you are not curbside recycling everything you can, start now! Here’s a list of what is recyclable in Madison.
• Remove your name from junkmail lists at DirectMail.com
• Donate or sell items rather than throwing them away. Try Goodwill, St. Vincent DePaul Thrift Stores, Habitat for Humanity’s ReStore, or Freecycle.
• Buy at least one post-consumer recycled-content product that you use on a regular basis, like office paper, or that’s a one-time purchase, like fleece clothing made from recycled soda bottles and other plastics.
• Buy and manage the food in your house to reduce spoilage and waste and to save money. Try not to buy more food than you are certain you family can eat before it goes bad.
• Try composting. It’s a lot easier than it sounds.
• When eating out, bring a reusable container for your leftovers rather. Trust me, no one minds if you do this (even my husband realized it was silly to be embarrassed when I whip my trusty Tupperware out of my purse)!

So we got a few Bs and Cs. That’s okay. We can still make the next report card something we’d be proud to show to our grandchildren.

Be green. Have fun.

Maria

I am over here:

http://leavethebuildingblog.com/2009/11/16/why-christians-should-not-practice-tolerance/

having a conversation about scripture and how a doctrinal approach to scripture might minimize
what the ultimate purposes of scripture might just be. There is power behind the art of the story,
the jews knew this, Scripture is authoritative (not meaning we can apply it to every situation
with an iron fist) but it has power because it is an encounter with the divine and it leads
us to do so the same. So it is authoritative in the experiential sense. But the stories lead us
to go and write more stories and sit at more campfires…but when we try to turn scripture
into a system of beliefs it tends to reduce the stories more into forensic evidence. And see
the Jews didn’t feel the need to prove God’s existence, because to them, he just existed without
question. They believed like a child. Click on the link above to get a bit more context!

Treehugger included an article on urban chickens the other day. Check out these photos – they look so cute!

Chicken friends! (Photo by Todd Parsons on Good.Is)

Although I don’t eat eggs myself, Mr Teeny-bop does, and I would love to be able to get his eggs from chickens I know are free range. I buy the free range eggs in the supermarket, but you know that free range doesn’t always mean the kind of free range you think of when you imagine the chickens. Sometimes it just means they have a tiny hole in the barn they can go out of if they want to get outside – tough to do when there are hundreds of chickens in the barn. I was telling Yankee Elv last night when we were grocery shopping that you can’t fall for those ‘cage free’ eggs – unless they’re labelled free range, the chickens don’t even legally need to have access to the outside world. ‘Cage free’ just means they’re not in cages. They can still be crowded into a tiny space.

I know a lot of people say eggs aren’t vegan, and technically they’re not (that being said, technically I’m not vegan). I personally believe that eggs from pet backyard chickens are ok to eat even on a vegan diet though. I just don’t like the taste. Another bonus – the chickens can eat food scraps. This is especially good if your compost bin or worm farm tends to get a little full…

Lots of people have chickens in their backyard. The people next door used to, and the people over the back still do (I hear them clucking all the time.) Sometimes they break out and come into our courtyard, but I don’t mind. The birds are too big for the cats to want to chase them and Loodle doesn’t even notice them. In Brisbane, it’s ok to have chickens in urban areas, but you have to have a yard of a certain size to own a rooster. It’s to do with reducing the noise from them crowing.

Very occasionally I’ll get eggs from my co-worker (she has chooks), but it’s a pain in the neck to arrange and she travels a long way into work everyday, sometimes by train. It’s not the most convenient thing to have to transport eggs like that too often. I don’t know the over-the-back neighbours so we can’t share in their bounty. I wonder if there is some kind of egg-share thing going on in Brisbane. It would be cool if so, people could sign up and give away (or sell) any eggs their backyard chickens produce, after they’ve taken the ones they need.

I wish I could have chickens, but in a rental house, it’s just not possible. One day, I will.

Suisse Group AG, talks with Bloomberg's Francine Lacqua on the debt of Dubai World. Garthwaite also the possible impact of the crisis on the stock market and Garthwaite investment strategy. (Source: Bloomberg) … Garthwaite Says Dubai World's debt is overstated: Video Audio Visual Asset-Backed Securities Banking Bloomberg Bond Market News Emerging Markets Multimedia English Financial Services Industries Mortgage Investment Advisers multimedia Stock Market Experts Syndicated AV…

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YMwROo4R774&hl=en

Posted by Audiegrl

Another first from the Obama White House Kitchen…First Lady reveals “secret ingredient“

First Lady Michelle Obama, Flay, Comerford, Brown, Batali and Lagasse

Obama Foodorama—First Lady Michelle Obama will make a special appearance on the season premiere of the popular Food Network show Iron Chef America in January, in a savvy move to extend her healthy food messaging to a new audience. Executive Chef Cristeta Comerford will compete on the show in a special two hour “super chef battle.” Comerford’s teammate is grill master Bobby Flay, who guest-cheffed at the White House for the Father’s Day event in June, when he cooked up some lovely steaks with President Obama. Spoiler alert: Mrs. Obama will be revealing the “secret ingredient” that the chefs will use in their televised cook-off, which is a hallmark of the Iron Chef America series. The “secret ingredient” in this case is anything that grows in the White House Kitchen Garden, which leaves things wiiiide open, because the Kitchen Garden has produced a stunning variety of crops this year. Comerford and Flay are competing against the highly competitive team of celeb chefs Emeril Lagasse, who specializes in Southern/New Orleans cooking, and Mario Batali, an Italian cooking superstar.

Comerford in the Kitchen Garden during the Iron Chef America filming, harvesting with teammate Flay

Scenes for the show were already shot at the White House, with Comerford and the three other chefs harvesting crops from the Kitchen Garden, and Mrs. Obama having face-time with the guest chefs and discussing the importance of getting kids to eat their veggies. In her onscreen cameo, Mrs. Obama will discuss her campaign to reduce childhood obesity through better school lunches, community gardens, farmers’ markets and exercise, which is now known as the Healthy Kids Initiative around the White House. The show’s January air-date is timed perfectly to be right before Congress comes back into session, when legislators will ostensibly be addressing the re-authorization of the Child Nutrition Act, which provides federal funding for school feeding programs. Better school lunches are one of Mrs. Obama’s priorities, and President Obama’s too; Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack frequently notes in his public remarks that this was the very first subject President Obama discussed with him during their “job interview.”

More @ Obama Foodorama, where you can find White House Food Initiatives…And Other Bipartisan Bytes of Food Politics

Arkansas environmentalists have been pouring photos and videos into the Repower America Wall. Why? Because they support a clean energy economy.

Join GreenAR by the Day and thousands of fellow supporters at the Repower America Wall now.

A growing demand for clean energy from all of us together sends a powerful message to our leaders: American support for clean energy is broad and deep.

We’re beginning to break through. But to get our leaders to listen and make clean energy a reality, we must rise up in numbers to make our voices heard — to overwhelm the voices clamoring for the status quo.

We’re competing with powerful interests who are spending hundreds of millions of dollars to protect their profits and block clean energy reforms at the expense of our families, our jobs, and our planet.

Your participation on The Wall announces that we’re more than ready — we’re tired of waiting, and we want action now.

With every new message you add to The Wall, you demonstrate that the most powerful interest in this fight isn’t the oil or the coal lobby — it’s the American people joining together, speaking as one, for a clean energy future.

Add your voice to the Repower America Wall now.

Together we can turn the climate challenge into a great opportunity for our nation and the world.

What happens when an SUV rams a smaller car on the side

Recommend : home DIY rvcars.blogspot.com rvcarsnetywork.wordpress.com

If Thanksgiving is the appointed time for rampant overeating and Black Friday our annual date with discount frenzy, then today could perhaps become enshrined as Hangover Saturday, a good time to reflect on consumption rather than engage in it.

Here a selection of Hangover Saturday thoughts gathered in the course of a restful day:

When people talk about what they are grateful for (on Thursday), they never say, “I’m grateful that I have so much stuff” or “My cup runs over because of those Manolo Blahniks I bought last spring” or “The best thing that ever happened to me is my Lamborghini.” It’s possible they’re just trying not to tip their hand, but I suspect we don’t hear those things because, actually, we all do know better.

Our current economic woes have had one advantage: to clarify the point that consumption is not a selfish indulgence but a patriotic duty, philanthropy flowing ceaselessly towards the wealthy, so that our expenditures can come back to us in the form of jobs, which may be defined as a palliative for massive debt or as a subsidy for patriotic duty, sadly insufficient.

Can't touch that 42% of greenhouse gas tied up in goods and food!

Whoever thought of the slogan “Reduce, Reuse, Recycle” was not really clued in to the realities of our economic system. We do our bit to help with recycling at least in some parts of the country, but when we make an (unwilling and modest) start on the “Reduce” component, the whole country goes off the rails. That must be why the EPA report “Opportunities to Reduce Greenhouse Gas Emissions through Materials and Land Management Practices”—which is to say “How to Save the World by Tackling Consumption and its After-Effect, Garbage”—declines to estimate the impact on greenhouse gas production if we ate less and bought fewer things. Instead, it tries to figure out what difference it makes if, for example, we were to capture ALL the landfill gas that percolates up from our trash and convert it to electricity or if we recycle ALL the construction and demolition debris coughed up by the never-ending pursuit of bigger and better (as opposed to affordable) homes and gardens.

The opposite of consumption that most easily comes to mind on Hangover Saturday would be abstention. But consumption also has an opposite in creation, which is or can be blameless and much more fun than just saying no. The best place I know to get a feel for the truth of that proposition is S.C.R.A.P. (www.scrap-sf.org), an inspired program in San Francisco that diverts virgin merchandise from the landfill, makes it available for dirt cheap to all those with an urge to create rather than consume, and provides a bunch of jobs into the bargain.

What one might do with scrap

The San Francisco warehouse (on Newcomb between Toland and Selby) is huddled rather inauspiciously under Highway 280, but step inside and be greeted by a carnival of color and texture—papers, fabrics, buttons, doodads, figures, threads and yarn, birds, notions, glass, wood, boxes and containers, table legs and carpet squares,  stickers, ribbons, cards, and vinyl discs. On and on. Not everything leapt out at me as obvious fodder for art, including the industrial-sized potato mashers. For many things, it is immediately obvious why they are not in a store somewhere. In their original identity, the scraps that S.C.R.A.P. offers are not saleable, but as art materials they’re irresistible, guiltless, and very inexpensive.

Over it all hangs an exhibit of unpretentious art: scrap boxes emulating the best of Joseph Cornell, mobiles, a digestive tract laid out in flopping beakers and retorts, quilts, and many other works that demonstrate the virtues and joys of clean salvage.

ACT Minister for Transport, Jon Stanhope, is urging Canberrans to have their say on whether speeds limits around busy retail and commercial precincts should be reduced to improve the safety of pedestrians and cyclists.

Canberrans have until Friday December 18 to provide feedback on whether the 40 km/h speed limit, which currently applies in school zones, should be expanded to other areas of the ACT such as shopping centres and community facilities.

Stanhope said an independent review, commissioned by the Government, had confirmed a 40 km/h speed limit could improve the safety of vulnerable road users such as pedestrians and cyclists in areas of “high activity”.

“The ACT Government is exploring whether to expand the 40 km/h speed limit to targeted areas where there are significant numbers of pedestrians and cyclists.

“We are inviting Canberrans to have their say on whether they believe a 40 km/h speed limit would be appropriate for their neighbourhood shopping centre or town centre,” he said.

Stanhope said even small reductions in speed limits could significantly improve the likelihood of a pedestrian or cyclist surviving a crash.

“The risk of death to a pedestrian or cyclist struck at 60 km/h is greater than 90 per cent compared to 30 per cent at a collision speed of 40 km/h.”

The debate follows calls from Sydney’s Lord Mayor Clover Moore, who in August said that the CBD and inner suburbs needed 40 km/h limits to protect pedestrians.

She said pedestrians were involved in 23.8 per cent of road accidents in the City of Sydney in 2007 compared to the state average of 8.3 per cent.

“Just 15 per cent of people travel to work in the Sydney CBD by car, and the rest, 85 per cent, travel on foot, by bike or public transport.

“It’s time we made this majority a priority,” she said.

The ACT Government is yet to decide exactly where the reduced speed limit would apply if approved.

“Further consultation will be undertaken with locals and traders if the proposal is supported by the community,” Stanhope said.

Canberrans can provide feedback by completing a questionnaire available online at http://www.tams.act.gov.au/, or in hard copy at Canberra Connect shop-fronts and public libraries.

by Tim Beissmann

Bring used televisions, computers, phones and other electronics to the designated trailer at Pulaski Heights United Methodist Church in Little Rock to make sure your used electronics are disposed of properly.

WHAT: Electronic Recycling Days

WHEN: Sunday-Monday, November 29-30

WHERE: Pulaski Heights United Methodist Church (4823 Woodlawn, Little Rock 72205)

Bring your used electronics recycling to the drive court area and drop them off outside the Great Hall.

If you need help unloading items from your car, bring them Sunday morning. Assistance will not be available any time other than Sunday morning.

Items will go the Pulaski County Regional Recycling and Waste Reduction District’s 10th annual Electronics Waste Roundup at Verizon Arena in North Little Rock next week. Items accepted are computers, monitors, printers, copiers, VCR/DVD players, televisions, microwave ovens, cell phones, radios, fax machines. Other items will not be accepted.

For more information, call (501)664-3600.

Join Heifer International for Celebration of Living Gifts, tomorrow between 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. at Heifer Village in Little Rock. During Celebration of Living Gifts, visitors can meet some of the animals, including sheep, chickens and a goat that Heifer provides to families around the world. Get inspired to give your family and friends Heifer gifts this holiday season. It is the gift that keeps on giving. Heifer recipients eventually become donors themselves as they “pass on the gift” of offspring of their cows, goats and other livestock to others in an ever-widening circle of hope. You can take pictures with the animals as you make your Heifer donation. Some of the other fun activities include creating a unique picture frame for your animal photo and making your own ornament. Bring your family for a day filled with the spirit of giving to others. Free admission. No reservations required. Learn more at www.heifer.org/heifervillage/familyevents.

I’ve been celebrating Buy Nothing Day for over a decade, and this year is no different. Founded by Canadian artist Ted Dave and subsequently promoted by Adbusters magazine, Buy Nothing Day is an international day of protest against consumerism. North Americans celebrate Buy Nothing Day today. The rest of the world celebrates it tomorrow.

Buy Nothing Day started in Vancouver in 1992. Today, people from over 65 nations participate in the day.

Last year’s Black Friday saw a Wal-Mart worker trampled to death by shoppers eager to shop ’til they drop. This year, why not give Buy Nothing Day a try?