Beth Buczynski | Bay Area Community Exchange

3 Surprising Ways To Conserve And Recycle Water

22-03-2012

Today is World Water Day, and the entire Important Media network is celebrating with posts dedicated to this most essential of liquids. Check out all the posts from across the network on our sister site, Eat. Drink. Better!

International World Water Day is held annually on March 22nd as a means of focusing attention on the importance of freshwater and advocating for the sustainable management of freshwater resources. There are 7 billion people who need clean, affordable drinking water on our planet, yet more than one out of six people lack access to drinking water that is safe.

You may think that the “water crisis,” is only a concern for those in developing countries or isolated communities, but its your problem too. Since Insteading focuses on alternatives to the status quo, we’ve chosen to highlight some surprising ways that people and companies are conserving, sourcing, and recycling water.

Water From Poop

Sounds ridiculous (and gross), but it’s true. EarthTechling tells us that the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation recently made a significant investment in a new technology designed to extract fresh water from human waste. Yes, poop. Not only that, but this multi-talented technology could also harness the energy generating power of excrement as well.

App To Help You Find Free Water

While public awareness that water is necessary for good health has grown, our obsession with convenience has created the monstrosity that is the bottled water industry. Bottled water is expensive, bad for the environment, and less healthy than you think. A smarter way to stay hydrated is to fill your own reusable bottle with water straight from the tap. Since bottled water has sent many public water fountains the way of the dodo, a crowdsourced app called “We Tap” can help you located sources of free water no matter where you are.

Chilling Out With Gray Water

There are three different kinds of water (shocking right?): potable water, gray water, and black water. The first is treated and comes out of your faucet, the second is what goes down the drain after washing dishes or clothes, and the third is what you flush down the toilet. Google recently discovered, that finding ways to reuse the gray water can mean big savings and lots of good things for the ecosystem. Check out CrispGreen’s post on Google’s revamped Atlanta data center, which uses an evaporative cooling process to keep its servers safe and conserve water.

What other surprising methods for conserving, sourcing, or recycling water have you encountered? Share them in a comment!

Image via Flickr/trouble with tribbles

One-Third Of All U.S. Adults Struggle To Afford Their Car

By: Beth Buczynski

15-03-2012

Articles

More than 36 percent of adult respondents said that if gas prices continue to rise, they’ll have to give something up in order to afford their car. Of those who regularly drive a vehicle, nearly one-in-four (23 percent) said it is at least somewhat likely that they will build up credit card debt to pay for gas in the upcoming months. Households with children (29 percent) are significantly more likely than those without children (19 percent) to indicate this.

When asked what they likely will do to better afford to drive a vehicle due to rising gas prices, survey takers said the following:

Dine out less often – 70 percent
Spend less money on entertainment (going out to the movies, attractions, concerts, etc…) – 64 percent
Postpone seasonal clothes shopping – 37 percent
Cancel paid online or other subscriptions (Netflix, Hulu Plus, etc…) – 22 percent

OK, let’s pretend for just a minute that I don’t have strong feelings about what or who is sticking it to the American people through gas prices while laughing all the way to the bank. Instead let’s focus on the amazing fact that people are willing to give up things that make them happy and allow them to spend quality time with their loved ones, just so they can keep driving that gas guzzler all over town.

WHY?! There are plenty of perfectly good ways to get around without owning a personal car. Alternatives like car sharing, bike commuting, ride sharing, walking, and public transportation are much cheaper and better for the planet too. The good news is, more people are becoming embracing these alternatives every day.

When asked how their driving habits would be affected by rising gas prices, U.S. adults who regularly drive a vehicle said the following:

Plan to drive less overall to save money – 61 percent
Plan to carpool – 9 percent
Plan to use public transportation – 8 percent
Plan to buy a hybrid/energy efficient vehicle – 6 percent

This is a good start, but the numbers need to be bigger. If you’re struggling to feed your car and your family, check out the resource below to learn more about alternatives to personal transportation. They’ll help you ride out the storm of rising gas prices (assuming they ever come back down) and who knows? You might just like them so much, you’ll never wanted to chain yourself to the pump again!

The Future Of Car Sharing Is Brighter Than You Think

Top 4 Peer-To-Peer Car Sharing Services

New Technology Turns Bike Rides Into Cash

Ride Sharing Makes It Cheaper To Get Home For The Holidays

Most Americans Would Rather Have A Walkable Neighborhood Than A Big House

Tips And Resources For Biking To Work (Even When It’s Hot)

This survey was conducted online within the United States by Harris Interactive on behalf of CouponCabin from March 6th – March 8th, 2012 among 2,254 U.S. adults ages 18 and older. This online survey is not based on a probability sample and therefore, no estimate of theoretical sampling error can be calculated. For complete survey methodology, including weighting variables, please contact: Allison Nawoj,anawoj@couponcabin.com.

Image Credit: Flickr – Images_Of_Money

Can This Open-Source Computer Start A Kid-Coding Revolution?

By: Beth Buczynski

14-03-2012

Articles

Technology has become so entrenched in our society that’s it’s almost hard to remember a time when we didn’t depend on these gadgets and gizmos to get us through the day. We’ll save the debate on whether that’s a good or bad thing for another day. What we can say with confidence, however, is that today’s children will work and play in environments surrounded by technology. Understanding, using, and most importantly, knowing how to build these technologies will be a requirement for future generations.

The problems is that the gap between those who have access to the ever-changing world of new technologies and those who don’t gets wider everyday. Economic disparity, especially in developing countries, means that many are being left behind, unable to access the technologies that will make or brake tomorrow’s work force.

“…The need for a cheap and durable computing device for kids is greater than ever: computer literacy is now considered a basic necessity, and once non-technical jobs are increasingly requiring some level of programming skills,” writes Shareable Technology editor Paul Davis.

Raspberry Pi, a UK company on a mission to build a tiny and cheap computer for kids, may just be part of the solution to this problem.

There isn’t much any small group of people can do to address problems like an inadequate school curriculum or the end of a financial bubble,” write the company’s founders. “But we felt that we could try to do something about the situation where computers had become so expensive and arcane that programming experimentation on them had to be forbidden by parents; and to find a platform that, like those old home computers, could boot into a programming environment.

The result is an open-sourced computer on a single card with RCA and HDMI video outs, USB and ethernet ports, and even a slot for SD Cards. And the $25 price tag puts even the good intentions of One Laptop Per Child to shame.

Watch the video below to learn more about the power of this credit card-sized computer, and read Paul Davis’ full article on Shareable to learn how the company hopes to use it to make every kid a coder.

Image via Raspberry Pi

“Doing More With Less” Shows Businesses A New Path To Success

By: Beth Buczynski

05-03-2012

Uncategorized

The economy is in chaos, and many of the world’s richest countries are coming to terms with immense debt and a disenfranchised workforce. Dr. Bruce Piasecki, author of the forthcoming Doing More With Less: The New Way To Wealth says that while this pressure cooker presents major challenges to business–and to society in genera–it also offers unique opportunities to the firms that recognize the wisdom of acting thriftily, and capitalize on them.

Insteading had the chance to ask Dr. Piasecki a few questions about this new approach to thinking about and doing business in a shifting economic paradigm. Here’s what he had to say:

INS: What’s the biggest difference between the path to wealth/success that you advocate in the book, and the way most people pursue it in today’s society and business world?

Dr. Piasecki: What I write about in Doing More With Less is both a forgotten and proven path of wealth thru industriousness and competitive frugality. Many greats have followed this path from Ben Franklin to the great World War II writer E. F. Schumacher in his work “Small is Beautiful.” But today its themes mean more to a world of 7 billion souls, with limited water, energy, and opportunity.

In my years as a management consultant working for large global firms, I find three competing things true:

1. Most people fall into patterns of professional discourse and entrenched spirals of peer argumentation. Lawyers, engineers, corporate planners get narrow, risk adverse.

2. I advocate that we can, and must, remember our first sense of being competitive in a different way and go back at it again and again, each day.

3. This primal self of invention and frugality allows new growth, even in mature adults. We must look at the full glory of creating and keeping wealth, not just the material gains that come from it, which includes the value of social capital. This is possible by learning from Ben Franklin - frugality, inventiveness, and diplomacy.

INS: Why is it so important for emerging companies to adopt a “doing more with less” mentality, rather than trying to emulate the status quo?

Dr. Piasecki: The “Doing More with Less” mentality is a healthy lens through which we can look at this newly globalized world of scarcity and alarm. You can see this in the 30 years of practice at my firm, where firms as different as Warren Buffett’s Shaw Industries and Toyota found value in our approach to competitive frugality. Once you learn to participate in this new, larger form of social wealth creation, the world becomes a more intelligible and acceptable place. I also believe that operating in this mindset can help a new company flourish in a world that is likely to be capital- and carbon-restrained. This is why Doing More with Less is the mantra for success for a life, your family, your firm, whether large or small today. Franklin shows that we all must become frugal, innovative and peace loving again, as we all share this same boat and the same seas.

INS: What’s your perspective on the (very tech-based) collaborative consumption/P2P industry and their potential to impact the business world?

Dr. Piasecki: I find great promise here. We live in a swift and severe world, as I described in my previous book. However, you can ride [the] with wave with more certainty and success if you consider the principles outlined in the personal narratives of Doing More With Less. The two books are sisters in a family that answers this question about new potential.

In addition, Social networks and the ability to share workloads among people in different parts of the world ties directly to my message. We do this every day in my management firm, where seasoned seniors work with new economist and recent college grads.

In a world that is ever increasingly connected and transparent, we need to harness technology to the maximum societal benefit, in a way that spreads democracy and global well-being. We must change the machines not just the laws, and most important, we must avoid the dangerous dance of excessive debt and become again self determining.

Image Credit: Flickr – get directly down

Extreme Green Building: In Search Of The 100-Mile House

By: Beth Buczynski

02-03-2012

Uncategorized

Over the past few years, we’ve seen a surge of people striving to live the “locavore,” lifestyle. Rather than focus on organic or vegetarian diets, locavores instead focus on geographical proximity, many pledging to only eat foods that have been grown or produced withing 100 miles of their front door.

Now, as GOOD’s Mark Boyer pointed out in a recent article, some locavores are expanding this philosophy to homes as well as food. Of course, growing your own is the easiest way to achieve this goal in regard to food, so it only makes sense that building-your-own would accomplish it in the area of architecture.

Last week, the Architecture Foundation of British Columbia launched an international competition to design a 1,200-square-foot, four-person home that exclusively uses materials made or recycled within 100 miles of Vancouver (also the birthplace of the 100-Mile Diet).

“Historically, most houses were constructed as ’100 mile’ houses from caves, sod houses, log cabins and stone houses to the First Nations’ indigenous cedar houses, tepees and igloos,” reads the competition website. “People worldwide used whatever available materials were at hand to build shelters for themselves and their families. But is this possible in a modern 21st Century city like Vancouver? This competition will challenge all participants to rethink the way we live and select materials, systems and technology that reflect this reality in the world of computers, the internet, Facebook, etc… Participants are encouraged to challenge the logic of the present, formulate new questions, and explore variations that will allow new potentials for living.”

This is a global competition. Architects, designers, artists, students and other environmentally conscious creators from around the world are encouraged to submit their ideas. If you’ve got big ideas about how to live efficiently off of the materials available in your own region, think about registering!

Image Credit: Flickr/locosteve

Zipcar Expands Car Sharing Network To College Campuses

By: Beth Buczynski

01-03-2012

Uncategorized

When I was a freshman undergrad (we won’t talk about what year that was), I was one of the few kids that didn’t have a car on campus. Parking near our dorms and lecture halls was a nightmare…I once heard a statistic that our University sold 3 parking passes for every one spot on campus.

To help relieve that type of frustrating congestion, Zipcar, the nation’s leading car sharing network, recently expanded its services to an ever-growing collection of colleges and universities.

Since December 2011, Zipcar has launched car sharing at Rhode Island College, Roger Williams University, Rowan University, Southern Connecticut State University, Valparaiso University, University of Massachusetts Dartmouth, University of Missouri-Kansas City/Rockhurst University, University of Oregon, University of the Pacific and University of Wisconsin-Madison. This comes on the heels of 36 campuses launched near the start of the 2011-2012 school year.

Studies have shown a single Zipcar can replace up to 15 personally owned vehicles, while also increasing the use of public transit, walking and biking.

Through the “Students with Drive” grant program, Ford and Zipcar are providing $300,000 in grants to be awarded to student organizations at participating campuses. The program is running now through April 2012 and will culminate with one student organization being awarded a grand prize of $5,000 in Zipcar credits, $10,000 for the student organization to put toward its cause and $10,000 to be awarded to the winning school. For more information and to participate in the program, visit the “Students with Drive” tab on Zipcar’s University Facebook page at www.facebook.com/ZipcarU.

Image Credit: Flickr – Andrew Currie

Kickstarter Funds More Artists Than National Endowment for the Arts

By: Beth Buczynski

28-02-2012

Uncategorized

Kickstarter is one of the fastest growing, online crowdfunding platforms in the world. Just about anyone with a good idea and the ability to make a kick-ass video can appeal to the Kickstarter community for the funds needed to turn it into a reality.

We’ve featured lots of Kickstarter projects here on Insteading, and love the fact that the site provides an alternative to the traditional investment cycle for artists or tech wizards who want to strike out on their own. But it seems that Kickstarter’s success is making an even bigger impact than we realized.

In an interview late last week, co-founder Yancey Strickler pointed out a surprising statistic: Kickstarter is on pace to crowdfund $150 million of art in 2012…that’s $4 million more than the National Endowment for the Arts’ 2012 operating budget of $146 million.

While this is amazing news for democratically-funded entrepreneurs in the U.S., it’s also a sad commentary on the government’s ghastly lack of arts funding.

While Kickstarter focuses on start-up projects that are usually focused on digital/visual art and creative technology, the NEA often focuses on community-based programs that increase access to art as well as artistic education for youth. It’s easy to see that while Kickstarter may have just as much monetary clout as a government agency, its crowdfunding model prohibits it from exerting any influence on the kinds of projects that get money. We need a world in which both NEA and crowdfunding platforms help to flood our lives with useful and beautiful art.

As Strickler told Talking Points Memo, the amount of money Kickstarter distributes this year is a number that they view “in both a good and a bad way.” Yes, Kickstarter can drive as much money to the arts as a federal agency, which means that more artists will have money for projects. “But maybe it shouldn’t be that way,” Strickler says, “Maybe there’s a reason for the state to strongly support the arts.”

Image Credit: Flickr – khrawlings
Via ReadWriteWeb

Help Bring This Permaculture Project To The White House!

By: Beth Buczynski

26-02-2012

Uncategorized

Cross-posted with permission from our friends at Seismologik Media

The UMass Permaculture Edible Forest Lawn has been selected as a contender for this years White House Campus Champions of Change Award.

Quite simply, Permaculture can address the numerous ecological and economic crises we face today by implementing design systems that work in cooperation with nature.

Ryan Harb and his team have spent the past two years converting the lawns of UMass Amherst into permanent edible food scapes. As a result, students attending the University benefit from the abundance of nutrition dense real food grown right under their noses. This is supremely awesome, and we’re extremely proud of Ryan.

Please cast your vote for Permaculture today.

They write:

Help bring ecological awareness to those powers in the White House!!!! UMass Amherst Permaculture needs your vote to get to the White House and be featured on MTV~ they have made it to the top 15 finalists for a CAMPUS CHAMPIONS OF CHANGE AWARD!!!!

UMass Amherst Permaculture is a student group that educates the University of Massachusetts Amherst campus and the local community about ecological permaculture solutions by demonstrating edible perennial landscapes that are highly productive, low maintenance, environmentally sustainable, and socially responsible!

“Finishing in the top 5 means permaculture and UMass Amherst will get national attention from the media, President Obama and his staff, plus millions and millions of people worldwide! This one has the potential to be a game-changer, everyone! It may very well be the most important Facebook post I will ever share. ” -Ryan Harb

Here is what you can do to help:
1) Simply click the link and vote (all 3 of your votes!) for “UMASS Amherst Permaculture Initiative”!
2) Share this message on your Facebook wall so others in your network will also vote!
3) Post this message on appropriate Facebook groups you belong to! 4) E-mail this link to your friends, family, listservs, etc! Ask them to vote and share it with others as well.
5) Keep checking back, sharing this on Facebook during the next week, and keep the momentum high! Thank you so so much, everyone. We could be at the White House on March 15 with your help!

https://campuschallenge.uservoice.com/forums/148562-campus-champions-of-change-challenge

Why Buy A Timeshare When You Could Swap Your Home Instead?

By: Beth Buczynski

23-02-2012

Uncategorized

Vacations are good for the soul, and here in America we don’t take them nearly as much as we should. But travel is expensive, especially when you’ve got an entire family in tow. But why pay for expensive timeshares and hotel suites when you could have an entire house for a fraction of the price?

Similar to sites like Airbnb, iStopOver, and Roomorama, LoveHomeSwap helps connect people who need a place to stay with people who want to share their space. The difference is that instead of a couch or guest bedroom, LoveHomeSwap members trade entire houses, often for an extended period of time.

While it might seem like a radically new concept, home swapping is an old tradition usually utilized by friends and family. According to statistics compiled by One Poll, the number of people in the UK planning a home swap holiday is set to rise from 1.6 million in 2011 to 3.2 million in 2012. Although the company is based in the UK, swappable homes from 70 different countries are listed on the site. Users pay a fee to become members of the site or to list their homes, and then utilize LoveHomeSwap’s digital tools to work out a contract for the swap.

Would you ever consider swapping your house for a vacation in someone else’s? Share your thoughts in the comments!

Image Credit: Flickr – vapspwi

Most Americans Would Rather Have A Walkable Neighborhood Than A Big House

By: Beth Buczynski

22-02-2012

Uncategorized

Before the 2008 recession hit, Americans were obsessed with big houses, big cars, paying no mind to the big debt that went along with them. But since the economic crisis, it appears that most of us have been taken down a peg or two. Potentially losing everything has brought into focus what’s really important–and according to a recent survey (PDF), it’s no longer having a massive house.

According to the 2011 Community Preference Survey conducted by the National Association of Realtors, the shifting economy has had a substantial impact on attitudes toward housing and communities.

After hearing detailed descriptions of two different types of communities, 56 percent of Americans would prefer to live in a the smart growth community rather than a sprawl community. Seventy-seven percent of respondents said sidewalks and places to take walks are among the top community characteristics they consider important when deciding where to live. Perhaps even more surprising was the fact that 57 percent said that improving existing communities was a much higher priority than building new ones.

Other encouraging survey findings:

Preserving farms and open areas from development are a higher priority (53% extremely high or high priority) than creating new developments (24%).
Improving public transportation is viewed as the best answer to traffic congestion by half of the country (50%).
After hearing detailed descriptions of two different types of communities, 56% of Americans select the smart growth community and 43% select the sprawl community. Smart growth choosers do so largely because of the convenience of being within walking distance to shops and restaurants (60%).

These findings stand in stark contradiction to the actions of U.S. politicians who recently voted against an amendment that would have extended federal funding for community biking and walking programs. Instead the bill would expand current highway development, allowing bigger trucks on the road and putting many DOT contracts into the hands of private corporations.

Learn more about the controversial bill in this NY Times article, and then take the time to tell your Senators exactly what kind of community you really want your tax dollars to support.

Image Credit: Flickr – Lance Shields

Edible Bus Stop: The Community That Gardens Together, Stays Together

By: Beth Buczynski

20-02-2012

Uncategorized

A simple yet creative gardening project called The Edible Bus Stop transforms a public transit area that used to be full of trash, and brings and entire community together.

Image Credit: Edible Bus Stop

Epic Fail: Why Monsanto Is The Anti-Sustainable Agriculture Company

By: Beth Buczynski

14-02-2012

Uncategorized

When I was little, my friend and I were talking with my mom about going apple picking. My friend seemed surprised by the idea that an orchard of trees was necessary to produce apples. My mom asked where her apples came from–and I’ll never forget her answer–

“I get my apples from the store.”

While there were just words from a child, the lack of food knowledge they demonstrated to me persists even to this day. Now not only do we not really know WHERE our food comes from, we have almost no idea HOW it’s grown or WHAT is used to protect it from insects and disease. This ignorance is perpetuated by companies like Monsanto, which make ridiculous profits off of the slow factorization of our food system.

On its website, biotech giant Monsanto claims that it is a company “committed to sustainable agriculture.” While these words might sound warm and fuzzy, you just have to survey Monsanto’s actions over the past few decades to know that it has no real understanding of they mean.

To finally cut through the PR propaganda once and for all, the Union of Concerned Scientists recently released a comprehensive report detailing the “Eight Ways Monsanto Fails at Sustainable Agriculture.”

Below are summaries of these eight points, proving that in fact Monsanto has held back the development of sustainable agriculture, and continues to do so. Click on the linked headers to read more on that topic.

#1: Promoting Pesticide Resistance

Monsanto’s RoundupReady and Bt technologies lead to resistant weeds and insects that can make farming harder and reduce sustainability.

#2: Increasing Herbicide Use

Roundup resistance has led to greater use of herbicides, with troubling implications for biodiversity, sustainability, and human health.

#3: Spreading Gene Contamination

Engineered genes have a bad habit of turning up in non-GE crops. And when this happens, sustainable farmers—and their customers—pay a high price.

#4: Expanding Monoculture

Monsanto’s emphasis on limited varieties of a few commodity crops contributes to reduced biodiversity and, as a consequence, to increased pesticide use and fertilizer pollution.

#5: Marginalizing Alternatives

Monsanto’s single-minded emphasis on GE fixes for farming challenges may come at the expense of cheaper, more effective solutions.

#6: Lobbying and Advertising

Monsanto outspends all other agribusinesses on efforts to persuade Congress and the public to maintain the industrial agriculture status quo.

#7: Suppressing Research

By creating obstacles to independent research on its products, Monsanto makes it harder for farmers and policy makers to make informed decisions that can lead to more sustainable agriculture.

#8: Falling Short on Feeding the World

Monsanto contributes little to helping the world feed itself, and has failed to endorse science-backed solutions that don’t give its products a central role.

Image Credit: Flickr – sierratierra

USDA Awards $40 Million in Grants To Boost Local Food Supplies

By: Beth Buczynski

08-02-2012

Uncategorized

It’s no secret that the US Department of Agriculture is a friend of Big Agriculture and the factory farming system. This agency is supposed to “provide leadership on food, agriculture, natural resources, and related issues based on sound public policy, the best available science, and efficient management.” But in most cases they’ve simply ignored the science, and done what’s best for Big Ag lobbyists from Monsanto and the like.

That’s not to say the USDA can’t also do some helpful things, however.

Just recently, the USDA awarded $40.2 million in grants to farmers, ranchers and farmer-controlled rural business ventures aimed at spurring locally produced food supplies and renewable energy ventures. In total there were 298 recipients in 44 states and Puerto Rico.

Recipients included Living Water Farms, a 3-year old family company located in Strawn, Illinois, two hours south of Chicago, which produces hydroponic greens for restaurants and grocers; Agriberry, a family-owned berry and fresh fruit operation near Mechanicsville, Virginia; and Green Mountain Organic Creamery of North Ferrisburgh, Vt., which markets certified organic, bottled pasteurized milk, butter, ice cream and other dairy products.

“These projects will provide financial returns and help create jobs for agricultural producers, businesses and families across the country,” Merrigan said in a statement.

“This funding will promote small business expansion and entrepreneurship opportunities by providing local businesses with access capital, technical assistance and new markets for products and services.”

Additionally, the USDA is starting to pay more attention to farming operations in urban areas, rather than the rural countryside we all picture when someone says “farm.”

Not only do urban farming operations make it possible for people in big cities like Chicago and New York to access fresh food grown within 100 miles of their residence, but they also provide an opportunity for urban and under-served populations to experience the joys of growing their own food.

Growing Home, a Chicago not-for-profit business that uses urban farming of vegetables as community development and job training for ex-convicts and the unemployed, and Farmed Here, an “aeroponic” and “vertical” farm in an Englewood building where basil and arugula are grown in water under controlled conditions and supply 20 local food stores and restaurants, are two worthy examples.

While this is a step in the right direction for the USDA, they’ve still got a long way to go before they can be considered an ally of the small, local farmer.

You can read more about the grants and their recipients in this Reuters article.

Image Credit: Flickr – USDAgov

Unique Austin Neighborhood Doubles As Lab For Smart Grid Experiment

By: Beth Buczynski

06-02-2012

Uncategorized

Texas might not be the first place that springs to mind when thinking about smart grid technology and sustainable development, but a ground-breaking, whole-neighborhood project in Austin demonstrates that community support goes a long way toward achieving both.

Headquartered at The University of Texas at Austin, Pecan Street Inc. is a research and development organization focused on developing and testing advanced technology, business model and customer behavior surrounding advanced energy management systems. Ultimately, the organization wants to have a hand in reinventing America’s electric system.

Their flagship effort is the Pecan Street Demonstration, a smart grid research project in Austin’s Mueller community.

Supported by a $10.4 million smart grid demonstration grant from the Department of Energy (and more than $14 million in matching funds from project partners), Pecan Street Inc. is leading a team of researchers from The University of Texas, National Renewable Energy Laboratory and Environmental Defense Fund to develop and test an integrated clean energy smart grid of tomorrow in the homes of today.

Through a partnership with Austin Energy, the nation’s largest seller of green energy and the first utility in the world to create a green building code, Pecan Street researchers will test systems in up to 1,000 residences and 75 businesses in and around the Mueller community over the next 5 years.

Technologies tested will include:

distributed clean energy
energy storage technologies
smart grid water and smart grid irrigation systems
smart appliances
plug-in electric vehicles
advanced meters and home energy management systems
green building
new electricity pricing models

Learn more about this project and meet the members of the Mueller community who are helping to reinvent the grid in the video below:

reCrib and TaskRabbit Join Forces To Make Life Easier For New Parents

By: Beth Buczynski

01-02-2012

Uncategorized

With a wide variety of services and online communities, there are lots of easy ways to embrace the collaborative consumption movement without drastically changing your life. What really takes the sharing economy to the next level, however, is when people start to connect and combine these concepts so that drastic changes start to happen organically.

That’s why I was so pleased to learn that two awesome sharing services, TaskRabbit and reCrib, recently joined forces to make it easier for parents of small children to reduce waste and save time without adding a million extra errands to their day.

In case you’re not familiar, reCrib is an online marketplace where parents can buy and sell the best designed, gently used baby and kids gear. TaskRabbit, on the other hand, is a web community that provides people and businesses with a simple and trusted way to get everyday tasks done.

So what does it look like when these two sites get together for a playdate?

“This new partnership with TaskRabbit will enable reCrib to offer delivery and other timesaving services to parents, including pre-screening of the merchandise they are interested in, assembly and disassembly, cleaning of the products, the purchase of additional accessories, and more,” said Michelle Lehman, mom and co-founder of reCrib.

Here’s how it will work:

Parents can shop for and buy a stroller, baby car seat, or other kid-friendly gear from a local family on reCrib. Then, instead of having to find time to pick it up and/or clean and assemble it before use, they can post a free Task! on TaskRabbit. The background-checked TaskRabbit who makes the lowest bid will automatically be assigned and run the task. The TaskRabbit is paid securely online, so no cash needs to change hands upon delivery. Parents get peace of mind, kids get the gear, and the TaskRabbit makes a few extra dollars. It’s a triple win!

“We are incredibly excited to partner with TaskRabbit, a company we not only admire, but also use frequently in our own busy lives,” said Daniel and Michelle Lehmann, the husband and wife co-founders of reCrib. “As working parents, we understand the need for making things easier and more efficient. Our reCrib customers want the best for their children, as well as a simple and successful experience. Thanks to TaskRabbit, parents no longer need to worry about how they are going to pick up their new purchases, how they are going to put it all together or when they will have time to clean it. Buying and selling the best, gently used baby and kids gear just got a whole lot easier.”

To celebrate this new service, reCrib is hosting a photo contest on Facebook and Twitter. Participants are asked to post a winning shot of their little one with their gear. reCrib will award its favorites with a free Task from TaskRabbit.

Note: Currently, TaskRabbit can only deliver in New York, Boston, Chicago, Los Angeles, Orange County (CA), San Francisco, Seattle, and Portland (OR).

Image Credit: Flickr – {N}Duran

Ruined By The Economic Crash? Build A House Out Of Your Worthless Money

By: Beth Buczynski

31-01-2012

Uncategorized

There’s just something about an economic death spiral that brings out the best in people. No, that’s not a joke. Think about it: when gas prices skyrocketed, people started walking, riding their bikes, and using public transit. When food prices started climbing, people become interested in growing their own and supporting local farmers.

And when the housing market crashed, people start to change their thinking about what makes a house a home.

Take unemployed Irish artist Frank Buckley, for instance. When it became obvious that Ireland’s involvement with the single currency euro zone was a disastrous decision, Buckley decided to use the bills to create something more worthwhile: a house.

The house contains a living room, bedroom and bathroom all constructed from bricks of shredded banknotes. ”It’s a reflection of the whole madness that gripped us,” Buckley told Reuters. “People were pouring billions into buildings now worth nothing. I wanted to create something from nothing.” According to Buckley, the euro makes a great insulator.

via Treehugger

Image Credit: Flickr – Images_of_Money

Public Garden Plots Put Town On Path To Food Independence

By: Beth Buczynski

24-01-2012

Uncategorized

Self-sufficiency is a big part of living a more sustainable lifestyle. When you’re not dependent on others for your food, water, energy, clothes, or entertainment, you have more control over how those things are grown, purified, and produced.

Over the past few years, we’ve seen individuals become self-sufficient by growing their own food or going off-grid through renewable energy, but rarely have we seen an entire town support the idea of long-term food independence the way the small Victorian mill town of Todmorden, West Yorkshire has.

Citizens in the town have rallied behind an effort called “Incredible Edible,” a program and website dedicated to making the town of Todmorden food-independent by 2018.

To that end, townspeople have constructed raised vegetable, fruit and flower garden beds on almost every available nook of groundspace throughout the town. There are plots in front of the police station, the railway station, and even down by the canal. Citizens are invited to help themselves to whatever happens to be in season in the beds, at absolutely no cost.

Incredible Edible is also about much more than plots of veg, writes Wake Up World, it’s also about educating people about food, and stimulating the local economy.

There are lessons in pickling and preserving fruits, courses on bread-making, and the local college is to offer a BTEC in horticulture. The thinking is that young people who have grown up among the street veg may make a career in food.

The Incredible Edible effort has also helped to stimulate the local economy, as now local cafes and restaurants can source many of their ingredients from right within the city limits.

Top Image Credit: Flickr – vicki moore

Four Collaborative Consumption Trends Poised To Explode In 2012

By: Beth Buczynski

19-01-2012

Uncategorized

Here at Insteading, we like to explore alternatives to the status quo…especially when those alternatives help us save money, live smaller, get around more efficiently, or reduce waste. Instead of buying new things (even “green” things) we opt for bartering, making, or sharing.

This mindset has grown into its own industry, often referred to as collaborative consumption, or The Sharing Economy.

Times are tough for millions of people around the world, and even those that aren’t struggling are looking for a way off the merry-go-round of consumerism. This need for something different sparked explosive growth among companies and online communities hoping to facilitate more bartering, making, and sharing in 2011…and that growth shows no signs of stopping in 2012.

To help you explore this new and exciting economy, we’re sharing the four collaborative consumption trends poised to explode in the next year. If you think there’s something missing, please share it in a comment!

1. RIDESHARING:

With dozens of new startups popping up around the world matching drivers with riders, and market leaders like Zimride and Carpooling.com making massive growth strides, ridesharing will start to go mainstream in 2012 (especially around events). Keep an eye on - Zimride, Carpooling.com, and Ridejoy.

2. UNIQUE EXPERIENCE MARKETPLACES:

Whether it’s scouting for street art or finding hidden culinary holes-in-the-wall with an authentic local guide, unique experience marketplaces will be the first port of call this year. Keep an eye on -Vayable, Gidsy, and Sidetour.

3. ERRAND NETWORKS:

Outsourcing your personal workforce through errand or task marketplaces helps you to get things done faster and better – delegate is the buzzword for 2012! Keep an eye on - TaskRabbit, Zaarly, and Agent Anything.

4. PRODUCT RENTAL:

The idea of renting ’stuff’ has been around a while, but with mobile, location and social tech now in the mainstream, we’re about to see a radical reinevntion of the rental experience. Keep an eye on -Rentcycle, Snapgoods, and AnyHire

List via Collaborative Consumption.com

Thousands Of Websites Go Dark To Protest SOPA/PIPA

By: Beth Buczynski

18-01-2012

Uncategorized

You may have noticed that the internet looks a little funny today.

The Google home page, the start of billions of free internet searches every day, has a big, ugly swatch of black where the doodle should be.

Wikipedia, Reddit, Alternet, and thousands of other websites have completely blacked out their content to draw attention to and protest two bills that now sit on the desks of our nation’s lawmakers: SOPA and PIPA.

Here at Insteading, and the larger Important Media Network, we believe that the internet should be an open forum for the sharing and discussion of ideas. In America, this falls under our Right to the Freedom of Expression and Free Speech.

But there are those that would rather have the internet closely monitored, watched by corporations for just the slightest comment that might be anti-establishment, the slightest hint of copyright infringement. If deemed “a threat” these bills would allow ANY WEBSITE to be shut down indefinitely while they plead their case in court (sound familiar?)

Zach over at our sister site Planetsave wrote a great post about what these bills really mean for internet freedom, and why you should care. It’s reposted below. We encourage you to read it, and take action. Thank you for all your support!

SOPA Blackout: Threat to Your Internet Has Wikipedia, Google, reddit, & More Taking Action (via Planetsave)

Image Credit: Flickr – opensourceway

Upcycled Find: Rewined Candles Fill Empty Wine Bottles

By: Beth Buczynski

17-01-2012

Uncategorized

I live in an old house that’s been split into three apartments. Our landlord is kind enough to provide a separate trash can for each tenant, we share a recycling bin. This gives me the chance to (unintentionally) snoop on their recyclables whenever I empty our bin.

One neighbor’s recycling, not sure which, consists almost entirely of wine bottles. Everything time see them sitting there (in plastic bags!) in the bottom of the bin, I have two thoughts:

1) Thank goodness they’re recycling.
2) There are so many other things they could do with these wine bottles besides recycling them.

Of course not everyone has time to spend crafting neat things out of old wine bottles (but if you do, this is the post to read), which is why I was so pleased to see a new company dedicated to reusing them in a creative way.

Rewined Candles, beside having a clever name, is a Charleston-based company that makes scented soy-wax candles in hand-cut recycled wine bottles. Even more interesting is that these aren’t your usual Vanilla and Lavender-scented candles: Rewined Candles are instead carefully blended to mimic the flavors and scents of your favorite vino varietal!

With such an interesting concept, it only makes sense that Rewined would be creative in choosing their packaging as well. But they don’t want any extra credit for choosing to go upcycled.

“Everyone is making things from recycled objects these days,” said Adam Fetsch, Candle Maker. “Our goal is to make beautifully designed candles with remarkable fragrances that happen to be poured into repurposed wine bottles. Cheers!”

Creative Recycling: How To Revive An Old Chair

Creative Recycling: 6 Ways To Reuse Junk Mail

Image Credit: RewinedCandles.com