Tag Archives: inspiration

28 Days of Inspiration – Day 25: The power of one

Posted on February 25, 2014 | Leave a comment

Daring to be great

Today’s inspiration is about those people who have chosen a different path – one of making a real difference in the world. They’re just normal people doing something they believe in, day after day…

faces

A question we often ask is “Where best to intervene in a system to create significant change?”. Paul Dickenson saw a pressure point in the role of shareholders. He is Co-founder and Chief Executive of the Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP), which provides a coordinating secretariat for 330 investors with assets of over $40 trillion who request information on greenhouse gas emissions from over 2,400 corporations. With more than 1,300 large corporations reporting through CDP, the CDP web site http://www.cdproject.net is the largest registry of corporate greenhouse gas emissions in the world.

There are lots of lawyers – most propping up the status quo, Polly Higgins talks of love and leadership, and runs a strong campaign on eradicating ecocide, fighting for its legal status to be enshrined by 2020.

A co-founder of Tsiba University, Leigh Meinert set-out to provide education opportunities to deserving youngsters from impoverished backgrounds – fundamentally changing society in South Africa. 5 Mandela Rhodes scholars produced in 4 years means she and fellow luminaries are doing something right.

Many people travel through communities facing extreme struggles to survive – few do anything. Alison Hall is different, after a trip to Uganda she set-up Seeds for Development which started off advancing funds to farmers in post-war Uganda to enable them to buy seeds and other farming equipment. Today they support around 15 000 people.

Miriam Turner, Carmel McQuaid, Tom Domen, and many others aren’t names you’ll necessarily recognise. They are are corporate intrepreneurs. All have an agenda to introduce and scale change to make their organisations ‘future-fit’. Often their resilience is tested – just like the entrepreneurs mentioned above. Yet, their efforts allow the organisations they are part of to take that different path and pioneer new ways of doing things.

There are many, many more ordinary people each in their own way daring to do extraordinary things… What are you choosing to do today? 

 

Leave a comment

Posted in Uncategorized

Tagged , , , , , , , , , ,

28 Days of Inspiration – Day 24: Don’t waste the opportunity

Posted on February 24, 2014 | Leave a comment

Don’t waste the opportunity

Composting-at-Pomona-College-700x466

Kate Hammer, a friend of 6heads from KILN, likes Compostory.org – she writes below:

Recycling organic material – what we commonly call “waste” – represents a huge opportunity. Today, the processes of making compost and biogas out of organics are well known and the benefits for the environment and the economy are proven. Yet still, many cities and businesses are still sending organics to landfills or incineration. Enter Compostory.org [www.compostory.org], a unique website driven by not-for-profit enterprise Green White Space [www.greenwhitespace.org].

Compostory.org is committed to building awareness and sharing best practices on how communities can create value from their waste stream and positively impact their environment. So the team has built an unprecedented online learning platform for local governments, agriculture and businesses in effort to bring their influencers up to speed on the subject matter.

The website offers open access to:

  • a free course for municipalities, farms and businesses on collecting – digesting – composting organic waste, now followed by more than 2500 influencers of waste management systems in 20+ countries
  • an industry directory to help you navigate the resource recovery industry and find support in your region
  • The Organic Stream: A podcast series featuring expert interviews and case studies from around the world, for inspiration and valuable how-to advice

Enter the learning space by subscribing here [learning space] using the guest code “6HEADS”
The weekly podcast is available on iTunes here [podcast]

Kate is part of  [www.kilnco.com], Throughline [www.throughline.co.uk] and StoryFORMs [www.storyform.co.uk]  She is likes Compostory so much she works on their advisory board.

Leave a comment

Posted in Uncategorized

Tagged , , , , , , , ,

28 Days of Inspiration – Day 23: Scotlands culinary delights?

Posted on February 23, 2014 | Leave a comment

Beyond Haggis, Whisky and deep-fried Mars bars

I am up in Scotland this weekend and finding myself inspired by the myriad of community initiatives around food.

farm scotland

The closer people come to understanding and engaging with their food source, the better they can make decisions about what to eat. Ultimately better decisions around food choice can positively impact the food system, shifting towards organic, local and seasonal produce. Where this also engages the community it can result in a more equitable and resilient system.

The Fife Diet aims to develop collective and participatory approaches to reduce our impact on the wider environment through the food choices we make. It links community members through a New Food Manifesto, which aims to get an understanding of how food can be part of restorative practice across health and well-being ecology and community. They have some fascinating initiatives and are currently looking at starting a co-op to support access to local, organics products.

Bread is a food staple and there are a few community-owned bakeries which provide an opportunity for a community to engage in producing a food staple. Breadshare, says “Our mission is to serve and involve the community by making excellent, nutritious bread using organic ingredients and distinctive local products, helping to create a more sustainable and health-enhancing food system.”

Whitmuir aims to become Scotlands first community owned farm. They have a vision that it will become a national resource on sustainable food and farming, with discovery trails, exhibits, educational opportunities and citizen science projects. People can discover what bugs and beasties do all day; why organic farming is good for you and the planet; what makes a pig happy and how to grow your own food. They provide an opportunity to explore everything from the brilliance of clover to the intricacies of the carbon cycle. You can buy a share in the farm for as little as £50.

Tying it all together is Nourish Scotland. It host events, workshops towards reconnecting producers, growers, retailers, consumers and all who care for local, sustainable food to make healthy, local, seasonal, and organic food available everywhere in Scotland.

Hungry?  Time for a visit to Scotland then…

Initiatives from your region that are inspirational?  Please send them to us at info@6-heads.com.

Just want to hear more? 5 days left of our inspiration series – sign up here: 6-heads

Leave a comment

Posted in Uncategorized

Tagged , , , , , , , , , ,

28 Days of Inspiration – Day 21: What’s for lunch?

Posted on February 22, 2014 | Leave a comment

Feeding the future

James discovers zero carbon farming – underground!

farm

Here at 6heads we love food and we love the pioneers blazing an innovative trail in making our food more sustainable. On our harvest hike last autumn, Kate from GrowUp talked about how they are making their vision of closed-loop, hydroponic, rooftop, urban farms a reality. Or our friends at Hodmedods, a recent start-up seeking to encourage people in the UK to fall back in love with the humble fava bean as a low carbon protein source that can be grown here, in contrast to most other beans which are imported.

Perhaps most counter-intuitive is Zero Carbon Food’s current initiative to grow salad greens underground in an old London bomb shelter! As Stephen Drink points out it a Guardian article about the initiative: “Open field and greenhouse farmers are affected by low light, weather, pests, all of those issues”, says Dring. “Between 2009-2012 food inflation ran at about 32%. That’s because of issues with crop production and failed crops … down here we have no pests and a consistent temperature of 16C. Once we’ve put all the LED lights in they give off a little heat that will take us up to about 20C, perfect growing temperature.” The lights are currently powered by a renewable energy supplier, but they plan to generate their own renewable power on-site using wind and solar energy.

Leave a comment

Posted in Uncategorized

Tagged , , , , , , , , , ,

28 Days of Inspiration – Day 20: Grow your own… building

Posted on February 20, 2014 | Leave a comment

Grow your own building

James wonders if the buildings of the future be built from bricks biologically engineered to grow themselves from plant waste and fungal cells? 

hy-fi-the-living-MoMA-PS1-young-architect-program-designboom-01

Co.exist thinks so with their recent interview of David Benjamin, the creator of Hy-Fi, a giant circular tower that creates a cool micro-climate for pedestrians in searing city heat.

Hy-fi will be built this June at MoMA PS1 in New York using bricks, produced by the startup Ecovative, are grown from mycelium, or mushroom cells that grow upwards and outwards like a branch. Combined with agricultural waste like corn stalks, the materials fuse and shape into a solid brick–or into whatever shape the architect wants. And like other biological materials, when no longer needed as bricks, they can be composted and used as fertiliser.

The building is not just about using cradle-to-cradle thinking in material selection. The design itself turns the usual way that brick buildings work upside down. Lighter, porous materials are used at the base drawing cool air in, while hot air is vented from the top.

Given the high carbon-intensity many building materials (such as cement), this use of biological processes in construction results in a cheap building material that emits no carbon and creates no waste…

Only 8 days left of inspiration!  Subscribe here: http://6-heads.com/

Leave a comment

Posted in Uncategorized

Tagged , , , , , , , , , ,

28 Days of Inspiration – Day 19: Forty years of happy

Posted on February 19, 2014 | Leave a comment

Forward to the Past

toys

Dwayne Baraka shares his inspiration:

I don’t know how I came across it, but it’s one of the things that I can’t imagine doing without. No, it’s not an Apple product. Giving them up was tough, but now I can’t imagine going back. Nor is it Google glass. (Actually, if you know how to get hold of one of those…)

It’s the Lewisham Toy Library, and I am in love with this model of shared product ownership.

I have a 17 month old boy, and for a very modest fee each year (24 pounds), I get to borrow a steady stream of toys. Many of the toys are focused on my little one’s development and many of them are wooden or deliberately focused on longevity and sustainability. Not a Barbie in sight, but there is a set of ‘different ability’ dolls to help teach children about things like diversity and difference. I have borrowed a staggering array of toys – musical instruments, balls, bath toys, battery powered things, cooking sets, blocks, books and tents – most of which I would never have bought. And all of which are a joy to my little boy, and have been since he was six months old.

I can’t wait to borrow a bicycle, or a trampoline, or the very technical-looking Meccano set as he grows older. I’m guessing that my wife and I have saved hundreds of pounds already, and over the lifetime of our membership will save thousands. Honestly, we could pay twice as much and that would still be true.

It also saves us an incredible amount of space. One of our friends sacrificed a full-size fridge to house all of their child’s toys, and we barely have more a freezer drawer’s worth. It’s recycling at its best. And it has allowed us to politely explain to relatives that our child has thousands of toys (literally, in a fashion).

Shared ownership is a good thing, but it’s not a new thing. The Lewisham Toy Library celebrates its 40th anniversary this year. If you’re wondering about the title, if Back to the Future can work, I figure Forward to the Past must work too?

Happy 40th Lewisham Toy Library!

Disclosure: The author recently became a committee member for the Lewisham Toy Library, and periodically receives a cup of tea and a biscuit at committee meetings and a sense of pride in supporting something that helps many.

More 6heads inspiration here: http://6-heads.com/

Leave a comment

Posted in Uncategorized

Tagged , , , , , , , , , ,

28 Days of Inspiration – Day 9: What did you do last night?

Posted on February 9, 2014 | Leave a comment

What did you do last night?

Did you dance? Any power moves?

Today’s theme, submitted by Isabella, is people powered energy. Harvesting energy from human footsteps can contribute power required to light offices, shopping centres and railway stations through floor tiles that generate electricity when they are walked over.

You can “throw some shapes” on an energy self-sufficient dance floor. The “Sustainable Dance Floor” is available for hire and your audience will help you with the electricity bill of your event. This is creates an interactive environment that is educational.

Other applications include Pavegen Systems, a UK-based company tested their installation at West Ham underground station which was a main transport hub during the 2012 Olympic Games, generating the power required to keep the station’s lights on.

For more from 6heads and to subscribe to our 28 days of inspiration: http://6-heads.com/

dancefloor1

Leave a comment

Posted in Uncategorized

Tagged , , , , , , , ,

28 Days of Inspiration – Day 7: Flying lessons

Posted on February 7, 2014 | Leave a comment

Flying Lessons

ImageMixing sustainability, education and most importantly play

Todays author is Louisa Harris – she provides some inspiration ahead of the weekend – and reminds us of the power of play

I fell in love with the book Flying Lessons by Shim Smilansky last summer. It is a colouring book designed to teach children (or in my case adults) about growing their own vegetables. On each page of the book a different line drawing of a vegetable can be coloured in. After you’ve coloured in your design, rip the page out and turn it over for instructions on how to make a paper aeroplane. The best part is that in the nose of every plane are four seeds for the vegetable which has been coloured in to create the plane – all you need to do is throw your planes into your garden and wait for the rain to dissolve the paper and for the seeds to be fertilised.

This book is beautifully thought out incorporating sustainability into all aspects of its design – the paper is made from vegetables, illustrations are done with squid ink and the manufacturing process is electricity free.

Smilansky says “My aim was to start with vegetables and end up with more vegetables without any waste or other materials used in between.”

http://www.shimsmilansky.co.uk/Flying-Lessons

To receive a daily piece of inspiration directly to your inbox in feb, please subscribe here: http://6-heads.com/

Leave a comment

Posted in Uncategorized

Tagged , , , , , , , , ,

Feb Futures: 28 days of inspiration!

Posted on January 30, 2014 | Leave a comment

February, in the Northern Hemisphere is the dullest, greyest month. World-wide, it’s the month where people have recovered from a festive season, are over January detox and are starting to get stuck into the new year. Not our fav month…

To cheer our community up and to bring positive, possible futures into our work and year planning for 2014 – we are launching Feb Futures. For each day of February we will feature a company, product or idea that makes us positive and excited about the future. That’s 28 days of inspiration!

These short notes will introduce you to game-changers we like and some of the overarching and important themes in sustainability we follow.

If this is exciting enough to lure you out from under your duvet, you might want to sign-up here to receive February Futures Forecasts directly into your in-box:

← Back

Thank you for your response. ✨

future

Leave a comment

Posted in Uncategorized

Tagged , , , ,