Carbon Footprint Calculator from @WWF_UK

Posted by Ben in Inspiration, Tips

Just tried out this Carbon Footprint Calculator from WWF UK:

Not quite two planets, but still not quite sustainable either…

Helpfully, there’s also lots of actionable tips of how I can get my footprint down:

I’m a vegetarian so alright there, but think it’s time I turned the thermostat down…

What’s your Carbon Footprint? What are you doing to reduce it?

Moss Graffiti

Posted by Ben in Innovation, Inspiration, Tips

Recipe (via Stories from Space)

Serves to create several small pieces or 1 large piece of graffiti

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1 can of beer
1/2 teaspoon sugar
Several clumps garden moss

You will also need a plastic container (with lid),  a blender and a paintbrush
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To begin the recipe, first of all gather together several clumps of moss (moss can usually be found in moist, shady places) and crumble them into a blender. Then add the beer and sugar and blend just long enough to create a smooth, creamy consistency. Now pour the mixture into a plastic container.

Find a suitable damp and shady wall on to which you can apply your moss milkshake. Paint your chosen design onto the wall (either free-hand or using a stencil). If possible try to return to the area over the following weeks to ensure that the mixture is kept moist. Soon the bits of blended moss should begin to re-couperate into a whole rooted plant – maintaining your chosen design before eventually colonising the whole area.

The Rise of the Slacktavist

Posted by Ben in Innovation

“Tweeting about good causes doesn’t hurt — and for young people ‘slacktivism’ can be a good gateway toward the stirrings of a broader social consciousness. But true engagement begins by lifting your sights from your mobile device out to the world at large, and personally embracing someone in need.”

(Quote from this Huffington Post article)

Facebook COO works 9-to-5 every day

Posted by Ben in Innovation, Tips

Shocking headline I know.

But actually really refreshing to see someone in a high-level position in a notoriously long working-hour industry (having been at Google and now at Facebook) working a 9-to-5(:30) every day – and getting a much better work/life balance for it.

From an interview with Sheryl Sandberg, Facebook COO, on Makers.com:

“I walk out of this office every day at 5:30 so I’m home for dinner with my kids at 6:00, and interestingly, I’ve been doing that since I had kids. I did that when I was at Google, I did that here, and I would say it’s not until the last year, two years that I’m brave enough to talk about it publicly. Now I certainly wouldn’t lie, but I wasn’t running around giving speeches on it.”

So even those at the very top of their game can fit their presumably demanding job into an ordinary work day, real life proof that every hour you work over 40 hours a week is making you less effective and productive over both the short and the long haul. (See this Salon.com article for more research around the optimal working week).

Some great questions posed by Sheryl in the interview and ensuing debate too:

• In a competitive industry where your work is never truly complete, has it become socially awkward to leave work at a time that used to be the standard?
• Are those working eight-hour days that end at 5 p.m. being quietly judged by their co-workers?
• Whatever happened to “work-life balance”?
• Worse still: Are those who work these “standard” hours being overlooked for promotions?

CNN picked up on the debate, stating: “Not only do modern workers not get enough of it, but boasting about how little sleep you had last night has become a badge of honor. Those getting plenty of sleep must not be working hard enough, some assume.”

And on that note, I’m off to bed…

(Full interview with Sheryl Sandberg is available to watch here)

Banks on Advertising

Posted by Ben in Innovation, Inspiration