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?

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.

“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)

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)

“On April 5, M+R Strategic Services, a public relations and communications firm working with leading non-profits, and the Nonprofit Technology Network (NTEN), a membership organization of non-profit professionals who use technology for their causes, will release their sixth annual eNonprofit Benchmarks Study of what is working today in online advocacy, fundraising and social networking. The study is based on primary research with 44 participating non-profits, including the AARP, American Red Cross, Human Rights Watch, Planned Parenthood and the World Wildlife Fund. All of the non-profits covered fall under the categories of environmental, international, human rights, wildlife, animal welfare and other causes. The 2011 study can be downloaded here.”

It’s an interesting infographic, showing fundraising innovations and trends across the sector. Will be interesting to see what the full report contains when it’s released on April 5th.

Having read and enjoyed the post, it was the very last sentence that really struck a chord with me:

“Nobody can succeed on their own, and nobody can sustain the belief that anything is possible by themselves—better to find the people you trust, hold on to them tight, and change the world together.”

This has been an idea I’ve really felt recently, with a successful fundraising event under our belts (PR Prom) and a positive future ahead for Bright One and Bright Works.

The success behind all of these projects has been the people, who I trust and am aiming to hold on tight to (figarutively, of course…).

And you can be sure we’ll be changing the world together

Ira Glass on Storytelling from David Shiyang Liu on Vimeo.

I’ve just finished the Revive Your Inbox programme from Baydin, “a 21 Day course to help you restore email sanity”.

“Invest 20 minutes a day for 21 days. Revive Your Inbox is designed to reduce the amount of email you receive and learn to deal better with the ones that matter.”

I’ve always been quite good at managing email – one thing a good PR person needs to be great at, which is doubly true now I’m freelance and don’t have colleagues to chase me when I haven’t answered a message or just a quick nudge to say “can you get back to the client on that?”

Lots of the tips, tricks and process I already have as part of my daily routine, but there were plenty of useful tips and exercises that I’ve learnt and am now sticking to as well. Even just doing the first 4 or 5 days will make a big difference to your inbox.

You can sign up to Revive Your Inbox here or below is the complete list of courses if you feel like picking and choosing ones that sound best for you.

Give it a try – it might just make you believe in email again!

• Day 1: Turn off Email Notifications
• Day 2: Unsubscribe from Junk Email
• Day 3: Learn How to Search for Email
• Day 4: Inbox Philosophy
• Day 5: Cleaning up a messy inbox
• Day 6: Deferring a message for later
• Day 7: Delete It
• Day 8: Five Sentence Emails
• Day 9: The Ultimate Email Workflow
• Day 10: Timers and Feedback make Email Clients better
• Day 11: Dealing with difficult email
• Day 12: How to use templates to automate email
• Day 13: Advanced Email Etiquette
• Day 14: Schedule Emails to Be Sent Later
• Day 15: Habit Reinforcement Day
• Day 16: How to Mute an Email Thread
• Day 17: Folders and Labels Revisited
• Day 18: Filters and Rules
• Day 19 – Keyboard Shortcuts
• Day 20 – Productivity Boosting Add-ons
• Day 21 – Sticking with the Program