The Kid Should See This.
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There's just so much science, nature, music, art, technology, storytelling and assorted good stuff out there that my kids (and maybe your kids) haven't seen. It's most likely not stuff that was made for them...
But we don't underestimate kids around here.
Kid-friendly not-made-for-kids videos for all! Collected by Rion Nakaya and her three four year old co-curator.
Tip Jar: Curating this blog takes work! If you like the videos on this site, please support the science education projects that we've picked on DonorsChoose.org.
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At a Portland TEDx event, Oregonian Joe Smith demonstrates how to use a paper towel, and moreover, demonstrates how easy it is to be mindful. Everyone should see this!
via Kottke.
“Rooftops in the summer are hot. Cooling down buildings wastes energy. Solution: Painting roofs with energy saving white reflective paint.” The White Roof Project is a nonprofit dedicated to curbing climate change by painting NYC roofs white and then hopefully franchising the volunteering activity out across the United States.
And they’re absolutely onto something. In 2009, Energy Secretary Steven Chu pitched this idea. According to the Wall Street Journal, “white roofs and pavements could mean a one-time reduction of 44 billion tons of carbon dioxide. That… translates to removing all the cars in the world for 18 years.”
Former President Bill Clinton wrote last summer that white rooftops could lower “the utility bill in every apartment house 10 to 20 percent…”
And in the southeastern region of Almeria, Spain, the reflective roofs of their greenhouses (and they’re seriously into greenhouses) are cooling the air temperature in the region “by an average of 0.3 degrees Celsius per decade since 1983. The rest of Spain, however, has experienced temperatures rise 0.5 degrees Celsius.”
Sounds like it might be time to get some white paint and a few ladders. Read more about The White Roof Project, and if you’re in NYC, volunteer!
In.gredients is a new package-free grocery store that is opening in Austin, Texas in the Summer of 2012. Its mission as the US’s first zero-waste, package-free grocery store will support local businesses and farmers, will sell based on seasonal rhythms of farming, will avoid processed foods, will reduce transportation costs and pollution, and will encourage customers to bring their own reusable containers. Bringing back this way of shopping is a great idea for Austin and I could see it easily working in places like Brooklyn, Portland or the Bay Area, just to name a few other starter communities…
A great side effect to watching this video is starting a conversation about eating foods in season — more than just squash and pumpkins in the fall — as well as being very aware of how much packaging we use, recycle and throw away in our own home.
Related research: learn more about buying sustainable food with local guides, find sustainable food near you at the Eat Well Guide, and check out this Seasonal Food Chart at Good.is.
Google’s The Story of Send visualizes how an email journeys through their data centers to reach its final destination, all while promoting the energy efficiency of their custom-built servers and their support of clean energy along the way.
I wish they’d gone into a bit more technical detail, but it’s a nice introduction to how much more there is to email technology than what we see, and provides some inspiration in the idea that a large company can innovate its business while still committing to carbon-neutrality.
via Neatorama.
From TEDEd, there is a five finger trick for understanding and remembering the five processes — small population, non-random mating, mutations, gene flow, adaptation — that impact evolution (ie. the changes in the gene pool of a population from generation to generation). This video, narrated by Paul Andersen and animated by Alan Foreman, is seriously so excellent.
via Explore.
The Landfill is a three minute film by documentary filmmaker Gary Hustwit and director Jessica Edwards about how our different kinds of trash can be used as harvestable resources.
The United States produces 390 billion pounds of garbage every year, and finding places to dispose of it is a serious environmental and economic challenge. But what if we could change the way we think about garbage, from something to be disposed of to something to be harvested? THE LANDFILL profiles a small county landfill in Upstate New York, which is using a system of composting, recycling, and methane capture technology to operate sustainably while producing electricity for 400 homes in their area. By focusing on the people and ideas behind this innovative waste-to-energy initiative, THE LANDFILL shows the beauty and potential of the stuff we throw away.
Sustainability FTW! This is exactly the kind of problem solving that kids should see. For more information, visit focusforwardfilms.com/films/11/the-landfill
Thanks, @cosentino.
Built from thousands of plastic bottles, La casa ecológica de botellas was designed and constructed by Alfredo Santa Cruz and his family in Puerto Iguazu, Argentina. Lit with outside light, softened by the clear plastic, it is a surprisingly beautiful (and waterproof!) structure. There are more photos and some stats as to what it’s made of at Inhabitots.
The Ecological Bottle House exemplifies the concept of self sustainability and demonstrates how a bit of creative ingenuity can bring about positive change in the way humans interact with the environment. This project addresses four distinct yet interrelated aspects of the human environment relationship: the ecological, social, cultural and tourism.
This is exactly what the kid should see.
“The opposite of beauty is not ugly. The opposite of beauty is indifference. And we’re trying not to be indifferent about this.” A short film about Judith Selby Lang and Richard Lang, two artists who create art from found beach plastic.
