Stainless Planet

nationalgeographicmagazine: Emperor Penguin,...

Wed, 20 Mar 2013 22:13:14 +0700

Emperor Penguin, Antarctica
Photograph by Paul Nicklen, National Geographic
Preparing to launch from the sea to the sea ice, an emperor penguin reaches maximum speed.

Download Wallpaper (1600 x 1200 pixels)

ecosnobberysucks: How much water are you really using? Many of...

Wed, 20 Mar 2013 08:38:34 +0700

ecosnobberysucks:

How much water are you really using? Many of us have low flow shower heads and our toilets are using less water, but how does that compare to the water that goes into the things we use and consume every day?

llbwwb: Another scary female I came across in Botswana (by John...

Sat, 16 Mar 2013 15:05:11 +0700

llbwwb:

Another scary female I came across in Botswana (by John Kok)

iamjapanese: Bertrand Flachot（French, b.1955） Arborescence#7 ...

Sat, 16 Mar 2013 15:00:54 +0700

iamjapanese:

Bertrand Flachot（French, b.1955）

Arborescence#7 2012

Tirage jet d’encre (Fine Art)

un-grasp: Great Ape Moment:Baby gorilla exploring its...

Tue, 12 Mar 2013 22:41:24 +0700

un-grasp:

Great Ape Moment:Baby gorilla exploring its environment.Photo by
Andrew J. Lee http://on.fb.me/10HnT2g

vurtual: Nigeria’s Cost & Energy-Efficient Floating Schools...

Tue, 12 Mar 2013 04:48:10 +0700

vurtual:

Nigeria’s Cost & Energy-Efficient Floating Schools (by NLÉ)

The Makoko Floating School is an ambitious project that is currently under construction in the water community of Makoko in Lagos, Nigeria by NLÉ, a collaborative agency whose mission is to provide architectural change for developing cities. The project seeks to create floating buildings that are designed to serve as educational classrooms for neighborhood children.

The three-story architectural structure, built as a triangular prism, is intended to float on water with a base made of 256 plastic drums. The floating construct is built with locally sourced wood, electrically powered with solar panels, and designed to house about 100 students.

While this first generation of floating buildings is being designated solely as educational center, the project is opening a new chapter in architectural design that can be applied to a variety of facilities for poor communities like Makoko to urbanize efficiently. Because of the project’s green initiatives, each building is more affordable and cost-effective. Additionally, they accommodate for the climate changes that are resulting in the rise of sea levels.

"The point is not for the giver to have a good feeling, but for the people we’re trying to help to..."

Mon, 11 Mar 2013 19:12:24 +0700

“The point is not for the giver to have a good feeling, but for the people we’re trying to help to have a good feeling.”

- Bill Gates from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation

Wicked cool underwater photos by Alexander Safonov.

Mon, 11 Mar 2013 19:05:06 +0700

Wicked cool underwater photos by Alexander Safonov.

The Next Big Trend In Urbanization Will Revolve Around Small...

Mon, 11 Mar 2013 17:13:13 +0700

The Next Big Trend In Urbanization Will Revolve Around Small Cities
Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/small-cities-population-growth-by-2050-2012-5#ixzz2NDVIQLYG

Old shipping containers used as the structural framework for...

Mon, 11 Mar 2013 14:24:06 +0700

Old shipping containers used as the structural framework for the WFH- House. This is not just recycling; This is upcycling!

The WFH concept is a modular concept, based on a design principle, using 40 feet high cube standard modules as structural system. The structure can be adapted to local challenges such as climatic or earthquake issues. Online customization-tools give clients the possibility to decide their own version of the house concerning layout, size, facade, interior etc. The configuration happens within a predefined framework that will ensure high architectural value and quality of materials. Building-components are prefabricated and on site construction can be limited.

Interesting facts:

- The first prefabricated housing system that meets the demands in the international environment-building-standard, Active House.
- The structure can be configured to meet many different purposes, multi storey, townhouses, cluster houses or individual villas.
- Top class indoor climate, low energy consumption and environmentally sound materials.
- Very short construction-period.
- Demountable for recycling or relocation.
- Cost competitive in comparison with other green houses.

The Various Varieties of Vegetables by Pop Chart Lab

Mon, 11 Mar 2013 12:18:54 +0700

The Various Varieties of Vegetables by Pop Chart Lab

Winner of the ‘Design for Poverty’ contest by Yanko...

Mon, 11 Mar 2013 08:41:01 +0700

Winner of the ‘Design for Poverty’ contest by Yanko design in 2008, Rain Drop by Evan Gants is a concept system to cheaply collect and store rain water in plastic bottles. The system is quite ingenious and can be used to create running water for washing hands.

7 worst international aid ideas

Sun, 10 Mar 2013 16:00:00 +0700

7 worst international aid ideas:

fosterrachel:

Interesting article for people interested in aid! Reminder that while some ideas may seem genuine and noble, the results may not be good.

It’s like the saying: the road to hell is paved with good intentions.

Quality design for the poor

Sun, 10 Mar 2013 14:25:06 +0700

Quality design for the poor:

Great article with some surprising facts on designing services and products for the poor and consumers’ behaviours. There is a lot more to it than just making affordable products.

DouDou, a young male chimpanzee who had spent the last few...

Sun, 10 Mar 2013 08:00:27 +0700

DouDou, a young male chimpanzee who had spent the last few months tied to an automobile as a tourist attraction in the Congo port town of Mayoko, has been confiscated and transferred to the Tchimpounga Chimpanzee Rehabilitation Centre. DouDou is the 2nd chimpanzee to reach Tchimpounga in the first 3 months of 2013, which is troubling.

For more, visit http://bit.ly/Znmp6R.

International Women’s Day: tribal heroines (via The Guardian) In...

Sat, 09 Mar 2013 22:18:59 +0700

International Women’s Day: tribal heroines

(via The Guardian)

In many tribal communities, including the Hadza and the Innu featured here, women and men enjoy equal status. But tribal people often face displacement, murder and rape, according to Survival International. Often humiliated by governments that perpetuate the idea they are ‘backward’, some have their lands taken away. Yet resistance is growing as they take action to protect their land and ways of life.

What problems do tribal peoples have?

Violence

Tribal people are still violently attacked, and sometimes killed, particularly in parts of South & Central America, Africa and Asia.
Violence, often self-inflicted, is also a big problem in wealthy countries, which have largely dispossessed their indigenous peoples (such as Canada and the USA, Australia and New Zealand).

Slavery

In some areas, tribal people are still held in a form of slavery, called ‘debt-bondage’, where they are forced to produce raw materials to pay a supposed debt to an outsider.

Racism

The view that tribal people are ‘primitive’ and not able to make rational choices about their own future derives from a colonialist, racist ideology. It is still used to justify their dispossession.

Land theft

Tribal peoples are generally self-sufficient and dependent on their land to provide their food and support their way of life. It also forms the bedrock of their identity. It is stolen for ‘development’, such as mining, dam-building, farming, etc., as well as for ‘conservation’ projects.

Resource theft

Even where the land itself isn’t taken, its resources often are. These can be timber or minerals.

Forced progress

All peoples are changing all the time, but changes forced on tribal peoples in the name of ‘progress’ result in a far lower quality of life than before, with increased illness, suicide, imprisonment, substance abuse and dependence etc. Changes should be under the control of the people themselves.

More information at Survival International’s website.

Photographs :

1. The Dongria Kondh women of the Niyamgiri hills in Odisha state, India – who call themselves Jharnia, or protectors of streams – have lived in the lush, forested hills for millennia. For the past 10 years these women have worked with Dongria men to protect their most sacred mountain, Niyam Dongar, against plans for an opencast bauxite mine. (Jason Taylor/Survival International)

2. The Bushmen are the original people of southern Africa. Between 1997 and 2002, after the discovery of diamond fields in the Central Kalahari Game Reserve, almost all Bushmen were taken from their homes in the reserve and driven to eviction camps. Some women and their families have now returned to the reserve, but harassment and intimidation continue. (Mark Håkansson/Survival International)

3. A Nenets woman outside her chum, or teepee, in Siberia’s Yamal Peninsula. Her homeland is a remote, wind-blasted place of permafrost, serpentine rivers and dwarf shrubs; the reindeer-herding Nenets people have migrated across it for over a thousand years. Today, their way of life is severely affected by oil drilling and climate change. (Steve Morgan/Survival International)

4. These Innu women on the shores of the Labrador-Quebec peninsula in north-eastern Canada have resisted attempts by missionaries and the Canadian government to impose European patterns of living. The women have been prominent in opposing extractive industries on Innu lands, and have been active in efforts the people are making to maintain their way of life. (Dominick Tyler/Survival International)

5. Between Tanzania’s Lake Eyasi and the Great Rift Valley live the Hadza, a tribe of approximately 1,300 hunter-gatherers. The Hadza are one of the oldest lineages of humankind. Over the past 50 years, however, the tribe has lost 90% of its land. The tribe value equality highly, recognising no official leaders. Hadza women have a great amount of autonomy and participate equally in decision making with men. (Joanna Eede/Survival International)

These women are amazing for bravely resisting the world’s attempt to force them into a patriarchal and environmentally destructive way of life.

‘A man works his boat along the river on a very foggy January...

Sat, 09 Mar 2013 22:16:54 +0700

‘A man works his boat along the river on a very foggy January morning in Chitwan National Park, Nepal’

Photograph: Deepa Jahagirdar

"We all must move from a greed economy to a green economy"

Thu, 07 Mar 2013 12:17:09 +0700

“We all must move from a greed economy to a green economy”

- Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, President of Indonesia

USAID infographic on the global state of agriculture and the important role women could play in...

Thu, 07 Mar 2013 12:08:32 +0700

USAID infographic on the global state of agriculture and the important role women could play in meeting global food demand.

We’ve lost half of the world’s wild orangutan...

Tue, 05 Mar 2013 10:07:17 +0700

We’ve lost half of the world’s wild orangutan population since 1950.
Let’s Do Better…

Source: UN-GRASP