December 2011
4 posts
When we build… →
“When we build, let us think that we build forever. Let it not be for present delight nor for present use alone; let it be such work as our descendants will thank us for.” John Ruskin, from The…
Atlantic College Sustainability Conference →
In mid November I was kindly asked to attend a sustainability conference at Atlantic College. This is a very special place and one dear to my heart. The college, one of over a dozen internationally,…
It’s not about the length →
Or so my wife tells me. Boom Boom!
Of course I’m not talking about my manhood here. I’m talking about length of life versus impact. And it may not be life. It might be length of a relationship,…
It Couldn’t Be Done →
Somebody said that it couldn’t be done,
But, he with a chuckle replied
That “maybe it couldn’t,” but he would be one
Who wouldn’t say so till he’d tried.
So he buckled right in with the…
November 2011
9 posts
Subterranean Homesick Blues →
The subterranean homesick blues are rocking through my veins. I have moved to the city. The City. Crossed the great divide and become an urban dweller. After eight years of the wild West it felt…
Don’t tell me the sky is the limit when… →
Don’t tell me the sky is the limit when there are footprints on the moon.
Buy an AK47 for someone you love this Christmas →
Via Good.is, this video story is about social enterprise Fonderie47 who buy AK47s in Africa, decommission them and create jewellery from the parts.
With over millions of guns more than we need,…
10 reasons not to attend The Do Lectures →
1, You will leave your comfort zone. And that is never easy.
2, You’ll meet people who think differently. They will challenge you.
3, You’ll start to question a few things. Like everything.
Do Different Stuff →
Preamble:
We hold these truths to be self evident: that all men are NOT created equally. Although
the divisions that previously separated men have functionally been erased from the
public sphere,...
No matter how slow you go… →
No matter how slow you go, you are still lapping everyone on the couch.
Swarm speed →
Swarmwise: What Is A Swarm? – Falkvinge on Infopolicy.
Here’s a great article that studies the way knowledge about swarms can be used to affect the way that organisations can harness awareness,…
if it’s rotten enough, i’ll care →
I love old stuff.
You know, flaky paint. Falling down letters. Bashed-up brickwork.
Boat houses that stand idle, majestic in their neglect.
In the general scheme of things, reuse gets a bad deal…
Piglet: How do you spell love? →
Piglet: How do you spell love?
Pooh: You don’t spell it, you feel it.
Winnie the Pooh
October 2011
6 posts
The universe is made of… →
“The universe is made of stories, not atoms.” — Muriel Rukeyser
If I had 9 hours to cut down a tree I would spend... →
Did you ever stop to think… →
Did you ever stop to think and forget to start again?
Winnie the Pooh
Ocean Acidification →
Climate change, melting ice caps, sea level rise, crazy weather patterns and food webs out of sync. Think you know all about the effects of increased CO2 in our atmosphere? Think again. The team at
A suitable placement: no place for kids →
Dudley Corrected
In 1990 or thereabouts I met a guy called Richard Ross (American) in Vienna. He was part of a photographic show that a friend of mine had curated called Reinventing…
Travel is not really about… →
“Travel is not really about leaving our homes, but leaving our habits.”
Pico Iyer
Via Rolf Potts
September 2011
5 posts
*Free Works →
We supply *Free inspiration to the World. That’s what gets us out of bed in the morning. It inspires us to be able to inspire others. But *Free doesn’t come cheap.
We have to find ways to pay for…
Life’s turns →
It takes time to figure out where the roads of passion and talent meet.
For some people, it’s obvious – for others it takes a while, with some wrong turns and dead ends thrown in along the way.
My father’s teachings part 1 →
My father came to England from Naples on a boat in 1958. Born in 1928, he endured the very worst of the devastating circumstances that befell the Neapolitans during WW2 – a period he spoke about to…
Six days to go →
Fforest are setting up for The Do Lectures next week.
Is this the biggest trade secret of the Internet? →
Plumbers, chefs, electricians all have their trade secrets. Those little tools or techniques that just make it easier for them to do what they do. It’s the things that make them…
August 2011
4 posts
Mission Zero: a tribute to Ray Anderson →
Ray Anderson, sustainable business pioneer, dies aged 77 | Guardian Sustainable Business | guardian.co.uk.
John Elkington, Chair of Volans, co-founder of SustainAbility and creator of…
Be at the start →
Before reputations are made.
Before word of mouth gets out there.
Before the nice articles get written.
Before the chatter on Twitter.
Before the plus 1 on google.
Before the awards are won.
…
Super simple cooling water system →
More info here: http://quim.iqi.etsii.upm.es/botijo.pdf
(Thanks to Miguel)
Do Lectures featured on Flipboard →
This week our twitter feed is being featured over on Flipboard.
We’re well chuffed, it’s one of the best iPad apps around.
You can find us in the science section.
July 2011
6 posts
Tom Herbert – ‘Do’ Day Course. →
“How to bake brilliant bread”.
Tom is a 5th generation baker at Hobbs House Bakery. He has won Young Baker of the Year. He is one of Rick Stein’s Super Food Heroes.
From our point of view, he…
Change: It’s About You and Me →
We stand at a tipping point. All 7 billion of us hold the planet in the palm of our hands. It is this century that will, in all likelihood, determine the future of both the human species and the…
Shareable: The Gen Y Guide to Collaborative... →
Shareable report on an undercurrent of alternatives to mass consumerism is bubbling up through the concrete of old models that are past their sell by date. Grubly, Eat With Me and Housefed are the…
Independence comes with responsibility →
Over in the Unites States of America, our country is the land of the free and the home of the brave. At the moment, during our Independence Day (July 4) we are still, in a sorry state.
Therefore…
If you dream of something worth doing and then... →
Edward H. Land
Inventor of Polaroid
Product Design – In The Sustainable Era -Taschen →
“We discard things with our eyes long before we do with our hands.”
That’s why design is so important to the planet.
Just got this this in the post today.
Inspiring stuff.
June 2011
2 posts
10 Email Rules (So it starts working again) →
10 Rules to Reverse the Email Spiral
1. Respect Recipients’ Time
This is the fundamental rule. As the message sender, the onus is on YOU to minimize the time your email will take to…
5 day tickets are now available. →
Tickets for The Do Lectures sold out in April. (Before we announced the speaker line-up which was very humbling)
We are limited by a couple of factors. How many we can sleep. And how many we…
May 2011
10 posts
Waking up to changing prices →
Fund manager and investment guru Jeremy Grantham has written a useful backstory to why prices of a wide variety of commodities have changed so dramatically in the last decade. He also highlights the…
The price we pay (again) →
$18,000,000,000, thee fine handed to Chevron by Ecuador is big by any standards, and the damage that must have been caused to justify a penalty of this scale is almost unimaginable. Nevertheless,…
How much are we paying? →
We’re at a time when know how much we’re paying, in cash and kind, is starting to become real, for the first time in a few thousand years. It’s pretty important to keep track of how much the items…
The Apprentice →
Where do you turn if you want make a start, or change, to your career, pursue an interest, or develop a new skill set? For the most part, it would seem education is the route that many take to…
Steve Edge is hiring. →
Steve Edge (Part time Legend. Full time Designer) is hiring.
He is looking for a middleweight/senior designer with branding experience.
If you want to do great work and have the most fun you can,…
Head in the clouds →
Gavin Pretor-Pinney, Do 2008 speaker, would connect to these images for their stunning, simple beauty.
Head in the clouds to see the magic
Feet on the ground to make it happen.
That summarises…
Hello World, →
These are interesting times.
These are the days we will look back on.
Old business models are being torn up.
And new ones are taking their place.
An open source world is taking shape.
The…
Music and comedy line up for Do Lectures 2011... →
Many thanks to Richard King from Domino for helping us yet again this year.
(He’s been helping us since The Little Big Voice Lectures back in 2007)
The music has been an incredibly important…
Power Off →
The UK had been uncannily sunny over the past couple of weeks. So here is a beautiful reminder of something we all already know!
I had a day of transcribing planned for today, but now thanks to…
It’s good to struggle. →
Tim Ferriss, Author of 4 Hour Work Week, (And now The 4 Hour Body)
was turned down 26 times before he found a publisher.
His book went on to sell a million copies. And is a New York Times…
April 2011
10 posts
Cardboard →
I live in Glasgow, a city where the city council don’t currently recycle cardboard. It seems a shame when the stuff has so much potential.
Make something your proud of… →
And if you do, in this connected world we all live in, your customer will find you.
Sooner or later.
go get those bluebells while you can →
Where I work it may not be the best office. It sits above an Aldi, for a start. I work in new media, but there is nothing new about this office. It really has had its day.
But I hope it stays put….
Shopping malls heading south →
The Guardian report that some of the UK’s biggest shopping malls – those powerful, town-destroying magnets of consumerism – are finding the going tough as consumers respond to high fuel prices by…