The following idea reminds me of Mr. Fusion, from the the movie Back to the Future part II; it is an entry concept for the Automotive X Prize, which is not only carbon neutral in it’s use of trash as fuel, but claims to be carbon negative. This is achieved in a process by which the fuel, gasified to create ’syngas,’ yields Biochar, a substance which can be used as a fertilizer for agricultural purposes. (The connection to the 1989 film is that Doc’s time machine DeLorean was run by a Mr. Fusion nuclear energy unit. At the beginning of the movie, Doc poured beer and then tossed the beer can into the devise, which then powered the car’s travels through time and the skies.)

It’s a nice idea in theory, but it is not without it’s flaws. Many printed paper products contain carcinogenic materials, which would not exactly make for a safe fertilizer.

More about the team’s proposal at Worldchanging.

One more quick one from Amory, showing us his house.

MSN doesn’t let you embed their videos, so you need to go to them to see it.

The last of the REALLY LONG videos for now, a presentation by Amory at the National University of Singapore. Here he describes how to solve our ‘oil problem.’

Some clarification / translations: when he’s saying kiloliters per hour. The example of 28km/l is equal to 65 miles per gallon, and the example of 48km/l is equal to 113 mpg. Also, some British English: bonnet means hood (on cars), and lorry means truck.

One side note: I find it encouraging that i can so easily find videos with Amory online today, especially as when i first looked, a year ago, there were nearly none (although, he has been in the bibliography since the beginning, for those paying attention to the sources).

This is another longer scholarly video, from the University of California Berkeley.

An editorial by George Monbiot I read in the Guardian today hits on an issue that I intend to write on in a bit more depth soon, and references part of Dan Gilbert’s point about terrorism, from his TED talks I posted a few weeks back: issues where we tend to set our focus, communally, is often not quite where we should. Or at least, not at the risk of ignoring other equally (if not more) significant issues.

from his article:

Here’s how the British government describes the risk of a smallpox outbreak. “We are currently at alert level 0. Smallpox remains eradicated. No credible threat of a smallpox release.”

[ . . . ]

This is what government is for: to prepare for the worst, however unlikely it may be. [ . . . ] But this great state safety net is full of holes [ . . . ] In February 2008 I sent a Freedom of Information request to the Department for Business, asking what contingency plans the government has made for the eventuality that global supplies of crude oil might peak between now and 2020. The answer I received astonished me. “The government does not feel the need to hold contingency plans specifically for the eventuality of crude oil supplies peaking between now and 2020.”

The article is short but interesting, I suggest you read it.

Much has been made in certain circles recently of the many shining examples of functioning democracy in the south of our fine hemisphere. This is particularly in different levels of the governments of Bolivia, Venezuela, Brazil, and Colombia (and let’s not forget that the presidential elections in Chilé are in December of this year, where the country could see a change of president from the current socialist Michelle Bachelet, to the center-right Sebastián Piñera).

These democratic successes in the South vary in weight and reach of effect (as much as the awareness of the rest of the world varies regarding South American goings-on). Noam Chomsky has brought up Bolivia in particular on many occasions as being a far more earnestly democratic country than even the US of A, partly by virtue of previous corruptions, and the process of overcoming them. President Evo Morales is the first full blooded native to be president of Bolivia, and, i believe, the first Native-American to be elected president of any country (electing Barack Obama is a definite success for us as a nation, but just imagine a full blooded native being elected . . . i digress).

Another new development in the south, however, marks yet another success. The “first time that an elected head of state has been convicted of crimes against humanity by his own national court” (quote, link, and following video via the Witness Blog).

Former Peruvian president Alberto Fujimori, after a self-imposed exile in Japan, was brought to face criminal charges in Peru in 2007. A few days ago, he was convicted of the crimes perpetrated on his citizens during his 10 year presidency.

More on the effects of the trial, and his crimes, from Gisela Ortiz, the sister of Luis Enrique Ortiz (a victim of La Cantuta Massacres:

An article in Business Week caught my attention recently, one on ‘The Girl Effect.’

First a bit on the concept: the phrase is one of practical wisdom well known by many on the outer edges of economics, social sciences, and human rights movements, but it has been recently codified, organized, and brought to the the mainstream of the business world by, of all groups: Nike.

A lot of ill can be said of Nike, in both their business practices and their human rights effects, but a lot of good can be said of their efforts in sustainable design as well, and so too of this: their efforts with the Girl Effect. (The company would seem to be one of deep ambivalence about it’s place in the global community. But i would argue that that’s better than the alternative of completely disregarding the good that the company can do, as so many do.)

A video from the organization, explaining the concept:

And an excerpt rom the article:

There are 600 million adolescent girls in developing countries, but they are largely invisible to the world at large. Included among them are girls affected by armed conflict, domestic violence, HIV/AIDS, sex trafficking, and internal displacement, as well as girls in child-headed households or locked in early marriages. To ignore them is to miss the “girl effect,” which could be an unexpected answer to the global economic crisis.

Consider the situation in Kenya. Some 1.6 million girls there drop out of high school every year. If they finished their secondary education, they would make 30% more money and contribute $3.2 billion more to the Kenyan economy every year. Instead, many take their place among Kenya’s 204,000 adolescent mothers and cost the economy $500 million a year.

[ . . . ]

In Ethiopia, if you are a 15-year-old girl, you have a 43% likelihood of being already married. A pilot program run by the Population Council gave families a $25 goat as an incentive to allow their daughters to go to school instead. Within two years, some 11,000 girls, or 97% of the participants, had stayed in school, gained confidence, and delayed marriage and childbirth.

The article mentions another organization, BRAC (an NGO founded in Bangladesh in 1972), a group offering, among other things, micro-finance opportunities for us in the affluent west, to support our friends in the south. Remember that estimates (by the likes of Ashraf Ghani) are that 1 dollar invested in the ‘developing world,’ can be roughly equal to 20 dollars of ‘foreign aid.’ That is, with a minimal investment, each of us, can have a major impact.

Back at the Girl Effect website, they have a 72 page PDF you can download, for more information.

So, this is the first video from The Global Oneness Project that i’ve posted on the site, but they’ve been over in the bibliography for the past 8 months (in the organizations section). This is by no means because this is the first piece that they have made which is deeply thought provoking or insightful. Far from it. I’ll be posting more from them in the future, but if like this, please do check out their website.