These are my links for April 12th to April 16th: Design Council | Directory listings | Events and competitions | Design in Alternative Futures - 2009 will be remembered as a year of global economic downturn, but what could this mean for the future of the economy, society and government? Will the downturn compel us to turn inwards, to become a nation of close knit families driven by individual needs? Or will it force unprecedented collaboration, creating a Britain that is focused upon the common … [Read more...]
Links for March 14th to March 23rd
These are my links for March 14th to March 23rd: Defra, UK - News - News releases 2009 - Third sector taskforce on climate change and environment launched - A new taskforce launched today will help the government and the not-for-profit sector to tackle climate change and environmental issues. The group will be jointly chaired by Defra, Department of Energy and Climate Change and Cabinet Office ministers and third sector representatives and aims to identify specific actions that Government and … [Read more...]
Links for February 22nd to February 23rd
These are my links for February 22nd to February 23rd: GOOD.is Transparency - Getting Around - A nice graphic showing how much energy is needed for various different modes of transport. Cycling comes out best. Free Wifi in London...Mapped - Londonist: London News, Food, Arts & Events - Does what it says on the tin, i.e. maps free wifi locations in London :) How we can fix the Plone skin situation - To summarize our overall conclusion… I’ve heard a number of people say … [Read more...]
Links for December 9th to January 8th
These are my links for December 9th to January 8th: Mind42.com - Collaborative mind mapping in your browser - Mind42.com is a browser based online mind mapping application. With Mind42.com installing mindmapping tools is no longer needed - for a hassle-free mindmapping experience. Just open the browser and launch the application when needed. Chronology of Money Timeline - What lessons does monetary history offer that are relevant to today's economic, political and social problems? Chelsea … [Read more...]
Bolivian government calls for Open Source Appropriate Technology
The following text on development in the context of climate change, by Evo Morales, president of Bolivia, contains 20 proposals, three of which are an undisguised call for the development of open and shared designs for appropriate technology. This is a great step forward towards peer to peer policy formulation. Evo Morales on technology transfer to developing countries: “13) Innovation and technology related to climate changes must be within the public domain, not under any private monopolistic … [Read more...]
Links for October 29th to November 3rd
These are my links for October 29th to November 3rd: Royal Bank of Scotland embraces open source - ZDNet.co.uk - The Royal Bank of Scotland has revealed that it is working on a large content management system based on the open source application server Zope. At the end of last year, the bank sent an email to a number of Zope mailing lists, stating that it was looking for a developer to join the CMS development team in its Corporate Markets division, which provides financial services to large … [Read more...]
More money books
A while back I posted Money Books, a collection of my favourite books all about money. Now, with the global economy struggling on all sides with economic collapse, climate change and peak oil very much beginning to kick in, I thought I share a few more good reads on the subject. Hopefully lots and lots of people will read these books and we can finally move away from Money as Debt madness towards a saner banking system. : [amtap book:isbn=0816649634] "A firsthand view of local currencies … [Read more...]
Transition Handbook
UPDATE: The Transition Handbook is now online in a wiki! :P UPDATE: download Transition-Handbook.pdf UPDATE: download Transition-Handbook.odt See also: Transition Primer [amtap book:isbn=1900322188] I really can't recommend this book highly enough, but if you need more convincing... "a must-read labelled, 'immediate' " - Jeremy Leggett, founder of Solarcentury and SolarAid "The Transition Handbook will come to be seen as one of the seminal books which emerged at the end of the Oil Age" … [Read more...]
Damaging property to prevent climate change is legal
A while ago a couple of peace activists who broke into a military airfield to damage B52 bombers argued they were preventing a greater crime and won their case (see www.b52two.org on web archive for the story). At the time I wondered "what if you used a similar defense for an action to prevent climate change"? Well, that has now happened and the jury is out, damaging property to prevent climate change is legal: Kingsnorth trial: Coal protesters cleared of criminal damage to chimney The trial … [Read more...]
Links for August 26th to August 27th
These are my links for August 26th to August 27th: Landlords welcome 'positive squatting' | Society | The Guardian - Positive occupation. Squatters often evoke a negative image, but more and more empty properties are being taken over and brought back into use for the community - and some landlords are welcoming them. Diane Taylor reports desk space - Rent your own desk space in a cool, bright top floor re–furbished leather factory in zone 1. The open plan space occupies the entire top floor … [Read more...]