Time management

My colleague is very much into personal effectiveness the last few months. He started with reading Stephen R. Covey’s ‘First Things First‘ (‘Prioriteiten‘ in Duth), then got into websites like Zen Habits and Unclutterer. We laugh about it, but the effects are great: he truly became very effective and organized. Because he is doing this, it has a positive effect on me as well. It is inspiring to see someone learn and develop. So, thanks Erik!

Anyway, maybe because of the above, my eye caught this wonderful presentation on Time Management by Randy Pausch (click the video below, slides here) on the web. I watched it, it energized me, and I learned a few things too. He is remarkable, have a look, you will enjoy!

If you like the video above, have a look at this other impressive video: Randy’s “Last Lecture“.

It’s not about energy, it’s about matter

Yesterday I visited the Cradle to Cradle lecture by Louise Vet in Wageningen, The Netherlands (info). Amongst other things, Louise showed some eye-opening pictures to show the problems are not about energy, but all about matter.

Not about energy…

As you have been reading on this blog earlier (see ‘Use current solar income’ (door Emil Möller) and Tweede kamer neemt CSP motie aan (in Dutch)), there is really no energy crisis.

Click the picture for a larger image showing how much solar energy is available. The larger red square on the left shows an area of 254 km × 254 km of hot desert that, if covered with concentrating solar power plants, would provide electricity equivalent to the current annual electricity consumption of the whole world. The smaller square (110 km × 110 km) shows a corresponding area for the European Union (when it included 25 countries). (source: http://www.trec-uk.org.uk/csp.htm)

All about matter…

The picture below is from the article ‘Earth’s natural wealth: an audit‘ published in issue 2605 of New Scientist magazine, 23 May 2007, page 34-41. Read the article, it is interesting. Click the image for a larger view.

Except from the sunlight we receive, Earth is a closed system. The resources we have are finite, and for some of them already within years.

I thought this was a nice and informative picture to share with you… Please support the Cradle to Cradle principles: ‘Waste equals food’ and ‘Use current solar income’.

Guide to greener electronics – versie 7

Eerder berichtte ik over versie 6 van de Guide to greener electronics.

Nu, een kwartaal later, heeft Greenpeace een nieuwe versie uitgebracht.

The Best of… Cradle to Cradle

I thought it would be a nice idea to list ‘The Best Of… Cradle to Cradle Chronology‘, so here it is:

1. William McDonough & Michael Braungart publish their book ‘Cradle to Cradle; Remaking the Way We Make Things‘ (2002, April 22).
2. Release of the movie ‘The Next Industrial Revolution; William McDonough, Michal Braungart, and the birth of the Sustainable Economy (2001).
3. Rob van Hattum / VPRO Tegenlicht broadcasts ‘Afval = Voedsel’ (English) on Dutch television (Dutch video) (English video) (2006, October 2).
4. William McDonough speaks at TED 2005 ‘The wisdom of designing Cradle to Cradle‘ (2005, February 26).
5. Michael Braungart lectures at Stanford University ‘The Promise of the Next Industrial Revolution: Cradle to Cradle Design‘ (audio) (slides) and ‘Cradle to Cradle Design: A New Driver of Business Innovation‘ by Michael Braungart at Stanford University (audio) (slides) (2005, February 15-16).
6. ‘The Story of Stuff‘, a movie from Annie Leonard (2007, December 4).
7. The Atlantic publishes ‘The NEXT Industrial Revolution‘ by William McDonough and Michael Braungart (1998, October).
8. William McDonough speaks at Bioneers 2000 ‘Designing the Next Industrial Revolution’ (script) (video) (2000, October).
9. William McDonough at Vanderbilt University (video) (2006, September 26).
10. Michael Braungart speaks at the RSA concerning their Manifesto Challenge: Moving towards a Zero Waste Society (transcript) (2005, November 9).
11. Planet Prosperity Foundation organizes the ‘Let’s Cradle Congres‘ in Maastricht, The Netherlands (video’s) (2007, November 1-2).
12. William McDonough writes ‘Waste Equals Food; Our Future and the Making of Things‘ (pdf) (Edited from a speech given at the Environmental Forum for Business in April 1997, in Spokane, Washington) (1997, April).
13. McDonough @ Zeitgeist ‘07 (video) (2007, October).
14. Corporate Environmental Strategy: International Journal of Corporate Sustainability (Volume 9, Issue 3, Pages 251-258) publishes ‘Design for the Triple Top Line: New Tools for Sustainable Commerce‘ by William McDonough and Michael Braungart (here too) (excerpt as monthly feature story on MBDC here) (2002, August).
15. McDonough speaking at the working session on accelerating green building, at the Clinton Global Initiative (video 1, video 2) (2007, September 27).
16. Journal of Cleaner Production publishes article ‘Cradle-to-cradle design: creating healthy emissions – a strategy for eco-effective product and system design‘ by Michael Braungart, William McDonough and Andrew Bollinger (Earlier published in a special issue ‘Approaching zero emissions‘) (2007, September).
17. The official Cradle to Cradle Community (forum and blog) is launched (2007, November 7).
18. NPR Webcast: William McDonough The ‘Utopian’ Architect (audio) (2002, April 24).
19. William McDonough gives presentation ‘Building the Future: The AEC Industry’ (audio) at Autodesk University (reactions) (2007, November 28).
20. William McDonough spoke at the New Jersey Institute of Technology (NJIT) about how the use of technology is integral to its creation, application and value (video) (2005, October 28).
21. The Monticello Dialogues, Part 1: Democratic Design and Part 2: A Revolution in Thinking and Part 3: Design as Celebration (2001, May), Part 4: The Rebirth of the Commons and Part 5: Designing Peace (2002, April) and Part 6: Cradle to Cradle; Going Green (2003, May).
22. VPRO Tegenlicht broadcasts ‘Afval is Voedsel Deel 2; Een revolutie in Nederland‘ on Dutch Television (Dutch video) (2007, November 26).

(These sources are all marked in the chronology).

Do you think any item is missing in the ‘Best Of’? Please send me an email.

Stroke of insight

I am thrilled about this talk ‘My stroke of insight‘ by Jill Bolte Taylor at TED 2008. Have a look too, it is great!

It is marvelous to see how much different potential we have in our brains. Like for many others, my left hemisphere is trained and easily accessible. What if we all could access the qualities in our right part of the brain a bit more… Are there ways to access these qualities? I remember seeing ‘The Inner Savant‘ on Discovery channel where in an experiment the left part of the brain was temporarily turned off, giving the person instant improved drawing qualities. Try to see the documentary yourself on Discovery some day, I couldn’t find it online (yet). What I did find is this amazing video ‘Savant Drawings‘, showing the abilities of the brain.

Anyway, I hope you enjoy these videos and maybe inspires you to explore the ways to your right hemisphere a bit more…

Tweede kamer neemt CSP motie aan

Soms verdient de politiek een pluim. Gisteren heeft de Tweede Kamer met meerderheid van stemmen de motie aangenomen die door Boris van der Ham (D66) en Wijnand Duyvendak (Groen Links) is ingediend. De regering is verzocht in overleg te treden met landen in het Middellandse Zeegebied, inclusief de Noord-Afrikaanse landen, over de toepassing van Concentrated Solar Power (CSP), en binnen de Europese Unie initiatieven te ontwikkelen om een geza-
menlijke inzet op CSP-installaties mogelijk te maken

Felicitaties aan de stichting ter bevordering van Grootschalige Exploitatie van Zonne-ENergie!!

Wil je weten hoe geweldig concentrated solar power kan zijn? Klik op de bovenstaande afbeelding voor een grotere weergave van hoeveel zonneenergie beschikbaar is. Het grote rode vierkant aan de linkerzijde toont een gebied van 254 km × 254 km woestijngebied dat, als bedekt met concentrated solar power centrales, evenveel elektriciteit oplevert als de elektriciteit consumptie van de hele wereld. Het kleinere vierkant (110 km × 110 km) levert een vergelijkbaar gebied op voor de gehele Europese Unie (toen het 25 landen telde). (bron: http://www.trec-uk.org.uk/csp.htm)

Lees ook: ‘Use current solar income’ (door Emil Möller).

Duurzame gesprekken

Sinds 15 januari is er wekelijks een Nederlandse topmanager te gast bij “Een Duurzaam Gesprek”. De gasten zijn de Leaders for Nature. Hoe denkt het bedrijfsleven over duurzaamheid, wat doen ze, en wat gaan ze doen? Hoewel de interviewsters (Ilona Hofstra en Marleen Janssen Groesbeek) geen geweldige indruk maken, is het wat mij betreft een aanrader om de uitzendingen te bekijken.

Alle opgenomen gesprekken zijn als podcast (audio) of zelfs als vodcast (video) te downloaden. Ik bekijk ze in de file…