Gift To Know

Drip...Drip...Drip

noreply@blogger.com (Shari Creed) — Thu, 25 Feb 2010 15:49:00 +0000

A 5 minute shower uses more water than some populations access in one day.

We use two thirds of our water in the bathroom. Fixing leaky faucets saves 20 gallons per day.

H2flow

noreply@blogger.com (Shari Creed) — Wed, 24 Feb 2010 19:22:00 +0000

Aaaaah Wipeout!

noreply@blogger.com (Shari Creed) — Tue, 23 Feb 2010 19:11:00 +0000

California's water supply is running out. It may have just 20 years left.

(Think this statement doesn't hold water? Ask Governor Schwarzenegger.)

The Council Says...

noreply@blogger.com (Shari Creed) — Tue, 23 Feb 2010 00:03:00 +0000

The World Water Council estimates by 2020 we will need 17% more water if we are to 'feed the world.'

noreply@blogger.com (Shari Creed) — Fri, 19 Feb 2010 22:47:00 +0000

Water has been deemed the new 'Oil' of the 21st century.

It's a $400 Billion Dollar global industry, 3rd only to electricity and oil.

It's future is threatened. It's precious.

And there are no hybrids or alternative options. Yet.

R U Concerned?

noreply@blogger.com (Shari Creed) — Thu, 18 Feb 2010 22:30:00 +0000

Scientists call water one of the 2 greatest concerns for the new millennium.

The other? Global warming.

It's Planetary

noreply@blogger.com (Shari Creed) — Wed, 17 Feb 2010 21:20:00 +0000

And of what's left, only .007% is fresh, accessible, and usable water.

Water Is...

noreply@blogger.com (Shari Creed) — Tue, 16 Feb 2010 18:15:00 +0000

You Turn On The Tap

noreply@blogger.com (Shari Creed) — Mon, 15 Feb 2010 21:12:00 +0000

P!nk Glitters In The Air

noreply@blogger.com (Shari Creed) — Thu, 11 Feb 2010 18:24:00 +0000

P!nk's live performance at the 2010 Grammys reminded us all of what sets certain artists above the rest.

Watching, mesmerized by her performance of singing during an aerial acrobatic routine, a thought occurred to me. There's a reason we call P!nk's brand of creative artist a star.

It's because she pours her heart and soul into entertaining us. Giving us the ultimate show. Tossing her "glitter" into the air to shower us with bright, spellbinding moments. Leaving us with inspiring visions and music to add to the playlists of our lives.

Take a look, have a listen: Throw some glitter into your air.

Photo: Michael Caulfield/Wireimage.com

H2Know: Gift To Know 3 - All About Water

noreply@blogger.com (Shari Creed) — Mon, 04 Jan 2010 15:05:00 +0000

Each year we try to brighten, heighten, enlighten your world with our annual 'if it's good to know -- then it's a GIFT TO KNOW'. This time our focus is on that most valuable and most rapidly depleting liquid coined Blue Gold. WATER.

Not to put a damper on things, but fast-forward 20 years and imagine -- globally, water is rationed per household, per person. No water is safe, not even the water we wash our clothes in, bathe in, let alone the water we drink. Scary?!

Take heart. We're optimistic. That's what the GIFT TO KNOW is all about. We know that when we all share the same common goals -- that's where opportunity lives. And since this series is inspired by the belief that the richest resource we have access to is knowledge -- we know that we're moments away from each person choosing to make a small difference that adds up to a big change. So share this wealth. For you -- me -- us.

To your health. To our health.

Get Organized!

noreply@blogger.com (Shari Creed) — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 18:29:00 +0000

Xobni (“INBOX” spelled backwards). A free downloadable Microsoft Outlook plug-in that helps you organize your flooded email in-box, teaching you time-saving tricks based on hidden patterns in your email usage. Xobni mocks your mind, creating profiles for each email received and forming hidden statistical and social connections through threaded conversations and shared attachments.

EAT

noreply@blogger.com (Shari Creed) — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 18:12:00 +0000

Remember Operation Enduring Freedom?

noreply@blogger.com (Shari Creed) — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 19:43:00 +0000

a.k.a. the Afgahnistan war.

Why has the nightly news stopped reporting casualties by name and rank, instead, replacing them with casualties of pop culture-Paris, Britney, Christie, Anna Nicole? Is it a symptom of Compassion Fatigue-a condition where repeated exposure to the same kind of tragedy dulls our sense, so we no longer feel shock or pain when we hear of it (or worse, witness it)? As we carry on in our life as usual mode while we remain mired in two protracted wars, it's worthwhile to think about what is going on in the lives of families who are living with their impact day in and day out. Our hope is that the information here will provide insight, perspective, and a means by which we can make a difference.

Send an email to your local network and ask them to cover the story of any LOCAL SOLDIER who was injured or killed. Then send emails to Anderson, Charlie, Diane, Bob, Katie and the gang, reminding them that morality always trumps ratings (some have personal blogs, some you can contact via the editors of the news departments they work for).

SOLDIERSANGELS.COM is a remarkable volunteer website that has 20 different charitable programs supporting all branches of the U.S. armed forces. Adopt a Soldier, Angel Bakers, and Blankets of Gratitude are a few charities and programs in which you can participate. The Soldiers Angels slogan, "May No Soldier Go Unloved," encapsulates the motivation behind the group, which was founded by-of course-the mothers of the two vets.

ICASUALTIES.ORG is a website that military families have good reason to visit daily. The site lists the loss of life count from wars being waged. Military families chech it out to make sure their loved one is not listed. Last time we visited, the number of U.S. Military Casualties reported there was 4,209 with 3 pending confirmation, 4,834 Coalition Casualties and more than 30,634 wounded. The site's numbers however, increase daily. A separate site, iraqbodycount.org, based on news reports only, has estimated that the number of Iraqi civilian deaths since 2003 is more than 97,000.

noreply@blogger.com (Shari Creed) — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 17:24:00 +0000

The number of trees needed to offset annual CO2 emissions from one high energy using American:

Green 2.0

noreply@blogger.com (Shari Creed) — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 06:49:00 +0000

Recently, our agency joined the Designers Accord -- a coalition of more than 100,000 designers, engineers, and corporate leaders committed to environmentally and socially responsible design.
Members must publicly declare their participation in the accord, put programs in place to reduce their carbon footprint, and teach employees about the importance of sustainable values in design, amongst other criteria. Aside from enlightenment, membership can spark, innovation, foster a healthy team spirit within the company, generate financial savings and cleanup the planet!

Make sure all computers and lights are set on TIMERS. By turning off your computer instead of leaving it in sleep mode, you can save 40 watt-hours per day. That can add up to $14/computer per year and when you have multiple computers in an office, it’s substantial. Anything plugged into the wall sucks energy, even when it’s not in use(think kitchen appliances like coffee makers, kettles with switches, toasters) -- so whenever possible, unplug.

BE TRANSPARENT! We post our agency’s monthly utility bills in plain sight on out office blackboard. By bringing energy consumption to everyone’s attention at home or the office, we can all play an active role in lowering our carbon footprint, and with it, the bills!

Go to CARBONFOOTPRINTS.COM and take the time to assess your carbon footprint(or your company’s) Publish it and revisit it in a few months’ time to see how you’ve lowered it.

TREES FOR THE FUTURE. Be it for travel for business or pleasure, your daily commute, or a power meeting uptown when you’re downtown -- all add to your annual carbon footprint. We contribute to Trees for the Future, giving us a means by which we can help to offset our carbon footprint by planting trees in designated countries around the world. Though burning fuel, now in the same amount, a tree is being planted -- helping to restore the planet. [treesftf.com]

Smile...It's Contagious

noreply@blogger.com (Shari Creed) — Fri, 18 Sep 2009 16:58:00 +0000

Smiling is contagious.

Like a yawn.

Infect someone

Websites

noreply@blogger.com (Shari Creed) — Thu, 20 Aug 2009 08:29:00 +0000

It seems that every person, place or passing thought has a website devoted to it these days, so it's hard to know which are truly worth your while. Here's a couple websites we feel are worth checking out.

SitorSquat.com. What started as a fun personal blog documenting the locations of toilets in New York City has exploded (no pun intended) into a unique website, complete with pictures and ratings of toilets the world over. Noted with disdain or delight, yet rarely discussed in action -- toilets matter.

Client lunch? Hot-date? Coffee-clatching? Meetways.com calculates the equal point between two distances and finds the closest point of interest -- coffee shop, restaurant, bar -- to meet.

Did you know....

noreply@blogger.com (Shari Creed) — Wed, 05 Aug 2009 17:06:00 +0000

News To You?

noreply@blogger.com (Shari Creed) — Wed, 15 Jul 2009 18:56:00 +0000

Are these new to you? These caught our attention this year. If you already know about them, then spread the word because when you do, the world will be better for it.
The most watched 18-minute session at ted.com is delivered by Jill Bolte Taylor. This Harvard scientist spent her life studying brain activity, then had a catastrophic left hemisphere stroke at 37 years of age. It took her 9 years to reclaim and relearn her life. Her story is remarkable and her life perspective today is extraordinary and inspirational.

Paper Clips. It started with a simple idea in a small rural community of less than 2,000 people in Tennessee when a mostly white Christian community school’s principle wanted to teach the children about diversity and the world beyond their community. They selected the Holocaust as the topic and wanted to signal the magnitude of loss of 6 million Jews through something tangible and accessible. So they chose paper clips as a symbol of each life lost and it mushroomed around the world and into remarkable, moving and inspiring documentary (available on Netflix).

Diarrhea kills 6,000 people daily, most under the age of 5. Mikkel Vestergaard Frandsen’s Life Straw is a $4 drinking tube that removes almost all the disease-causing bacteria, viruses and parasites in untreated water, transforming it into clean H20. He also invented inexpensive insecticide-laced mosquito nets to combat malaria-carrying mosquitoes (he recently sold his 150 millionth net).

Approximately $3.3 million of the $2 billion US toothpaste market comes from China (including major name brands). Because of the recent challenges of monitoring our imported supply chain, we recommend buying products labeled Made in USA. If they aren’t clearly marked as such, it’s because it’s not.

20% less chance of getting breast cancer. 30% less chance of getting heart disease. 50% less chance of getting diabetes. How? Just put one foot in front of the other for an hour a day (a.k.a. WALKING).

Paper or Plastic?

noreply@blogger.com (Shari Creed) — Mon, 22 Jun 2009 18:46:00 +0000

We throw away approximately 21 million tons of paper every year, equal to 175 pounds per office worker. Known as duplex printing, just turnover sheets of paper for internal office docs and you’ll cut the waste in half. Then add the recycle bin and all sides win.

We’re all guilty of it—grabbing a handful of paper napkins at once. But here’s a statistic. During an average year, Americans use approximately 2,200 paper napkins, or six each day. If you use one less paper napkin a day, more than a billion pounds of napkins could be saved from landing in landfills each year.

Photographer Chris Jordan’s Running the Numbers series looks at contemporary American culture through the lens of statistics. Each photo portrays a specific quantity of something. The most memorable (and frightening) is “Plastic Cups, 2008” which depicts one million plastic cups, the number used on airline flights in the U.S. every six hours. [chrisjordan.com] Note: Plastic does NOT biodegrade. It lasts in perpetuity unless recycled.

CSA. Community Supported Agriculture. It’s the buzz. This farming population advocates for true “agriculture”—the use the land for its highest ecological potential, offering diverse crops from fruits to vegetables to eggs, meat, and even firewood, using organic or biodynamic farming methods. The focus is responsible land stewardship that yields productive and profitable farming. To find a CSA near you, go to localharvest.org/csa

SEX

noreply@blogger.com (Shari Creed) — Wed, 10 Jun 2009 07:19:00 +0000

Do we have your attention? You’re not alone. This word has been proven to be one of the three most able to capture your attention (along with “sale” and “free”). Need we say more?

More and more people are using the web to find people whom they’ve felt a real-life connection and subsequently lost track of. The MISSED CONNECTIONS section of Craigslist, for example, has become one of the site’s most popular sections, according to the company’s C.E.O. Last year, a New Yorker named Patrick Moberg took the concept one step further: he set up a dedicated website to track down a girl who he’d seen on the No.5 train (guess what? He found her).

A recent University of New Mexico study found that STRIPPERS WHO ARE OVULATING -- and therefore most fertile -- made an average of $30/per hour more than menstruating women, and $15 per hour more than women elsewhere in their cycles. Strippers on the pill made significantly less than naturally-cycling women overall (we wonder how much fun scientists had conducting that study!)

Taking Back Time

noreply@blogger.com (Shari Creed) — Thu, 28 May 2009 18:25:00 +0000

There are plenty of practical ways we can take back our time. CONNECTING-On our cell phones, on instant messaging, on our PDA's-has become a collective global obsession. But disconnecting has its merits. Anyone who has ever checked their Blackberry at the dinner table, or talked on their cell phone while working out (or grocery shopping, or walking the dog) not only exhibits very bad manners and irritates everyone around them, but also undermines their connection to the moment. May we humbly suggest (or rather, strongly urge) that you 'power down'. Sure, you'll check out for a while, but you'll also reconnect to the stuff that matters.

THANKS! GREAT! PERFECT! There's no human being on email today who hasn't received an acknowledgement of receipt consisting of only one word. Sure, such messages are polite, but the trouble is, downloading, cleaning them up wastes precious time. Try adding-No Reply Neccessary-to the start of any email where a response isn't recquired. These three magical words could help you save up to an hour a week.

A recent UCLA study found that children born to MOTHERS WHO USE CELL PHONES are 54 percent more likely to have behavioral problems. A study done in Denmark cites that when young children themselves are allowed to use cell phones, they are likely to suffer from behavioral difficulties at alarming rates: 25% more at risk from emotional problems; 34% more likely to have difficulty relating to their peers; 35% more likely to be hyperactive; 49% more prone to conduct problems. Ahem!! Power down!

GO OUTSIDE! Farmer's markets are popping up everywhere. For a growing number of us, they've become a ritual part of our lives: the number of farmers' markets in the U.S. has increased 18 percent since 2004. The Locavore and Slow Food movements, which advocate eating locally and seasonally as much as possible, have exploded in tandem. Such patterns have emerged not just because we're more aware of the health benefits of eating organic or the rising awareness of our carbon footprints, but because doing such things satisfies our craving for community and authenticitiy-something neon-lit 'super' markets simply can't provide.

Cutting Down

noreply@blogger.com (Shari Creed) — Mon, 11 May 2009 04:06:00 +0000

We throw away approximately 21 million tons of paper every year, equal to 175 pounds per office worker. Known as duplex printing, just turn over sheets of paper for internal office documents and you'll cut the waste in half. Then add the recycle bin and all sides win.

We're all guilty of it-grabbing a handful of napkins at once. But here's a statistic. During an average year, American use approximately 2,200 paper napkins, or six each day. If each person used one less paper napkin a day, more than a billion pounds of napkins could be saved from landing in landfills each year.

noreply@blogger.com (Shari Creed) — Fri, 01 May 2009 03:52:00 +0000

Remember the "I AM NOT A PLASTIC BAG" canvas totes by Anya Hindmarch, which caused mob scenes at Whole Foods markets when they were first released? Turns out they were made in China with non-organic, non-fair-trade cotton. The designer and distributor (supermarket chain Sainsbury's), said they'd made no claims to the contrary.

While in Paris last year, we happened upon Botanist Patrick Blanc's ORGANIC WALLPAPER-a.k.a. his "vertical gardens"-massive, large scale facades created from greenery for buildings. While his work is displayed and celebrated around the world for its "green" sensibility, his materials include PVC sheets, which are fossil fuel-intensive, chlorine-heavy and non-recyclable.

We're intrigued by Moroccan TREE-CLIMBING GOATS and fainting goats. Just plain amazing.

Some of the wealthiest coastal communities in the U.S. have the poorest water quality. For example, at Santa Monica Beach, just up the shore from our offices, where the median home price exceeds $1-million, there were 76 advisories warning of excessive fecal bacteria last summer alone.

After a British study found that one in ten people hurt themselves by walking into obstructions while text-messaging, a UK charity called Living Streets began testing out PADDED LAMPPOSTS on Brick Lane in London. More fodder for the question-can you walk and chew gum at the same time?

Doctors of New York's Bellevue Hospital recently identified a new psychosis they dubbed the TRUMAN SHOW DELUSION, where people are convince their life is being filmed for a reality show.