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Eco Search Ecosia | Saving the forest

I doubt that I'll ever start instructing people to start ecosiing things, but if I am in the mood to surf Ecosia is a great way to do it. The concept behind Ecosia is great. I am a bit tired of filling the Google coffers (the Ecosia promo is quick to remind how much money is made in on-line clicks), but the privacy policy makes up for it - they pledge to delete all personally held data within 24 hours. So if I wanted to shop sustainably on-line I can use a non-profit solution to find what I'm looking for; not only reducing my own footprint but contributing towards the saving of land from future deforestation through their partnership with the WWF.

The science
The science/business behind Ecosia I shant comment on as you can see it for yourself here. They don't have a facility to actually off-set your carbon footprint, but they do reduce it through their solar powered data centre. One thing is for sure - they do have what seems an outrageously high positive impact (9.7 million square meters at the time of writing). My contribution to that so far is measly, but I will be enjoying it grow.

I have also reviewed the benefits of loyalty rewards with SmileCity. With a mind towards only shopping with the partners who were sustainable; I found the NZ market just wasn't sufficiently big for it to be effective. Ecosia has a more collective approach to the problem, and this is apt given that the issue is a global problem, so if I can reach the right companies by using a good search tool, and save a few trees on the way, why wouldn't I?

What's the Catch???

With any new technology/idea that has taken off very fast there are a few draw-backs. I jumped on tonight to clock up some square miles. I had a list of recommendations received over a few summer BBQs and my first search brought back a tagged page error that looked vaguely familiar from my webmaster days and wrestling with MySQL. Perhaps the site is busy though, as the trees being saved as I watch is growing rapidly. Ten minutes later it was working again and I was happily finding my way to the information I was looking for.

As for the quality of the search. It is good but not great. I am a big fan of Google, and I really hope that I can get a Google android phone with an Ecosia compatible browser one day. I'm not sure how open to the idea Google Labs will be. The partnership between Ecosia and Yahoo!/Bing is it's biggest strength and its biggest draw back for a user like myself, it brings a seriousness to the table that so far outweighs any reduced quality of search results, although I do like the previewed results Ecosia gives.

Conclusion

I now use Internet Explorer with my Eocsia tree count in the status bar for the majority of my searching. I simply can't bring myself to shift from Google Chrome for my usual internet work (social networking, YouTube, blogs, news etc). Ecosia has all of the right ingreenients for a strong rival search solution. Even if it only takes 5% of the global market (about what % of a population actually vote for the environment ticket during elections), the difference that will be made in the forests of South America will be a big part of the ground swell of sustainable adjustment the global economy is predicting. With two on-line giants like Microsoft and Yahoo! (Ecosia's partners) leveraging their significant muscle on this initiative I can see that these companies at least are seeing this as a path for their own sustainability - economically, socially, environmentally.

Sustainable Dairy

Every year in South America the North Winds sweep through the continent bringing about the change of seasons. Like the full moon, the winds bring with them an eerie dryness that permeates clothes, moods and behaviours.

Like South America, New Zealand shares a heavy dependence on a strong agricultural sector. I was recently lucky enough to spend an hour with a very switched on farmer from the Waikato sharing a bank with the mighty Waikato river. This is what we talked about.

Soil management in New Zealand is a very topical issue, particularly for dairy farmers who are accused of being responsible for the pollution of our rivers and waterways. However a big problem that dairy faces is embedded values and attitudes over generations on nutrient application techniques (NZ's "green" revolution coincided with Think Big programs and extensive subsidisation during recession). With relatively cheap fertiliser available from mines across the Pacific the mentality has been more is best. But a new generation of farmers are becoming much wiser to systems thinking when managing plant growth conditions.

The balance of Nitrogen, Phosphorous, Potassium (NPK) over simplifies a highly complex system of soil quality, health and pest management. Even with high investment in understanding the science milk quality issues can still arise. Taking a sustainable approach to dairy farming in New Zealand will require a deeper understaning of the life cycle of milk. Instead of focussing on fertiliser input backcasting for sustainability should guide industry and society. The Natural Step uses a 4 step approach known as ABCD (see www.naturalstep.org.nz).

A - Awareness of what sustainability looks like. This is a collaborative approach towards achieving a shared vision for the future. Instead of pork barrelling and horse trading, a focus on understanding the system and the constraints on sustainability. This process could describe a closed loop farming system where flactulence and effluent emmissions are recycled and product is developed without environmental degradation.

B - Backcasting, i.e. what do we need to start doing now and in the future to achieve the vision? What are we taking from the environment, what are we making and what byproducts are we depositing in the environment, what environmental degradation is occuring as part of the process and what effects does this have on society (e.g. is the river clean enough for recreational use?)

C - Creative Solutions - What the system itself (farmers included) must discover. The research of Crown institutes, universities and industry must suppor this - where possible lead without overly focusing on the economy.

D - Decide on priorities - translate the above into action and monitoring.

With the first days of Spring September now is a critical time to be making decisions about our environment. Whether you are thinking about planting vegetables, pruniong trees or making an investment in capital.

Smile City Sustainable Consumer EXPerience

One of the things that the punters hype up as one of the on-line channel shopping innovations is the ability to review feedback from previous shoppers. The innovation in this user-share tool is not so much its carrot and stick approach to influencing trading behaviour but its influence on how traders can adapt their service/products to meet new markets. Anybody who's been on trademe, e-bay or the like will attest to this.

SmileCity - as seen on TV

Here is a site that looks to harness the power of a niche of consumers who will hopefully give in to impulse. That was my first impression after the barrage of offers to earn points. Not exactly the stuff for a sustainable strategy, but I persevered and had a good browse through the discussion boards, and shopping areas. They do have a classifieds section, but the business model here is not dissimilar to a mall, i.e. sell as much product as possible. However, there is something interesting here.

Looking at their Footprint

As one of its Reward Partners says: "In 2005 we sold the bricks and mortar to reduce our overheads to concentrate on selling quality..." certainly SmileCity would likely have a significantly lower footprint than any Westfield mall in the country. But once a product is purchased it still takes a tank of gas delivering the product. With the offers coming to you however (instead of visa versa) the social benefits of visiting a shopping centre would need to be balanced out against greater time available for leisure activities - which e-commerce is all about. So far so good. Maybe there is the potential for a sustainable consumer to join this on-line community build up rewards points (or as they call them experience) and then feedback to the reward partners and community on sustainability.

Conclusion

SmileCity have invested in their site and have some strong reward partners, but actually the consumer experience for me would definitely be with the smaller partners I'd never heard of before. Not being much of a mall guy myself I would rate this site as a potentially sustainable business model.

Sustainable Sabatical

We take a sustainable sabbatical to think about consumerism consumer behaviour and the on-line revolution of social networking..

It is difficult now to find a sensible person who doesn't agree that the environmental degradation that came with the industrial revolution needs to be corrected if our social progress is to improve equitably and sustainably. Which is what we all want right? The Natural Step uses a funnel analogy to describe how we as a society can move towards sustainability. If supply and demand are to reach a stable and sustainable equilibrium then there needs to be something at the other end to suck the poor performers out before they hit the walls of the funnel: consumer choice and producer innovative advantage the sustainable path is.

Part 1, consumer choice.

If you take a look at this video you can see how the earth's population exploded with the industrial age. Population growth is a significant issue when discussing economics. As the sages predicted it has become the harbinger of the end of the industrial age, and although the information age may only be in its early stages already the tools that social change has brought with it allow an empowered consumer experience. No longer do we go looking for products, products come looking for us.

Part 2, innovation

Already the innovative edge of organisations such as those that came from the open source technology (e.g. Google) and networking models (e.g. Twitter and Facebook) are leading e-commerce to a complete conglomerate takeover of the world's economy.

Ok, so that was a little dramatic, but consider how consumer choice has changed. Price is now transparent, and consumers are now basing their spending habits and shopping activity in custom built malls. Rachel Carson's Silent Spring and Naomi Klein's No Logo highlighted the evils of business at a time when business was just getting started. Now, perhaps the age of Green Wash, a new breed of business will rise up from the ashes and challenge sustainable consumers to put their money where their mouth is!

Internet infrastructure is developing to empower users to manage their information in secure and private ways so that they can make informed decisions. The amount of information being built up about consumption on the Internet is enormous, and that is why some of these big behemoths of business are starting to turn the boat around certainly not full steam ahead, but they know that if they don't at least be seen to be moving they will "hit the wall".

On-line sustainable experience

Having a public identity on the Internet is a significant choice to make. Not only are their risks and rewards of interacting with the Internet you are also privy to terms and conditions, laws and protocols that happen behind the scenes. But our extension into social networking with friends and followers where we can elect to receive updates, feeds and newsletters from sites of interest means that potentially your profile is working for you on-line even when you're sleeping! You can even opt in/opt of different add categories so that if you have to put up with billboards, at least you can see things you like.

Green to Sustainable

Whilst one must steer clear of green wash, these new networks create a special democracy of their own. Whether it be a concern about Japanese whaling, war mongering for natural resources or climate change few organisations can afford not to be aware of how quickly damage can be done to an organisation's reputation. In the 1990s a sweat shop movie shown in film festivals was all that it took to wipe millions of dollars off a brand's value. Now with social networking, YouTube channels, viral marketing even traditional media are increasingly investing and merging the two worlds.

The information age could become the panacea to the sustainability issue

Old school hegemony means that many organisations will continue to fight sustainability at every turn, this is where the demand side kicks in. If the number of consumers who tune in to the feedback culture of the Internet continues to grow new loyalties and perceptions based on principles of sustainable development will form and the information age can empower sustainable development.

So does that mean I just have to read the spam that I get, or google a few words before I make an on-line purchase - well yes it does, but it has to be sustainable behaviour. A sustainable sabbatical is required. But before you can go on sabbatical you first need to become innovative and informed.

Ladrones, café/pancito y banda incha Porteño!

Contrary to popular belief, Buenos Aires doesn´t really have bueno aire. The Subte (subway) is champion but without hydrolic 4x4 coche (push chair/pram) functionality public transport is a bitch. Fortunately taxis are cheap as chips and the money you save you make up for in time and hassle.

We had some business to take care of in the city and a nene (child) to entertain. I split off from the mother and we went to Abasto. Abasto is a barrio just past Once (good shopping) on Corrientes (where all the book stores are). It has as its highlight an enormous train station that has been converted into a beautiful example of PorteñoRetail101 - On the upper floor they have El Muséo de los Niños (children´s museum) and loads of arcade style entertainment plus about 3 Evil Ronalds, BurgerKings galore and inflated food court prices. There were some shops too, but you had to be a millionaire to buy anything.

We have been drinking red wine with ice (this is quite normal) and eating lots of cookies. My sweet tooth is really being tested here. Some tips for weary travellers:

• Ladrones (thieves) are very quick and pick pocketers are extremely enerprising. I had my wallet stolen from my pocket and the cheeky sod went to our lavadero (laundrette) and actually àid $15 for my clothes. Once he realised that I had no fashion sense and that my towels were old and raggedy, he took them back to the lady and asked for the money back as he didn´t want to carry them around all day (his wife would pick them up later). The ultimate insult. Two bags of my clothes aren´t worth $15! Argentinians have a call sign when they notice a ladrone scoping a job. If you see somebody clasp there hand near their face they are telling you to secure your posessions.
• If you want to drink beer - it is more expensive if you don´t have an empty bottle to return. You can buy a small botle, but that isn´t very fun. Quilmes was he best brand that we tasted, there red ale is delicious. The Boc was ok too. As far as lagers go, unless you want to pay double the price, Quilmes is better than he rest IMHO (in my honest opinion).
• If you want to eat cheap and well. Ugis Pizza. is a chain in Buenos Aires that is very budget (10$ for a pizza) and has cold beer. However be warned, there are often brawls and killings in these restaurants in the wee hours of the night, so it isn't recomended as a safe haven from the heat.
• The more expensive the Internet, generally the better qualiy machine, taste of coffee and speed of service. If you want to pass hours and don´t care for coffee, there are some locutorios that are extremely cheap and good value for money.
• If you are disabled - go to Uruguay. they are much more respecful of the rights of the individual IMHO. Baby changing areas and public toilets are ¨few and far between¨.
• Saturdays and Sundays there are ferias in Recolleta, Doregga and San Telmo (amongst others). They are full of tourists and the prices are quite high. but some of the wares are irresistable, so be sure to have the cash on hand hat you need - they don't have mobile EFTPOS in this country.
• If you don´t have sugfficient pesos to last the weekend or didn't realise that the banks close at 3pm, you can go to a supermarket and buy a pack of chewing gum wioth USD, but they will use a slightly less favourable exchange rate. so in general its better to have loads of billettes (bills) and a handful of monedas (coins) to avoid being short in change and having to pay more because that is just the way it works in South America. That said. you need o be very smart with your money too. Carrying more than a thousand pesos on your person is risky.

Today is our last day. I am looking forward to a vacation from the family and return to work. See the Picasa post for some images of BsAs.

Check out this blog about Fortaleza, Brazil by ARCSLAND

Carnaval in Tilcara 2009 Images

One of the many ¨diablitos¨. They speak with very high-pitched voices (perhaps to hide their identity), and are extremly cheeky. There are also women dressed as brujas (witches) who run around with giant zanahorias (carrots) - I won´t say what they do with them.




Here´s one that stole my wife a few times. she could barely walk the next day (from all the dancing that is)






This is the mojon (constructed shrine) to the diablito. It is from here that he is disinterrado (unearthed).





A couple of diablos that were encouraging the dancing and the drinking!