Esquire has a short little article outlining the top four ways that algae can be used for energy production.

Dark Fermentation
Most scientists believe photosynthesis is the key to algae oil. Solazyme sees it as the problem. Algae can convert sunlight into chemical energy, but not nearly as efficiently as other materials–industrial wastes, switchgrass, low-grade molasses–can. So Solazyme designed a process that lets algae feed in the dark on input biomass rather than sunlight, cutting down the conversion process from weeks to days. The company’s end-product diesels meet the same standards as nonalgal diesels, and it expects their price to be on par in two to three years. Until then, the company, which signed a development agreement with Chevron this year, will continue to clock miles in its algae-powered cars, standard vehicles purchased straight off the lot.

Planet Green has some tips on how to save time and be greener during the holidays. It’s easy being green.

Be casual about the holidays.
The holidays are about spending time with the family not getting all decked out in formal gear and having a five star meal. Spend Christmas at home with your family and instead of your holiday best, wear PJs and relax. Assign each family member a dish that can be prepared ahead of time so you won’t be a slave to the kitchen for hours and hours.

Tonight I joined a dynamic discussion about how to make TheStoreFront Community project self-sustaining...and I couldn’t help but flash back into the early days of when TakingITGlobal was founded and we had our discussions on what future directions we would take and how our ideals and dreams could be transformed into actionable plans. Of course, even after 9 years of having the ‘idea’ of TIG, the essence of having challenging strategic conversations still remains part of my current reality – however the energy in the room this evening reconnected me to the Fall of 2000, when we hosted meetings with invitations sent out to friends, organizations and those who joined our website from Toronto.



The dynamics of the room jolted from cohesive and interconnected to somewhat tense given the financial realities of the project. Earlier this year, a 1000 square foot store front space was established in order to serve as a support and communication network in the context of an urban village. Starting in January, the costs of rent will be doubled and the project in its current state does not generate enough revenue to afford costs of rent or administration. That said, an exciting range of events have taken place in recent months including a documentary with interviews of people in the neighbourhood, the inaugural BIG on Bloor Festival (bigonbloor.com/festival), the “b-l-o-o-o-o-r” design campaign including sales of well designed American Apparel t-shirts and bags, the “Everything Local” silent auction event and hosting of meetings, events and exhibits including the Afri Village Fest front window presence & photo documentation.

The project was made possible through a partnership between ThinkTankToronto, Business Improvement Area Office, and a group of students and faculty at the Ontario College of Art and Design (OCAD).

A key driver and designer of the initiative is a former TakingITGlobal staff member, Ghazaleh Etezal who is currently 21 and worked with us as a graphic designer in 2006. As I connected with Ghazaleh this evening, it was amazing to see her in action in her role as one of the connectors and in hearing people reference her contributions of design, research and coordination for TheStoreFront. It was also great to chat with Ghazaleh this evening and hear her attribute TakingITGlobal as part of her inspiration for the project.



In many ways, the place based goals of creating community for TheStoreFront initiative are aligned with the global online community objectives for TIG. As explained on the website, TheStoreFront aims to be “the common space between two separate disconnected worlds of youth, institutions, neighbourhood NGOs, programs and services available within the BloorCourt and BloorDale Villages (Christie to Lansdowne on Bloor West).” On a conceptual level, it is intriguing for me to observe and be part of a conversation about how to grow and sustain a space that supports vibrant community engagement.

Some of the ideas shared this evening that are most interesting to me include:

- Having a paid membership fee (i.e. $10/month)
- Hosting regular meetings (weekly or monthly) for ‘members’ to attend which would serve as a social space, with topics of discussion
- Utilizing the space to feature the products of local artists (i.e. clothes, jewlery, artwork)
- Having a cafe space with organic chocolate & other organic snacks sold
- Renting out the space to community organizations for events/meetings
- Offering workshops to help meet needs of community members (i.e. English as a second language, or focusing on a particular craft/skill with guest speakers etc).
- Establishing a core base of volunteers (i.e. a partnership with the neighbouring Working Women Community Centre), to offer an experience for newcomers to Canada living in the neighbourhood which would help to ensure that core responsibilities are fulfilled (i.e. keyholders with people who are responsible for opening & closing up the space)

One concern that emerged from the discussions was the issue of timing and how challenging it will be to raise sufficient funds in time for the end of the year. There was some discussion on what the concept or project would be if it did not live in the specific space at 957 Bloor W – however most of the ideas generated were aimed at trying to keep the space alive.
If it ends up not being feasible to maintain the 957 Bloor W StoreFront space due to costs, my recommendation is to develop stronger partnerships with existing places designed for the community (i.e. local community centres, employment centres, libraries etc) and try to help revitalize existing spaces that are supported by the government and that have a history of serving the community. While I love the idea of transforming commercial spaces into being community driven and serving, it may be too challenging to develop a financially sustainable model at this current time due to current economic realities.

On a final note...I do hope that the financial challenges can be overcome and that a proven model can be developed, shared and scaled with other communities!

Here's a list of who came:

Night at the Indies / Meow Films: Gurbeen
Community Arts Collective / Daily Bread Food Bank: Jim
BIG and BIG Festival: Ann
People Plan Toronto: Ann
DIG IN: Donna / Ann
Torontopedia: Himy
Working Women: Diana / Jessica
BloorCourt BIA: Shelley
IF Theatre: Sara
Supportive, active, creative, engaged dedicated locals: Ryan / Michelle / Phil / Darcy / Leah / Leigh / Chatherine S / Craig / Camilo
Delaware Residents (Street Festival): Rosalie
Delaware Open Space: Darcy
Humanist Movement: Nick / Roberto
Sistering (past Chair): France
Green Party: Steve
Annex Lions Club: Monica
Wireless Toronto: Gabe
Concord Café: Genoveva
Christie Ossington Neighbourhood Centre: Tim
Dufferin Grove Residents Association: / Rob
Anarchist U: Christian / Maggie
Laidlaw Foundation: Ana
Globe & Mail: Nadja
Property Owner 957: Robert Markovits
Chemistry Branding (consultant and partner): Will
Jim Allen Photo: Jim
TakingITGlobal: Jennifer

[unconfirmed]
Freedom Clothing: Amanda
Parkdale Liberty: Jennifer
ArchiTEXT: Zahra
Long & McQuade: Jon
Toronto Poets: Jason / Hajile
Linux Caffé: David

Today Portugal turned on its offshore wind farm, the wind farm will provide energy for up to a million people.

A total of 120 windmills are dotted across the highlands of the Upper Minho region of Portugal as one of western Europe’s poorer nations continues to forge its reputation as a renewables champion.

“Europe’s largest onshore wind farm is now fully operational,” a spokeswoman for France’s EDF Energies Nouvelles, which co-owns the farm, announced this morning.

The two megawatt turbines on each windmill deliver electricity to a single connection point with the electricity grid and should supply around 1% of Portugal’s total energy needs.

Lots of countries are handing out stimulus packages to try to stop economic turmoil. It’s great to see that China realizes that the future of the economy is green. China is investing in knowledge-based employment and green infrastructure.

For several years, the Chinese government has been sponsoring a shift from energy-intensive to knowledge-intensive jobs and economic activity. China’s recently-announced $586 billion stimulus package (Rmb4,000bn, £380bn) will transform its economy even faster, by promoting economic restructuring and essential green infrastructure.

The slowdown makes this transition all the more urgent, because GDP growth in China’s service sector produces more jobs than does the industrial sector. With recent GDP growth rates above 10 percent, China’s heavy industry generated enough new jobs.

But with slower growth forecasts, continuing large cohorts of high school and college graduates, and its rural population moving to non-agricultural employment, China needs to generate even more jobs from its economic investments.

Many details on China’s stimulus package have yet to be released, but what we know so far is promising. It includes 12 percent for direct energy efficiency and environmental improvements. In addition, the programs doubles—to $85 billion—investment in rail transport (a lower-carbon alternative to road and air transport), and adds $70 billion for new electricity grid infrastructure.

New, more flexible and sophisticated grid infrastructure is vital to increasing the efficient use of both traditional fuels and renewable energy sources. Furthermore, the stimulus package promises considerable investment in health, education and rural services. These sectors are both less energy intensive and strong on promoting jobs and welfare.

مرحبا جميعا،

اتمنى ان تكونوا في أحسن حال.

اود ان اذكركم بالدردشة الحية حول "الإعلام الحديث والحوار بين الثقافات"والتي ستكون غدا السبت 29 نوفمبر من الساعة 4-6 مساء بتوقيت جرينتش.

سنستضيف متحدثين مميزين من دول مختلفة ليشاركوا معنا خبراتهم حول هذا الموضوع، لذا نتمنى ان تكونوا معنا في هذه الدردشة
للمشاركة الرجاء الدخول هنا:
http://www.takingitglobal.org/connections/chat.

شكرا

تالا النابلسي

Hello Everyone,

I just want to remind all those who have registered on the event page with our Live chat tomorrow Saturday 29th at 4.00 pm GMT.

It will be taking place here: http://www.takingitglobal.org/connections/chat/


For those who are interested to join and didnt RSVP yet, please do.

Thanks and hope to see you all in the live chat!

Tala

I’ve never built a roof before, but now I want to build a reciprocal roof. Go ahead and take a shot building your own roof!

What is a reciprocal roof?
A reciprocal roof is a beautiful and simple self-supporting structure that can be composed of as few as three rafters, and up to any imaginable quantity (within reason, of course). Reciprocal roofs require no center support, they are quick to construct, and they can be built using round poles or dimensional lumber (perhaps with some creative notching). They are extremely strong, perfect for round buildings, and very appropriate for living roofs, as well. The reciprocal roof design was developed by Graham Brown in 1987.

Growing your own food is good for the planet and for your pocketbook - so why don’t people grow their own food? It’s a really good question (particularly for those who choose to live in the suburbs to have a backyard), and we really should be growing locally. There are more and more people saying that governments of all sizes ought to encourage people to grow their own grub.

Well, opinion formers such as Monty Don showing the way forward is always going to help. That’s why I really like the idea of the WHO Farm Project in the US. It’s an attempt to convince Barack Obama to also reach for the spade when he takes the keys to the White House in January and symbolically dig up the famous front lawn in order to toss in some vegetable seeds. It’s exactly what the Roosevelts did during the second world war and it helped to inspire over 20m so-called “Victory Gardens” across the US.

The garden at 10 Downing St isn’t blessed with quite as many rods of prime growing land, but Buckingham Palace, and other world-famous sites across the UK, certainly are. It’s not as if a decent veg patch needs to take up that much room. And just think of all those other wasted spaces where veg could easily be grown – parks, verges, roundabouts (OK, that might be a little dangerous) and all those monoculture corporate HQ landscaped gardens.

And if Gordon Brown, or any other leader, is thinking about their legacy, what would be better than knowing a vegetable variety has been named after you in recognition of your services to vegetable gardening. The problem for the grateful public would be deciding which vegetable should represent which leader …

Art for me
is a journey
into the unspoken, unknown, unwanted and unheard
realities of our shadows
and of our hopes.

We are suspended in time
glimpsing in the mirror
of our future and our past
They flash before us and cause a jolt
of hope, of fear, of want, of release.

Our senses on overload
we admire and adore
our object of fascination
representing the idol we love
and demon we hate.

we forgive
we empathize
we heal
we bathe
in beauty
and bliss.

This is art
for me.

People experience anger, there’s no doubt about it, but how does one respond to the feelings of anger can change a situation. Fortunately, there are many ways to avoid getting angry.

When negative feelings arise, we have two choices,
To follow the habitual pattern we’ve learned since we were young, to react and allow the negativity to consume us.
Or, to interrupt the pattern we have been conditioned to follow, and in doing so build new neural pathways that allows for alternative possibilities.
There are essentially three ways to interrupt a behavioral pattern:
Visual - Change your thoughts.
Verbal - Change your language.
Kinesthetic - Change your physical position.

Fossil fuels are archaic and I like it when I read about new forms of capturing and storing energy. Here are two new green fuels that are getting attention.

Converting construction waste to hydrogen: Bill Davis of Ze-Gen described his company’s approach to the problem of municipal waste. Each year, the US produces about four billion metric tons of waste that, thanks to the various hydrocarbons in it, actually has about half the energy content as the same weight of coal. Most of that material gets put in landfills, where some of it winds up metabolized into methane, a potent greenhouse gas. Ze-Gen has found a way to liberate hydrogen gas from that waste.
…
Forget green, solar goes Bloo: Right now, there are many competing approaches to photovoltaic technology, but only one of them made an appearance at the meeting: Bloo Solar, which is working on what it calls a third-generation solar brush. Larry Bowden, the company’s CEO, described it as a solution to two of the biggest inefficiencies in solar power: photons that don’t get absorbed and electrons that don’t get transferred to the conducting portions of the device, where they’re put to use.

Being green is good, and it’s even better when being a green business brings in more green.

Creative Finance Options Abound
There are numerous ways to gather the resources to make onsite projects happen. Thanks to the grid, energy service companies can provide some or all of the financing needed. The grid also enables creative partnerships. For example, in partnership with Xcel Energy, Colorado’s Aspen Skiing Company recently financed $1.1 million for a 147-kilowatt solar energy array. Of the energy produced, a third goes to a local school, and two-thirds is sold back to the grid, with profits given to Aspen Skiing Company.
There is a good chance you will find financing for onsite renewable energy projects by exploring partnerships with foundations or exploring funding available in carbon markets for carbon-offsets projects.