Al Gore's Alliance for Climate Protection has been running some new stunning ads on TV.  They are stunning to me because it shows that we may finally be reaching the point where we're no longer fighting over the reality and actually moving to a place where we will take some serious action.  All of the major Presidential candidates affirm the reality of climate change and now the decisions are essentially basically over what the best ways to move to a post-carbon society are.

Anyway, check the videos and check their website.  We *CAN* solve it, but we gotta get started now.

http://wecansolveit.org/

So here's a cool idea I came across in GOOD: There's a website called CarbonRally.com where you read about ways to help the environment by cutting CO2 emissions.  Well, that's not such a big deal, since there are about 5 billion websites out there dedicated to helping people help the world.  But Carbon Rally has a cool hook:

It was early in 2007 when we put our heads together and began discussing how we could have an impact on climate change. More than anything, we wanted to combine our knowledge of consumers, software, and environmental studies to find a new approach to the problem. We talked about our personal attempts to reduce global warming, and we quickly realized that we shared a common frustration. The issue seemed just too big for any single person to make a meaningful difference.

We understood the basic links between energy use, CO2 emissions, and climate change. We also knew that we were comfortable in our habits of consumption, and that big changes weren’t going to happen overnight. We needed to identify some realistic steps to rein-in our behavior and make a plan to accomplish them. Still, it would be hard to get excited about our plan without some sort of feedback loop that showed real progress.

And what fun is that?

That’s when we hatched the idea of Carbonrally. We would create a place where many people could discover and commit to small, positive actions over time. People on the site could propose great ideas for reducing carbon dioxide emissions, and the community would choose the best ideas to pursue as a team. We’d track the collective impacts, and show the power of many people getting the job done together. Bit by bit, the community would learn the connections between climate and lifestyle, and rack-up literally tons of carbon benefits along the way. The Internet would make the process surprisingly fun and social… we’d celebrate and we’d compete!

Let's face it, we all want to do what we can to help the planet, but there's nothing like a competition to make something like this fun.  I mean, what's the point of saving the planet if you can't rub it in someone's face?  Or something like that.

Seriously though, it's a pretty good way of making that one lightbulb you change or that one paper cup you save part of something bigger.  And when you can see how your little actions add up, it starts to seem like a doable thing.

larger view larger view larger view larger view larger view

As much as I like talking about me, sometimes I like to talk about others as well.  This week I wanted to talk about a local crafter/maker who runs My Imaginary Boyfriend.  Her work has been in a number of magazines like Adorn and Bust and featured on boingboing and a whole host of other online sites.   The proprietress (and dear friend of mine) Erika has been in the crafting business for a few years now professionally, but my own shelves are adorned with her cool stuff going back 10-15 years.  She's been showing at craft fairs across the country from New York to San Francisco and will be at the Maker Faire in San Mateo on May 3rd and 4th.  I wrote a piece on my trip to the Maker Faire last year and I'm looking forward to seeing her set up there.

Her work is pretty wide ranging, but most of it is either a bit geeky, a little kitsch, or just pure awesome style.  She has a felt pillow that looks like a log and small felt robots.  She's also made some really cool geek gear like a tie that is quite reminiscent of Doctor Who's tie (the 10th doctor).  What would you expect from someone who made a tiny felt TARDIS to hold her cell phone?  On top of that, the other half of her items would look quite at home in a high end shop or in a quite stylish home.

It's always fun to spend time with people who love making stuff but love making stuff so different from the stuff I can make.  Anyway, if you like the pictures, head on over to her website and check out her blog and show her some love.  You could also head to her store and show her some love too.  :)

[edit: Looking through the photos I chose, I pulled a lot of wood grain.  This isn't a representative sample, just stuff that jumps out at me.  You should definitely click here.  Heh. ]