From Daily Infographic (Click on the picture for super massive version):

By the way, we give talks dealing with this topic, and have chemical free / natural cleaners on our shelves at CHOOSE.

The National Climate Change Secretariat in Singapore has launched a portal to gather public feedback on climate change. According to the website:

The NCCS-2012 will build upon our approach to environmental issues as outlined in previous publications such as the Singapore Green Plan (2006) , the National Climate Change Strategy (2008), the Sustainable Singapore Blueprint (2009) and National Communications on Climate Change (2010).

These policies relating to climate change will have an impact on many of us. The Government is therefore embarking on a series of public consultations to seek feedback and ideas on climate change-related issues. We aim to reach out to different segments of the population through an online consultation exercise, focus group sessions and community forums.

Deputy Prime Minister Teo Chee Hean kicked off the process, and “feedback from the exercise will go towards developing the national climate change strategy 2012″, which “will be an important foundation to the long term strategy and actions needed to tackle climate change beyond 2020″. (He has some quotable quotes on CNA, which you might want to check out)

-

Check out the website, and have your views heard

“One Block Off the Grid took a stab at answering the question: “How big a backyard to you need to live off the land?” It turns out, plants like corn, wheat, fruits, grains, and vegetables take a lot of space. Also, to offset the electricity required to power the average home in the U.S. which consumes about 11,040 kWh per year, one needs about 375 square feet of solar PV, or 25 average efficiency solar panels getting about seven hours of sun.”

Putting it into the local perspective, it’s impossible. Find me an average household with about 2 acres of space. Also, 25 average efficiency solar panels is likely above the average pay grade for Singaporeans, what with the car and 2nd house installments, how can we?

Food for thought on this slow Tuesday. Have a great week my friends.

(Click on the pic for big)

Good advice from www.bakadesuyo.com:

Researchers report the simple action of flexing one’s arm — which one does to pick up a basket — increases the likelihood of making impulse purchases we’ll later regret.

“Simply flexing one’s arm leads to a preference for vices over virtues, and for smaller, earlier rewards over larger, later monetary rewards,” a research team led by Bram Van den Bergh of Erasmus University in the Netherlands reports in the Journal of Marketing Research. It appears this routine body movement induces an “I-want-this-now” impulse, weakening our ability to think long term.

Crunching the numbers, they found “The odds of purchasing vice products at the cashier for a basket shoppers is 6.84 times the odds of purchasing vices for a cart shopper, all other things being equal.”

The act of flexing our arm to bring something appealing closer to us morphs into an unconscious belief that an object we are drawing close to us must be desirable.

“We propose that we may not always approach rewards because we want them,” the researchers write, “but that we may want rewards because we are approaching them.

In fact, it’s more common sense than complex theory.

Here’s a primer infographic on how it’s done in the US:

(click on the image)

Social scientist Juliet Schor has a solution that helps with a few problems in the modern world. It’s called the 80% solution – making a four-day work week standard in order to simultaneously reduce unemployment and our environmental footprint.

From Climatide:

Schorr says her idea isn’t as revolutionary as it might seem. Between 1870 and 1973, work hours in several European countries, plus Japan and the U.S. dropped from more than 60 hours per week to the 40 hours we now call full-time. Over the last three and a half decades, Europe and Japan have continued that trend of decreasing the length of the work week. In the Netherlands, four-day work weeks are now the norm.

But the U.S. has been moving in the opposite direction. The average number of hours worked per person has increased by almost 60% since 1973, and we’re now back where we were three quarters of a century ago. Schorr has written two books about the personal, economic, and environmental repercussions of America’s workaholism – The Overworked American, and The Overspent American. She says Americans work more and buy more, but that doesn’t make us happier or healthier. And it contributes to an unsustainable model of economic growth and environmental exploitation.

The solution? Schorr says widespread reductions in working hours would pay out triple dividends.That is, it’s a win-win-win situation:

1. Lower unemployment – Decreasing individuals’ working hours frees up tasks and wages, creating opportunities for new jobs. Schorr argues that dropping working hours is the only way to maintain a growing work force. And between population growth and the fact that working age is extending beyond the traditional 65 years, we certainly have a growing work force that needs jobs.

2. Improved quality of life – Another way of saying ‘four-day work week’ is ‘long weekend’ … every weekend. Schorr says that translates into more leisure time, reduced stress levels, enhanced family life and stronger communities.

3. Reduced ecological impact – Shortened work hours does mean lower household income, and that means less money being spent on ‘stuff.’ That, in turn, means less ‘stuff’ being made using fewer environmental resources. Schorr says that along with reduced work hours comes a shift in the entire economic system, away from manufacturing and consumer spending, toward investment, services, research, and technology.

According to Schorr, the Dutch have generally been happy to trade a 20% drop in income for a 50% increase in time off. If you were offered the option to voluntarily drop to a four day work week, would you take it?

-

I thought about something similar a while back, I had convinced myself that I was onto “The Future of Work”. People were telling me that it made sense, but I (to be honest) didn’t think anyone would be adventurous enough (especially in Singapore) to even consider the idea of allowing a 4 day week. So I put those thoughts back on the shelf.

But now, after reading this…… I feel pretty vindicated that I can back that stuff up with the words of an academic!

It looks like I’ll need to revisit that soon.

-

1. How do you maintain the system?

Worms love organic waste such as vegetables, fruit peels and plant cuttings. We would advise you to feed them a mix of wet (vegetables etc) and dry stuff, such as newspaper and dry leaves. Be warned that worms are sensitive to oil and salt, so avoid feeding them cooked food. Also avoid citrus, because worms don’t have skin to protect them from being burnt by citric acid.

The system should be placed in a cool and shaded area, indoors or outdoors. We would recommend elevating it so that pests can’t get into the system.

2. Will the worms escape?

Worms are afraid of light, they won’t venture out as long as you place your system near a light source. However, from our experience, there will be a couple of “commando worms” who will escape. This doesn’t happen very often, but rest easy, because worms are harmless!

3. How long do the worms live for?

Worms, like most other small creatures live for a short time, but reproduce very rapidly. They’re in fact, “renewing their population” in the system, so you’d typically not have to top them up  on a regular basis. With the right care, and food, your worm community will be thriving!

4. How does the compost compare with normal fertilisers?

Compost from worms are VERY fertile. You can see from the picture above (the bin in our shop) that there’s actually plants growing from the compost! A rough estimate is that vermicompost is 5 times more “potent” than normal compost.

-

If you’re interested in purchasing a system or have more questions, get in touch with us!