Year: 2006

Happy World Car Free Day!

people, not cars It’s that time of year again when we care for our fellow humans and we try to make the world a better place. It’s World Car Free Day!

Over in Europe they have Mobility Week, which is far better than just a day without cars. We should all celebrate non-auto transit.

I know in Toronto Yonge St. (a major street) is closed to cars today, and the Sierra Club is behind this. You can easily find out more about Canada Car Free Day. Also in Toronto the group Streets Are For People are encouraging more direct and creative action with tea!

I hope that where you live people have made an effort to stop polluting and live a healthier lifestyle!

Study At Yale – For Free!

Studying at Yale is beyond the means of most, with high admissions standards and a hefty price tag of about $46 000 a year for tuition and board.  Now, thanks to a new initiative to make the Ivy League school more accessible and a $755 000 grant, courses will be available for free on the internet.

This facility is already offered by other institutions including the likes of MIT and Princeton, Yale will be the first to offer videos to accompany course notes and transcripts of lectures. The initiative will include 7 first year courses.

The courses will not be counted as credits towards a Yale University Degree, nor will they substitute normal lectures.

Branson Takes On Global Warming

the future of coolRichard Branson has joined the fight to reduce global warming. Branson has pledged $3 billion over the next decade. The funds will be used to promote and develop alternate sources of energy. The announcement was made at the Clinton Global Initiative, a conference put together by the former president to fight global warming and help clean up the environment. The conference is attended by political, non profit and business leaders. This year’s conference has been far more successful than anticipated. Last year’s conference generated a total of $2.5 Billion in revenue directed at combating global warming; this year’s pledges already stand at $5.7 billion with 114 contributors. The ever charismatic Branson said he hopes the funds will help to preserve the environment for future generations.

30 ways to leave a non-lover

Canadian copyright guru Michael Geist has posted 30 Days of DRM: 30 Things You Can Do. It’s Canada-specific but you an adopt what he suggests to your locality.

Some of his suggestions:
Ask each political party where it stands on copyright.
Write to your local school board.
Buy online DRM-free alternatives
Write to Library and Archives Canada to ask that it support the preservation of Canadian heritage

To find out why DRM isn’t good check out what wikipedia has to say. Basically DRM can limit access to important documents and limit what you can do with things you buy.

California Sues Car Companies for Health Damage

thanks yahooThis is big news! Maybe this will have the same impact that suing tobacco companies had. The state charges that car companies have damaged people’s health because of the emissions of their products.

“California filed a global warming lawsuit on Wednesday against Ford Motor Co., General Motors Corp., Toyota Motor Corp. and three other automakers, charging that greenhouse gases from their vehicles have cost the state millions of dollars.

State Attorney General Bill Lockyer said the lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court in Northern California was the first of its kind to seek to hold manufacturers liable for the damages caused by their vehicles’ emissions.

The lawsuit also names Chrysler Motors Corp., the U.S. arm of Germany’s DaimlerChrysler AG, and the North American units of Japan’s Honda Motor Co. and Nissan Motor Co. Ltd..

The lawsuit charges that vehicle emissions have contributed significantly to global warming and harmed the resources, infrastructure and environmental health of the most populous state in the United States.”