Fun

Green Surfing

- Adam Clare 1 Comment

Surfing is fun, and now surfing can be green and stylish thanks to the Eden Project.

The ultimate in sustainable surfboards is made from more environmentally-friendly materials than those used in conventional board production.
The board’s national launch this week is the result of a five-year collaboration between the Eden Project and three other Cornwall-based companies, Homeblown, Sustainable Composites and, more recently, Laminations.
At last we’re able to offer surfers the chance to own one of the most sustainable surfboards in the world, available right here in the UK.
This is a real Cornish success story, the Eden team championing the idea, local companies developing innovative technology and then being able to sell it at a very competitive price.

Good Colourful Contrails

- Adam Clare

We’ve all seen contrails in the sky from heavier than air transportation on wings, but now a design collective has taken contrails to the road. Instead of using giant pollution machines to create clouds (which ironically could help delay global warming) the designers are using chalk to add colour to the road and make drivers more aware of the cyclists.

THE ROAD: A bicyclist on the road often feels that they are under assault by passing vehicles. Particularly in cities where bicyclists seem rare, motor vehicles aggressively dominate the road, discouraging potential bicyclists from joining in.

THE CONTRAIL: Contrail is a small bright bike accessory that allows bicyclists to color in their own space on the road. It’s like playing with sidewalk chalk, but faster.

THE WORKS: Contrail holds 200 grams of chalk, enough for about 20 miles (32km) of riding. It functions much like a carpenter’s chalk line: A small amount of powdered chalk is filtered through a brush inside the device and picked up on a felt wheel. The felt wheel transfers this chalk onto the rear tire leaving a fine layer. As chalk builds up, the tire leaves a faint line of color on the roadbed. This is you contrail. It is a colorful and ephemeral representation of your path.

Parents: Forget the station wagon or SUV

- Adam Clare 1 Comment

Bicycles are key to a vibrant city and parents shouldn’t fear taking their children along on a ride. Over at the Spacing blog there’s a short post on riding with kids with a good discussion about bikes in Toronto that the post spurred.

No need to hesitate – put the fun between your legs! Go out and ride 🙂

Either enjoying the ride on their parent’s bike or following behind on their own bike, children are as much a part of urban bicycle commuting as anyone else. Contrast this with Toronto where you rarely see kids riding on a main street and parents who tow their children in bike trailers often receive disapproving looks or concerned stares from passersby. Granted, there are reasons for this. But don’t blame the weather. Note the bulky jackets and scarves in the above photo – temperatures are regularly dipping below zero in Amsterdam. Not as cold as Toronto – and minus the snow – but it doesn’t have to be warm and sunny for Amsterdammers to get on their bikes. It is true, though, that Toronto roads don’t feel nearly as safe as Dutch roads for cycling.

World’s Friendliest Countries

- Adam Clare

Forbes has the result of an international survey that set out to find the friendliest countries. From the full article:

Canada is the most welcoming; almost 95% of respondents to HSBC Bank International’s Expat Exploreer Survey, released today, said they have made friends with locals. In Germany, 92% were so lucky and in Australia 91% befriended those living there. The United Arab Emirates was found to be the most difficult for expats; only 54% of those surveyed said they’d made friends with locals.

World Eden Project Planned for Bristol

- Adam Clare

This is really neat! Bristol’s zoo is planning to rethink the zoo concept and create a place that will be like the garden of eden for wildlife.

The timing could hardly be more prescient. Last week the International Union for Conservation of Nature, the world’s largest environmental body, predicted that up to a fifth of all mammals are now facing extinction. At least 76 species are known to have died out since the 1500s with a further 1,141 of the 5,487 mammal species currently endangered.

Under the plans submitted to South Gloucestershire Council, Bristol’s “eco zoo” could connect the inherent interest value of captive animals with the conservation methods needed to save their wild cousins.

The whole idea of captivity will be reduced to a minimum – this zoo aims to be to animals what the Eden Project is for plants. The often controversially cramped spaces of the Victorian era’s most famous zoos are gone – replaced with open land, moats and ditches. Food for the animals will be organic, while 80 per cent of the building material will be locally sourced and sustainable.

But most importantly, the four themed areas of the park – which if given the go-ahead will be open by 2012 – have all been chosen to reflect specific areas of the world where conservation is desperately needed to save critically endangered species.

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