This TED Talk is about inventor Saul Griffith’s idea to use giant kite wind turbines to create energy. Watch it now:
Collection of Talks for Inspirational Self-Improvement
Nobody is perfect and everybody can improve their life, the hard part is doing it. Lucky for us Select Courses has a list of 100 talks for self-improvement on topics like how to better respect the environment to relationships and society.
These days, it’s hard to get motivated enough for anything. The economy is down, your savings–if you had any to start with–have probably dwindled, and it’s still easy to get depressed about the housing market, the environment, foreign policy, and even the possibility of sending your kids to college. But that’s exactly why we need inspiration and mood boosters at any cost. Luckily for you, these are free.
20 Amazing Facts About Happiness
Family Health Guide has compiled a neat list of twenty facts about happiness, here’s some good ones:
5) People who rate in the upper reaches of happiness on psychological tests develop about 50% more antibodies than average in response to flu vaccines.
6) According to researchers at The World Database of Happiness at Erasmus University in Holland, Denmark is officially the happiest nation in the world, followed closely by Malta, Switzerland, Iceland, Ireland and Canada.
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13) Having 100-200 belly laughs a day is the equivalent of a high impact workout, burning off up to 500 calories.
Denmark Blogs About Bikes
On the official blog of Denmark (yes you read that right, the country has an official blog!) they have a nice post on the facts of the bike culture in Denmark.
7. The busiest bike stretch in the nation is Nørrebrogade in Copenhagen. 35,000 cyclists use the street each day.
8. The average speed of cyclists in Copenhagen is 15,3 km/h.
9. Danes cycle just over 1000 km a year per capita. The Dutch occupy second place, just under 1000 km.
10. There are 1.7 million people in Copenhagen and 1.7 million bicycles.
11. Only 40% of Copenhageners own a car.
12. 36% of Copenhageners ride a bicycle, 35% take public transport and the rest drive or walk.
New Zealand a Haven for the Eco-Conscious
I’ve never been to New Zealand but I’d love to go; but, if I were to go it sounds as if I’d just have to live there. New Zealand is experiencing and influx of immigrants that are moving there for only environmental reasons.
Liam Clifford, a director of London-based GlobalVisas, writes on the company’s website that while some eco-migrants are from low-lying island nations, many are wealthy Americans and Europeans choosing to start a new life in New Zealand.
“It is seen as a country with a temperate climate that will escape extreme weather. It has a superior environmental record and is developing renewable fuels, and is shielded from conflicts by the Pacific Ocean.”
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John Zamick chose New Zealand as a new home for his family for entirely environmental reasons.In the UK rising temperatures and sea levels threatened to turn the “semi-arid” East Anglia region into a desert – if the low-lying plains are not swamped by rising seas instead.
The businessman, who now co-directs a biodiesel company in Nelson, saw the writing on the wall when he studied the droughts and other long-term environmental effects of global warming in Europe and North Africa.