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Updates from the Climate Solutions Project
The Climate Solutions Road Tour has not only inspired all of us on it, but also - we've learned - has inspired people all over the world, many of whom we don't even know about yet! Feel free to tell us your story or your solution, or read more about the inspirational impacts of the road tour here. It means a lot ot us to learn how our work is spreading, so please do share it with us!
To hear more about what we're still up to in India, please read more, as we've been sharing our story all around the world and across India and working to implement even more solutions across the nation, from working with filmmakers in Mumbai to ragpickers in Delhi and Ahmedabad. We're passionate about finding and implementing more solutions that are addressing climate change, development, green jobs, and livelihoods all at the same time!
Waste Not, Create More
After the inspirational examples from Darpana and Conserve about reusing plastic bags that the Climate Solutions Project is supporting, as well as Haathi Chaap's innovative paper from elephant and camel dung, we've found dozens more waste product solutions to share! 
In Kenya, artists in the slums are making the most incredible necklaces out of rolled paper. They were a huge hit in Ahmedabad when I went to visit Darpana's amazing work there, both with the women, and with the amazing children there. We're working to see how we could train Indian women to make the same necklaces - though maybe they are already? Have you seen these anywere?
Artists in Madagascar are making incredible art - including my favorite baobab trees - out of old oil drums. The Passer'ailes Artist Community is cooperating with French fair trade agencies to distribute their products equitably, with artists making fair wages.
Social Entrepreneurs & Climate Solutions in Afghanistan
The world of climate solutions, it seems, gets smaller every day. This past week, Deepa Gupta met one of the creators of the remarkable Afghan Reality TV show called "Fikr wa Talash," or “Dream and Achieve," a show on which Afghan social entrepreneurs compete before a team of local business owners for a prize of $ 20,000. The winners -- all innovative climate solutions entrepreneurs.
Faizul Haq Moshkani, a father of nine from Kandahar, won the grand prize (left) with his plastic-recycling business plan and many of the other ideas involved similarly profitting from waste or adding value to environmental services.
More than a million people watched the show each week, making it one of the most popular shows in the nation, challenging social norms and business convention. A government official was sixth to be voted off, well before the far less privileged runner-up, a female entrepreneur who was exiled from her village for having been seen on television. Two of the top five finalists were women, shocking and exciting in a country where women were allowed to work only seven years ago.
Mobile Environment Campaigns: Sounds Familiar?
W
e're glad to see that the Indian government got the message -- people like messages that move!
Here are two more mobile environmental campaigns around India - the one on the right is the Tamil Nadu Energy Development Authority's big truck. It helped us launch our road tour, but it has now set off on its own, to travel Tamil Nadu and teach students about solar and plastic! "A novel aspect of the campaign would be distribution of postcards carrying messages on source segregation and avoiding plastics to students, who could send them to their relatives and friends, Mr. Amuthasekaran said." Neat! Now how about social media -- Twitters?
Environmental Law Strike 1
Written by Nathanael Tenorio Miller
The quintessential question of any activist, other than how they might be fed at night, is how to change the status quo. Grassroots activists change people’s minds. Courtroom activists change the governments’ mind. Lawsuits take forever, cost a ton of money, involve a lot of lawyers and require the use of formal clothing. In their defence however, they do work.
A Few Reflections a Few Months Out
When 20 young people set off across a nation of a billion in three tiny electric cars, it's never quite certain how large their impact will be, how loud their voices can reach. But when those 20 young people have a network of 300,000 behind them and have a vision large enough to include a truly sustainable planet and a new paradigm of development in India, their voices may end up louder than anyone imagined.
We set off across India, from Chennai to Delhi, passing through 20 major Indian metros, not quite knowing what the end product would be. After months of planning, enormous highs and extreme lows, the journey flew by with the same level of emotional extremes as the preparations. We created the project and the journey to discover India's climate solutions and to showcase and share them with the world, while also having a desire to demonstrate another vision. We wanted to show that the impossible was possible, that dreams could become reality, and that sustainable lifestyles could be fun, exciting, thrilling, and incredible!
Grassroots Network Abuzz With CleanTech Ideas
Cross-Posted from Worldwatch Institute, Eye on Earth, www.worldwatch.org. 
Professor Anil Gupta is an uncommon man with uncommon solutions to today's problems.
He believes scarcity is a mother of invention, and that we need to look to the world's poorest citizens for solutions to many of our local and global challenges. 
"Poverty doesn't make you uncreative," Gupta said during an interview at his family home in New Delhi, India. "There are a lot of poor people in this world who are not so poor that they cannot think, or find inspiration to experiment.... They may just not know they have innovated."
Two decades ago, Gupta, a professor at the Indian Institute of Management in Ahmedabad, Gujarat, created the Honey Bee Network to connect grassroots innovators and traditional knowledge holders with the global economic market. The network provides a means for sourcing and diffusing ideas from these individuals, while protecting their knowledge rights and enhancing livelihoods.
Precycle! Think before you buy
Cross-posted from BCIL Alt-Tech Foundations Blog
The classic Reuse, Recycle and Reduce paradigm has been the mantra for a while now. 'Why create a problem and then solve it,' thought the leaders of sustainability movement.
They have coined a word 'Precycle' to promote simple lifestyle based on refusal to buy any time that you can do without. Why buy a packaged grocery and then throw away the packaging material while you could perhaps go in for unpacked fresh ones?
Carbon-Eating Fake Trees - Researchers Develop Air-Cleansing Faux Trees
Cross-posted from BCIL Alt-Tech Foundations Blog
Researchers at Arizona-based Global Research Technologies are working on the first fake tree by combining all sorts of materials that absorb carbon dioxide from the air to mimic a tree’s natural properties. One of the basic materials, for example, is an alkaline resin developed by Professor Klaus Lackner at Columbia University in New York. It reacts with acidic carbon dioxide to do its work.
Since the tree will also store CO2, it’s especially useful for companies like soft drink manufacturers and petroleum companies who rely on CO2 for their everyday operation.
The first tree is scheduled for launch in 2-3 years and will be priced around $150 per ton initially. It’s expected that this price will eventually drop to about $20 per ton as the technology improves and becomes more mainstream.
Credit: Trendhunter
Have you got transformative ideas?
This August 8th-11th 2009, 500 of the world’s most talented, engaged and creative youths aged between 14-18 will come together in Sønderborg, Denmark, to together create innovative solutions to climate change, not political statements.
Bright Green Youth is calling on you to share your ideas with them and win the opportunity to participate in this groundbreaking summit.
For more information, please visit www.brightgreenyouth.org.