ivili

innovations for sustainable living from around the world

ivili
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  • London
  • United Kingdom
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Wanted: cheap solution for using sun as power source
5 Replies

Started this discussion. Last reply by Bodhi Garrett Oct. 8, 2009.

 

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Latest Activity

ivili now has NutshellMail
March 11
ivili now has RSS Pages
January 21
ivili now has groups
November 19, 2009
4 blog posts by ivili were featured
November 3, 2009

Profile Information

Do you have your own website, blog, forum or social network?
http://www.ivili.org
Is there is another relevant website connected to your work you'd like featured please list it here
http://www.bigpicture.tv
What's this website for?
it's a guide to the best in green travel acros the world, but with a focus on the UK and Europe.
Anything else? What's your story? Give us a bit of background about yourself (if you like).
Ivili was founded by Jeremy Smith.

I am the former editor of the Ecologist magazine (www.theecologist.org).

i am co-author of 'Clean breaks - 500 new ways to see the world' (Rough Guides, August 2009)

I am on the advisory board of Garden Africa, a charity working for food security and sustainable livelihoods with communities in Southern Africa.

Ivili's Blog

ivili

Fusion project co-ordinates disaster relief



PORT-AU-PRINCE- Imagine this: An entrepreneur wants to start a new corporation, so he employs 100 people. To each person he gives a separate task. To one individual he gives
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Posted on March 27, 2010 at 3:09pm —

ivili

Taking libraries to villages in India

In a village about 50 kms away from Ahmednagar in western Maharashtra, Sunita Padwal (12) has the distinction of standing first in her final examinations

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Posted on March 15, 2010 at 12:36pm —

ivili

Africa Rural Connect Kicks Off 2010 Ideas Competition

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Posted on March 11, 2010 at 10:00am —

ivili

Green Hamlet builds ecovillage in Poland


Green Hamlet is a group of friends putting the building practices presented at natural homes and earth hands and houses in to practice.
We are building our ecoVillage in Poland, not far from the medieval town of Olsztyn. The first phase of the hamlet is to get building permits, a reliable supply of water and some basic buildings to support the builds between 2010 and 2013.

Green Hamlet lies in War… Continue

Posted on October 21, 2009 at 9:52am —

ivili

New book - 'Citizen Engineer' - available for free download off web

Citizen Engineer is a fusion of ideas, information, advice, and opinions from the authors, their colleagues, and dozens of other sources, brought together to provide you with the tools and insights you’ll need to maximize your success in a new era of socially responsible engineering.

The information in these pages will be most relevant to engineers who design and build “things”—engineers in fields… Continue

Posted on October 21, 2009 at 7:36am —

Comment Wall (9 comments)

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At 3:25am on April 13, 2010, Timothy Rayner said…
Hi Jeremy,

Yes, love what you are doing here. Simon Robson, the director of 'Coalition', emailed me with an enthusiastic message: 'This is precisely the kind of thing we're talking about in the film!' I confess I haven't yet had time to take a good look around - hopefully tomorrow. Even if I can't help out with suggestions, I'll be directing people your way whenever I talk about the ideas in the film.

All the best,
Tim
At 2:10pm on May 27, 2009, Bodhi Garrett said…
Hello all,

Looking forward to contributing what I can to this forum, and will start with comments and feedback within the next few weeks.

Cheers,

Bodhi
At 7:29pm on May 15, 2009, Mentalfloss said…
Job = government/public sector. Job title = senior policy strategist
At 8:33am on May 12, 2009, Lawrence Buckley said…
Hello,

Well this is very exciting. You will have to tell me about how this all came about latter.

The 'other' is just me being reserved while I look around. A few of those boxes apply to me.

The thing I most fear about social networks is the distraction. I am easily distracted.

Looking forward to seeing you latter old chap.

L
At 6:02pm on May 11, 2009, George McAllister said…
I think you should keep it running. I constitute only one opinion on this. I was also excited about it as a concept - but was just disappointed by their response to further enquiries. We thought about including one at our Chelsea garden - hence my contact with them to see how we could possibly add value, as opposed to simply providing a nice marketing tool (for which they could also not find any money!). however, others may have other experiences - or may benefit from my experience. Who knows? And yes, presumeably this is exactly what this site it for. Keep going - most of us need to be prompted!
At 5:47pm on May 11, 2009, George McAllister said…
My primary problem with all pumps is that the NGOs that flog them rarely go the distance in supporting the communities that buy in to them (or the goverment agencies that purchase them in vast amounts - as, let's face it, this is really the objective of the pitch). When contacted, PPs seems not to be very different. Asked if they work with communities to assist them to understand the value of the resource (the aquifer, not the pump) they sounded perplexed. This is typical of people who develop technology - however simple it may at first appear. If PPs didn't understand this question, then how are communities expected to? A community which cannot see its resource, and the depletion of it, requires assistance in understanding that is is not infite, and that they must therefore 'feed' it, by plannning and planting around it - as well as creating a communal system for management and responsibility. When we offered to come on board to assist in this regard, they stated that they didn't have the budget. Not sure why not - company with substantial profits. That they didn't sound interested in issues of resource sustainability, did not fill me with confidence (same issue with OXFAM et al). Especially as this material could be simply integrated in to their existing installation workshops. The first step for any school would surely be to capture & store rainwater. This would be our starting point. And not until it has shown willing, would we attempt something more involved, which requires serious committment.

More amusing concerns re this systems is the accusation of child labour - when children should be inside learning (or in our case, outside in the garden learning). But the reality for the community- based care takers of any school garden is that holidays are long, and this is the time when school gardens are at their most vulnerable from drought and neglect. Children naturally don't walk long distances to school in the holiday, having other chores to attend to - even if there is a playpump.

Added to which, I have so far come across 2 (out of 3) PlayPumps which are out of service, and apparently had been for some time. I gather that people from PPs had been contacted, but no-one had been to fix it - despite the mechanism being simple to maintain and repair. Not so sustainable afterall?
At 5:03pm on May 11, 2009, George McAllister said…
Well hello! Yep - heavy defra report is now done and dusted, so am more relaxed, and with time for visitors. You are most welcome - so let's see you down here one day very soon.
Love the solar water heating idea. Not sure about PlayPumps - have done some research on them for our programmes. Critical and fundamental problem is that kids don't play during long school holidays when gardens still need to be irrigated. Mechanisms seem problematic, and PPs don't seem to come out to fix them! Seen a few lying broken already. Happy to report. G
At 1:42pm on May 11, 2009, Asit Biswas said…
Thanks J.I will be away from tomorrow until 21st May and would expect exiting stuff when I join back on my return.
At 7:59am on May 7, 2009, Gopinath Parayil said…
I was forced to join ning earlier as some of my colleagues were here ...never used it actually. for some reason didn't find it appealing... in any case most SN sites are "acquired tastes" and I might change my opinion..
 
 
 

Forum

Chris Watkins

License concern... 2 Replies

This is hard to categorize as seeking a solution - but I am seeking a response so I'll post here. Jeremy, I love that you've tagged the site with a Creative Commons license. I do strongly suggest no…

Tagged: knowledge-sharing, licenses

Started by Chris Watkins in Solution Wanted.... Last reply by Chris Watkins Dec. 23, 2009.

Carol Horne

Floating gardens: growing food on flooded land

This solution was created by Practical Action, adapting to climate change in Bangladesh http://practicalaction.org/food-produc of the land in the Gaibandha district of Bangladesh is covered by water…

Tagged: floating, gardens, hunger, agriculture, flood

Started by Carol Horne in Solution Offered... Nov. 20, 2009.

carolyn ingle

Can Straw bales be used externally to retrofit an existing building? 5 Replies

I want to use straw bales to retrofit an existing brick building (small detatched cottage in London) in order to improve its insulation. Is this possible and does it have any implications re intersti…

Tagged: insulation, bale, straw, building

Started by carolyn ingle in Solution Wanted.... Last reply by carolyn ingle Oct. 23, 2009.

Carol Horne

UK too reliant on imported food? 3 Replies

51% of British food is imported. This means our food supply is not secure (although of course Britain's food supply is nowhere near as vulnerable as that of developing countries). There are also envi…

Tagged: food, imported

Started by Carol Horne in Solution Wanted.... Last reply by Job S. Ebenezer Oct. 23, 2009.

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