Planetsave

Hi, you might recognize that beautiful smiling face before you. That is my face, well it was my face over the last couple of years. I am not here to talk about my face or my smile, which some have called “winning.” I am not even here to talk about myself, although I could do that all day, and I will relate to you my personal experience because that is the only experience I have. The real reason I am writing you today is to point out my hair.

These pictures happen to be in chronological order, so as you may see, my hair has grown a tad longer in the last couple of years. I would like to say that my reasons were always altruistic, but the fact is I just happen to like my hair a little longer.

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Unless you live in an eco village or other form of intentional community, you’re probably curious about the lifestyle. You’ve probably already got some images stuck in your head (I know the commune from Easy Rider always comes to my mind). You may even cling to a few stereotypes. But, as you’ve seen here at Planetsave, contemporary eco village life doesn’t necessarily conform to those stereotypes… it can be both hip and hippie, modern and simple, and, above all, deeply green.

Don’t take my word for it, though — I don’t live in an intentional community. Nathan Brown does, however, and today, he’ll be talking to folks at AwakeNow! Radio about his life at northeast Missouri’s Dancing Rabbit eco village (yep, the same place that PS contributor Brian Liloia lives). Read the rest of this entry »

If you missed Green iPhone Apps Reviewed Part 1: Free Apps, you can see it here. After my first batch of reviews on the free green iPhone apps, I have gotten some great suggestions on green apps. If you have any you you would like to see reviewed, you can comment here, head over to my website www.danielhohler.com, or twitter me @danielhohler. I am not a hard man to find. I have already gotten a whole new batch that people would like to hear about, so it looks like by popular demand there will be green iPhone apps part 3, so stay tuned here on planetsave.com.

iPhone apps are sweeping the nation. For those of us who own iPhones, we know just how useful a good app can be. The problem is that there are so many apps floating around, finding a really good app is like finding the proverbial needle in the haystack. However, don’t fret. I am here to pick up all of those straws of hay and tell you if indeed they are hay, or maybe just maybe, a needle. Or with less metaphor, I’ll try them and tell you if they are any good.

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For years and years, humans considered themselves the one and only makers of tools. Homo sapien literally means “wise man” because we were so intelligent that it was us humans, and us humans alone, who could even have the brain capacity to create a tool. It was considered the key feature of the genus Homo.

Well, that was until people actually decided to carefully look at other animal’s social behavior. It was not until the mid to late 1900’s that people realized “oops us humans are not the only ones to use tools.” Primatologists discovered chimpanzees creating tools for fishing termites out of their mounds, and stones for crushing nuts from their hard shell. Other researchers discovered that gorillas make beds from foliage, as well as sponges out of chewed up leaves.

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Before I get into this topic, please read my article on cancer dedicated to someone special to me, each view constitutes a larger donation to cancer research. http://planetsave.com/blog/2009/07/27/help-me-fight-cancer/

The “green movement” is gaining some steam in the general public, and hey I am all for it.  As long as it doesn’t become a fad that fades away into a footnote like slap bracelets and Crocks. The Apple iPhone is the hottest smart phone going today, and with over 65,000 applications in the iTunes App Store and counting, the usefulness of this pocket device goes up all the time. This can only mean that there will be green apps on the iPhone, and of course there will be some clunkers. With all these apps floating around there must be some gems as well. I’ll give some apps a try and tell you what I think, so you, my loyal reader, doesn’t have to.

(Part 2: Paid Apps, will be coming soon, so check back at PlanetSave.com)

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We’ve all done the elementary school math story problem: Would you rather have $10,000 right now, or a penny doubled every day for a month? Well, in the end, those of us who were greedy enough to take the $10,000 right up front ended up poorer than those who took the penny.

This problem seems silly to us though. Now what about this one. Would you rather take $1,000 right now or $4,000 three years from now? Chances are, you chose the immediate cash. Psychologists use the term ”delay discounting” to describe our inability to resist the temptation of a smaller immediate reward in lieu of receiving a larger reward later. Most people choose the smaller, more immediate reward over the larger “patience is a virtue” reward.

And no matter what the context, discounting stems from three factors: a bias for the present; uncertainty; and projected resources. We are a people who thrive on instant gratification; that’s one reason we love TV so much. It is also a contributing factor to the current economic crisis (and debt in general).

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The European Union (EU) and MTV are working together to get young people involved in the climate debate. The major entities started their “Play to Stop – Europe for Climate” campaign this month. Working with international music artists and other international celebrities, this is a major campaign to mobilize the youth around the topic of climate change, and especially for the Copenhagen Climate Conference in December.

The campaign targets 11 EU countries — Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Denmark, France, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Poland, Romania, Sweden, and the United Kingdom. The campaign will involve celebrities from the various participating countries.
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On the official blog of the US Secretary of Transportation last week, Ray LaHood stated that driving less is the key to reducing carbon emissions, plain and simple. He gave an outline, on his blog, of what he said to the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works earlier that day and this was the bottom line. However, how we get there — how to encourage people to drive less — was another key aspect of his presentation and blog post.
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Ever get upset because you got stuck behind a bus while driving your car? Think again. That bus is saving you time. How many people are on that bus? If they were driving, how many cars would be in your way instead?

A new report by the Texas Transportation Institute (TTI) finds that public transit saved Americans “646 million hours in travel time and 398 million gallons of fuel” in 2007. The 2009 Urban Mobility Report identifies the great advantages of public transit for everyone, not just those who use it. The report also identifies that the cost of congestion increased in 2007 but that it would have increased considerably more (16%, or, an additional $13.7, from two years before) if it weren’t for public transit.
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Nike has a financial investment in getting people to live more active lifestyles, but it is broadening its agenda a bit with a new campaign to encourage people to “Beat Gasoline” and use more muscle power for their transportation needs. In partnership with Youth Noise, the initiative is sending this video to athletically minded kids, informing them that “air pollution causes 2 million premature deaths in cities around the world” and encouraging them to create and enter a video, and vote on vidoes, for it’s Beat Gasoline challenge. The initiative is distributing strong anti-car information through it’s campaign videos, such as: “DRIVING A CAR IS THE MOST POLLUTING ACT THE AVERAGE CITIZENS COMMITS.” Good criminalistic language there.

The competition has weekly winners and a grand prize winner.

Five Beat Gasoline campaign videos are here:

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