How green is your love life? After Green growth it is time for 'Eco-sex'

 

How green is your love life? 'Eco-sex' gets on it

You drive a hybrid, eat organic, and are passionate about recycling. But how green is your love life?

Think about those lovely Valentine's Day roses and the environmental costs of growing them and the carbon miles involved in flying them in from faraway lands.

And what about used condoms, tossed into the toilet and making their way into sewers that perhaps pollute the ocean?

If an ecologically sustainable life between the sheets hasn't crossed your mind, you're still a "total environmental neophyte", according to author Stefanie Iris Weiss.

But help is on the way with Weiss's new handbook "Eco-Sex", which leaves no stone unturned in its mission to bring the bedroom front and centre into the battle to save the planet.

"I have always wanted to write a sex book. I am a very committed greenie, and I have been a vegetarian for 20 years. I saw a gap in the market and I couldn't believe no one had written about this topic," Weiss, 38, told Reuters.

"I think green sex is having its moment right now. I think it is the next big thing in green. People are realizing that their every day, most intimate habits, are deeply connected to this horrible crisis we are in," she said.

"Eco-Sex" will land on retail bookshelves on March 31 by Ten Speed Press.

From hand-cranked sex toys (and Web sites where old battery-driven devices can be recycled) to healthy, eco-friendly underwear (bamboo) and dating sites for ecological warriors, "Eco-Sex" aims to show readers how to reduce the carbon footprint of their love life -- and have fun doing it.

REAL WORLD EXPERIENCE
 
Weiss, who says she either tried out or reviewed every item in the book, interviewed raw food chefs to get recipes for aphrodisiac meals for two, suggests the ideal first eco-date (biking), and recommends natural latex mattresses (but warns they are less bouncy than those made of springs, coils and synthetic foam).

She finds a vast range of natural or organic cosmetics, condoms made of latex that are also biodegradable, and resources for eco-sexy bling -- because neither diamonds nor gold are a self-respecting green girl's best friend.

"It was the most fun I have ever had researching a book in my life," she said.

As for flowers for your sweetheart -- the true eco-sexual would grow them in the backyard, or at least buy them locally from a farmers' market.

Weiss admits that "some people are going to make fun of the notion of eco-sex. I expect that."

She says eco-sex doesn't have to be tame, adding you can be passionate in bed and about Mother Earth "without coming off like you're (a 1960s hippie) trapped on the set of 'Hair the Musical.'"

Despite all the fun replacements for essential accessories in the dating game -- like plain old baking soda instead of chemical-heavy commercial teeth whiteners -- there is a serious side to "Eco-Sex".

With the planet headed towards a population of around nine billion oxygen-swilling, carbon-emitting people by 2040, according to the United Nations, the ultimate carbon offset is to choose sex that does not result in having babies.

"The No. 1 thing people can do to be an eco-sexual is to have fewer kids, or have none at all," said Weiss, who is childless.

If that sounds outrageous, just give a thought to the 90 percent of the estimated diapers sold each year that end up in landfills. Or how the carbon footprint of one extra person far outweighs all the energy-saving light bulbs you've installed.

"I think over-population is an important conversation for people to have. It is something people think about in terms of third world countries. But it is also a conversation that would benefit us in America to have," she said.

Source: Reuters

20 principles of persuasion

Reproduced from http://www.spring.org.uk/2010/12/20-simple-steps-to-the-perfect-persuasive-message.php

Perfection is hard to achieve in any walk of life and persuasion is no different. It relies on many things going just right at the crucial moment; the perfect synchronisation of source, message and audience. But even if perfection is unlikely, we all need to know what to aim for.

To bring you the current series on the psychology of persuasion I've been reading lots of research, much more than is covered in recent posts. As I read, I noticed the same themes cropping up over and over again.

Here are the most important points for crafting the perfect persuasive message, all of which have scientific evidence to back them up.

1. Multiple, strong arguments: the more arguments, the more persuasive, but overall persuasive messages should be balanced, as two-sided arguments fare better than their one-sided equivalents (as long as counter-arguments are shot down).
2. Relevance: persuasive messages should be personally relevant to the audience. If not, they will switch off and fail to process it.
3. Universal goals: In creating your message, understand the three universal goals for which everyone is aiming: affiliation, accuracy and positive self-concept.
4. Likeability: ingratiating yourself with the audience is no bad thing—most successful performers, actors, lawyers and politicians do it. Likeability can be boosted by praising the audience and by perceived similarity. Even the most fleeting similarities can be persuasive.
5. Authority: people tend to defer to experts because it saves us trying to work out the pros and cons ourselves (read the classic experiment on obedience to authority).
6. Attractiveness: the physical attractiveness of the source is only important if it is relevant (e.g. when selling beauty products).
7. Match message and medium: One useful rule of thumb is: if the message is difficult to understand, write it; if it's easy, put it in a video.
8. Avoid forewarning: don't open up saying "I will try and persuade you that..." If you do, people start generating counter-arguments and are less likely to be persuaded.
9. Go slow: If the audience is already sympathetic, then present the arguments slowly and carefully (as long as they are relevant and strong). If the audience is against you then fast talkers can be more persuasive.
10. Repetition: whether or not a statement is true, repeating it a few times gives the all-important illusion of truth. The illusion of truth leads to the reality of persuasion.
11. Social proof: you've heard it before and you'll hear it again—despite all their protestations of individuality, people love conformity. So tell them which way the flock is going because people want to be in the majority.
12. Attention: if the audience isn't paying attention, they can't think about your arguments, so attitudes can't change. That's why anything that sharpens attention, like caffeine, makes people easier to persuade. And speaking of attention...
13. Minimise distraction: if you've got a strong message then audiences are more swayed if they pay attention. If the arguments are weak then it's better if they're distracted.
14. Positively framed: messages with a positive frame can be more persuasive.
15. Disguise: messages are more persuasive if they don't appear to be intended to persuade or influence as they can sidestep psychological reactance (hence the power of overheard arguments to change minds).
16. Psychologically tailored: messages should match the psychological preferences of the audience. E.g. some people prefer thinking-framed arguments and others prefer feel-framed arguments (see: battle between thought and emotion in persuasion). Also, some people prefer to think harder than others.
17. Go with the flow: persuasion is strongest when the message and audience are heading in the same direction. Thoughts which come into the audience's mind more readily are likely to be more persuasive.
18. Confidence: not only your confidence, but theirs. The audience should feel confident about attitude change. Audience confidence in their own thoughts is boosted by a credible source and when they feel happy (clue: happy audiences are laughing).
19. Be powerful: a powerful orator influences the audience, but making the audience themselves feel powerful increases their confidence in attitude change. An audience has to feel powerful enough to change.
20. Avoid targeting strong beliefs: strong attitudes and beliefs are very difficult to change. Do not directly approach long-standing ideas to which people are committed, they will resist and reject. Strong beliefs must be approached indirectly.

Change minds

You should be aware that many of these factors interact with each other. For example when the message is strong but the source is dodgy, the sleeper effect can arise.

Argument strength is also critical. The basic principle is that when arguments are strong, you need to do everything to make people concentrate on them. When they're weak, it's all about distracting the audience from the content and using peripheral routes to persuade, such as how confidently or quickly you talk.

Weaving all these together is no mean feat, but look at most professionally produced persuasive messages and you'll see many of these principles on show. Incorporate as many as you can for maximum effect.

→ This post is part of a series on the psychology of persuasion:

FAO Water | Water 101

Death of common sense: an obituary

An Obituary printed in the London Times


Today we mourn the passing of a beloved old friend, Common Sense, who has been with us for many years. No one knows for sure how old he was, since his birth records were long ago lost in bureaucratic red tape. He will be remembered as having cultivated such valuable lessons as:

- Knowing when to come in out of the rain;

- Why the early bird gets the worm;

- Life isn't always fair;

- And maybe it was my fault.

Common Sense lived by simple, sound financial policies (don't spend more than you can earn) and reliable strategies (adults, not children, are in charge).

His health began to deteriorate rapidly when well-intentioned but overbearing regulations were set in place.

Reports of a 6-year-old boy charged with sexual harassment for kissing a classmate; teens suspended from school for using mouthwash after lunch; and a teacher fired for reprimanding an unruly student, only worsened his condition.

Common Sense lost ground when parents attacked teachers for doing the job that they themselves had failed to do in disciplining their unruly children.

It declined even further when schools were required to get parental consent to administer sun lotion or an aspirin to a student; but could not inform parents when a student became pregnant and wanted to have an abortion.

Common Sense lost the will to live as the churches became businesses; and criminals received better treatment than their victims.

Common Sense took a beating when you couldn't defend yourself from a burglar in your own home and the burglar could sue you for assault.

Common Sense finally gave up the will to live, after a woman failed to realise that a steaming cup of coffee was hot. She spilled a little in her lap, launched a lawsuit and was promptly awarded a huge settlement.

Common Sense was preceded in death,

-by his parents, Truth and Trust,

-by his wife, Discretion,

-by his daughter, Responsibility,

-and by his son, Reason.

He is survived by his 5 stepbrothers;

- I Know My Rights

- I Want It Now

- Someone Else Is To Blame

- I'm A Victim

- Pay me for Doing Nothing

Not many attended his funeral because so few realized he was gone. If you still remember him, pass this on. If not, join the majority and do nothing.

Information needs of people @ BOP

The workshop conducted by FAO on the use of Mobile Technology for Food Security, Agriculture and Rural Development has highlighted the role the public sector should undertake to promote the use of mobile agricultural information systems. (Read the report here) 

Interesting insights into the use of mobile phones at the BOP have been seen from the infoDev-led studies into the use of mobile phones at the BOP in Kenya and another in 12 countries in Africa including South Africa. The Kenya study (carried out by iHub Research and Research Solutions Africa) found that over 60% of the Kenyan BOP owns a mobile phone. However only 25% of them use Internet on their mobile phone. This is quite high in comparison to LIRNEasia’s 2011 Asian study where less than 4% of the South Asian BOP surfed the Internet via the mobile with Java been the exception where 10% accessed internet via the phone.

Further more it was found that at least 20 per cent of the Kenyan BOP respondents felt it was necessary to make real sacrifices to recharge their mobile credit. The estimated value of the sacrifice  the respondent was willing to make, in foregoing other activities, was an average of  84 US cents.  This meant buying less food, at least once a week.

The 12-country study conducted by Research ICT Africa and Intelecon, showed that more than 75% of the BOP owns a mobile but do not use applications with MXit a social networking platform been the exception.  High cost of SMS and smart phones, suspicion of technology were said to be some of the reasons for low use.

The two publications can be downloaded on infoDev’s publications web page.

For a direct download of the Kenya study (pdf), click here.

For a direct download of the South Africa study (pdf), click here.

5 Qualities that Make a Good Leader in the Social Media Age

A good read from http://forumone.com

The book Humanize makes the case for innovating the way we lead and manage our organizations. It suggests that last century’s mechanical models of management have become outdated in today’s more social world, and our challenge now is to create more human organizations that are more open, trustworthy, generative, and courageous. These are the very same elements that made social media a success.

At a recent meet-up in Washington D.C. the authors and four panelists shared insights about how their organizations embraced the principles in Humanize as they changed their workflows, went through reorganizations, and embraced social tools and approaches to sharing information and completing tasks. The conversation was as much about organizational leadership as it was about social tools.

What makes a good leader in your organization?

1. They provide clear direction.
2. They use positive language when things change. They embrace change.
3. They are transparent and share information freely.
4. They reinforce the value of experimentation—even failure.
5. They talk aloud sharing their rationale and understanding with the team. They leverage the expertise of others to help them solve the tough problems.

Leaders Provide Clear Direction

A common complaint you hear from dissatisfied employees is that their managers micro-manage them. If you ask a few probing questions you usually discover that the employee’s frustration is that they have little control in how they can solve the problem because their boss’s expectation is that they will work the same way that they do. Of course, the boss’s intentions are usually pure in that they view their approach as proven—after all, it has worked for them.

As a leader you need to remember that the goal is clarity in the assignment, not telling staff how to solve the problem. Your staff want autonomy in how they approach the assignment. And when you provide them autonomy, you will often find that staff are more satisfied with their work and the results may be better than your expectations.

Leaders Embrace Change

As a leader in your organization, you are always on stage. Your staff are looking to you for how they should respond to situations. If you respond positively to changing conditions, so will they.

Leaders are Transparent and Share Information Freely

The clock is ticking on organizations that rely heavily on processes, tools, and control. We are already seeing evidence that successful organizations are more human. One example is American Immigration Lawyers Association (AILA) that was recently named one of the top 50 places to work by Washingtonian magazine. During the panel discussion Crystal Williams of AILA noted that what brings satisfaction to a workplace is giving employees control over that environment and by focusing on collaboration and community. She further noted by encouraging AILA employees to participate in social media and to connect with their members on Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter to not only get AILA’s message out, but to also help employees connect with members as real people.

In Work Happy, Jill Geiser offers these tips for building transparency in your teams:

• Don’t assume that people can read your mind or that your actions speak for themselves
• Explain your intentions. Be clear.
• Don’t hesitate to share the "why" behind your decisions
• Make sure your deputies feel free to warn you when something you’re about to do has the potential to be taken the wrong way.
• Cultivate your top performers to become your candid advisors. They see how your leadership affects the team, and have more confidence than most to call you out when necessary.
• Thank anyone who has the courage to warn you that your Evil Twin is in the room.

Leaders Reinforce the Value of Experimentation—Even Failure

Innovation does not happen overnight. It requires experimentation and learning. You need to create a culture in your organization where your staff feel safe taking risks and learning from them. Sometimes; however, mistakes are made and your clients or customers become unhappy. How you respond to these mistakes will set the tone of your organization culture. Sunayna Tuteja,VP of Social Media & Digital Communications at TD Bank spoke of these as “opportunities to learn and recover with flair.” It was a seemingly of-the-cuff remark, but it tells a powerful story about how TD Bank’s view their ability to experiment and learn from it.

Leaders Leverage the Expertise of Others

Nobody in your organization expects you to have all the answers; however, they do expect you to find someone does have the answer. Reggie Henry from American Society of Association Executives (ASAE) shared a powerful tip to gain insight from his staff to solve problems creatively. He simply talks to his team aloud, face-to-face, a unique approach in today’s age where email is king. For example, when ASAE was adopting a new technology platform, Reggie knew he was not an expert user, but he laid his assumptions out there for the team to hear. By talking aloud his team was able to hear his assumptions, correct them if required, or work collaboratively to solve the problem. I loved the idea of simply putting your assumptions rationale out there for your team. It reminds me of a core principle of Agile Software Development which states that the most efficient and effective method of conveying information to and within a team is conversation.

All these ideas might seem simple and rudimentary, but they are often forgotten in organizations busy with processes and keeping up with the competition. Embracing change whether it be with new technology or social media, needs to be faced with strong and human leadership.

Written by By Brian Verhoeven on 5 November 2012 at http://forumone.com/blogs/post/5-qualities-make-good-leader-social-media-age

Community guidelines for accessing forestry voluntary carbon markets

The climate change debate has brought forests to the forefront of the international agenda. Forests have acquired a new value as one of the planet’s most important stores of carbon, thus helping to ensure that levels of atmospheric carbon dioxide, the most abundant greenhouse gas, are kept below critical levels. 

With all newly-appreciated values, new markets are not far behind. Carbon markets allow forest owners to gain recognition, and financial compensation, for the work they do to keep the forests in place, and to manage them sustainably. 

Since the 1990s the forestry voluntary carbon market (VCM) has taken shape, though forest owners have generally not been the first to understand its potential. It is a complex concept and there is a very real risk that forest owners may surrender the potential benefits of this new market to other, better informed actors. Small landowners and local communities in rural areas of the Asia-Pacific region are at the greatest risk of losing out in this new market. 

These guidelines were developed to assist smallholders and smallholder groups, community-based forest managers, non-governmental organizations and local forestry officials to decide whether or not to undertake a forestry voluntary carbon market project and, once a decision has been taken to proceed, to provide guidance on how to design and implement the project.

Download the guidelines, Click here  or visit http://www.fao.org/asiapacific for more information.

Knowledge for Development :

http://www.fao.org/asiapacific/rap/k4d/about/en/

Collaborative Change Communication

The Food and Agriculture Organization of the UN (FAO) and the College of Development Communication of the University of the Philippines Los Baños (UPLB) launches Collaborative Change Communication at www.cccomdev.org!

CCComDev is a global initiative for capacity strengthening in communication for agriculture and rural development. It is designed as an interactive platform where communication and development practitioners can find information on training opportunities, access learning resources, exchange experiences and explore collaborations.

Find out more about CCComDev

CCComDev features:

• world map of training opportunities in ComDev
• repository of learning resources and publications
• spotlight on relevant news and updates
• gallery of multimedia materials
• link to regional platforms such as ComDevAsia
• online community of ComDev practitioners

CCComDev promotes social networking and innovative forms of collaboration. In just a few click you will be able to join the online ComDev community to create connections, share your activities and materials, and take part in discussion groups on communication for rural development.

Sign up and get involved in CCComDev community of practice!

Still talking about Mobiles for Development?

A new breed of information brokers are fast emerging, thanks to the initiative of the government in India (and also in many other countries including Thailand). Will these new actors help bridge the information gap among rural folks?

Content providers for rural audience, including mobile agricultural information services, would also benefit in thinking ahead and designing their products for this new delivery platform.

 

Predict anything about technology in the next 5 years and you would be wrong!

images copyright The Hindu dated 15 August, 2012

Very impressive!

A list of android, iPhone, iPad and web applications for those involved in mobile agriculture and technology

A list of android, iphone, ipad and web applications that may be useful to those involved in mobile agriculture and technology.

In the coming years agriculture will change dramatically. A number of factors may coincide to see a 'green revolution' type evolutionary jump driven not by advances in synthetic pesticides and fertilisers but by changes in demographics and the information communication technology landscape. 

Smartphone applications provide an opportunity for scientific outputs (that could greatly benefit growers) to be efficiently and rapidly deployed in the field where they could be most useful. At present, in Australia many agriculturalists don't see (enough) value in mobile applications, therefore demand is low. This in turn prevents the delivery of applications, by developers, of value to Agriculturalists.

Although up to 1/3 of Australian agriculturists already own a Smartphone and some applications already available may provide incremental benefit to growers, many still do not see it as reason enough to purchase or upgrade to a Smartphone or to pay anymore than a few dollars for an application. This is the agricultural mobile market 'problem'.

Recently, a thorough search of both the iOS AppStore and Android market has revealed a growing list of Agricultural & Horticultural Applications (AgApps) from Australia and around the world. Application topics range from weather, grains, livestock, irrigation, home gardens, dairy, horticulture and more.

 

As the list of applications and possible benefits to the Agricultural user in Australia grows it's hoped that demand will also develop, as will the interest from governments to provide access to content/data and developers to render that into user friendly applications.

 The list of applications can be viewed and added to here:  http://hin.com.au/Agricultural-Applications.aspx

 An Australian report on Mobile Applications and how they can help Agriculturalists make better decisions can be found here: http://hin.com.au/Resources/Mobile-Applications-in-Agriculture.aspx

Reproduced from e-Agriculture site

For people over 50 . . .

A computer was something on TV
From a science-fiction show of note
A window was something you hated to clean
And ram was the cousin of a goat

Meg was the name of my girlfriend
And gig was a job for the nights
Now they all mean different things
And that really mega bytes.

An application was for employment
A program was a TV show
A cursor used profanity
A keyboard was a piano.

Memory was something that you lost with age
A CD was a bank account
And if you had a 3 inch Floppy
You hoped nobody found out.

Compress was something you did to the garbage
Not something you did to a file
And if you unzipped anything in public
You'd be in jail for a while.

Log on was adding wood to the fire
Hard drive was a long trip on the road
A mouse pad was where a mouse lived
And a backup happened to your commode.

Cut you did with a pocket knife
Paste you did with glue
A web was a spider's home
And a virus was the flu.

I guess I'll stick to my pad and paper
And the memory in my head
I hear nobody's been killed in a computer crash
But when it happens they wish they were dead.

Superman, Spiderman and now DevInfo to fight crime!

CrimeInfo: Using DevInfo to Fight Crime

With crime and corruption being one of the chief obstacles to human development progress worldwide, it is little wonder that fighting crime has become a priority for many developing nations, including India.

The Government of India’s efforts to combat crime are rendered particularly challenging due to its massive population of over one billion, made up of numerous ethnic, linguistic and religious subgroups. As such, the Government continually strives to improve the information resources available to both the country’s police force and policymakers, to support their efforts at crime prevention.

To this end, the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) under India’s Ministry of Home Affairs regularly publishes a report titled Crime in India – the oldest and most prestigious publication issued by the agency. This report, whose last edition was published in 2009, houses the most comprehensive databank on crime statistics issued by the Government of India and is used by the police force, policy makers, journalists, NGOs, researchers, and the general public alike.

To further enhance the presentation of the report and make the information more reader-friendly, NCRB decided to use DevInfo to enhance the report with statistics presented in a more meaningful, visually attractive format. The agency opted to enter its aggregated data into the DevInfo database system, creating a new adaptation: CrimeInfo.



Using CrimeInfo, NCRB was able to bring the latest 2009 report data to life through colorful maps, graphs and tables, making the information more easily accessible and understandable to the police force, decision-makers, journalists, etc. The information disseminated through the Crime in India publication empowers all stakeholders of the country’s criminal justice system and serves as valuable inputs to help formulate policy interventions and monitor their impact. Information from this report is even used to prepare replies to crime-related questions arising from India’s Parliament.

Data making a difference

Reproduced from DevInfo Support Group mailing list at devinfo@devinfo.info