I stopped by the WorldChanging party in San Francisco last week. Guess what? It was in the same spot as the Grist party, where the Zipcar party was also held. 111 Minna must love its monopoly on the green parties.
The WorldChanging blog--now with city-specific editions--is also a newish book. Its fans (which likely means you, if you've found this blog) hope that this do-it-yourself guide to a sustainable 21st century will be on your holiday gift and wish lists. They even hacked Amazon to make WorldChanging the 12th most popular book for a little while last month. I bought one in Vermont (before it went on sale, eek).
The book is beautifully designed and comes inside of a box with little holes punched in it. The perforations emanate from an image of a cardinal, so it seems to sing or shine. WorldChanging maestro Alex Steffen explained the secret behind the holes: the more you keep the box out in the open, the more light will seep through each aperture, gradually bleaching the book underneath in the same dotty pattern. Therefore, come summertime, you'll be able to see whether your giftees are really living by the present you intended as a manual for greening their lives. Pop quiz in June?
Meanwhile, the world as we know it is probably ending as we enter an era of the Big Thaw, and most heads remain in the ice--er, in the sand. "We could do much better, but we're only just beginning," said Steffen.
I really need to bring along a working camera more when I go places. At a Google party last week, I got to check out a prototype of the famous $100 Linux laptop, being designed with poor kids around the world in mind. Cute? But all I have to show for it is a faint chardonnay stain on my t-shirt from balancing the wine glass in one hand and the hand-crankable gizmo in the other.
I've just started reading World Changing. It is definitely a beautiful book aesthetically, really enjoying the contents too so far.
Posted by: maxmsf | 2007.05.12 at 05:47 PM