Re-usable Christmas tree: re-arrange your bookcase

A tree that is books that were trees. Neat idea to spare a tree this X-mas season.

But why are we so concerned about letting trees stand where they are?

For a more sustainable X-mas, skip the tree chopping this year

Take a little look at this infographic from Earth Gauge and Vida Sustentável in Portuguese. It says:

In a year, a tree
* cools the same as 10 air con working continuously
* absorbs 2900 liters of rain water
* filters 28 kilograms of pollutants from the air.

And that's, for example, why cutting trees in cities is a very dumb idea. (Just thinking about a plan to cut lovely big trees to make way for public transit in a city I know... more on that coming soon) But I digress...


So, just use the trees that have been already cut to make newspapers or books, and for those who celebrate it, have a Happy *Sustainable* Xmas!

Graduación en el kinder: el futuro de Mozambique se ve prometedor en los ojos de estos chiquis

Quería compartir estas fotos de la ceremonia de graduación, porque las encontré fantásticas.

Me parece que hablan de la energía, esperanza y potencial que se respira alrededor de los niñitos mozambicanos que comenté hace unas semanas.

No digo nada más, las fotos creo que son más que suficientes.

Fotos sacadas por Boaventura Nguenha, miembro de la Asociación Cultural Bonga Mbilo.

Si quieren saber más de como apoyar la educación de estos pequeños, lean acá.

Fundraising for Bonga Mbilo's pre-school in Chamanculo

In a previous posting I had talked about the work that Bonga Mbilo Cultural Association was doing in the most needed areas of Maputo. Among them, a community preschool in the neighborhood of Chamanculo.

One of the issues we had been discussing with the directors was the plan to offer full-day services. For that, one major obstacle was having a place for the 4- and 5-year-olds to have their afternoon nap. They were thinking about beds, but they were too costly and took too much space. Plus who wants to deal with the mess of mattresses used by small children?

That's when I remembered the soft mats I'd seen in preschools and children rooms, those that come in the form of puzzle pieces. They would be a good option: cheaper than beds and easier to store, in addition to being more fun. I even found out (after chasing a guy who was carrying one of those pieces down the street and following him to his car to ask his wife where did they bought them...) that you could buy them in Maputo in one of the big stores. But when I found them they were very blah and too expensive. What to do? Find an alternative!

I had also seen around yoga and camping mats for a better price, some with pretty, cheerful colors and some child-like-enough designs. Still easy to clean and store. We calculated that we would need about 30 mats for the 60 children that the preschool was receiving each day. Mats it is. Now, time to fund-raise!

With little time to organize a proper fundraising, I picked everything around the house I thought I could sell. Lucky for us, lovely couple Limaya Bokassa and Andrés Panera were settling in their new apartment and agreed to buy some of the stuff to support the kids. (Thank you guys! You rock!)

My donation of the one mat I had and the money gathered through the selling of household stuff turned into 5 mats. We still have a way to go to gather the 30 mats needed, but it's a start.

The rest of the household stuff were donated to Bonga Mbilo in the hopes that a garage-sale-style of fundraising event could bring a little bit more $ to buy the rest of the mats. Let's hope next year, the organization will be able to offer a safe place for the children to stay all day long.

An organic and a recycled Xmas: sustainable Christmas trees

You probably know about how millions of trees are cut and end up in the landfills every Christmas year after serving as decorations for a couple of weeks. An easy way to avoid such waste is to opt for other type of trees that will serve the same function without harming the environment.

This week, I came across two examples I loved.

This one on the right is made out of used paper. It came into being thanks to the magic hands of my very talented friend Minati, who we have previously encountered in this blog doing beautiful objects with paper. A lot of used paper, a stapler, and voilà: a perfectly fine Christmas tree.

The instructions, according to tree-maker Minati are: "about 50 pages (more is better). I wanted a big tree, so I glued newspapers together into a book first, let it set, and then folded. If you want to get the kids involved, let them do the folding first, and then glue! Otherwise just give them magazines and let them make their own little trees!"

If you need more detailed instructions than that (I know I do!), you can check them here.

In a way you don't get more tree-like than that: a tree that became paper that became a tree. *Like* circles.

Photos of tree (c) Minati Baro

The other example I run into takes all the prizes in my book for creativity and sustainability: a Fungal Christmas Tree!

It was created on a petri dish out of fungi. Definitely, the first time I see something like it. The geeky-quotient makes it appropriate for The Big Bang Theory show, but I don't think one can get more sustainable than that.


Curious about how it was done? Here's the only info I have:

Top: Talaromyces stipitatus
Tree: Aspergillus nidulans
Ornaments: Penicillium marneffei
Trunk: Aspergillus terreus.

The instructions for that one? You'll have to ask a biologist about that. 

If anyone has the information on who came up with it, or anything to add about how it's done, please share.


If you would like a less work-intensive option, check here.

Orchestra out of recycled instruments: what a treat

If you have been reading the blog, you know we love it when things (whether coffee bags, plastic bottles, magazines and newspapers or supermarket carts) get a second life  instead of ending in the landfill.

I just found another superb example on how out of an oil can, a fork, a meat tenderer and other random objects found in a landfill, a community in Paraguay have been making violins, cellos and other instruments, creating an orchestra out of recycled materials: The Recycled Orchestra. Isn't that cool or what? 

Here is a photo of the violins:
 

Violins out of recycled materials.

From their look you wouldn't imagine how great they sound. Don't believe me? Check it in this short video:

They are making a documentary about it called Landfill Harmonic. If you want to find out more you can visit them on Facebook or on their website. Looking forward to seeing the documentary when it comes out.