Do the Carrotmob 

Consuming and being green, two things that don’t seem to match. Well, let me introduce to you the Carrotmob, a concept that unites those two contradictory terms and encourages green consumption.

The first Carrotmob campaign happened five years ago in San Francisco. It’s a concept invented in 2008 by Brent Schulkin, a San Franciscan ecological activist. According to Schulkin, corporations will do anything for money. That’s why he proposed to organize consumer purchasing in a Carrotmob campaign: if people combine all their money spent on shopping, they dispose of a huge amount of money that they can negotiate with. The basic idea of a Carrotmob is to mobilize as many buyers as possible in a certain shop  and in return the shop takes eco-friendly measures. This animation video shows the principle of the Carrotmob in a playful way: http://vimeo.com/2913530.

The idea of Schulkin turned out to be a success: there were already more than 250 campaigns in over 20 countries around the world. One of those campaigns took place this Thursday in Brussels at the restaurant Yeti: they organized an after work party. With a hundred partcipants, it was a great success! That wasn’t the only Belgian Carrotmob: on 6 October 2012, there was one in Ghent at the supermarket Spar (Zwijnaardsesteenweg 752).

Did you miss both Carrotmobs? Don’t hesitate to organize one yourself! The Carrotmob website explains to you how to start a campaign in a clear way: https://carrotmob.org/organize. As Schulkin would say, there’s power in our money, let’s use it to change businesses for the better!

You can find more information on:

https://www.facebook.com/carrotmob?fref=ts

https://www.facebook.com/CarrotmobBrussels

https://www.facebook.com/CarrotmobGent?fref=ts

https://carrotmob.org/

Kaat and Elise

Be addicted peacefully!

We all know how addictive caffeine can be. MTB students brag all the time about the amount of coffee they can drink in one day. But what does this addiction mean for the environment?

Over 65 000 students live in the city of Ghent. If one out of ten students drinks a coffee out of a plastic cup every day, this corresponds with 6500 cups a day. This means 1.170.000 plastic cups a year (180 school days).  So, the question is: how do we make our coffee greener? The University of Ghent replaced the coffee with fair trade coffee a couple of years ago, but is this really enough?

Nespresso came up with a wonderful idea: the portable coffee machine, called "The Ecospresso" This machine is made with eco-friendly materials, has an incorporated cup (no plastic cups anymore!), and uses capsules that are 100% recyclable. Moreover, it is filled with fair trade coffee. . Nespresso has developed its own quality program, in collaboration with the Rainforest Alliance. This program has been running since 2003 and it helps coffee farmers to grow better quality beans.Now they can ask a higher price and live a better life! Isn’t that wonderful? And let’s face it : the taste of a Nespresso is much better than the instant coffee at University. Now you can drink as many coffees as you want  without harming the environment. Be addicted in peace!

Déborah 

Is caffeine really addictive?

Caffeine is a form of a CNS (Central Nervos system) stimulant drug which occurs in nature as part of the coffee, tea and yerba mate plants. […] Although caffeine's mechanism of action is somewhat different from that of many other addictive drugs (cocaine or the amphetamines, for example), it nonetheless creates a similar pattern of dependence. (Source: Wikipedia)

Clubbing in an eco-friendly way

Hi MTB,

As the second semester nearly comes to an end, we think we all deserve some diversion. We know you all like to party and we are convinced that you won’t be reluctant to spend a weekend in Britain with the whole “MTB crew”. If so, we definitely need to go clubbing at “Bar Surya”, which is an eco-nightclub powered by pounding feet!

This may sound unbelievable, but it’s true.This eco-nightclub has a high-tech dance floor that generates its own electricity when people move on it. Entrance is £10 but customers will only be allowed in if they sign a pledge promising to work towards curbing climate change. Here’s how it works:

In this way, 60 percent of the club’s energy can be provided by people dancing away the night- and with the MTB crew on the dance floor, we’re pretty sure this aim can be achieved. Moreover, the surplus electricity that is generated by the vigorous dancers will be donated to local residents.

We are convinced clubbing like this is an ideal way to inspire young people to tackle global warming. If just talking about global warming isn’t the way to go, dancing certainly is!
Are you ready to get up on your feet too and help save our planet?
Fien & Lien

Eco-city trip in Ghent

Ever thought about going on a city trip in Ghent?

Ghent is a beautiful city and there are loads of places to visit, bars to check out, and shops to discover.

The only question is… where do you stay overnight? Hotels are often quite expensive for students so a (youth) hostel is a great solution. There are several youth hostels in Ghent, such as the Uppelink hostel and the hostel47. These two hostels are right in the centre of Ghent but for those who are willing to stroll along the Coupure all the way to the Bargiekaai in the Rabot area there is another great hostel waiting for you.

The Andromeda

The Andromeda hostel offers travellers a very unique experience thanks to its location. If you would like to experience the life of a pirate for a few nights, you will not be disappointed here because the Andromeda hostel is on a boat! 

Another special thing about the Andromeda is that it is an “ecohostel”. The owners saved a ship from being demolished and renovated and converted it into an eco-friendly ship using only local (Belgian or Dutch) and recycled materials.

Low impact

What makes the Andromeda a low impact building? First of all there is no heating needed thanks to the isolating qualities of the wood they used for the renovation. Furthermore the water used in the showers and toilets is purified by the reed on the roof. You also sleep on 100% natural mattresses that were made in Ghent.

Breakfast is served!

The breakfast the owners offer is vegetarian, organic and fair trade, which doesn’t mean it is less tasty, on the contrary! You can also enjoy a great glass of organic wine, beer or juice on the (sunny) deck.

If all this doesn’t convince you to book a room in this amazing hostel, the price certainly will!

For a double room you pay 65 Euros for 2 persons, for the 6 person dormitory 24 Euros and for the 8 person dormitory 22 Euros.

If you fancy a trip to Ghent and want to stay at the Ecohostel you should definitely check out their website:

http://www.ecohostel.be/en/home-en/

Elise and Kaat

Chinese Environmentalists Fight Cars With Green Footprints

Hi bloggers!

This weeks final post is about how walking can become a form of art.

Let’s say you’re the first environmental protection non-profit operating in a country with the largest market for cars in the whole world. Let’s say your country’s air pollution problems are getting out of control. Let’s say you want to hammer home the pollution-busting value of walking. Let’s say you have gallons of  non-toxic, washable, quick-drying green paint. Can you imagine our little story?




If you’re Jody Xiong, working with China’s Environmental Protection Foundation, you do this: paint a leafless tree onto a 7-meter wide, 12-meter long white canvas, and lay it over a pedestrian crossing on a busy city street. Next, lay paint-soaked sponges on either sidewalk, so every time a pedestrian crossed the street, they left a trail of green footprints across the canvas…



…making the tree come alive with color.






This action speaks for itself we think. The symbolism is clear, the more you walk, the greener everything gets, and from its initial pilot on 7 main streets of Shanghai, that message was carried to 132 roads in 15 cities across China, with an estimated 3.92 million participants. A follow-up survey pointed to a sharp rise in eco-awareness in the targeted areas (and to underline the message further, one of the green-trodden canvases is now hanging in the Shanghai’s Zheng Da Museum of Modern Art).

This weeks lesson to be learned is that sometimes a lot of tiny steps can add up to one great big one.

So what do you girls think? Would you consider doing a similar action here in Ghent? If so, buy a gallon of green paint, go to your nearest pedestrian crossing, have fun painting a tree or a bush, and make a change!

Sharon, Chloë and Astrid

Ride a bike for a free meal!

Hey guys, 

Travelling to Denmark this year? 

Then maybe – and surely if you think green innovation is important – you should consider staying at the Crowne Plaza Hotel in Copenhagen. This hotel offers meal vouchers to guests who produce electricity for the hotel on an exercise bike  attached to a generator. 
This way, the hotel wants to emphasise how important green energy and sustainable tourism are. Moreover, they want to get people fit and reduce their carbon footprint. We all know travelling is not really an activity with a low carbon footprint – especially when you travel by plane – but this is a definitely a great way to make a difference, albeit subtly and slightly.

Guests will have to produce at least 10 watt hours of electricity - roughly 15 minutes of cycling for someone of average fitness – to receive a voucher of 26 euros.

You would find me on the bikes, for sure! I really love this idea.

Would you ride a bike for a free meal?

Fien 

Your new (green) flat!

Our graduation is just around the corner and some of us are already looking for a flat or a house to move into when we start working... What is it that you want exactly? Are you looking for a luxurious flat, that is also green? In that case, a flat in the Agora tower is exactly what you need.

In the Xinyin District of Taipei (Taiwan) a new ‘green’ tower, also known as ‘the Agora tower’, is under construction. The tower is designed by Vincent Callebout, a Belgian architect who has won an international competition to design an environment-friendly, but at the same time sumptuous block of flats for Taipei residents.

Moreover, this very luxurious building is inspired by the helical structure of DNA and it incorporates vertical gardening into everyday life. For example, there are trees and plants growing on the outside of the building. The inhabitants also have a fruit garden and a vegetable garden on the inside of the building.

Let’s move on to the design... In total, there are 40 luxurious flats. All of these flats (540 m²) have a ‘green’ wall that guarantees the optimal air quality. Energy can be generated thanks to the solar panels on the roof and the rain is partially caught in order to use it in the building.

We can conclude that this flat is very green and luxurious, but therefore also very expensive. Would you like to have one of these flats and live a mundane life?

Elke

PS: You have to wait until 2016 to move into these flats. Maybe you can already start saving up some money?!

Your tea break can reduce your water consumption!

Most people – I’m one of them – are provided with plenty of water and use it on a daily basis. If it isn’t to have a wash, it is to quench one’s thirst. In fact, water is taken for granted by too many of us. Without thinking, we overuse and misuse water, which is regrettable.

But could you blame us? We’ve grown up unwittingly and have been brought up in the lap of luxury. However, it is never too late to swing into action. The act of becoming more conscious when using water is already a first move in the right direction.

We can, for example, take shorter showers. Still, there must be other actions we can take to reduce our water consumption. You maybe never realized that, on average, we boil twice the volume of water needed every time we use a kettle, which is actually hard to avoid. But thanks to the Eco Kettle, this can be avoided.

So how is the Eco Kettle different from any other kettle? After you’ve filled the Eco Kettle to its maximum, you can press the central button in the lid to release a specific amount of water (from one to eight cups) into the boiling chamber. In that way, you only boil the water that you need!

By using the Eco Kettle, you can reduce your water consumption and prevent wasting water. In addition, you will save electricity, money and time because the kettle reaches the boiling point faster. From now on, your tea breaks will even be better!

For approximately €43, you can purchase the Eco Kettle on: http://www.myecostore.co.uk/eco-kettle-p-266.html 

Lien

BICYCLED, the bike made out of car parts

When we plan to buy a new bike, we immediately think of some prominent bicycle brands like Thompson, Norta, Venturelli and so on. But how come we never think of putting our own bicycle together? Maybe some of us are born DIYers? Have you, for instance, ever thought of using car parts that are fit for the scrapheap to build your own bike? Well … Bicycled did!

“Cars go to the junkyard and we will recycle them to create the most efficient, ecological and healthy means of transportation.” (Lola Madrid)

 Lola Madrid, a Spanish design studio, has converted its passion for bikes into Bicycled, a project that utilises recycled car parts to design and build bicycles. Components such as the seat and the handlebar are covered with car upholstery and the reflective light is made out of a turn signal. The company is concerned about how the world is evolving. So actually, Bicycled is not only an idea, it’s a way of life. It’s an eco project that wants to contribute to a better future. 

Bicycled is not only a new type of bike, it is also a return to the roots of biking! It's a handmade bike created especially by bicycle shop owners. As a consequence, you can say Bicycled is a quite unique product. Every Bicycled is made out of real car parts, so there won’t be two of a kind.

 So ladies, if you don’t mind to get your hands dirty, be creative and put your own bicycle together! If you aren’t such a handyman, however, you can always ask your boyfriend to build one for you or simply surf to bicycledbikes.com to find out more about this unique product. 

 The video below gives you an overview of how a Bicycled bike is created.

Kaat & Eva