carbon swap shop?

Type ‘carbon credits’ into ebay right now and you’re met with a big fat blank, but by 2012 they’ll probably be as red hot as a Wii on Christmas eve.
If carbon credit cards go ahead we might get all kinds of interesting side effects. Suddenly everyone will have something to trade, just by existing – and in good old topsy turvy fashion, in general us folk in Peckham are going to have more spare to whack on ebay than them down in Chelsea. What price 200kg of carbon during the school holiday season do you reckon?

Jesus does want you for a sunbeam.

“Its like there’s a big electric church up in the sky”

Jimi Hendrix said that. And he was right – churches have south-facing roofs (cos they have to point east) – which means they get the most sun shining on them, which means they’re great places for solar panels. Which means Watt? exactly.

St Peter’s Church in Lewisham is one of the latest to get with the program. Hell, they’ve gone and installed a pellet burning heating system too. Jesus!

Stuff Show

Stuff, stuff everywhere but goddammit you can never find a Roaring Dragon Toast-rack or any Argument Furniture when you need it.
The Stuff Show at the Sassoon Gallery plugged a gaping hole in the universe and used a bit of ingenious recombination to bring out the magic in ordinary household junk, turning us all into excited kids again clamouring for a go on the Record-flower-tap or the Chair of All Knowledge (with optional bald-patch protector).

This was the second part of ‘Re-view’, a project by artist Sarah Plescia (the first part was the harvesting of junk from friendly Peckham families and the creation of the masterpieces) and it didn’t just stop at displaying the newly re-invented, amazing stuff. A crack team of improv actors from the Playback Theatre suddenly descended upon us and coaxed out all manner of random stuff-related stories from the audience which they promptly enacted to hilarious and strangely touching effect. We’ll never look at a clothes-horse or a cheese-grater the same way again now, that’s for sure.

Recycling? That’s for beginners – this is alchemy!

Saddle up sisters!

Remember learning to ride your bike? I’ll bet there was someone on hand with a plaster and a hug when little Dave’s knees hit the concrete. (I was raised in the circus, so it was as natural as juggling chain-saws for me.)

Well, not everyone gets it so easy kiddo! Which is why programs like these totally rock. They help people learn to ride that might not have had the chance. So now Bangladeshi women in Tower Hamlets are doing wheelies thanks to award-winning Jagonari. And women in the Burgess Park area took to the streets earlier this year thanks to Southwark Cyclists who are continuing the again in Rye Lane Cycle Training Project in Jan O7.

Ride em!

towers of power

Composting, beloved hobby of the gardening classes has finally gone street! No, not curb-collection (soo 2004) but a bold & fearless leap into the inner-city environs of tower blocks.

Normally if you live in a towerblock or crowded innercity estate there isn’t much incentive to start composting – where are you going to keep your stinky green gold and what are you supposed to do with it afterwards? Enter ELCRP (that’s East London Recycling Community Partnership to you my friend and don’t even think about adding an extra A) and their simple but effective plan.

Every week they collect mulchables from every flat in the scheme and add them to turbo-charged uber-composter rat-proof ‘Rockets‘ that turn out the good stuff for local community gardens in just 2 weeks. Before you know it the rats have moved out, all the plants are ten feet tall and small children are getting lost in the elephant grass. Brilliant!

new shoes?

hey you. looking good!

you know that feeling, when you’re cycling across a bridge in london in the evening, smog in your face and pigeon shit on the road but you look across the river at all the lights under the crazy coloured sky, and you can sense all the activity and imagination going on, and you just know that some cool stuff is happening out there RIGHT NOW, you just can’t see it, and a huge smile appears on your face and you think man, london’s fucking great.

this blog is for you.