Filming Earth From Space

This past December 2010, Alex Baker and Chris Rose, two PhD students from the University of Sheffield managed to film Earth all the way from space by launching a video camera into space using a weather balloon. The entire process just cost them £350 and here's all what they used:

1. Weather Balloon
2. Foam Box
3. Duct Tape
4. Video Camera
5. G.P.S. tracking device

Watch the process and the footage they captured below.




Truly amazing! Who knew capturing such footage can cost so little?


Anoud xo


Image: spaceosaur.co.uk

Stand With Egypt

'There are moments when history is written not by the powerful, but by people'

Over the past few days, millions of brave Egyptians have been fighting for freedom and for an end to tyranny from the hands of dictator Hosni Mubarak.  The military have filled the streets to make sure they control what Mubarak claims to be 'chaos' and to shut the protests down using violence. History WILL be made in the next coming days, and we can all be part of it. The actions of many ordinary but surely brave Egyptians in these hours will have a great impact on their country and on the Middle Eastern region and the World as well. 


We can all show our support of the Egyptian nation through signing this solidarity statement: 'We stand with the people of Egypt in their demand for freedom and basic rights, an end to the crackdown and internet blackout, and immediate democratic reform. We call on our governments to join us in our solidarity with the Egyptian people.'

Please sign and spread the support here.

And this is how you can be part of history. Avaaz' promise: The regime is attempting to starve the protest movement of two crucial sources of power: information and solidarity. But despite the internet blackout, Egyptian radios and satellite TVs can still receive broadcasts from across the border -- so Avaaz will work with broadcasters whose signals reach inside Egypt to circulate the number signatures on this statement of solidarity, along with messages of support from around the world for Egypt's people.

Make a difference,


Anoud x


Image: totallycoolpix.com

Earth Hour 2011 Official Video

              

                   Saturday 26 March 8:30pm

Beautiful video...

Will you join the many millions by taking part in Earth Hour?

Mark your calendars!!


Anoud xx

Trump Has Got it All Wrong!

Many of you may not know that Donald Trump is one of the biggest non-believers of 'Global Warming'. His argument? The recent cold snaps and blizzards. He explains, "With the coldest winter ever recorded, with snow setting record levels up and down the coast, the Nobel committee should take the Nobel Prize back from Al Gore. Gore wants us to clean up our factories and plants in order to protect us from global warming, when China and other countries couldn't care less. It would make us totally noncompetitive in the manufacturing world, and China, Japan and India are laughing at America's stupidity."



Umm... well isn't this why many scientist have said that it is more accurate to use the term 'CLIMATE CHANGE' rather than 'Global Warming'?  I mean this all as a consequence of harmful and polluting human activity. Extreme weather changes is the result, whether it is extreme cold or hot. 2010 was the WARMEST year ever in recorded history. What does Trump have to say about that? Yes, there have been blizzards and snow storms and extreme cold weather especially this winter, but this just comes to validate the whole idea behind the weakening of the Ozone Layer & Global Warming. Winter is becoming colder, summer is becoming hotter, hence the term climate change.

This is best explained by Barry Hunt, an honorary researcher at the CSIRO's Marine and Atmospheric Research Unit, who declared that "Over the last century, the global mean temperature has gone up by 0.8 degrees (Celsius). But at the same time, we also have natural climatic variation, and you don;t get one or the other, you get them both. They interact."

And by the way, what is Donald Trump talking about with the whole China and Japan laughing at America's stupidity? Well aren't they the ones manufacturing the first electrical and hybrid cars and developing green and clean energy?

I really think this YouTube comment on the video above posted by stephentsang2000  says it all perfectly:

• By 2012, all Hong Kong government vehicles will be replaced by electric or hybrid automobiles. By 2016, all public buses in Hong Kong will be electrical. Meantime, Americans are still busy criticizing other countries without knowing that they are in fact way-behind many Asian regions in terms of public policies. I believe many Asians would regard this Donald Trump as a joke.

And now there's this big campaign going around calling Donald Trump to run for presidency. He just tweeted the link and people are really taking him seriously.Take a look at it here.

What do you guys think? Who do you agree with?


Anoud xx

Green Eve Appreciates

Rio Ferdinand

The Manchester United and England defender is challenging himself to use energy more efficiently and becoming more 'energy fit'. He explains. "I'm keen to learn more about how I can save energy at home." He goes on to admit that he doesn't know much about efficiency but he is determined, with the help of the UK's largest energy company E.ON, to get himself energy fit. He plans on using advanced technology to help him use energy more efficiently like installing solar panels in his house.

To read all what Rio has to say about this click here.
 
What a great challenge to take on! Glad he recognises the importance of such changes and better use of energy!


Anoud xo


Images: facup.eonenergyfit.com, sevensidedcube.net
 

Sustainable Fashion

Eco friendly clothing is becoming more and more popular and available from high end designers such as Stella McCartney and Behnaz Sarafpour to high street stores such as H&M.

Take a look here at the Stella McCartney website's dedicated section 'Green Me' where you can find tips and facts on how she stays green!

New York City-based designer Behnaz Sarafpour is a strong believer in eco-friendly fashion and since 2008 she has been incorporating organic procedures into her collections.

According to Behnaz: "We believe that eco friendly clothing can be luxurious and not hippy or grungy. We are eco friendly from the beginning of the procurement of materials all the way to the end. The fibers that are selected for the fabrics are harvested naturally. The process to gather all materials is done organically in a way to not harm our environment. In addition when we have to use dye in our clothes we use all natural dye from plant derivatives."

For more information, check out her facebook page here.

And finally, take a look at H&M's latest sustainable style collection for Spring 2011 here. They always seem to have eco-friendly clothing and my favourite was from last Spring, 'The Garden Collection' (pic below). And when in the store, you can spot the items that are eco-friendly from the green tags which explain their sustainability.

And this year's take on sustainable style:

What are you waiting for? Treat yourself to a guiltless shopping spree!!!


Happy shopping,

Anoud x


Images: h&m and news.boisell.com

10 Simple Tips to Greening Your Home

Here's a video that gives you 10 simple tips that can go a long way in terms of greening your house! You'd be shocked how the simplest of things can make a difference!

Need to get rid of my air fresheners! Never knew they were harmful.

Anoud xo

The Greenest UK Universities 2010

I recently came across the 'Green League Table'  which basically ranks UK universities according to how green they are. Based on their environmental management and performance, UK universities are awarded degree-style classification: First Class Awards, Upper Second Class awards, Lower Second Class Awards, Third Class Awards, and there were those who failed and were granted no award and those who 'did not sit the exam', haha!

University of Plymouth came in first while The University of Manchester was awarded a Lower Second Award as it was ranked #65. In 2009, Manchester was awarded a Third Class Award and  was ranked #87 (OUCH) so it noticeably improved in just one year.

Click here to check out the entire table.

Let's hope these rankings improve soon,

Anoud

Green Tip of the Day

Walk as much as you can.

Even though it's cold outside, try to walk as much as you can instead of using your car. It's a nice way to explore the city and the street life and it's a healthy routine and a great way to exercise! I walk everyday to classes as mostly all students do in Manchester, but when I need to go to the city centre I also do sometimes walk, but only if it's not too cold cause it's quite far. However, I do take a 'low-carbon' shuttle as an alternative way instead of a taxi. Not only is it free, but it stops all over the city centre and is very convenient and clean! But when the weather is nice and not too cold, I surely don't mind walking. 

But always make sure to wear many layers and keep warm :)

Anoud x


ALL IMAGES BELONG TO GREEN EVE.

Green Eve Appreciates

Drake!

Check out Drizzy below explaining his commitment to going green and making sure his tour is as sustainable as possible :)

Amazing!


Love,

Anoud

The Cars of the Future

An eco friendly Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG? YES! I am in love!!! Check out the video below to see all the hottest green cars from the Detroit Auto Show 2011. I'm telling you, electric cars are the next big thing :)
 

Amazing, right?
Click here to see the cars in detail and vote on which one you think is the 'Sexiest Green Car'.



Love,

Anoud

Favourite Green Person of the Week

Natalie Portman

This week's Favourite Green Person is none other than the beautiful Natalie Portman. She's been all over the place lately with her stunning performance in Black Swan which earned her a Golden Globe win for Best Actress, and of course her recent pregnancy and engagement to Benjamin Millepied.

Well what most of you may not know is that Natalie Portman was named Most Eco Friendly Celebrity a few years ago, and she sure lives up to it! In 2008, the actress designed her own vegan creulty-free line of shoes for Té Casan with one hundred percent of the proceeds going to The Nature Conservancy. Her other eco efforts include helping save the gorillas in Rwanda, becoming the face of a low-energy light bulb company, along with being actively involved in groups like Global Green.

So have you guys watched Black Swan yet? If not then be sure you do; it's a very beautifully twisted and unique movie. Natalie's performance in it is just amazing, she is certainly talented and definitely earned that Golden Globe. I'm sure she will also be picking up an Oscar very soon :)

xo,

Anoud



images: justjared.com, popsugar.co.uk

Exams

Hey guys! I know we've been a bit lazy these past few days but our holidays have finished and now it's time for exams... We've got a few days to study for our Urban and Environmental Economics and Cities and Society exams so we've been spending our days at the library trying to cover all the material. Obviously we wont be blogging as often but we'll be back as soon as we're done :) xx

Here are a few pics that we took while at the library, enjoy!

The University of Manchester is definitely green and we love it :) This is the coffee that they use!

New favourite water! It gets filled infront of you in the vending machine :)

Love the idea behind it!

Good luck to all those who have finals :)

Love,

Green Eve xx

Green Eve CSN Stores Giveaway Winner!

We've got a winner!!!

Congratulations to Gina Maddox for winning our CSN Stores giveaway!
The voucher has been sent to your email.

And thank you so much for all the lovely readers who participated :)

Love,

Anoud x


image: photobucket.com

A Post For All the Skeptics

There are many global warming/climate change skeptics out there and I understand why there may be some of them. Those who are misinformed or have never really read the facts and understood the reality of the situation may think it's all talk and that there isn't enough evidence that it is really happening. This post is especially dedicated to those who believe that the scale of climate change is not sufficiently large to make immense changes to planet earth. So for those individuals, I recommend you watch these National Geographic videos below. It's a series of documentaries about what will happen to the world if the earth warms by 1 degree all the way through to 6 degrees. You may think that 6 degrees isn't much but the documentary proves that even 1 degree makes a DRASTC difference. Below are four videos, 3 Degrees Warmer, 4 Degrees Warmer, 5 Degrees Warmer, and 6 Degrees Warmer. Trust me, you NEED to watch these; each one is only about 2 minutes long so please do take the time to watch them. Your whole view will change... It's an eye opener of what is to come if nothing is done to control our environmentally harmful habits. You can also watch "Could Just One Degree Change the World?" here and  "2 Degrees Warmer: Ocean Life in Danger" here.




















Scary, right? Well it's STILL not too late to prevent these changes from happening to this extent. Every little change done by each individual helps makes a change. Why should the future generations suffer from our actions? Don't they deserve to live in a beautiful harmonious place and experience all the things we are privileged to experience at this day and age? Don't be selfish... Do something to change this, take it one step at a time.


Anoud xo

Green Eve in Partnership with CSN Stores Giveaway!

I am so excited to announce that CSN Stores UK have offered to sponsor a giveaway to all the lovely Green Eve readers :) 

CSN Stores has amazing online stores where you can find anything from great cookware to beautiful bedroom furniture to chic & modern office fittings! So remember when we said that shopping online is actually an eco-friendly way to shop? Well the giveaway will be a £30 pound gift voucher to use on any of CSN's 6 UK online stores!

CSN's Online Stores:

http://www.csnstores.co.uk
http://www.allmodern.co.uk/
http://www.cookwarebycsn.co.uk/
http://www.furniturebycsn.co.uk/
http://www.lightingbycsn.co.uk/
http://www.tvstands.co.uk/

To enter the giveaway, all you have to do is:

If you've got Twitter then tweet the following:

'Enter @AnoudAlFawwaz 's #CSN giveaway! http://tinyurl.com/24sca34 RT & follow to #win!'

Then comment below and enter in the following form:
Your email address
The twitter account you tweeted from @(your user name here)
A link to your tweet 

If you do not have twitter then answer the following:

Which of the following items should NOT be put into a glass recycling bin?
a) A piece of clear window glass
b) A brown bottle
c) A blue bottle

Enter your answer in the comment box below with your email address so that I can email you if you win!

P.S. Your details and comments will only be visible to me.

A winner will be chosen at random using random.org and then contacted through email with the voucher :)

Competition will end next week, Wednesday January 12, 2011

Good luck,

Anoud xx


Images from csnstores.co.uk

Green Tip of the Day

Use both sides of a paper!

How simple and direct is this tip? Always aim to decrease your use of paper and take advantage of every bit of it. If you have a printer with the double sided print option then be sure to use it. This will save you half the amount of paper that you usually use. Of course, make sure it really is necessary to print; if there is no need for a hard copy and a soft copy is just as good then simply don't print and save some paper.

P.S. Don't forget to recycle once you're done with the paper :)




Love,


Anoud


Image from iconarchive.com

Beautiful Creatures: The Blue Whale

Whales

One dream of mine is to see a whale in person, or to be more specific, it is to see the biggest animal to ever exist: a Blue Whale. There's this mystery about it & its size and might fascinates me.

Back in the day, not so very long ago, 300,000 Blue Whales roamed the oceans. Now, however, less than 3% of that number remains due to globalisation and its grave effects on marine life! This makes it very difficult for my dream to be realised :( 

According to the Save the Whales organisation, there are things that you can do everyday that can contribute to conserving not only whales, but all other marine mammals. 
Their tips include:

• Never release balloons outside.
• Buy Albacore tuna, the only dolphin safe tuna.
• Prevent Urban Runoff - keep your car maintained.
• Write letters to government officials.
• Cut up six-pac rings before discarding them.
• Participate in beach clean ups. 

Check out the video below of a Blue Whale:



How captivating is this creature?



Love,

Anoud


Sources and images: savethewhales.org, anevilgiraffe.com

Favourite Green Person of the Week

Leonardo DiCaprio

He is an amazing actor and a committed environmentalist!

DiCaprio has his own foundation, 'The Leonardo DiCaprio Foundation', which is dedicated to supporting efforts to secure a sustainable future for the planet and all of its inhabitants.

Leo also started the 'Save Tigers Now' campaign alongside the World Wildlife Fund to shed light on the very few Tigers left in the world and the reasons behind this and on what can be done to double their numbers and save this beautiful animal. Being a big Tiger fan myself, I have been going on and on about the Tiger cause ever since I found out how serious this is... Only about 3,000 Tigers are left in the world and if action is not taken soon then our children and the future genration will only be hearing of Tigers and the sad story of their extinction due to our selfishness. How can we allow this to happen? Thankfully the 2010 Tiger Summit that was held in St. Petersburg in November proved to be very successful by raising a total of about $127 million in new funding to support the cause. DiCaprio alone donated $1 million to stop Tiger poaching after already helping WWF raise $20 million earlier in the year.

Need more reasons to love DiCaprio? Well check out how GREEN the actor is:

1) He opts for commercial flights rather than private jets which use more fuel.

2) He proudly drives a hybrid car, the Toyota Prius, and bikes as well.

3) His house has solar panels.

4) He co-wrote, co-produced and narrated the documentary 'The 11th Hour' about the environment.

5) He bought an island in Belize where he plans to build an eco-friendly resort.

6) He influened Tag Heuer in going green and investing in solar powered watches.

7) He teamed up with Tag Heuer again to promote the fully electric Tesla Roadster Car.

Watch DiCaprio's short movie entitled 'Global Warming' here. Trust me you need to watch this! And also his other short movie entitled 'Water Planet' here.

Also check out his website here.

Seriously, what an amazing individual! Absolutely love and respect him.


xoxo,

Anoud


Sources and images from leonardodicaprio.org, treehugger.com, watchtime.com, inoutstar.com, huffingtonpost.com, examiner.com, ecorazzi.com