At age 14, in poverty and famine, a Malawian boy built a windmill to power his family’s home. Now at 22, William Kamkwamba, who speaks at TED, here, for the second time, shares in his own words the moving tale of invention that changed his life.

This TED talk had a serious impact on me. Certainly one of the most thought provoking pieces of media I have watched. It has really made me think about what I do and how I do it. William is inspiring, he is a beacon for us all. A lesson that by educating ourselves and being determined we can make things happen, make really change happen. I am sure there are millions of stories out there similar, this is the one I came across and I am glad I did.

Simply incredible. There hasn’t been a day since watching this, where I haven’t thought about what William had to over come to get to his goal. It puts our lives into true perspective. I just wish I hadn’t been watching it on a packed commuter train and at the end said out loud, ‘Amazing’. I then told the poor guy next to me about TED.

I hope it has the same effect on you as it had on me. Check out Williams blog

Scientists are looking to nature for answers to the generation of alternative energy, such as solar power. Photosynthesis is the creation of energy from sunlight, the biggest most powerful form of solar power known to man!

Here is an interesting article in the Guardian Online looking at how scientists can learn from the environment to save the environment into the future and reduce harmful gases which some believe contribute to the causes of global warming and the green house effect.

The untapped potential for using the sun’s rays is huge. All human activity for a whole year could be powered by the energy contained in the sunlight hitting the Earth in just one hour. Harnessing even a small amount of this to make electricity or useful fuels could satisfy the world’s increasing need for energy, predicted to double by 2050, without further endangering the climate.

According to the Gaia Theory, the Earth behaves like a living system, capable of looking after itself. We, despite our technological advances, still cannot predict whether it will resist the climate change or even enhance it. In his latest book, James Lovelock underlines the acute problem; we may not have enough time to save ourselves from the very damage we as overpopulated humans caused to the Earth’s biosphere.

James Lovelock calls for immediate action by governments to cut green house gas emissions and to prepare for a disaster in case we are already to late, providing for alternative food and shelter options; he warns us that the social and economic impacts of the climate change crisis may soon move masses of population from their current locations in the hope to find a suitable climate to survive.

The dramatic levels of our dependency on electricity in our current life style has resulted in the unprecedented deterioration of natural resources. In the search for a carbon-free alternative energy generation, the book analyses the current technologies for an answer. Special attention is given to renewable technologies such as wind, solar and nuclear power.

James Lovelock reveals the real carbon footprint of the wind turbines through a series of calculations, and states that to produce the cement for the wind turbines already involves a certain amount of carbon emissions that should be re-considered in our evaluations.

His conclusion is that renewable technologies need more time to work on and to make them carbon-neutral, with the exception of nuclear energy, which is already developed and ready to be implemented globally. James Lovelock revisits the safety and waste issues associated with the nuclear energy, and he explains the reasons for the negative public perception, and gives the reader an alternative and favourable view towards nuclear energy by re-examining these perceptions.

This book invites us to inquire into the reality of the energy technologies, more than the imposed opinion of the media. As our Earth has the capacity to regulate itself, the question is whether we will be able to survive the consequences of the climate change. The answer depends on quick and massive action.

A must read book for all of us.

Here is a link to a video about James Lovelock on The Guardian Online.

And here is a link to the book on Amazon in the UK.

The Greenbird project, a project initiated to attempt to break the land speed record for a wind powered vehicle, has come to an end. Uncharacteristic rainfall in the Australian desert has thwarted the attempt. This uncharacteristic rainfall could well be as a result of the damage being caused by the continual removal of our rainforests and the increasing levels of carbon we pump into the atmosphere.

…July saw twice its monthly average fall in 2 days at the end of the month, then August saw its monthly average quota fall over the last 12 hours – Richard Jenkins

All of this rain in stark contrast to a month or so back when Australia were reporting the biggest drought in living memory!

Check out more at Dales site Zero Carbonista on the attempt or directly at te Greenbird website (PS its a lovely looking website!)