Nur Ahmad Furlong

Category: Sustainability

Anything to do with environmentally friendly practices, design or other sustainable development which improves the way we do and make things to make our planet a friendlier place.

  • The coolest Eco Footprints I’ve seen

    The coolest Eco Footprints I’ve seen

    When we talk about carbon footprints we think about those forms we fill in online which ask us all kinds of probing questions about our homes, our cars and our activities which impact the planet. William McDonough’s book cradle to cradle discusses the concept of re-thinking how we design things extensively and gives us a new way of looking into the future of product design.

    This is an eco-footprint of another kind which makes fantastic use of the concept of recyclability and re-usability in an ultr-cool way. Like McDonough states in his book over & over eco-friendly design does not have to be boring or less brilliant in functionality or visual appeal to fullfill it’s ecological responsibilities. It’s about the design approach.

    Designer: Ben Chappell, has taken up the challenge with a not completely original but very much unique sneaker design which embraces the cradle to cradle thinking fully. The “Think” sneaker, a fully modular, meaning it’s made of seperate parts which can be removed & replaced, recyclable shoe.

    The Think sneaker - Designed by Ben Chappell, eco-footprint of the future

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  • Blog Action Day 2007 a huge success

    Blog Action Day 2007 a huge success

    Spending the last few weeks just focussing on getting my business going has caused me to neglect my environmental and sustainability focus for a while. Even though I had writing a Blog Action Day post on my calendar I just never got around to it so I thought the least i could do is report on the success of the event.

    Blog Action Day 2007

    Just so you know, October the 15th was Blog Action Day, a day devoted to blogging about the environment and highlighting global environmental issues to create awareness for the plight of our planet. Bloggers were called upon to break with their usual blogging schedule to take part by posting about the environment and in that way making the environment an issue at the top of the agenda on that particular day. It’s a great experiment in social networking and tackling societal issues via these channels, a topic I hope to write alot about very soon and one I have started applying some thinking and action to myself.

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  • Live Earth 07 07 07 – If politics won’t save the planet maybe entertainment will

    On 07 July 2007 the world will witness another attempt to wake it up from the state of slumber it has fallen in with respect to environmental issues. Sponsored by many multi-billion dollar companies around the world and bring together more than 100 internationally recognized artists from a wide spectrum of genre will unite an effort to put the fight against global warming and environmental degradation in the forefront of world issue. The call will be made to each individual to take action in whatever way they can to make a small difference in preserving our planet and ensure a sustainable future for ourselves and the generations to come.

    The Official Live Earth Website had the following to say about the event:

    Live Earth is a 24-hour, 7-continent concert series taking place on 7/7/07 that will bring together more than 100 music artists and 2 billion people to trigger a global movement to solve the climate crisis.

    Live Earth was founded by Kevin Wall, the Worldwide Executive Producer of Live 8, an event that brought together one of the largest audiences in history to combat poverty. Wall formed a partnership with Al Gore and the Alliance for Climate Protection to ensure that Live Earth inspires behavioral changes long after 7/7/07.

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  • Our frightening future requires urgent action

    When I arrive home after a stressful day at the office I like to put my feet up for an hour or so and watch something on the tele as many people do. Two nights in a row my viewing choices were environmentally focussed. I started with “An Inconvenient Truth”, a documentary/presentation style movie by Al Gore, a previous candidate for American presidency.

    He introduces himself as “The ex-next President of the United States” and in a recent post on design observer it seems some people would like to see him back in the running. The production and content have been put together in a build up to what results in a future forecast which is bound to frighten anyone with even the slightest sense of foresight. Some of the images presented of the results of global warming in remote regions of our planet were a startling revelation to the reality of what is currently taking place, and has been taking place for a many years now.

    Carbon dioxide and other gases warm the surface of the planet naturally by trapping solar heat in the atmosphere. This is a good thing because it keeps our planet habitable. However, by burning fossil fuels such as coal, gas and oil and clearing forests we have dramatically increased the amount of carbon dioxide in the Earth’s atmosphere and temperatures are rising.

    The vast majority of scientists agree that global warming is real, it’s already happening and that it is the result of our activities and not a natural occurrence.1 The evidence is overwhelming and undeniable.

    We’re already seeing changes. Glaciers are melting, plants and animals are being forced from their habitat, and the number of severe storms and droughts is increasing.

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  • A lesson in appreciation – Water is better than gold

    Life in Cairo has many twists and turns to it and no two days are quite the same. Since yesterday we have had no water in our building. In fact a few square kilometers of Cairo has no water and I have no idea why. Cairo being the place that it is word travels fast from person to person and rumours exist but we still have no word on when the water will be back. On my way to work I found a huge water fountain spewing out massive amounts of water a few hundred meters away from our house. Go figure!

    I have found myself automatically switching on taps in the bathroom and the kitchen just because I’m so used to doing so. The whole episode reminded me of a short documentary I watched recently about the scacity of water in some places and the abundance in other places. There was a chinese man living in a remote rural area who was interviewed about his daily relationship with water. He said that he had never had a shower in his entire life and that he is so jealous of people who take daily showers. Being in need of my daily shower I am starting to have a slight glimpse of the blessing which I so regularly take for granted. I used to be more water conscious, especially around the time when we experienced some water restrictions back home in South Africa, but it quickly fades when the restrictions are lifted.

    Currently I am using bottled water to wash my hands and make simple ablutions but am wondering what the less fortunate and unseen individuals possibly right under my nose are doing. It’s amazing how situations like these humble one.

    Don’t take your water for granted wether or not it flows in abundance because you never know when it’ll run out!

  • One Laptop for every child

    One of the very promising projects out there aimed at growing a brighter future for children worldwide is the “One Laptop” project.

    One Laptop Per Child


    �It’s an education project, not a laptop project.�

    � Nicholas Negroponte

    Our goal: To provide children around the world with new opportunities to explore, experiment and express themselves.
    The project’s origins go back more than four decades to the early days of computing, when most machines were still the size of small dinosaurs, and almost no one dreamed they would ever be suitable for children. But pioneering thinkers like Seymour Papert disagreed sharply, and over time led the long march from radical theory to reality proving the immense power of the personal computer as a learning tool for children.

    The project is open to involvement on all levels if you are someone who has skills or knowledge which can be of benefit. They have comprehensive wiki which keeps us up-to-date on developments as they take place. As someone who is very interested in e-learning and using new technologies to benefit those who are in need, this project ranks up there in the top ten for me. I hope to be working on projects of similar nature in not too distant future. I’ve signed up to volunteer my services with “The One Laptop” project.

    Pay them a visit and find out more, or, if you’re up to the task offer some assistance toward brightening the future of the next generation.