Just one small thing

Making the most of wrong numbers

As someone who often makes unplanned calls on his mobile, I think this is such a good idea (although the technological reality may be more complex than this solution suggest).

Given that it's often the first number in your address book that gets called when you forget to lock your phone, A Blind Call is specially designed to be that number (unless you have an aardvark in there).

Sit on your phone and call the number by mistake, and a proportion of the call charge goes to charity.

Simple but clever.

(thanks to Adverblog)

Did we free Burma?

Well, probably not yet. But on October 4th some 14,402 bloggers committed to doing their little bit for change, by parking their usual topics and blogging for Burma instead.

Maybe not up there with the marching monks, but still pretty good for a project that was only live for 7 days - the power of word of mouth or what!

Together with over 100,000 unique visitors to the site, it's just a little bit of extra pressure that will hopefully help to make a difference in that oppressed country.

Make it last

Not a particularly small thing. In fact it's pretty significant. But it seemed worthy of inclusion here nonetheless.

For all that they are gas guzzlers, apparently more than 60% of all Porsche cars ever made are still on the road. That's pretty impressive sustainability in our age of disposability.

Think what the world would be like if (perishables aside, obviously), 60% of everything we'd ever bought was still in use, whether by us or someone else.

Sounds good to me.

So the moral is, if you're making stuff, make like Porsche, and MAKE IT LAST. And if you're using stuff, whether a Porsche or a plastic bag, DON'T JUST DUMP IT - REUSE IT.

(Thanks to Ben for pointing out this great factiod, and for a presentation on how design can make an envornmental difference that is well worth a read).

Free Burma

Look here to find out more.

Pack up for troubles

Kate Humble, presenter of many BBC wildlife shows, has come up with a great new idea (along with others I'm sure).

The thinking behind Stuff Your Rucksack is very simple: people who go travelling (of the roughing it, backpacking variety), often go to places off the beaten track with many people in need, and small, local charities trying to help them.

But because these organisations are small, they tend to fall under the radar of national Government and (inter)national NGOs. Which is where you rucksack comes in.

Needs are registered on the site, and travellers can then match these with where they are heading, and stuff their bags accordingly.

It's all very, very new, so there's not much on the site currently. But definitely something to encourage and support.

When people stop buying the job may be done

For nearly 15 years I have been selling fairtrade products (from Traidcraft, the UK's original and biggest fairtrade wholesaler) at the church I go to, and to family and friends.

First, this was a case of helping out others; more recently I have been buying stock in myself. And it's something I have really enjoyed doing, particularly being involved at a stage when the reaction of most people was 'fair what?' And when you couldn't find fairtrade products in your local supermarkets for love or money.

Over the last 18 months though, things have been changing. People 'understand' (kind of) the idea, and 'get' that in some way fairly traded products are good and right, even if they don't buy them all the time. And now most categories in your local Tesco have some things to offer (where fairtrade options are a possibility). As a consequence, I've seen my direct sales plummet, to the point where I can't afford to do it any longer.

I could argue with people that it is still better to buy from Traidcraft - as a charity, all their profits are reinvested in third world development, a double whammy in terms of the impact you have, whereas Tesco's profits just go on keeping their share holders fat and happy.

But instead I've decided to call it a day, and see it as a job well done, where my little bit helped kick start a society wide behaviour change that's been a long time coming.

Just have to ask 'what next' now!?

Pink power

New boy wears a pink polo shirt on his first day at school - quite fashionable you would think.

Not to those more hard of thinking at the school, who saw it as a clear sign that he was gay and therefore in need of some bullying.

Two older boys wanted to take a stand, and show some solidarity. Their plan was for them and a bunch of friends to wear pink to school the next day as well.

But the word quickly spread, with the result that over half of the school's 800 pupils turned out (in pink) in support. Much to the embarrassment of the boy in question. But then you can have everything!

Shows the importance of just deciding enough is enough, and that it's time to do something. And that, at the end of the day, it's up to you to do it. Because if not one else gets to that point, nothing will ever happen.

Read the full story here. And thanks to Seth for the lead.

Stop sex trafficking

Following on from gun crime, this is another issue we've been getting heavily involved with as a company.

Initiated by Sam Roddick, Emma Thompson and Helen Bamber, The Journey is an art & action based campaign to highlight the issue of sex trafficking.

There have been a number of marches/performances over recent weeks (photos here), all culminating in an instillation event running for the next 8 days in Trafalgar Square, demonstrating the 7 stages of one individual's sex trafficking journey (you can see a digital representation here).

It's a pretty harrowing experience (we contributed step 4 - The Bedroom), but it's getting some good PR for the issue.

So get on down there.

(PS honesty requires me to add that I've not had anything to do with this myself - so congrats to everyone involved).

Triumph of the bag ladies

(Currybet)

There's a new grass roots eco-trend emerging in UK, based around whole communities rejecting the use of plastic bags.

The trend was kicked started 6 months ago by wildlife camera women Rebecca Hosking, when she persuaded the 40 or so shopkeepers of Modbury in Devon to switch to greener alternatives. And it's still going strong today, the retailers remaining committed and the shoppers embracing the move (note: not sure if the big grocery retailers are involved).

Now some 50 other cities, towns and villages are investigating going the same way as Modbury including, most significantly, all 33 London boroughs proposing a city wide ban.

But first to bite the bullet has been Hebden Bridge, where the self-styled Bag Ladies have persuaded nearly all the towns 104 traders to ditch the plastic.

And the trick in both instances? Small groups of committed individuals not just campaigning (or complaining), but actually going to retailers with a solution. So don't just give people your problems, it's up to you to provide the way to make a difference.

Fighting gun crime

A little something on the side we're getting up to at work (click to see bigger)...

(A bit lazy, I'm afraid - as it's work related, this has already appeared here).