10 Simple Actions to contribute to save the Planet

Today is Blog Action Day and I am participating because our planet is in danger. Every human being that is able to think should be aware about how much our planet is threatened by climate change, global warming and shortness of resources, to name some environmental problems which again cause social unbalance that can result in poverty, terror and war. It is a very complex subject. Our children and grandchildren will face tough times.

But where to start and who to start ?
Today, blog action day is focusing on the environmental problem "climate change".
Please take a minute and read the following what you could do today and maybe next week and more and more often :

10 simple actions to contribute for a better Planet :

1) Replace a regular light bulb with an energy saving light bulb

2) Move your radiator down one degree in winter (and the aircon up 1 degree in summer)

3) Use less hot water (it costs energy to heat water)

4) Air dry your clothes instead of using a dryer as often as possible

5) Only run your dishwasher when there’s a full load and use the energy-saving setting

6) Unplug electronics from the wall when you’re not using them (even when turned off, cell phone chargers and televisions use energy. The energy used to keep display clocks lit and memory chips working may account for 5 % of total domestic energy consumption !)

7) Plant a tree - or think twice before cutting down a tree ! (a single tree will absorb one ton of carbon dioxide over its lifetime. Shade provided by trees can also reduce your air conditioning bill by 10 to 15%.)

8) Buy locally grown food (transportation is polluting and consumes energy) - and buy fresh food instead of frozen (frozen food uses 10 times more energy to produce).

9) Eat less meat !!! (The production of 1 kg of beef consumes about 13,000 liter of water !!! And methane is the second most significant greenhouse gas and cows are one of the greatest methane emitters. Their grassy diet and multiple stomachs cause them to produce methane, which they exhale with every breath.)

10)  Drive less ! Walk, bike or use public transportation !

(source: Al Gore's Inconvenient Truth)


Today I will buy fresh food at the local farmer's market, eat no meet and use public transportation ! (easy in't it ?! But every little contribution of every human being counts !)

What is your contribution or tip ?!


Follow these links for more information about saving the planet (who is thinking, what to do and how to contribute) :

Club of Rome
Global Marshall Plan
An inconvenience truth

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Update:
I would like to recommend the following posts on CLIMAT CHANGE
http://flowerhillfarm.blogspot.com/2009/10/blog-action-day-2009-climate-change.html
http://selfdestructivebastards.blogspot.com/2009/10/wake-up-humanity.html

If you have another interesting post let us all know with a comment !
To check the other 13 thousand something participating blogs go to --> blog action day 2009

Remark: I had to change the publishing time, delay 2 hours in order to have this post appear on Oct. 15, blog action day. Now my two posts on Oct. 15 just appear in a different order. That's all. Sorry for confusion.

Modern Furniture in Rough Rooms

Recently I came across the photographer Michael Himpel via Lumas Gallery and his shots of beautiful old interiors, all with that fascinating dilapidated but luxe feel, all empty and all belonging to historic villas in Havanna, Cuba.

Only little later I saw an advertising campaign of German furniture manufacturer WK Wohnen in print media (February 2008). - And I recognised the rooms! Single modern pieces were placed into these old villas in Havanna for shooting the campaign - in November 2007 with photographer Michael Himpel and Creative Director Christian Follert. The rooms usually are not empty. For the shooting the owner's furniture was taken out. I wonder how these interiors normally look?

See here the photographs with and without furniture :


Villa Eulalia, Havanna by Michael Himpel via Lumas

 
"the charme of past times is present in Havanna ..." via pmi publishing

Villa La Guarida by Michael Himpel via Lumas
What a ballroom !



Villa Carlos, Havanna by Michael Himpel via Lumas
What a ceiling lamp ?!


via Eulalia, Havanna by Michael Himpel via Lumas
What a flooring !! Love the tiles !!


And when writing about advertising modern / luxe furniture in rough / shabby rooms, I want to post two more samples :

red sofa (Charles) above by B&B Italia ...

... in the same room that I  posted it in Feb. 2007 !

However the above picture is not taken from an advertising. If I remember well it was the furnishing of a house in Italy. The style was called "neo-shabby chic" by the magazine it was featured in (Casa International, Beijing).
I do love the fresco !


This is clearly advertising for an Italian divano - the location looks like an abandoned church , similar feeling to the other two pics before.

While the German advertising campaign was this year, I am not sure about the Italian ones. The last (mantelassi) is from about 2 or 3 years ago. However, I do not care if a style is in or not. It has to fit. This shabby chic or rough luxe style just fits to old historic buildings that have a past to tell and to preserve. I hope that I can preserve some interior walls and ceilings in our palazzo in Italy that are testimonies from so many years.

My next post should show some dilapidated walls, ceilings and fresci of our Palazzo Pizzo ...

To round up my recent posts about rough luxe - or shabby chic - I want to provide a few links to some similar content, posted recently or a bit ago, here for the interested reader :

Rough luxe and the new antiquarians by The Architectural Antique Review (09/2009)
Rough Luxe by Wall Street Journal (WSJ, 09/2009)
Rough Luxe Hotel by Designers Block (03/2009)
Cote de Texas about Belgian Design (01/2009)
A description of Boho Modern by Decor8 (01/2008)

Rough Luxe Experience

Some of you and myself are fascinated by "rough luxe" - by the style and the term. And the Wall Street Journal writes "the world of interiors gets a new manifesto".

But where does the term "rough luxe" come from ? How has created it ?

I googled - and found the "Rough Luxe Experience Network", a kind of platform for businesses that "share an understanding of a different definition of luxury".

And there I found this room combining colours and beautiful fabrics with existing distressed original walls :




The photos above and below are all showing interiors of the Rough Luxe Hotel in London, "transformed" by Rabih Hage.



What an interesting bathroom !
 Of course I selected all the bathroom photos as I have to do six for our palazzo.
And I wanted to show the rough part of the rough luxe style - the original walls. For me a bit too much (above).







The "Rough Luxe Network" seems to me like a "Charming Hotel" kind of network that is still new and very trendy. I deem their criteria to become member very interesting. 

Read some interior related criteria here:

ROUGH LUXE NETWORK CRITERIA :

* Unique location of the business in an exclusive site or address (maybe our palazzo's guest appartment should participate !?!) 

* Special or unique architectural and/or historical building where the (Rough-Luxe) business is established or operating from.

* The interior and architectural design are based on the mix of old and new elements; showing original parts of the building, preserving the memory of the site and built environment as well as adding new, useful and original elements to the property.

* The design is based on a mix that looks random but in fact is done with a conscious transmission of social and philosophical messages that put intellectual enrichment prior to the physical well being.

Physical comfort is important. However, it comes second to intellectual exchange of ideas and personal enrichment through the time spent in a Rough-Luxe business.

* Rough-Luxe will only have original art and design pieces (no copies or prints of existing art or design).

* In a Rough-Luxe business: Luxury is original materials with a unique appearance and historical elements not solely rare materials and expensive finishes.

(...) 
----
 
The red section above is exactly what I think is necessary for our renovation of our 200 + years old palazzo !
 
However the grey sectio above means for the Rough Luxe hotel guest that :  "they might share a bathroom or have a small room or a small shower cubicle, but the luxury is in the choice of the wine, the bed linen, the art on the walls and the people looking after you." (o-tone hotel website).
 
Sharing bathrooms is not really what I like to do when travelling...  but I am fine with the rest.