CLEAN OCEANS

SEABIN PROJECT

Two sea lovers guys launched an amazing project to clean oceans: a bin that swallows water, catching everything floatting in it. Platic bottles, paper, oils, detergents, ffuel... everything we can find in the sea when we want to go for a swim that has nothing to do here.

It works very simply, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week and 365 days a year.

You can follow them HERE.

They quit their jobs to invest all of their time and money in this project, to make it grow everyday, and develop it worldwide.
To do so, they need our help, and we can invest any amount of money in their project on this page RIGHT HERE and discover more about them and the whole project.

A great opportunity to contribute to change and to start acting for our planet and preserve its wealth !

UNICEF

The new Lego brick

Today I want to introduce you something I recently discovered: the UNICEF bricks.

Apparently, the Psychic Factory agency imagined it: a brick like the ones we had when we were playing Lego® as kids, that would be able to bring water and food in two compartments and that could also be piled up to build houses.

UNICEF and Lego announced their partnership (for 3 years) in March 2015 to promote and help children's rights and development through worldwide countries.

Copyright UNICEF

This inspiring collaboration lead to this brick but this one is going to be helpful not to children but to families.

Once food and water have been consumed, sand and soil can replace them in the two empty compartments, this way it gives them weight and help to pile them up.

The aim is to efficiently help populations victims of poverty and/or provide them temporary shelters from disasters (natural, industrial...). 

Copyright UNICEF

Plus, those bricks are made in a reusable material so they can help some other people, somewhere else.

Our old playing habits are finally paying off !!

Find our more or make a donation HERE !

BAIN

In the mood for "la bainiade"...

When Unilever is one of the worldwide leaders integrating sustainability into its business strategy, some people are also trying to do something, bringing a small - but nonethless very useful - contribution to the environment, for nature and our lives.

Today, among those "people", I'd like to introduce you a French brand (yes, again !) that's celebrating its 1 year this summer: BAIN.

It's a swimsuit brand created by Cindy and Nicolas, two friends from the oh-so-cool-town of Biarritz, on the west coast of France. Surfers and nature lovers are what describes best the people living there.

Cindy and Nicolas didn't find what they were looking for on the actual market in terms of comfort, style and ethics. That's why they created BAIN.

Copyright Bain

BAIN is for nature lovers: they are locally designed and made with techniques and materials respecting the environment. Materials (from France, Italy and Spain) are made of recycled plastics and fishing nets found in the sea, excluding toxic substances for health or the environment.

Collections are certified by Oeko-Tex® to guarantee the absence of nocive substances in clothes.

Copyright Bain

Bain's swimsuits (for women and men) are colored, mostly with pretty soft colors, plain or printed for a fashionable look, simple but chic, with a pinch of retro style. The definition of "design" : comfort, usefulness and style.

Copyright Bain

However, it's very hard for brand designers to find the right materials and techniques, the right colors, to create a sustainable, eco-friendly and/or organic product. Fewer researches are made into those fields, it's something that takes a lot of time to grow.

That's because we are drowned by worldwide brands with worldwide production techniques, and even though people would like to buy consciously to care more about them and about the environment, they cannot always afford this kind of products. It's once again a matter of quality over quantity. It's the same problem with food.

I guess we should buy less, and learn how to deal with it; buy 1 local and ecofriendly swimsuit instead of 3 of a worldwide brand...

Anyway, brands like BAIN really need our support to last in time and diversify their ranges of products, so feel free to discover them online: here and there.

BIO(TI)FUEL

Big step for the entire world...

New energy sources are finally existing ! 

It's in Spain that this treasure was found/realized thanks to algae and a process transforming significant quantities of CO2 into bio-crude oil by the company Bio Fuel Systems (BFS). It's the result of "an engineering idea followed by a research project developped over 3 years by a team of engineers and scientists in colaboration with the universities of Alicante and Valencia."

This process is an accelerated conversion of CO2 into energy through solar energy, photosynthesis, the eletromagnetic field and a powerful catalisation process. It realizes in a few hours what nature took millions of years to produce. 

It is a huge advance into the field of renewable energies because most of them usually have to cope with two problems: low power density and intermittence.

Some of us can even call it a revolution because it's reducing CO2 emissions (by saving what we produce), and achieving for every cubic meter of water the energy equivalent of one million cubic meter of sea water. Which means more respectful techniques regarding the environment: less CO2 emissions therefore less greenhouse effect therefore less global climate change and more stability, more protection of nature, particularly oceans and their animals because of less and less looking-for-fuel actions (e.g. the Arctic Ocean and polar bears).

Yes, J.R. Ewing can go back where he came from, his business is outdated. 

To learn more about this long-lasting, respectful and easy-to-produce process: this is the BFS website.

ESFoundation

ELISA SEDNAOUI FOUNDATION

You probably know - or heard about - Elisa Sednaoui as a fashion model and/or actress.

Well, two years ago, this talented and inspired woman founded Elisa Sednaoui Foundation (ESF) a NPO to promote creative learning and cultural exchange with children. 

Thanks to her son, Elisa got a better understanding of the issues children can have. She realized how it's important for them to follow their dreams and that's why she wants them to be able to freely express themselves, telling what they think, what they wish, how they feel about the things they experience... in a creative and open way.

ESF is about creating projects (centers, workshops...) that enrich personal and educational development of worldwide children. These projects are based on innovation and creativity but also on sharing and exchanging culture and traditions.

Every child should have access to culture and should be able to express creatively to develop his personal skills and state of being.

- Copyright M&R AroundTheWorld - 

In 2013, 30,9 million girls and 28,4 million boys did not attend school. 

For the luckiest children of developing countries who are able to attend school, they do not have time to interact, play and share moments with others after school because of heavy tasks and responsibilities waiting for them at home.

They just don't have time to think about what would make them happy, what would make them get away even for a few minutes. And it's unfair because they're just children. Playing and sharing actually is the only thing they should think of, to grow up and blossom.

ESF makes it possible for those children. It gives them back imagination, hope and opportunities to develop and grow educationally and personally.

Creative learning, in any of its kinds, is really positive for children and young people. It fosters open-mind, acceptance (and self-acceptance) and it allows kids to express themselves and understand others. It provides them a sense of community and sharing that are essential to make them good citizens of the world.

The first project took place in Egypt (in Luxor), where Elisa Sednaoui grew up.

The aim of this pilot project is "to build an environmentally sustainable community cultural centre in the heart of Luxor’s West Bank, where her father built her family home over thirty years ago. The initial focus of the project will be to provide after-school activities for children and young people in the community."

The next one is taking place in Italy...

To know more about this wonderful Foundation and its projects and make a donation, find them here and follow them there.