If you manage a restaurant/hotel in Thailand, we suggest you look into environmentally degradable plastic products such as straws, for instance. These products decay completely in less than 12 months versus the 450 - 1'000 years of ordinary plastic.



The brand is called ECOPLAZ and the company can be reached at:

Enaxus (Thailand) Co. Ltd.
Mr. Chakraphong H. (nickname Jay)
info@ecoplaz.com
+66 86 526 24 18

Download the ECOPLAZ product catalogue right here (PDF, 280 KB):

A day of sharing food and ideas at June's Art Cafe on the full moon every month from 10 am to 8 pm. Seva day is a day of service, where June's Cafe provides a delicious free buffet of healthy foods in exchange for a donation. This is a great day for meeting others who care about our island and our health. Donations are used for a variety of projects, which in the past have included, among others, the building of school libraries.

The Green Island Project Koh Samui aims to facilitate cooperation between the government sector, business people, tourists, and the Samui community to restore Samui’s beautiful natural environment and its traditional ways of life to their original state. All effort are geared towards making tourism to this beautiful tropical island sustainable.

To learn more, visit www.thegreenislandproject.org or download the Koh Samui Green Book (12.8 MB)

Genuine responsible tourism operators have a duty to the communities they serve. This requires understanding local priorities and sense of place, and then using this information to develop an appropriate program. This is a process and certainly does not happen overnight. All too often tour operators — even ones with good intentions — raise hopes and artificially inflate local economies without understanding the consequences of their actions. The results can be disastrous, and there are numerous examples of villages that have suffered from loss of traditional livelihoods and money-driven conflict.

What started with Bodhi Garrett under the name of the North Andaman Tsunami Relief in the wake of the 2004 tsunami later became Andaman Discoveries, a leading organization in the business of sustainable tourism that empowers, educates, trains, preserves local customs, without neglecting the financial dimension. A model for many places in the Kingdom that are only beginning to become popular with tourists...

Visit www.andamandiscoveries.com for more information.

Following Lester Brown's internationally acclaimed environmental landmark publications Plan B and Plan B 2.0, read now the summary of his latest contribution Plan B 3.0: Mobilizing to Save Civilization. Click here to download a PDF, or visit www.earth-policy.org.org for more resources.

Popularized by Iranian architect and builder Nader Khalili since the 1970s, natural building in general and earthbag building (EB) in particular are becoming more and more relevant in a world where housing becomes less and less affordable. Building with earthbags allows the use of local, natural materials for the filling which substantially lowers the embodied energy commonly associated with the manufacture and transportation of building materials. Using earthbags results in extremely durable and strong structures (in a whole range of climates), for a minimal amount of money (compared to conventional construction methods).

Anybody interested in real alternatives to conventional house building, visit picasaweb.google.com/phanganearthworks to access phanganearthwork's image gallery and or email phanganearthworks@gmail.com. Immersion workshops are offered every couple of months throughout the year.

The Panya Project "aims to be a thriving example of sustainable living in northern Thailand, while simultaneously providing a vehicle for growth and expansion for all those involved." Panya conducts year-round research and teaching exercises in permaculture design, agroecology and natural building.

www.panyaproject.org

The Freecycle Network™ is made up of 4,627 groups with 6,090,468 members across the globe. It's a grassroots and entirely nonprofit movement of people who are giving (and getting) stuff for free in their own towns and thus keeping good stuff out of landfills. Whether it's a chair, a fax machine, piano, or an old door, feel free to post it. Or maybe you're looking to acquire something yourself!

Currently there are only two groups in Thailand (Bangkok and Chiang Mai). Why not start one somewhere else?

www.freecycle.org AND http://groups.yahoo.com/group/BangkokFreecycle for the Bangkok Freecycle Group

Creating a world where everyone can live well, within the means of one planet, is going to take all of us pulling together toward this common goal. The scale of our challenge is enormous. Nothing short of a revolution in our economies, societies, energy choices, and lifestyles is required.

The programs of the Global Footprint Network are designed to influence decision-makers at all levels of society and to create a critical mass of powerful institutions using the network to put an end to ecological overshoot and get our economies back into balance.

www.footprintnetwork.org

Worried about your impact on the environment? The way we use the planet's resources makes up our ecological footprint. Measuring yours takes less than 5 minutes and could set you on a life-changing journey. Find out how many planets it takes to support your lifestyle!

Earthday Network's Calculator: www.earthday.net/footprint/index.html
WWF's Calculator: http://footprint.wwf.org.uk



Schools Eco Footprint Challenge 2008 for Thai Schools (in Thai)
www.britishcouncil.or.th/ecofootprint

Some facts about the world water situation:

	•	Of the 6 billion people on earth, 1.1 billion do not have access to safe, clean drinking water. (www.charitywater.org)
	•	The water and sanitation crisis claims more lives through disease than any war claims through guns. (www.water.org)
	•	Water is a $400 billion dollar global industry; the third largest behind electricity and oil. (Source: CBS News, FLOW - For Love of Water)
	•	There are over 116,000 human-made chemicals that are finding their way into public water supply systems. (Source: William Marks, author of Water Voices from Around the World, FLOW - For Love of Water)
	•	According to the National Resources Defense Council, in a scientific study in which more than 1,000 bottles of 103 brands of water were tested, about one-third of the bottles contained synthetic organic chemicals, bacteria, and arsenic. (www.nrdc.org)
	•	The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency currently does not regulate 51 known water contaminants. (www.foodandwaterwatch.org)

Two things you can do right now:

	•	ARTICLE 31 Sign the petition to add a 31st article to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, establishing access to clean water as a fundamental human right. Sign the petition here
	•	FREEFLO FreeFlo is an online social network designed to strengthen the global water activist community, to challenge the privatization of water, and to promote solidarity and water justice for all. Join FreeFlo here

(adapted after www.flowthefilm.com; please visit that site to find out more about how you can make a difference)

Each year, hundreds of millions of tons of pesticides are applied widely and intensively in agricultural zones around the globe. Many of these chemicals exhibit toxic effects in humans and have been linked to a variety of diseases including cancer. One of our most vital resources – clean drinking water – is under the increasing threat of contamination by these substances.

Here's a great empowering website featuring a wide array of impressive statistics about pesticide use and water quality worldwide. You can also access and download many PDF files which - among others - explain how to design and build your own water purification system.

www.aqsolutions.org

	•	Ten Reasons to Eat Organic Foods (by Dr. Andrew Weil)
	•	Two very informative and well-researched articles published by The Ecologist, arguably the world's most respected environmental affairs magazine: 10 reasons why GM won't feed the world AND 10 reasons why organic can feed the world
	•	Organic Consumers Association (OCA) - an online and grassroots non-profit organization campaigning for health, justice, and sustainability - deals with crucial issues of food safety, industrial agriculture, genetic engineering, children's health, corporate accountability, Fair Trade, environmental sustainability, and other key topics. www.organicconsumers.org
	•	www.whyorganic.org provides information on organic issues, organic offers, and invites you to get involved

You've heard of “Bikram Yoga” and “Ashtanga Yoga,” but what about “Green Yoga”?

Any branch of traditional, authentic Yoga is inherently green, or environmentally friendly. Why, then, is there a need to speak specifically of "Green Yoga"? The answer is obvious: because much of contemporary Yoga is anything but green. In fact, as part of our consumer society, it is thoroughly "commodified" and plays into the very mindset that Green Yoga criticizes and seeks to overcome. Few enthusiasts of contemporary Yoga have discovered Yoga's spiritual and moral teachings beyond the allure of the bodily postures...

To read more about the opportunities offered by Green Yoga, visit http://www.traditionalyogastudies.com/articles_whatis_green_yoga.html
To download Georg Feuerstein's latest e-book Green Dharma (2008), go to http://www.traditionalyogastudies.com/green_dharma.html

Livestock's Long Shadow - Environmental Issues and Options was published by the UN's Food and Agriculture Organisation in late 2006. It concluded that the meat industry is “one of the most significant contributors to today's most serious environmental problems" and that "urgent action is required to remedy the situation." The report evaluates "that livestock are responsible for 18 percent of greenhouse gas emissions, a bigger share than that of transport."

Recent criticism of the research methodologies used for the report suggests that 18% is too high a percentage and that the actual figure is lower. Be that as it may, we would point out that the correlations put forth are what matter and we recommend having a look.

To learn more and download chapters or the full report, go to: http://www.fao.org/docrep/010/a0701e/a0701e00.htm
To download a comprehensible vegetarian starter guide, click here

Pun Pun is an organic farm, seed-saving operation, and sustainable living and learning center near Chiang Mai in Northern Thailand.
Jon Jandai and his team of qualified enthusiasts offer internships, workshops, and sustainable study trips that blend organic farming with natural earthen building techniques.

http://punpunthailand.org

Agama is a unique international school offering its students the secret spiritual path of true Integral Yoga in a modern form. Based in the authentic, esoteric lineages of Indian and Tibetan Tantra Yoga, Agama provides an updated and upgraded self-development system whose theory includes comprehensive university-level teachings, combined with those of other sacred traditions from East and West (such as Taoism, Gnostic Christianity, Tibetan Buddhism, and Sufism).

For more information, please visit www.agamayoga.com

If by activism we mean the kind of action that is intended to bring about socio-cultural change, then spiritual activism is such action brought from a perspective that engages spiritual values, principles, and goals.

Upon deeper reflection, it becomes very obvious that the environmental crisis is really a crisis of the human spirit. How we relate to one another and to ourselves is central to environmentalism and activism. Trees are wonderful. Dolphins and bees are wonderful. They're all part of the environment. But we ourselves are part of the environment too.

As we ourselves change in the direction of greater self-transcendence — expressed as mindfulness, reverence for life, and active compassion for all beings — we become increasingly capable of transforming the world with benign results.

To read Georg Feuerstein's arcticle on the subject: http://www.traditionalyogastudies.com/articles_activism.html

Environmental ambassadors who have chosen to change the world one step at a time:

	•	Satish Kumar and Resurgence - committed to raising awareness of the key ecological and spiritual issues of our time. www.resurgence.org
	•	John Francis and Planetwalk - John Francis embarked on a walking journey around the world and became an environmental scientist. Planetwalk is a nonprofit educational organization dedicated to raising environmental consciousness and promoting earth stewardship. www.planetwalk.org
	•	Peace Pilgrim - an American pacifist, vegetarian, and peace activist who walked across the United States for 28 years. www.peacepilgrim.com
	•	Metta Center for Nonviolence Education - inspires, educates, and supports the practice of nonviolence. www.mettacenter.org

Did you know that more than 200 studies (most of them peer reviewed) on the beneficial effects of the Transcendental Meditation (TM) technique have been published to date?

A wide range of independent research institutions have concluded that a regular meditation practice effectively promotes and significantly improves mental functioning, mental well-being, social behavior and physiological health, among other effects.

For more information, please visit http://www.mum.edu/tm_research/research.html


The term Consciousness-Based Education (CBE) was coined by Maharishi Mahesh Yogi in the 1970s. It denotes a new and by definition holistic approach to education and aims at developing each student's total brain functioning. CBE does not oppose classical education, but incorporates aspects such as character, creativity, and intelligence training, which are conventionally neglected in our modern schooling systems.

To read more, please visit:
http://www.mum.edu/cbe/
http://www.davidlynchfoundation.org

In a world where 20% of greenhouse gases are caused by deforestation, planting trees does make a difference!

The Bangkok-headquartered PATT Foundation has a number of projects in the kingdom that are aimed at supporting directives to reforest regional areas and support community forests. Furthermore, PATT is involved in education, school nurseries, local small tree planting projects, and providing funding for a wide range of projects.

To learn more, please visit www.plant-a-tree-today.org or access its Thailand Projects page directly.

RenewableEnergyWorld.com was started in 1998 by a group of renewable energy professionals who wanted their work to relate to their passion for renewable energy. With this passion and the desire to create a long-term sustainable business, this group has created perhaps the single most recognized and trusted source for renewable energy news and information on the Internet.

www.renewableenergyworld.com

Here are three suggestions:

HELP CLEAN IT UP
DISPOSE OF YOUR PLASTIC WASTE PROPERLY
REDUCE YOUR USE OF PLASTIC PRODUCTS

Of these suggestions, only the third one is really a solution! Help clean it up: Unfortunately the sheer size of the world's oceans and the extent to which we have filled them with plastic debris means that cleaning them up is a physical impossibility - this is something nature will have to do itself in the coming centuries. However, this isn't to say that helping clean up plastic debris from your local beach is not a worthwhile thing to do. By participating in beach cleanups you are helping to raise awareness of a serious problem. This is the first step in changing the way things are. Even if you live inland and have no local beach, organizing or participating in cleanups is just as important because much of the litter you find in your parks and rivers will inevitably end up in the ocean. Dispose of your plastic waste properly: This should really go without saying. If your local area provides collection facilities for plastic recycling then make sure any plastic you are throwing out is properly separated for recycling. If your local area does not provide such a service then ask them why. However, the big problem with plastic is that much of it cannot be effectively recycled and even more of it just isn't.

Reduce your use of plastic products: At the moment it is impossible to completely remove plastic from yorr life, but it is possible to massively reduce how much you use. Plastic in many ways is a fantastic material; it is relatively cheap to produce, versatile, and above all durable to the point of near indestructibility. It is this durability that makes plastic so unsuited for disposable items. Here are some of the worst offenders and how you can avoid them:

Plastic carrier bags – these have to be the worst example of an unnecessary disposable plastic product. Luckily they are also perhaps the easiest one to avoid – BRING YOUR OWN BAG TO THE SHOP!

Soft drink bottles - BUY DRINKS IN CANS OR GLASS BOTTLES!

Packing for vegetables in supermarkets - ALWAYS TRY TO BUY LOOSE VEGETABLES AND FRUITS. Until now, operators are now used to people just putting vegetables loose into their shopping baskets.

If you are feeling really brave, RIP ALL EXCESS PACKAGING OFF your produce and bought items once you hit the checkout. This campaign has actually worked in other European countries with many supermarkets reducing their packaging as a result.

Plastic kids' toys - we all know the ones that are given out free with certain fast food meals. Kids are entertained by these toys for 5 minutes before they get bored of them. This one is not easy as many highly paid child psychologists have been working tirelessly for years to convince your children they need these plastic trinkets. Maybe inform your child that these toys kill animals? As a general rule - THINK BEFORE YOU BUY. If possible when buying anything look for the brand that has the least plastic packaging and buy that one. Consumer choice is a very powerful tool.

The more people who express their dislike of disposable plastic products and packaging with their wallets, the easier it will get to find alternatives.

BE PROACTIVE - If this issue concerns you, then tell other people about the facts.

GIVE US A HAND - Join the Clean and Green Phangan initiative, and help us clean the beaches of Koh Phangan. Details will follow shortly.

(adapted after a text posted on http://www.messageinthewaves.com/action.php)