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The signs of change are everywhere: not just in the economy, but also in the enormous wave of new ventures that are using cutting-edge technology, sustainable objectives and social consciousness to create a new paradigm of private enterprise for the common good.  Umair Haque, the Harvard economist, eloquently describes the collapse of the “Zombieconomy” and what he calls Capitalism 1.0 evolving into Capitalism 2.0, or constructive capitalism.  He also talks about old business models that produced good incomes and bad outcomes giving way to an “institutional revolution,” coming up from the grass-roots of society and changing the world as we know it.

In fact, once you start looking, the amount of organisations and companies trying to do the right thing for people, nature and the planet is simply overwhelming and far more than I could ever fit into one blog post.  So I’ve divided them into three categories: digital, physical and consumable.

Today I’m listing my top 10 in the digital category: ways in which with simply a click you can change the world for the better. (with thanks to Mashable)

Digital Actions for good:

1. Change your iGoogle theme to help the hungry

2. Every time you use Windows Live™ Messenger or Windows Live Hotmail®, our free webmail service, they’ll share a portion of their advertising revenue with the cause you choose from among their partner social cause organizations

3. Teach your Granny to Text: The big book of small actions to change the world is out now.
Written by children, for children it’s a technicolour ‘how to’ for doing things.  And changing things. How can you change the world?  We Are What We Do is a new kind of movement inspiring people to change the world one small action at a time.  Their philosophy is simple: small actions x lots of people = big change.  They have the 130 small things that you can do to change really big things. Pick an action, track it here, and see how it all adds up.

4. Seventy-one ways to give without opening your wallet: mostly tweeted ideas, very brief and some very good

5.  Good is - the magazine.  Subscribe and 100% of the fee supports a social action project

6. Changing the Present -  Like Bothar but even more gift ideas: roof tiles, tutoring for deaf children, books, tetanus injections, and more.

7. The Case Foundation - another giving website, but this has suggestions of things you can do as well as donations or gifts that benefit those in need.

8. World Concern - More giving again, but they also do HIV/AIDS prevention in Africa, water wells, orphans, education and help prevent child trafficking.

9. Good.ly For all you eco-bloggers, a url shortener that donates to charity for every address you shorten.  Most Irish charities aren’t signed up yet, but using it creates the potential demand so try it out.

10. Blackle is a black version of Google that consumes less wattage. Apparently, it takes 74 watts to power a white screen, but only 59 watts for a dark screen. The site aims to “save energy, one search at a time.” You can also follow it on Twitter for more simple energy-saving ideas.

Next time, I’ll list my favourite sites for consumable actions for good - or, to put it another way - Shopping!!!  And please let me know of your favourites too so we can spread the word!

Now I really feel famous! I’m in the Femme section of the Evening Herald. It’s my first time in the company of Sarah Jessica Parker, too, and I think she probably was pretty happy to be on the same page as me.  In fact, that’s the only thing that was missing from Sex in the City - a little white dog - maybe she and I should do lunch…!

Hello humans!  Now you can now follow me on Twitter, Facebook, Bebo, Linkedin and LiveJournal for news on green living, new technology, tasty food, social change and everything of interest to car-surfing terriers…that should be enough social media for one dog, don’t you think?

It’s not all bad: the old “death zone” between East and West Germany is now a unique nature preserve, where many species who were almost exctinct are now thriving; the ancient and underappreciated black bee could be the salvation of plummetting bee populations across Northern Europe; and thanks to the economic downturn recycling waste is suddenly a very profitable business.  Could someone please alert the media?

As a sometime film technician, for me the most noticeable impact of climate change in Ireland has been the increasing wind speeds – in the past 18 months I’ve been on two commercials that were closed down because it was too windy to shoot; that had never happened to me in the previous 15 years. However, there are may be some positive side effects to this new phenomena, energy independence being chief among them.  The creators of Spirit of Ireland view Ireland as infinitely rich in the sustainable and ecological power of wind.  The group’s idea is clever because it addresses the issue of wind’s intermittent nature by storing the energy in the form of reservoirs, which then create hydroelectricity on demand.  It’s pretty neat. And for proof that energy independence is not just possible but profitable, Elizabeth Kolbert’s New Yorker article is a must-read: she describes how the residents of a Danish island went from impoverished to wealthy in a matter of a few years, simply by using the wind that was already rushing across their land every day.

Besides capturing the wind itself, the future of wind power technology in Ireland is promising as well, as last week’s announcement of 250 new jobs in Mayo testifies.

So if you agree that the future of wind is mighty, you can start using it yourself today: Airtricity gets at least 70% of their electricity from Irish wind farms, it’s cheaper than the ESB and it only takes 5 minutes to switch: isn’t that as refreshing as a cool breeze?

Just think – right this second, millions of people in gyms across the planet are running, stretching, lifting weights, stepping, cycling and leaping around the place, God love them.  Imagine how many units of energy are being burned – and all of it simply floating into the ether, unused, untapped and unappreciated.  Now that may all be about to change, thanks to some imaginative inventions.  The “Bike Power Generator” is a stationery bike that can directly power some DC appliances such as water pumps, but is primarily designed to charge a deep cycle, 12-Volt battery.  For those of you concerned about bingo wings you can get the irresistibly-named Human Power Generator (power from the people!).  But wait – there’s more!  The very footpaths we walk (or jog) on may soon become part of the national grid, as brilliant minds have designed “Powerleap” (as seen on the Sundance Channel) - floor tiles that emit an electrical response to impact.  If jogging isn’t exciting enough for you, jump up and down!  Dance!  Do long jump!  You’ll be doing your bit for the planet.  These inventions are all so simple one might wonder why they weren’t created sooner, but a perfect storm of climate anxiety and new technology has allowed them to come to market now.  So the next time you’re feeling a little pudgy, hook yourself up, feel the burn and see the light!

Amidst all the doom and gloom and very real economic pain, one happy effect of the recession, at least in the UK, is a massive reduction in waste.  Instead of carelessly throwing out food, people are buying less and using more. In England, local councils and waste management companies are reporting a drop of up to 10 per cent in waste collection in recent months, a fall that the UK environmental charity Waste Watch estimates could result in a massive reduction of 2.5 million tonnes in waste production in 2009 – enough rubbish to fill Canary Wharf five times over.  I don’t have the figures for Ireland but suspect the same is going on here.  Which makes you wonder how much people were throwing out in the first place!  There are a few reasons offered for this change: a shift in public attitudes away from extravagant living; a drop in the amount of white goods (like washing machines and TVs) being thrown out; and a fall in construction waste, as the recession affects the number of building projects.  But there’s also a rise in recycling, which indicates a social shift beyond economics. One young mother says “I suppose it is a combination of not wanting to waste money and concerns about the environment. Not being wasteful does save you money. I think a lot of people feel the same as me about not wasting things.”  Less is more might be the new black!

Meet Filomena Gonzales de Chambi, shopkeeper and entrepreneur, from La Paz, Bolivia.  She’s just one of the hundreds of people eligible for a microloan to develop her business.  Kiva Microfunds is the world’s first person-to-person micro-lending website.  If you have 20 euros to spare, you can choose an entrepreneur you’d like to lend to: perhaps a water spinach farmer in Cambodia, a grocer in Tajikstan or a shoemaker in Tanzania…?  The entrepreneurs are referred by local microfinance institutions, and shown on the website with their photo and details about what they would use the loan for.  Loans are usually repaid after about 6-12 months, during which time you can receive email journal updates and track repayments. Once you’re repaid, you can relend to someone else in need.  Power to the people! 

Okay, now these geniuses at MIT are starting to scare me.  They’ve figured out how to increase the charging speed of batteries by 36 times: and this time there are no bacteria involved, the Friends of Bacteria Association will be please to note.  The science is intricate, but basically by making nano grooves in batteries’ surfaces, the ions travel much faster, putting the possibility of electric cars’ acceleration matching petrol engines in the near future, and thereby attracting all those speed demons who won’t touch electric cars at the moment.  My resistance to viewing electric cars as the answer to our woes continues, however, as the power still has to come from somewhere: while the recharging technology could be integrated into the existing battery infrastructure in two years, home rechargers for electric cars would have to be redesigned to handle the rapid transfer of energy. “For cars, the speed that they can recharge at home will be limited not by the battery but by how much power can be made available to homeowners through the [electric] grid,” said Byoungwoo Kang, an MIT doctoral candidate working under engineering professor Gerbrand Ceder.  But it’s still no good having electric cars if everyone drives alone!  I read today in The Lazy Girl’s Guide to Green Living that there are 10 million empty seats every day, and if everyone took just one passenger (or2.37 passengers, but who’s counting?), congestion would be reduced by a third: more than the sum of the parts, methinks!

Our first media event  happened today! The Irish Times article was published, but I wasn’t particularly thrilled about my hair in this photo - you’d think they might have pushed it out of my eyes just for the snap - and my collar is hanging loose a bit which isn’t really the look I’m going for.  In fact, no-one asked me about my day, which is a lot more interesting than some human sitting at a computer: first I get to terrify the postman, then there might be a stroll up to the park or the post office, maybe the odd cat to chase along the way, and who knows, if I’m lucky someone clumsy will have dropped a chip or two outside the Spar!  In the evenings, if the humans are having chicken I always get a little taste, and in between I’m very good at sleeping.  They’ve accused me of snoring recently, but I don’t believe that.  All in all, it’s hard work but I love my job as protector, minder, and object of affection.  It’s pretty cool.  Especially when there’s chicken. And broccoli.  Some humans are surprised, but I really love broccoli.  Well, I do love all things green!  Why isn’t that in the Times, I ask you?