Clay Water Filters for Poor Nations and Communities

Potters for Peace and other organizations are producing clay pot water filters that can turn contaminated and polluted water into 99.9 percent pure water that is safe to drink

Essentially, a clay pot or filter is formed with a mix of fifty percent clay and fifty percent sawdust.  When the clay pot is fired the sawdust is burned up leaving small holes and paths for water to seep through.  This filters out most foreign matter.  The pot is coated with colloidal silver.  The silver kills bacterial and viruses the pot is put into a larger container that catches the clean water seeping out of the clay pot.

These filters are inexpensive, can often be made locally and are extremely effective changing polluted water into water that is safe to drink.  The result is the reduction or elimination of most water borne illnesses.  This can help people in poor areas live much longer healthier lives.

Potters For Peace

Anil Gupta on Innovation Among the Poor

Anil Gupta spoke at TED India about innovation among the poor.  He also talked about how they are often exploited.  They come up with ideas, others use them in some way but don't give credit where credit it due.  That kind of must stop.  So he has a honeybee network where innovators among the poor can connect, and be known and credited with their innovations.

Anil has some wonderful examples like  Md. Saidullah, a seventy year old man, who created an amphibious bicycle.  He shows Sheikh Jahangira, who uses a two wheeler to carry a small powered grinder and washing machine around selling it as a service.   It's a great example of how the poor can be the answers to their own poverty.

Time For A Better Way- It's Time to Get Serious About Renewable Energy

The Gulf Oil leak continues pouring millions of gallons of oil into the Gulf of Mexico and BP can't stop it.  This means there are not enough safeguards to prevent disasters.  Who knows when they'll get it stopped or how much damage will be done to the environment, or to business and commerce?    How much will the cleanup end up costing.

It's time to focus our efforts on renewable energy sources like wind and solar.  Yes, they are more expensive in the short run, but solar and wind costs are actually dropping quite dramatically.  It's time to move away from our dependence on fossil fuels and more toward a more sane energy policy.  It's time to get the oil  industry's influence out of the process.  Let's face it, they serve or care about nothing but their bottom line.  They don't care about Americans except how much they can get out of their pockets. 

If  we don't start taking action now on this issue, we can look forward to more disasters in the future.  It's time to move beyond  this polluting, limited resource and toward resources that make far better sense over the long haul.

Time for the Medical Profession to Come in to the 21st Century

I had to go for a follow up visit to the Doctor today and I'm not impressed with what I saw.  My file was a folder with sheets for each visit attached and the Doctor (not my usual) was working her way through the pages to see where I was and what I was in for.  It was bulky.  It was cumbersome and took longer than it should have.

Why isn't the office networked.   Why can't the Doctor's see your history at a glance?  Why can't the nurses who take the vitals enter them real time. Frankly, I didn't have much confidence as the Doctor  tried to figure out what the previous Doctor had done what drugs I was taking, how often, what the dosages were.

Even Wal-Mart's automotive department has portable networked scanners where your car id is entered in, what you are there for is entered in and everything is done electronically.  Yet Doctor's offices remain in the 19th century.  Come on Doctors - it's 2010.  Network your offices and get some IPADS and join us in the 21st century.

Jawhorse Reviews: Great Looking Gift for the Do It Yourself Crowd

I'm always on the lookout for great gifts.   Check out Jawhorse Reviews for a great gift idea.   I think I found a great gift for Father's Day or my Dad's Birthday.  I've checked out reviews of the Rockwell Jawhorse and it is pretty impressive.  It's a combination workbench, clamp, tool mount all in one.  My dad is a serious do it yourself proponent so this little gem looks like it is just the ticket.

It's extremely sturdy looking.  It can be used to replace a couple of sawhorses and clamps.  It looks likes the perfect gift for the do it yourself guys who don't always have an extra set of hands around to try to hold things down for cutting, welding or gluing.

Anyway for a possible Father's day gift idea check out  Jawhorse Reviews.

Search Amazon.com for jawhorse

Shipping Container Housing - First Day of Conversion

This video is from the first day of converting a steel shipping container into a housing unit.  My friend Dale Parker is the owner of Good Castle Specialty Housing.  The idea is to convert steel cargo containers which can be found in abundance all over the world into affordable housing.  Dale has plans for turning them into emergency shelters in disasters, to mountain cabins, mobile medical units and family home.  Check out his website for more information.

Hexayurt - A great Refugee Shelter

I am interested in technology that could be used to help the poor and found some information on a refugee shelter called a Hexayurt.

The hexayurt can be made of a number of materials, but it is generally some kind of strong but light honeycomb panels. Six panels are used for the roof and between six and twelve panels can by used for the main walls depending if you are building a larger one or smaller one.

The hexayurt was created by Vinay Gupta. He developed the hexayurt for the long term because refugees often are in camps for up to 17-20 years. The panels are easily moved by a couple of men, they can be stacked and transported by truck. The panels would be assembled together using strong filament tape.

The project has been developed as open source - so anyone can access the plans who need them. Governments and individuals can access the plans free of charge. According to Gupta, the materials for a structure can be purchased for a couple of hundred dollars and two people with some experience can assemble one in a couple of hours.

They are waterproof structures. The floor would generally be a tarp.

The shelter is mobile and could easily be taken down and re-assembled elsewhere if needed. You would just have to tape it back up. A truck could carry a large number of these if needed.

The organizers have also developed and infrastructure kit for handling water, sewage, etc.

This is a great idea with a lot of potential. Go to hexayurt for more information.