I last wrote about the Suntory Mermaid II on March 25, 2008. For those of you catching up on the story, the Suntory Mermaid II is a prototype boat that is powered by waves for its forward propulsion. (To find out how this works, visit the original post.)

The Suntory Mermaid II is a prototype boat that was built and its maiden voyage is from Hawaii to Tokyo. The craft began its journey on March 17, 2008. Since then, the ship has successfully made it past the halfway mark and it seems that the craft will make it all the way to Japan sometime in May.

If this feat is accomplished, which I believe it will, this will be a watershed event (pun intended!) in the boating/shipping industry. I expect that it will encourage more investment into developing this type of propulsion technology. And, I can’t wait to see it used commercially.

Three cheers for the Suntory Mermaid team for dreaming and making this technology a reality.

Commuting is one of life’s major inconveniences…And in Boston, where driving has something in common with bloodsports, commuters may find the drive to work is filled with stress, aggression, and a lot of stop/start traffic.

The perils of commuting seem to be pretty universal. Positive psychologists (the happiness experts) report that people who have long commutes report that they are not as happy, perhaps because commuting cuts into time for friends, family, or more pleasurable activities. And it is hard to imagine routine, voluntary activities that are less pleasurable than a long commute.

Cycling to work is a great alternative to car commuting, especially if you live near dedicated cycling routes. Not only do you feel better (and happier, since good health correlates positively with feelings of well-being), but you can reduce your carbon emissions.

Bike to work week, scheduled from May 12-18 in Massachusetts, is a great opportunity to try commuting by bicycle. This year, the City of Boston is organizing the 50,000 Mile Commuter Challenge. Individuals and employers are encouraged to sign up. The goal is for participating cyclists to collectively cycle more than 50,000 miles during that week. Since May is National Bike Month, other states are also organizing events. For more information about cycling events in your area, check out the League of American Bicyclists.

I normally only post one quote each week, but, this week, there are two really good quotes I wanted to highlight.

These quotes are brought to you by the good folks at the Foundation for a Better Life. These quotes are about strength. Enjoy!

“Good actions give strength to ourselves and inspire good actions in others.”

- Plato (427BC-347BC), Classical Greek philosopher

“Nothing is so strong as gentleness. Nothing is so gentle as real strength.”

- Saint Francis de Sales (1567-1622), author, Bishop of Geneva, Switzerland, Catholic Saint

Since today is Earth Day, I wanted to take the opportunity to talk about a green lifestyle. The following video from the New York Times Magazine shows what a green home could look like in today’s context.

Basically, the video is about a family that lives in Pasadena, California. They have chosen to live off the electric grid, grow their own food, and sell excess agricultural produce for income. (According to the video, the family makes $25K annually from sales of agricultural produce.) They generate electricity from a set of solar panels on their roof and they gather vegetable oil from local restaurants to produce fuel for their car. All of their kitchen appliances are manually operated and they even save the water from their showers to irrigate their avocado tree.

(more…)

Earth Day is quickly approaching and we need to think about how we will celebrate the day. The team here at PosiPeople has compiled a list of things you can do honor the Earth!

1. Walk, bike, carpool, or take public transportation to work.
2. Buy and eat locally grown organic food.
3. Reuse or recycle as much as you can, do your best not to throw anything away.
4. Turn off all non-essential electronics in your home and office.
5. If you see garbage on the street, pick it up and throw it away.
6. Plant five trees.
7. Don’t eat beef. (Methane from cows is one the biggest contributors to greenhouse gas emissions.)
8. Put a stop to printed junk mail by adding yourself to do not mail registries.
9. Support and consume only sustainable products.
10. Line dry your clothes or use energy efficient appliances.

Feel free to add any additional ideas you might have in the comments area below.

The folks at TED are organizing a global community event in honor of Pangea day. This event, the TED Prize wish of film-maker Jehane Noujain who dreamed of a day when people around the world could share the the same film experience at the same time, involves a global airing of films from around the world. The idea is that people in sites everywhere will watch these films at the same time.

People can watch these films in private homes, movie theaters and larger venues. The TED folks envision this as a kind of super-charged, marathon TED session — celebrating our common humanity. If you think of yourself as something of a global soul, it could be one of the year’s highlights. And in fact you could play an invaluable role in helping it realize its full potential…

You can find out more about hosting an event or attending one near you on the Pangea website.