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GCA Project Ideas

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Posted 7/22/2009 at 1:11 PM by Bradlee A (Bradlee)

I've designated this message board for those that are looking GCA Project ideas or those of us who want to brainstorm ideas with each other.

I often think of cool project ideas, but I simply don't have the time to do them. Rather than let these ripe ideas fall off the tree and rot, why not share them with others who may find them appealing enough to take charge?

Granted, not all of our ideas will be the greatest, which is why this is brainstorming area. Every idea is a good one here.

Posted 7/22/2009 at 1:19 PM by Bradlee A (Bradlee)

My latest idea is to campaign for shopping malls to shut down their escalators during slow hours of the day. On average, 7.5 KW/hr are used by escalators in shopping malls, no matter if they are being used or not. So if no one uses an escalator between the hours of 1-3pm and it still runs, that's 15 KWs that were just used up for nothing.

A cool GCA project would be to talk with the owners or managers of the shopping mall to get them to reduce their carbon footprint by shutting those escalators off. The GCA project leads could even make a sign that mall managers could put next to the escalators explaining why it is off: to reduce energy consumption. Something like, "We here at Glenbrookdaleville Mall care about the environment, which is why this escalator not be operating for the next two hours."

And the best part about shutting escalators off, they're still usable. As the late comedian Mitch Hedberg said, “An escalator can never break: it can only become stairs. You would never see an Escalator Temporarily Out Of Order sign, just Escalator Temporarily Stairs. Sorry for the convenience.”

Posted 7/23/2009 at 3:03 PM by Brett E (Brett)

great idea for a thread! I'm gonna move it to PJ chat so it gets some front page time. in the future when the site is more active this will be the right place to post it though

Posted 7/27/2009 at 4:07 PM by Bradlee A (Bradlee)

Sounds good. Thanks!

last edit 7/27/2009 at 4:08 PM

Posted 7/30/2009 at 4:43 PM by Brett E (Brett)

Any other ideas?

Posted 8/27/2009 at 10:32 PM by Bradlee A (Bradlee)

There's Money In Honey

So as many people at HQ have realized, I'm obsessed with the idea of keeping honey bees. I can't get it out of my head, especially since honey bees are in danger of vanishing from our planet, which means 90% of our food would go with it. I just love the idea and really, really want to do it.

So my latest idea for a GCA project would be to raise honey bees and sell the honey to raise money for a community garden.

Or the bees could be in a community garden with bee friendly plants and flowers.

Here's some sweet videos and a link to get the discussion going:

I think my favorite part is when Einstein is on a pogo stick and almost falls off.

Here's a link for more info on the above video (and the 5 brothers who made it).

Here's another sweet vid about a group of restaurant owners in Brooklyn who are raising bees in the middle of the city.

Let the buzzing begin.

Posted 8/28/2009 at 10:43 AM by Brett E (Brett)

I think you're serious but you've got me laughing anyway!

Posted 8/28/2009 at 3:12 PM by Ann R (annpjnw)

The honey bee idea is a good one for the VISTA entrepreneurship activity around sustainability. perhaps, NW will be the first to get a group moving on it.

Posted 8/28/2009 at 4:01 PM by Pantea B (Pani)

I've always wanted to become a bee keeper! This can be my opportunity!