world view

This is a great article of health and the outdoors. We all know why we love it, but, unfortunately, not everyone has the same lifestyle. BBC talks about it in their article here.

Best Made Company

Thoughtful gear and tools.

http://www.bestmadeco.com/

Themal Energy into Electricity

The BioLite Stove is designed to "make cooking on wood as clean, safe and easy as modern fuels while generating electricity to charge phones, lights and other electronics off-grid." The BioLite team explain:
"Open wood fires are inefficient, wasting potential energy and creating toxic smoke due to incomplete combustion. Carefully designed stoves that use fans to blow air into the fire can dramatically improve combustion. However, such stoves require small amounts of electricity to power their fans and most people who cook on wood are without grid or battery access.
BioLite stoves solve this problem by converting a fraction of the fire’s thermal energy into electricity to power our combustion improvement system. Excess electricity is made available to users for charging small electronic devices such as mobile phones, LED lights, GPS and many others."

http://www.biolitestove.com/BioLite.html

The first two weeks of January 2012 we all took a trip to the Ecuadorian Andes. My family, hosted the group in a farm close by to the capital city, Quito. During this time, we had a great experience climbing a few of the mountains in the northern region of Ecuador. We reached the summit of Pasochoa (13779 ft), Illiniza Norte (16,818 ft) and Cotopaxi (19,347 ft). We also did some rock climbing and a short backpacking trip to the crater lake of Altar. During these travels we all experienced and analyzed some of the areas of design we want to explore. Here are some images of the adventure and stunning landscapes.

Manastash / eco-friendly clothing

Manastash is an outdoor brand, established in Seattle, USA in the year 1994.
Its philosophy is to make the best possible clothing, using sustainable materials, such as hemp or recycled fleeces.

http://www.manastash.com/en/keyword/index.html

Pedometer wristband

Pedometer wristband motivates schoolchildren to be active

MOVband is a wristband pedometer designed to motivate and reward exercise.

We’ve already seen wristband devices designed to motivate kids into physical activity, but what makesMOVband different is that it is available to schools through a loan program, which could encourage a far wider uptake of the device.

MOVband was created by a teacher and fitness instructor in response to rising child obesity in the US and budget cuts in schools that have caused a decrease in physical education. It was designed to be simple, stylish and accessible, ensuring kids will want to wear them and can use them easily. The black band — priced at USD 19.99 — displays the number of steps made by the wearer and comes with a range of colored accessory bands — USD 4.99 each — that wearers can “earn” once they achieve certain mileage. In this way, the device aims to promote exercise through friendly competition between individuals and groups. For schools with minimal budgets, MOVband will initially loan the wristbands for a fundraiser challenge, then take payment from the money raised. The video below explains MOVband in more detail:

Statistics show that child obesity figures in the US have trebled since 1980, and also that more active children perform better academically. Can you think of more ways to inspire children to stay active?

Website: www.movband.com