Sven Eberlein

Reviewing Trashed

Sven — Tue, 21 May 2013 21:20:55 +0000

Matador Travel Network just posted my review of Jeremy Irons’ new documentary film, Trashed. The film connects many important issues, from consumerism to the Pacific Garbage Patch to climate change to Zero Waste.

Trashed: A messy journey into the bowels of modern civilization

Interview with ecocity pioneer Richard Register

Sven — Thu, 16 May 2013 23:16:39 +0000

Permaculture UK has the first part of an interview I did with Richard Register, founder of the Ecocity Builders, last December.
Ecocities: using creativity to express our future urban needs
This one is about the important role creative expression has in designing them.

Update, 5/20/13: Part II just went up…

The Ecocity: The only way to organise massive populations?
Richard Register invites permaculturists to scale up their ideas on a bigger level to cater for our increasingly large world population.

Don’t throw it away — start a Repair Café

Sven — Mon, 01 Apr 2013 07:26:37 +0000

Repair Cafés are not only great events to get your vacuum, waffle iron, or lawn mower fixed, but the very nature of their collaborative and community-oriented learning spirit contains the antidote to our modern day throw-away mentality. Some useful things to know before getting started in my latest piece for Shareable, How to Start a Repair Café.

Fueling the Co-op movement!

Sven — Wed, 27 Mar 2013 17:02:59 +0000

The Spring 2013 issue of Yes! Magazine is now available online, including my piece, 6 Ways to Fuel the Cooperative Takeover. The whole issue is dedicated to scaling up the cooperative movement and well worth a read. Personally, I enjoy reading the hardcopy on the couch, and it’s still available in stores around the country, wink wink.

Tool Lending Libraries

Sven — Sun, 24 Feb 2013 21:56:24 +0000

With almost 1000 members and growing, the West Seattle Tool Library has become one of the most successful community-led tool lending services in the country. In less than three years, the project has grown into a community hub where people not only share tools, but knowledge, support, and a thirst for neighborhood improvements and sustainability collaborations.

Shareable invited me to chat with WSTL manager Micah Summers about what it takes to run a tool library and some of the unexpected places it can go.

West Seattle Tool Library: Interview with Micah Summers

Is this really sharing?

Sven — Sun, 24 Feb 2013 21:51:05 +0000

Is sharing for profit sharing? Is the sharing economy just for smiling would-be billionaires and well-situated creatives? A recent Forbes article raises the question of the meaning of sharing, which I explore in this Shareable opinion piece – Sharing for Profit – I’m not Buying it Anymore.

Interview with Bay Nature Magazine

Sven — Tue, 19 Feb 2013 18:40:23 +0000

lifting up the earthship parachute in San Francisco’s Justin Herman Square. Forward on Climate, 2/17/2013

Bay Nature Magazine did an article about Sunday’s Forward on Climate rally in SF, in which they used some of my quotes. I’ll just re-quote myself:

“It’s nice to have something positive to rally around for once,” says Sven Eberlein, a San Francisco-based journalist who is also organizer of Bike the Math, a bike ride and rally at Chevron’s San Ramon headquarters planned for May 29. “I like to try and inspire people to get involved in climate action by making it a positive thing instead of a scary thing.”

Eberlein interviewed Bill McKibben, founder of 350.org, and asked him what people here could do. “He said ‘Well, Chevron headquarters is in the Bay. You could go to a stakeholder meeting and ask that they become an energy company instead of just an oil company—if they put 25% of their resources into clean energy, it would make a huge difference.’ Since it doesn’t make much sense to drive to Chevron and then protest fossil fuels, I thought a bike ride to their headquarters would be more appropriate.”

Also check out my photo essay about Sunday’s rally on Daily Kos:

From sea to shining sea: Bay Area moving forward on climate!

Forward on Climate Blogathon

Sven — Sun, 17 Feb 2013 01:19:56 +0000

This week I got to organize the Forward on Climate “blogathon” with some of my blogger friends at Daily Kos, in the lead up to tomorrow’s big rally in Washington D.C. and a bunch of solidarity rallies around the country. We had some heavy hitters like Bill McKibben and Senators Bernie Sanders and Ben Cardin, but well worth checking out all the other posts as well. Here’s my post, Time to Take a Stand, that has all the info in it.

Ecocity Builders Advisor

Sven — Thu, 14 Feb 2013 00:48:14 +0000

I was recently asked to become an official communications advisor for the amazing Oakland nonprofit Ecocity Builders. Very cool. I love their work and look forward to collaborating on many exciting projects, including the International Ecocity Framework & Standards, EcoCitizen Map, and the upcoming Ecocity World Summit 2013 in Nantes, France. Here’s to more healthy and livable cities!

Laws from around the world that make sense

Sven — Thu, 07 Feb 2013 00:25:06 +0000

New article on Matador Travel Network: 23 laws from other countries the US should adopt

TRAVELING IS A GREAT WAY to learn about other cultures and ways of thinking. While most of our encounters with a host country’s legal system usually revolve around visas and Customs offices, there is a much broader and underlying set of laws that guides the flow of daily routines and reflects a people’s values and beliefs.

Here are 23 laws from around the world that, while maybe not perfect, could be steps in the right direction to make the United States a better place to live.