Summer Playlist - A better you

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Since the academic year is winding up, my regular blog posts will too!  So I thought for my last official blog for the year I would share this TEDTalks playlist that offers a selection of recent talks under the title "A better you"

As we head towards to end of another year, most of us like to review our year's performance and set goals to improve ourselves for the following year.  This set of TEDTalks could provide some inspiration you need. Use this link and play one a night for the next couple of weeks.  

We'd love you to follow this blog and then post your feedback. 

Thanks for reading this year.  I look forward to being back with you really soon!

Simple personal sustainability solutions

I am sure that this topic has come up several times before but I thought this might be timely as the year of study comes to a close and we have more time to consider how to look after ourselves better and perhaps put something in place to allow you to be more personally sustainable moving forward into new careers or the next year of study.

I discovered this little link from an advertisement in Good Magazine which is promoted by Blackmores called "Little Less Little More"  - it is simply asking: What are the things you could do a little less of? What are the things you could do a little more of to make you more personally sustainable?    If you need more motivation than just the idea, you can sign up on the website to help you commit to change.

I think its a great message and something that is easy to aspire to and set little goals.  Recently I have deleted a number of silly time wasting games off my iPad which lead to me having less sleep because I keep saying "just once more" for example.  I stopped using a scooter to travel with the kids to school but instead walk (very fast) or run which uses more energy than scootering.

Please share your ideas here to help inspire others.  Together we can have a more personally sustainable life.

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Going all-out on Sustainability

In line with the theme this term of just getting out and doing it - the home furnishings company Ikea is an example of just that. Sure they are not perfect, nor would they claim to be, but Steve Howard, chief sustainability officer at Ikea, talks about his role in in the company driving them forward in sustainability.  They have made some pretty big gains and drawn some pretty clear lines in the sand.  

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Have a listen to the short talk, its only 13 minutes - so watch it while you are doing the dishes or something!  Its time well spent.  

Steve Howard: Let's go all-in on selling sustainability

Now that you have been inspired, have a think about what your business or industry can do to make some gains in improving sustainability - both financial, social, and environmental. 

I'll get you started:
Energy - How do your buildings perform? Are they insulated? What heating do you use? Is there double glazing? What about lighting - do you have energy efficient bulbs? Some simple building changes could reduce your energy bill.  Record what it is now (your energy bill will tell you monthly units of energy used over the past 12 months).  Look for areas of inefficiency and fix them and see what happens in the next month comparative with the same month the previous year.     Replace you appliances with energy efficient ones and ensure their placement in the building is not making them have to work harder - like fridges in direct sunlight!  Watch your energy bills go down and each month do something else.  This list is not exclusive.  Simple actions like maintaining a drier, warmer building are better for the environment, better for staff health, and better for the bottom line in ways such as energy costs and reduced sick days. 

Staff well-being - Do you listen to your staff (or are you listened to as an employee)? Are there regular staff meetings where all input is valued? Are staff given responsibility and trusted? Are there adequate down times in each day for people to recharge?  What changes could be made to make staff feel more included and valuable to the team?  Most of the time its not simply an increased pay rate!  

Disinfectants - Have you audited the disinfectant you use?  Does it have zero effect on the environment? Is the company that produces it looking after their staff? Is it safe for your staff to handle every day? Are there toxic by-products produced when it is made?  Make sure you can satisfy yourself that you are using the best disinfectant with the lowest impact on the environment. 

There are many other areas that can be looked at to improve sustainable practices in your business, workplace, home and community. If you are not the boss and want to get traction on a project in your workplace - start with a project that will save the boss money!  An energy audit would be a good place to start.  Simply showing that you can spend a little to save a lot could be all that's needed to get them on board.  Once implemented, your successful project will provide  traction for other projects that may not affect the bottom line but instead will reduce environmental impacts. 

Take a moment to comment below on some ideas that you have. I look forward to hearing what projects you are putting in place.  

Have a great week.  

The Story of Stuff - working on solutions

You will have hopefully all seen the original Story of Stuff videos, showing how our systems are causing problems. Now they are producing videos that are looking at focusing on solutions.  This video outlines in very simple terms what it takes for change.  Its 6 minutes well worth viewing. Click here to view the new video.

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Can we see this sort of change already happening? 

I think we can, and this will only increase.  All over the place you can see citizens mobilising to grow their own food in food forests (check out this website as an example), we can see the Student Volunteer Army originally in Christchurch but now with branches nationwide, we can see the Gapfiller project and the Ministry of Awesome also at work in Christchurch.  These are all citizens mobilising and taking action. 

In "The Press" on Saturday 28th September 2013, there was a fascinating article by John McCrone called "Game Changer"  about how local councils are changing from a corporate style to organisations that consult with, and consider what the people want. This is all happening due to the explosion of social media.  The article was absolutely inspiring and offers hope for the next term of local councils if those elected buy into that. 

What other examples of active change have you seen recently?  Please share them!

Amazing technology - does this have the potential to be the answer?

Does this amazing technology hold the answer to our future? If it does, how much will it affect the environmental impact of our primary industries? 

The TedTalks I have linked below show case some amazing new technologies that make it possible to reproduce the qualities of leather and meat in a test tube and to use viruses to create batteries.  The first talk really makes you think about the potential future changes in primary industries.  The second shows the potential of nature to produce things we are currently producing while potentially destroying nature.  

• Andras Forgacs: Leather and meat without killing animals
• Angela Belcher: Using nature to grow batteries

After viewing these - all I could think of was - WOW. Science has come along way since I was at university.  I challenge you to think about how wide-scale use of this lower-impact technology could affect the New Zealand environment and economy  considering that we currently rely strongly on primary industry to make export dollars.

I look forward to your thoughts.

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Business and social responsibility

This week I wanted to blog on social responsibility.  When we think about sustainability we often think about things like: Is it organic? Can we recycle it? Where did it come from (in terms of travel miles)? How much waste was created producing it? However, what is equally important is the human side.  Does the product come from a business that shows social responsibility? Does the business look after their staff and allow them to meet the
9 fundamental human needs by Max Neef? Does it exhibit other social responsibilities like volunteering, charity support and philanthropy?    Equally important to this, is that the business you work in/on/for or own also has this strong sense of social responsibility.  

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This link shows a short video clip of the slave labour often employed in food production.  Its based in USA but when I think of New Zealand, unless things have changed drastically from the 1990's when I last had any primary contact with this industry, it may be not so different here. Clothing production worldwide will be similar.  

Now I know you are wondering what this has to do with the Animal Care Industry.  Well many of our products are imported from overseas where we have little idea of the production company and their practices around human resource management.  What I am suggesting is that it is time we found out by starting to ask questions.  

Food for thought?  I look forward to your comments.

Where have all the bees gone?

Being a keen gardener, I have often asked myself this very question.  As a child I can remember our garden being full of bees, now I rarely see a honey bee.  I still see bumble bees but I'm not sure there are enough to complete the pollination required for my garden. 

So when I stumbled across this TEDTalk it answered lots of questions (and confirmed some suspicions). 

Marla Spivak: Why bees are disappearing

All is not lost - if we all do our bit to plant bee-attractive gardens and hedgerows, the bees will come back. 

Let me know what you think.  Do you have many bees? If you do, what do you have in your garden to attract them? 

I look forward to your comments.

The recent windy weather front

Last week's weather front brought tremendous winds which has created havoc for many.  Many consumers were without power for a week. Its at times like these we realise how much we rely on electricity.  

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What relevance does the weather have to this blog?

Well with the current changing weather patterns we can expect more freak weather storms like this.  So we have to start asking how we maintain power so our home or workplace can keep functioning.  The mind set of relying on the power provider is not going to work long term because eventually the problem has the potential to become too big. Just consider the losses to a business from 1 week closure, yet alone longer.  Insurance may cover it but eventually insurance premiums will rise out of the reach of many. 

Important questions for all homeowners and business owners to ask themselves are:

1. How long can I survive without power - at home, in my workplace?
2. What losses will I incur in a time without power? Am I am prepared to take those losses?
3. What changes to my power supply can I make which will allow me to be self sufficient all the time or at least in the event of mother nature intervening?
4. Is my alternative source of power sustainable long term? e.g. is it from an infinite resource and will it survive wild winds and earthquakes? 

I look forward to your thoughts on this.

Why is there concern about urban sprawl?

This article appeared in the Christchurch Press this week.  It is a perspective article discussing something we hear a lot about but often feel powerless to do anything to address the problem - I'm guessing this is partly because of our own 'quarter acre of paradise' upbringing and our wish to replicate this. 

The experts tell us that pushing the city boundaries further out from the town centre is a bad move.  Then they go on to tell us how we should be living in well designed apartments closer to the city centre with communal areas outside for gardens.  The argument sounds very sound and it is easy to go yeah we should do that BUT urban sprawl continues and kiwis want someone else to live in the apartment while they continue to live in large houses with back yards.  The ironic thing is that when you look at nearly every new subdivision popping up around the city, the houses are large and the sections are small (ranging in size from around 400m2 to 800m2). So what we in effect have is a big house with a fence around it and very little viable area to garden or play.  Each of these new subdivision has a entry area with a wall or fence with the name inscribed on it.  The residents enter the subdivision, in their car, drive into their garage and close the door.  Inside they stay because there is no communal outside area. They stay inside engaging with their computers and TVs, out of touch with the neighbourhood around them. These are broad generalizations but you get the gist. 

Not all people are happy living in apartments, and the current subdivision trend isn't meeting the dream for the quarter acre paradise. Many people are generally unhappier in today's urban sprawl and my theory is that it is due to a lack of meaningful interactions. Perhaps we need to stop looking at our old expectations or what other countries are doing and look instead at how we can design a modern living space for a number of people that allows everyone access to the kiwi dream while also promoting community interaction as well as personal and social productivity.  In the future, travel will be more expensive so if people work in an urban sprawl they will need to be able to also live in that area so accessing food locally will be more important than ever. And then of course power - lets be brave and make solar power the only way to access power in these new developments.

Imagine a subdivision where a number of houses all looked over a green space which had multiple uses - the perimeter had fruit and nut trees, a community garden, free-ranging hens where the residents can collect eggs, an area to play ball sports, picnic tables and swales to collect water overflow after rain, yet each of these houses also had their own space for a private entertaining as well.  These houses could be 2-storey, to maximise land use, all could have photo-voltaic panels, water storage tanks and composting toilets.  The kitchen /dining area would be designed to look over the common green space so people could see who was out and about and go out and join in.  Perhaps there could be an office pod, so even if you work from home, you could go to the pod and join others working from home.  The next step to this is of course more radical ideas, like car sharing in these subdivisions distant from the city.

What is to become of the city centre? Well there will always be a core of people, that love the European lifestyle, who will take to that and feed the city centre making it attractive and different so it becomes a place to visit too. 

So, what on earth has all this got to do with veterinary clinics?  Well part of designing these communities we need to consider the core service providers. In this community, perhaps 1 or 2 vets, doctors, dentists (with their support staff) set up a GP style business in each of these areas (another way the community can 'live, work and play' in the same area).  These service providers could offer the basics and a transport service to a central hub for more complex procedures (e.g. large human hospital , or a central large referral hospital for vets).   In some ways, this type of set-up gets back to the community health professional model of years a go when everyone knew the local veterinarian and his or her support staff and they were a pillar of the community.   

What do you think?  Does this model provide a sustainable solution to urban sprawl?  Do we need to go European or do we go for a kiwi approach to sustainable living?  What would your vision be for a kiwi approach to sustainable living?  How do we integrate sustainable veterinary professional services into that vision

I look forward to your ideas and feedback.  

The importance of sleep

I am inspired this week to write about sleep after stumbling upon a TEDTalk that discussed the importance of sleeping well.  This was preceded by a week or so ago reading an article on it.  It feels like someone is trying to tell me something!

The more I read and think about it, the more I know how important good sleep is and how I haven't been prioritising it as much as I should have.  I think you hit a certain age and you really start thinking about what do you need to do to maximise the time you have and this is really one of those things!

To function well, to be even tempered, rational, make good decisions, and be efficient, you need to have had enough sleep.  However, modern times are trying to convince us more and more that less sleep is OK   The draw of light bulbs, 24 hour TV, 24 hour entertainment, long working days and then trying to get some me time and so on.  I even read recently that 1/3rd of us will fall asleep at the wheel sometime in our lives as a result of sleep deprivation. It is scary to think that many people are out there driving sleep deprived!

It doesn't matter what your role and interests in life.  Without a certain amount of sleep the stakes are high!

Watch this TEDTalk to be get you thinking about this!

Falling asleep again - image source

Bring back the Milk man

This week its idea sharing time

I am going to share my idea for creating a more sustainable community, and in return I ask that you share yours.

Remember we are thinking environmentally, socially and financially. This 6 petal flower diagram is useful to visualise how these aspects are connected when thinking about what denotes sustainable practice. 

My idea is to reinstate the local milk truck 

Instead of delivering bottles (glass or plastic), the milkie brings round a vat and you go out and fill your jug or bottle and pay for the volume you take.  Initially due to current rules and regulations this would be offering only pasteurised stuff, but then potentially as laws changes A2 and raw...... who knows. 

How cool would it be to bring the milkie back.  The milkie could also deliver  fresh bread and other local produce and maybe even other stuff. For example,  the local veterinary clinic could get them to deliver food ordered online by their clients for example.

Of course the milkie would use a highly efficient, electric vehicle and will have EFT POS facilities. 

NZ Milkman, Circa 1980's. Image source

There are many advantages to this system:

• Provides fresh milk delivered to your door
• Supports local businesses
• Reduces the number of plastic milk bottles going to landfill or recycling
• Ensures the milk stays in the dark until it is delivered to the end user (in the vat) and then the end user can put it in the fridge (just in case it really is true that milk kept in the dark tastes better). 
• Avoids many daily trips to the supermarket made by the majority of people who tend to buy milk and bread and other fresh items several times a week - reducing our reliance on fossil fuels
• Gets the neighbours out on the street talking to each other with a daily meeting point around the milk truck. Who knows what great ideas could stem from those daily meetings. 
• Employs a local person to be the milkie

What idea do you have that could help to create a more sustainable community?  

Now I am really looking forward to all your ideas!!

Have a great week.

The benefits of greening your building

Green buildings are good for your people and good for the bottom line too!

A growing body of evidence is showing that greener work spaces reduce absenteeism and use of sick leave, increase the profits of the business, and work-environment survey results improve, reduces respiratory allergies, asthma, depression and improve productivity.

Don't believe me?  Here is some research to support greening your building: 

• Effects of Green Buildings on Employee Health and Productivity
• Greener Buildings, Better Places, Healthier People
• Employee Productivity in a Sustainable Building

What can you do to improve your building?

1.  Make the stairs more inviting so people are encouraged to walk them - art, plants
2.  Double glaze windows
3.  Use a dehumidifier
4.  Create living walls/displays
5.  Frame natural settings outside through windows.  If a ground floor window looks out onto a waste land, consider what you can do to to make it a nicer view.  This might involve changing the layout of a room or doing something creative outside the window. 
6.  Create an inviting rest area for staff and a separate one for clients who need to wait around a bit.
7.  Maximise natural light. This makes people feel better. 

I am sure you can think of many more. 

Most people feel good about creating a better space so why not encourage the creativity of your staff - run a competition to improve the green characterisitcs of spaces in your building.  Give each team a small budget to help with it and then give the winning team a bigger prize. 



Inspiring waste reduction

Welcome back to term 3!

I finished last term with something light hearted.  Maybe it inspired some creativity over the term break.  Don't forget to share that creativity with everyone!

This term I am going to start with an inspiring waste reduction story.  But before I start, I just wanted to share the short story of waste.

Recycling
When it comes to recycling - in terms of plastics, which form the bulk of recycling, this is actually downcycling rather than a fully cyclic system.  Plastics lose strength over time so cannot keep being remade into products indefinitely. The recyclable plastic that comes your way might make it into another product of lower quality but eventually the quality of the recycled plastic is so low that it cannot be re-used, so it is sent to the landfill.   

It is also worth noting that of every recyclable product made - only around 20% make it to a recycling bin - 80% end up in landfill.  Go on, admit it, you have disposed of a recyclable container, especially when out and about and its hard to find the right bin.

Paper and metals have better recycling potential and paper products can of course be composted at the end of their natural life when they can no longer be recycled due to weaknesses in the fibres. 

Remember also that the process of recycling is very energy intensive and it would be far better to design a long lasting and reusable cyclic product than a single-use recyclable product.

Landfill
The way landfill is designed in the ideal situation is that nothing breaks down or is able to leach into the surrounding soil and therefore into waterways.  But remember, we only have one planet earth and every resource we will ever have is here already (exception - solar energy inputs from the sun).  So, any resource we send to landfill is a resource lost to us.  In addition to this, any organic products such as paper or food and garden waste that should have been redirected from landfill to recycling or compost will break down in a landfill situation and be sources of methane emissions.  Methane is a strong greenhouse gas.   When these products are dealt with correctly (e.g. recycling or composting), these emissions are minimised. 

So that's the story of waste, in a a very brief nutshell. 

Inspiring story
This inspiring story about a coffee shop shows you just want can be done if you but your mind to it.  Inspiring stuff indeed. 

Tell us what you are doing at home or workplace to create a cyclic system or to support business in a quest for better practices.  Sharing will help to seed ideas to other people and grow the good!

I look forward to your feedback.

Final word:  Don't forget to vote in this years Packaging Awards.  Go to www.unpackit.org.nz to vote for best and worst packaging. 

Recycling at its best - a real vet clinic example

Following last weeks post I recieved this gem from one of our students.  Too good not to share!

Quoting the email I received: "Here's one of my recycling projects just done last week.

The recipe is:

• 2x old broken upright lamps

• 1x assistant

• 1x screwdriver

 

My clinic now has 2 new drip stands for nothing. "

Awesome work! 2 very functional items for avet clinic, 2 less things in landfill.  Who else out there has some real vet clinic examples of recycling at its best to share?

Recycling at its best

This week something light hearted!

These pictures came through my email.  I thought they would be worth sharing to inspire you.  I have chosen ones I reckon you could use to enhance the environment of your animal facility or to inspire original ideas to enhance your working environment. 

Enhance the outside of your facility and make it inviting and a talking point

Another way to enhance the environment by attracting the birds. Wild bird seed can be purchased for next to nothing at most supermarkets and many pet shops.  Better still plant Kowhai and other tress that attract the native birds. 

I use old jeans to make door stoppers but look at this cool idea.  I imagine the legs are filled with straw or something and then a plastic plant bag is used in the top to contain the plant and stop the jeans getting mouldy.  I would think this would be a short term display but a great way to enhance an ugly spot outside your building.  You could run a competition and have a changing feature every few months on the ugly spot!

Another way to enhance windows

Nothing more relaxing than a good water feature - use this idea to inspire you to add a water feature to your outdoor environment!

No earrings in vet clinics - so leave then at home hanging on this cool earring holder!

Give your clients cool ideas by feeding the resident cat in a food bowl like this!

I don't know about you but my hand towels are always falling down - try this idea to hang a hand towel or teatowel everywhere you need one

Enhance that outdoor space again - create a peaceful garden for visiting clients who may be visiting or grieving a sick/lost pet. 

You can pick up old pianos for next to nothing!  How cool would your library of text books look in this!

Another idea for attracting the birds to your environment

30 is not the new 20

As many readers of this blog are in their 20's, others have 20 somethings in their care or they employ them I thought this was an enlightening talk. 

It is often thought that the 20's is a decade you can fritter away.  Meg Jay explains why this is not the case.

If you are a 20 something you should watch this.  It is not at all saying you need to settle down, just that you need to put things in place so when you are ready it will work successfully whether it be a relationship, your job, having a family or so on. 

If you are employing 20 somethings you should watch this.  Perhaps you should be helping them develop their careers and their place in employment as well as the world.  As an educator or relative of a 20 something the same goes for you too.

As I listened to this, as someone somewhat older than 20, it totally resonated with me.  I don't, by any stretch of the imagination, think that everyone needs to turn up the pschyotherapy, as seems to be common place is the USA, but I think the messages from this pschyotherapist are very simple and very true. 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vhhgI4tSMwc

Next week I hope to open some good discussions on the use of pharmaceuticals - watch this space

Have a great week and keep warm out there.

How knowing what your neighbours are doing can change habits

Lets use a "bus" as a metaphor for you local community, your profession or any other group of people you interact with. 

Broadly speaking there are 3 types of people on "the bus" - there are a  few at the back (the detractors) trying to stop it from moving, there are those at the front driving it (the leaders) and the other 80% are along for the ride.  They will follow the leaders.  If the followers know what everyone else is doing then they will behave in the same way too.  The detractors at the back of the bus will eventually get left behind. 

The TedTalk below shows how behavioural science can be used to change behaviours.  In this talk, Alex Laskey shows how letting people know how well they are doing against their neighbours in terms of energy consumption changes behaviour.  If they know their neighbours are using less then they will attempt to use less too.  The reality is we all know how to reduce our energy consumption, we just lack the motivation to do it - perhaps we all assume no one else is putting in the effort so we'll just do the same.  But this talk clearly shows how letting people know how they are going against others close by is a driver for change.

Alex Laskey: How behavioral science can lower your energy bill

So if this can be done for energy, what else can it be done for?  Lets think about some animal related examples:

• Taking the dog for a walk - Imagine if everyone knew how often their neighbours dogs were being walked.
• Keeping your pets at an optimum weight - Imagine if you kept a neighbouring register of the trim dogs and the not so trim dogs and without naming names you could market that to your local clientèle and help create healthier pets who require less medical treatment throughout their lives. 
• Annual health checks - If you knew that most of your neighbours took their pets for annual health checks wouldn't you be driven to do that too? 
• What about businesses competing against business - What if you knew that all the neighbouring practices had installed low-flow taps and a foot pedal in their scrub sink to reduce water use?  Would you feel compelled to do the same?  What about neighbouring practices demonstrating a reduction in waste?    

I am sure you can think of many more examples of when this could happen in our homes and workplaces. Post some of your ideas in the comments section and we can learn from each other. 

Education of the Future

Recently I had the pleasure of listening to a TEDx talk by Steve Henry from Otago Polytechnic's Centre for Sustainable Practice.  As a lifelong learner, I found this talk particularly eye-opening.

Education is changing rapidly. It is transitioning away from the haloed institutions where the teacher shalt know everything and dictate it to a classroom full of eager learners who shalt not talk, but shall take in everything the learned teacher has to say. The new educational picture is that of a world brimming with easy access information, and the advent of global communication via the internet. We are all learners whether we are newborn or in our senior years - life long learning is important and essential, and it is a part of modern life.

How will these changes effect learning in the future?

Maybe we will no longer go to "the bricks" to learn but instead will learn through "clicks" and the interactions that we get with people and on-the-job experiences.  The way we are recognised for that learning will also change.  We may still want a qualification but we may go to the institution already knowing what we need for the qualification and instead ask for that to be recognised.

Who knows what might happen, but one thing is for sure, the educational process is already changing and will continue to do so! 

Listen to Steve's talk here for more and consider how that impacts on you as a current and future learner. 

This image shows a Modern Learning Environment - an example of how all new schools in NZ are being built today. How different is this from your local school environment?

Localisation is a solution-multiplier

Recently there was a TEDx event in Queenstown and for those of you who are not yet familiar with TED talks these are when groups of inspirational speakers get up and share ideas.

At the TEDx event in Queenstown, two of Otago Polytechnic's staff gave talks. The talk I wanted to highlight this week was this one presented by Ella Lawton.  Ella has recently completed a PhD on the New Zealand Footprint Project which looks at the amount of resources New Zealanders consume, how and why they use them, and whether they can use less of them without compromising well-being. In her TEDx talk, she speaks on Helena Norberg-Hodge's concept of how "localisation is a solution multiplier".  It is an inspiring speech.  You can relate this to your own community and even your veterinary clinic (or any other business) within it.

“When we take the time to make things in our own communities we not only reduce its Ecological Footprint but we strengthen the local economy and increase the amount of social fabric upon which more local magic can happen...How we spend our time and money is a decision about the type of future we want to live in.”

- Ella Lawton @ TEDxQueenstown, April 2013

Watch Ella's TEDx Queenstown talk here

Ella refers to her leather Jandals in her speech to make a point.  

Portable solar power units

I am sure that most of you are starting to understand how solar power is an important part of our energy future.  Recycling old solar power units still holds some significant challenges, with most of this waste still going into the landfill; however, there is a lot of innovative research going on that promises some good solutions that should help solar power to be even more sustainable in the near future.

Solar power on a smaller scale is becoming common with portable solar units that can be used to power personal electronic devices.  This link leads to an article about a solar charging device that sticks on your window like this one pictured below.

I have also noticed, in numerous shops, the proliferation of solar power units, such as radios and torches, which also have USB charging ports for other electronic devices. An additional benefit of these devices is that that they also have a dynamo, so if the sun is not out, turning the dynamo a few times will give you additional power from your own physical activity.  

An example of the solar power/dynamo torch radio distributed to all households in Christchurch by the NZ Red Cross

A device available from Kathmandu