http://www.valve.fi/xmas09 Fri, 29 Jan 2010 09:18:57 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en Hot glögi, hundreds of gifts for children in homes in Helsinki, a ginger bread house for the hospital, some funky T-shirt designs, a little bit of FairTrade, some needlework, happy Firemen, and plenty more ideas for a happier Christmas. The Christmas Calendar has been great fun and really rewarding for all ... http://www.valve.fi/xmas09/2009/12/plenty-of-good-things/ A couple weeks ago we told you about one of the Christmas stories that we have been working on: we asked people on Facebook to get Christmas presents for 25 children that are being looked after by the social welfare authorities. It turned out to be a real success! There are ... http://www.valve.fi/xmas09/2009/12/363/ There are differing opinions about climate change and man's part in it, but one thing is sure: wasting energy is stupid. Not only is it wasting nature's resources but it also costs you money every day. The first step in reducing energy usage is to measure it. A study from the ... http://www.valve.fi/xmas09/2009/12/saving-energy-at-the-office/ We decided to participate in the battle against mental health problems and their negative effect on the working capabilities of young Finns. Last year, the Social Insurance Institution of Finland (Kela) compensated workers under the age of 30 for over 400,000 sick days due to mental health problems. The number ... http://www.valve.fi/xmas09/2009/12/lose-your-mind/ It's Sunday and you should rest, but with only a few days to go you are probably already focusing on food - buying it, preparing it - maybe even eating it already! If you are in Finland you might be thinking about rosolli, the delightful Finnish mixed vegetable salad with beetroot, ... http://www.valve.fi/xmas09/2009/12/rosolli-recipes/ A week ago, we ran a story daring people go vegetarian for a week. Currently there are over 100 participants in the Facebook event that was used to spread the word. We even managed to persuade a few die-hard carnivores to try out how it feels! We interviewed some of the ... http://www.valve.fi/xmas09/2009/12/veggie-news/ Our office is filled with creative minds, visual geniuses and 3D gurus... but what happens when you put them in the kitchen and throw in a pile of gingerbread dough? We spent a couple evenings at the office designing, baking and decorating a gingerbread house. And not just any house but ... http://www.valve.fi/xmas09/2009/12/consumable-architecture-in-helsinki/ By signing an organ donor card you can give someone a second chance to live – probably the greatest gift you can give. An organ donor card is small, fits into your wallet, and is easy to always carry with you. About 18 percent of Finns have already signed ... http://www.valve.fi/xmas09/2009/12/give-a-second-chance/ In earlier Christmas stories we looked at ways to recycle clothes and computers. Recycling feels so good – we have to do more! We sent out a recycling task force to explore the weak spots in our recycling management. Here at the Valve office, we are sorting our waste according to ... http://www.valve.fi/xmas09/2009/12/replace-%e2%80%93-reduce-%e2%80%93-re-use-%e2%80%93-recycle/ Yesterday we visited the Fire Station at Erottaja. It is the oldest and most beautiful fire station in Finland and handles over 1700 emergency situations every year. We wanted to thank the Fire Brigade for their valuable work so we decided to pay them a visit and gave them a nice ... http://www.valve.fi/xmas09/2009/12/be-safe-this-christmas/ To continue on from day 3, when we looked at how our own small actions can affect people on the other side of the world, we decided to try out a micro-lending service. Micro-credit is a very small loan to someone in poverty designed to spur entrepreneurship. Micro-credit as such ... http://www.valve.fi/xmas09/2009/12/loans-that-change-lives/ We’re half way through the Christmas calendar and today we’re taking a break. With all the rush, it’s good to calm down a bit and have some gingerbread cookies (that we picked up at the Christmas market yesterday) and something warm to drink. This is also the time to write ... http://www.valve.fi/xmas09/2009/12/santa-lucia-brings-light/ The countdown to Christmas is on – less than two weeks and still so much to do. Have you done all your Christmas shopping yet? Some deadlines to meet, working from home this weekend? The penultimate weekend before the holidays is also a good time to remember to enjoy some slower ... http://www.valve.fi/xmas09/2009/12/christmas-market-shopping/ You may know that producing vegetarian food requires a lot less energy and other resources than producing meat.  For example, the amount of land needed to feed and grow enough beef to feed 10 people could produce enough wheat to feed 120 people. Over 20,000 litres of fresh water is ... http://www.valve.fi/xmas09/2009/12/go-vegetarian-for-a-week/ The way the world is developing is almost solely built on growth; economic growth in manufacturing, and buying and selling physical goods. Growth as such is generally good as it tends to give more and more people higher quality of life (like having access to food, water, housing, or leisure ... http://www.valve.fi/xmas09/2009/12/experience-a-gift-this-christmas/ High-end work at corporations requires more and more raw computing power and, as time pressures dominate our working lives, the lifecycle for computers is decreasing down to just a few years. This week we gathered all our non-working machines and took them to the hazardous waste recycling point in Riihimäki. Almost 95% ... http://www.valve.fi/xmas09/2009/12/old-computers-can-still-be-good-computers/ Over a billion people live in extreme poverty and over 800 million people are malnourished. 70-75 per cent of the malnourished live in rural areas and most of them are subsistence farmers. Lots of the farmers living in developing countries have difficulties in feeding their families with the income that ... http://www.valve.fi/xmas09/2009/12/time-to-change-to-fairtrade-coffee/ Mother Teresa’s blanket knitting program started in the 80's and still today several thousand blankets are shipped from Finland to Calcutta every year. The Missionaries of Charity use the blankets in orphanages and charity centres all over the world. The contribution on a personal level might seem insignificant, but little ... http://www.valve.fi/xmas09/2009/12/stitches-to-patches/ Looking for something to do while watching the President of Finland’s Independence Day Reception on TV? We have the answer – it’s time to make some Gingerbread Cookies! Ingredients: 3 dl dark molasses/syrup 3 1/2 dl caster sugar 1 tablespoon ground cinnamon 1 tablespoon ground ginger 1 tablespoon ground cloves 1 tablespoon dried, ground Seville orange peel 1 ... http://www.valve.fi/xmas09/2009/12/happy-independence-day/ One of the Christmas stories that we have been working on is really taking off. On the Facebook Fan page for “Joululahjoja lastenkodin lapsille” (Christmas presents for children that are being looked after by the social welfare authorities) there are now well over 200 fans. We were aiming to deliver 25 ... http://www.valve.fi/xmas09/2009/12/25-christmas-gifts/ Throwing away your clothes because you don’t use them is a bad idea. Recycling clothes is an easy and efficient way to help someone while wasting less. According to estimates 4-5 million people could be clothed with the clothes thrown away each year in Finland. Last Friday we set up two ... http://www.valve.fi/xmas09/2009/12/don%e2%80%99t-throw-away-your-old-clothes/ Let’s face facts – globally women and girls are still very far from being on an equal footing with men. Three out of four of the poorest billion people in the world are women. In many countries, women own nothing, inherit nothing and earn nothing. Women do two-thirds of the world’s work, receive ... http://www.valve.fi/xmas09/2009/12/3-4-billion-possibilities-for-change/ Blood donation is incredibly easy and a very concrete way to help people in need. This autumn the Finnish Red Cross Blood Service (Veripalvelu) has a shortage of blood due to the swine flu epidemic. Did you know that a single blood donation could save as many as three lives – ... http://www.valve.fi/xmas09/2009/12/do-you-want-to-save-three-lives/ During December we are going to use some of our manpower and knowledge to raise awareness of the causes, issues and organisations that are important to us. Different people from Valve will be contributing everyday. We are encouraging our friends, colleagues and networks to get involved and help spread the ... http://www.valve.fi/xmas09/2009/12/a-warm-surprise-for-our-neighbours/