Freeplay Lifeline Radio
by TreeHugger 
on 01.17.05
You can buy this radio. But Freeplay won’t give it to you. They simply take your money and send the radio to someone else! Someone who needs it way more than you. It’s an Aid/Relief radio, designed for children. Only provided to humanitarian groups around the world. No doubt you can see where I’m headed with this. I’m going, where an estimated 100,000 children have been separated from their families, where communications, batteries, electricity are in inverse supply to rumour and misinformation. Where health and hygiene information is vital to suppress the possible second tragedy of disease. Tsunami ravaged asia needs reliable communications and you can give it to them. As you’d expect from those folk who brought us the Jonta wind-up torch, the Lifeline is a rugged, all-weather, solar-powered, human-powered radio that receives broadcasts in AM, FM and Shortwave. Buy one for just $55 USD (£35 or €45) and Freeplay will ship it where it’s genuinely needed. (Not for sale in any electronic shops.) This is truly Design for the Real World, is it not? ::Freeplay Foundation [by WM]
Follow @TreeHugger on Twitter & get our headlines with @TH_rss!
Thirsty for more? Check out these related articles:
- Green Glossary: Planet Bike
- Spring for Organic Dairy, Save Money Elsewhere
- Can You Recycle Teflon Cookware?
- Green Glossary: Nature Deficit Disorder
- Don't Buy Guitar Picks, Make Them From Leftover Cardboard
- Mister Miyagi's Guide to Going Green: 5 Questions to Always Ask to Think Green and Be Green
i think you meant to say 'the Lifeline is a rugged, all-weather, solar-powered, human-powered radio that -receives- broadcasts in AM, FM and Shortwave.
Indeed! I'm forever leaving out a crucial or pivotal word. Well spotted. Thanks. Fixed now.
I debate that these are in fact eco-friendly. The wind-up mechanism, I've heard, won't last as long as a small radio with a pair or quartet of D-cell batteries. And then the whole radio is worthless trash, not just the batteries.
Batzel, thanks for taking the time to comment on the Lifeline post. It is possible the dodgy wind-up mechanisms you refer to, belong to one of the many inferior imitations of the Freeplay products. Freeplay have been making this style of radio for nearly 10 years. I'm sure they have resolved any durability issues in this time. On the website for the Lifeline, they suggest it is the most robust of any radio they make. Tested for water and dust ingress and through 500,000 cycles of the transmission, which is made of tough glass-reinforced nylon/acetyl. The internal battery is tested to show little capacity loss after 10,000 crank charge cycles. As for the radio being 'worthless trash' if the wind-up mechanism fails, this is not the case. The Lifeline, as noted in our post, can also be powered with the included solar panels. (From personal experience, my brother has one of their radios on his 100% solar powered property - never given any problems.) Thanks again.
CCrane Company - on the web has this basic type of radio for sale (without the cool, colored dial :^( to the general public on a 'buy one = ship-one' deal which to me is the best way to do it! Uses the western world's expendable cash to fuel the building of the third world - voluntarily. I just ordered one and will do a good review of it on some of the other back-woods boards that I frequent.
I've been using a different model of hand cranked radio short-wave radio for most of the last 6 years. Even with all the back country living, foreign travel, bumps and luggage handlers. It's still keeping me informed anywhere in the world that I go, though it's beginning to show some decay. The model that I have is no longer available, so this FreePlay may help my friends who are always asking "Where do I get one of those cool radios?". I can send them to the CCrane site, they buy one and CCrane/Freeplay people ship one to where it's needed. -RadioRay ..._ ._