Insight and inspiration in turbulent times.
Willie Osterweil This week, Strike Debt tweeted out triumphantly: “It’s a new era. First machine fired up at worker owned factory. #NewEraWindowsandDoors”. For those of us who’ve been following news about the Chicago factory formerly known as Republic Windows and Doors, this was the culmination of years of struggle. It’s an exciting moment, and a victory which hopefully can inspire other factories across the country.
Urban agriculture has captured the imagination of many San Franciscans in recent years. Two dozen gardens and farms have sprouted across the city since 2008, and in 2011 the city changed its zoning code to permit urban agriculture in all neighborhoods. Interest in urban agriculture stems from its numerous benefits. City farming and gardening provides San Franciscans with vibrant greenspaces and recreation, education about fresh food and the effort it takes to produce it, cost savings and ecological benefits for the city, sites that help build community, and a potential source of modest economic development. But the city will not fully capture these benefits unless it takes advantage of the growing interest and energy behind the issue.
The rise of the Brazilian economy, as with all of the “BRICS” countries, is a story often told in breathless tones of admiration and boosterism. But the “other side” of the economic expansion: the poverty of the favelas, the dislocation of agrarian workers (which has given birth to a very powerful popular movement, The Landless Worker’s Movement), etc. has come into focus as growth has slowed dramatically in Brazil this year.
On assignment for Shareable in Detroit, I’ve been looking for some hope to report on beyond the devastation porn the mainstream media seems fixated on. I’d only been there one day and found plenty of it – driven by determined, creative and resilient folks.
In recent months, I have worked a lot with currencies, as I’m involved with Dropis, a team of developers, researchers, and designers dedicated to creating a currency for the sharing economy. So, when I came across “Love is our Currency,” a TEDx talk by Manjil Rana, cofounder and president of Maya Universe Academy, my curiosity was piqued…
Inspired by the idea of building resilience around local, grassroots economies in response to peak oil and climate change, the transition movement has evolved into a global network of cities, towns, and neighborhoods that self-organize around the principles not only of reducing CO2 emissions but doing it by fostering happy, healthy, and creative communities.
As the price of solar has plummeted and leases have become more widespread, many more Americans have been able to go solar. But what about the 75% who can’t?
Asheville North Carolina is situated in the Southern Appalachian mountains, a region with a wealth of sharing traditions. Historically, the relative isolation of the mountains and the necessity of making do with less have meant that relying on community is a means to survival. Regardless, it has never gone out of style to share music, food, stories and medicine. As one native Ashevillian says "We help each other out. It’s not complicated." These days, Asheville’s sharing culture is a healthy mix of the traditional and the cosmopolitan. The economic downturn in the past half-decade has spurred an abundance of community activities and projects for which dollars are not a requirement.
“I’ve never had my driver’s license,” Kevin Campbell says. A curly-headed 22-year-old with a Movember ‘stache, Kevin is the newest staff member at the groundbreaking Reno Bike Project. There’s a reason he’s never driven: A few years back, he was struck by a car while walking in a crosswalk.
My ecological journey started in the forests of the Himalaya. My father was a forest conservator, and my mother became a farmer after fleeing the tragic partition of India and Pakistan. It is from the Himalayan forests and ecosystems that I learned most of what I know about ecology. The songs and poems our mother composed for us were about trees, forests, and India’s forest civilizations.
I was inspired enough by the set up of Share Tompkins that I decided to host an occasional swap of my own with a very specific focus: fiber arts. People who are not interested in working with string may not be aware of this, but Ithaca has dozens — if not hundreds — of talented spinners, knitters, crocheters, and lacemakers. I happen to know a bunch of them, and I happen to know that this is a group that often has big plans that don’t pan out, so we usually end up with extra materials.
Compared to the default method of economic development – which usually involves giving tax breaks to lure an out-of-town corporation – local coops may be one of the best ways to bring quality jobs back to America.
