Category: community

behavior · community · culture · environment

Making Sustainability Legal | Sightline Daily

Beth Kelley
Low Impact Development
Image by American Planning Association - Virginia Chapter via Flickr

We all know of a few laws that have outlived their usefulness that haven’t been taken off the books yet; where I grew up there was technically a law that while traveling the Cuesta Grade “trail” in a car, you had to blow your horn five times before cresting the hill to scare the cows away; it is now the major 101 Freeway and there are few cows anywhere near the top of the Cuesta Grade.

It turns out that in many places these outdated laws may be inhibiting our ability to instigate more sustainable practices.

Some of the smartest, most innovative solutions for building thriving and sustainable communities in the Northwest are, at present, simply illegal.

Take the problem of the urban stormwater runoff that threatens the health of Puget Sound and other waterbodies throughout the Northwest. Low Impact Development (LID) solutions—including such strategies as rain gardens, street-side swales, porous pavement, and green roofs—can treat stormwater more effectively, and for less money, than the costly “hard” infrastructure of downspouts, pipes, and sewers. Yet many development codes mandate the more-expensive, less-effective plumbing solution. If only codes would allow LID as an alternative, the region could see a proliferation of lower-impact techniques that could spare government coffers in lean times, and give developers and homeowners a financial break—even while providing cleaner water and patches of urban habitat.

more via Making Sustainability Legal | Sightline Daily.

The question, then, is how to remove or buffer these laws in order to encourage sustainable practices and make sure residents and construction companies alike are compliant with the law while also being forward thinking and adopting better practices. Thoughts? Have you seen a town actually remove an outdated law or ordinance? Share it hear in the comments below.

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architecture · community · culture · environment · Social

Bathrooms, Internet part of revitalization plan for Pioneer Square

Beth Kelley1 Comment
101 S Jackson St in the Pioneer Square neighbo...
Example of architecture in Pioneer Square Neighborhood. Image via Wikipedia

Revitalizing a neighborhood, i.e. growing a community or keeping it from leaving, can be difficult, even if everybody’s in agreement on what needs to get done. I’m seen a couple of revitalization plans for neighborhoods *cough* *Alameda* *cough* *cough* go nowhere fast. Seattle’s plan for one of its oldest neighborhoods, Pioneer Square, involves free Internet and better parking.

Comcast has been chosen to provide high-speed Internet service to businesses in Pioneer Square, Mayor Mike McGinn said Wednesday, one of several efforts aimed at reanimating a neighborhood perceived to be in trouble.

McGinn also announced that Onehub, a business-file sharing company from Bellevue, was moving into the city’s oldest community next month. Charles Mount, Onehub CEO, said juiced-up Internet was a key factor in the decision to bring his 10-person business across Lake Washington…

The Comcast and Onehub announcements were part of the unveiling of a new plan (PDF) to revitalize Pioneer Square, the product of a panel of more than two dozen business, neighborhood and city leaders. Among the ideas are to increase residential density, streamline permits, improved lighting, better manage parking increase public safety.

“We by no means think we have the problems licked in Pioneer Square, we know it’s going to take a lot more work,” McGinn said.

more via Bathrooms, good Internet: Can they save Pioneer Sq.? – seattlepi.com.

Last summer they also had a “Pioneer Square” craft festival with food trucks and all sorts of crafty items. I have no idea if they’re doing it again this year (I guess not?), but if they are going to try and keep it as a tourist attraction for the people who jump off the ferries, then bathrooms and better lighting are a good start.

What else would you do to improve the feel of Pioneer Square? Cleaner streets? Different kinds of shops? Leave your ideas in the comments below.

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community · happiness

The Happiest Countries in the World – The Atlantic

Beth Kelley
Universal health care
Countries with national health care. Does it make them happy? Image via Wikipedia

Turns out Americans aren’t so happy right now; we didn’t even make it into the top ten. In fact, eight of the top ten happiest nations are in Europe.

There is more to happiness than raw economic growth. What happens when you measure countries by employment, health care, and life satisfaction? The United States and Europe run in opposite directions.

#1: Denmark

Employment Score: 5th
Self-Reported Health:15th
Employees Working Long Hours: 3rd
Disposable Income:18th
Educational Attainment: 18th
Life Expectancy: 25th

I was surprised to see that Danes worked some of the longest hours of all the nations polled. They also didn’t score super high on life expectancy or disposable income.

#2, Canada, had a seemingly more balanced ranking, ranking tenth in long hours worked and 2nd for self-reported health. Norway at #3 also had pretty good scores all around.

Hmm, maybe it’s the cold weather?

Check out the whole list at The Happiest Countries in the World – Bruce Stokes – Business – The Atlantic.

 

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community · education · learning · technology · youtube

Khan Academy – library of free educational videos

Beth Kelley
Khan Academy
Image by AJC1 via Flickr

Your feel-good story of the day, and one example of how the Internet is being used to democratize learning and teaching for anyone with a Internet-enabled device.

The Khan Academy is…. a non-profit with the goal of changing education for the better by providing a free world-class education to anyone anywhere.

All of the site’s resources are available to anyone. It doesn’t matter if you are a student, teacher, home-schooler, principal, adult returning to the classroom after 20 years, or a friendly alien just trying to get a leg up in earthly biology. The Khan Academy’s materials and resources are available to you completely free of charge.

Despite being the work of one man, Salman Khan, this 2100+ video library is the most-used educational video resource as measured by YouTube video views per day and unique users. What started out as Sal making a few algebra videos for his cousins has grown to over 2,100 videos and 100 self-paced exercises and assessments covering everything from arithmetic to physics, finance, and history.

more via About | Khan Academy. I have no problems with the library being Math-focused right now; I think Math and Science can be one of the hardest subjects to teach, while simultaneously being one of the hardest things to teach yourself.

Salman Khan recently gave a TED talk, and was joined on stage by Bill Gates. You can hear his reasoning behind the Academy here:

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behavior · children · community · creativity · health · play

6 Ways To Get Kids Outside And Moving This Summer, suggested by Kaboom

Beth Kelley2 Comments
KaBOOM! CEO Darell Hammond
Kaboom CEO Darrel Hammond (told ya' it wasn't the SNL guy!) Image via Wikipedia

It doesn’t really feel like summer here in the Pacific Northwest yet, but we’re already scheduling picnics and camping trips and weddings and all kinds of outdoor activities in hopes of the weather getting nice. But there are more ideas for getting outside than (hopefully not) tedious nuptials or a forced march uphill. Darrel Hammond, CEO of Kaboom (not the SNL guy), has some ideas specifically for families:

Summer should be a time for roaming, discovering and running outside — but unfortunately, for all too many kids, more free time means more screen time and more structured activities.

It’s up to you to ensure that your kids get a healthy daily dose of unstructured outdoor play. Here are six ways to get your children moving, nurture their creativity and provide them with all the rich learning opportunities that outdoor play presents. In the process, you’ll meet new neighbors and contribute to a nationwide movement to save play.

Suggestion #4: Close a street for play. I’ve actually seen several neighborhoods around town grab a permit for the afternoon to close down their street and have a block party. Some cities are probably easier to work with than others, but the idea of a block play party sounds fabulous!

We all need a little push to get out the door (especially when it’s too hot, too cold, too windy, not windy enough, etc.), so having a planned event or project like this can be very useful.

more suggestions by Darell Hammond: 6 Ways To Get Kids Outside And Moving This Summer.

Kaboom! is a play-focused non-profit that is working to ensure that every child has a great place to play within walking distance of their school or home. They certified a playground here on Mercer Island, WA, and are working to install or certify others all over the U.S. Another idea to get your kids out and active: help build a playground!

community · education · environment · Nature · school

School cuts out food waste with help from a pig | The Bulletin

Beth Kelley
A World War II poster encouraging kitchen wast...
A poster from WWII showing this is not an original idea for urban dwellers. Image via Wikipedia

I hope everyone had a great Memorial Day weekend and didn’t make a pig of themselves (sorry, I couldn’t resist the bad joke). But speaking of food and pigs, this story popped up in my alerts today and it was just too good not to share.

Theodore is a potbellied pig at Sage Community School, a Klamath County School District charter school near Chiloquin.

He was born on the first day of school and moved in about two months ago, said school director Sandra Girdner.

Now he spends his days meandering around the school’s garden and being doted upon by students and teachers. But his real purpose — and favorite part of his day, kids said — is eating two buckets of lunch scraps each day, effectively eliminating the school’s food waste.

Abbey Peterson, 13, pitched the idea. Her family gives food scraps to their potbellied pigs, and she thought it would be a good way to take care of the lunch waste from the school’s 77 students, aged kindergarten to eighth grade.

She and Sam Ekstrom, 13, recruited donated materials from Grange Co-Op; Peterson’s dad built the pen; the Henley High School shop class built a shelter; and the charter school’s 4-H club painted it white with green trim.

Ekstrom and Edgar Ortega, 12, took the waste-reducing initiative a step further by building a compost pile next to Theodore’s pen.

more via School cuts out food waste, with help of hungry pig | Local/State | The Bulletin.

Americans throw away soooo much food, and while composting is definitely a great option, that might not always work, plus there are other options, like livestock who have lived off of our table scraps for 100’s (some probably closer to of 10,000) of years. Schools have shied away from bringing in live animals (I’m still peeved at the school that wouldn’t let a couple of its students ride horses to school instead of drive!), so I’m thrilled to see one school take advantage of its resources by allowing the pig to help cut down food waste, AND teach kids about food, animals, farming, and all other kids of great lessons they wouldn’t get out of a science textbook!

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architecture · behavior · brain · community · design · disease · environment · health

A Better Way to Fight Obesity: New, Smarter Supermarkets | The Atlantic

Beth Kelley
"The New Fred Meyer on Interstate on Lomb...
Image via Wikipedia

I heard an interview on the radio today with Rupal Sanghvi, the founder of HealthxDesign (“Healthy By Design”), an initiative she launched in 2010 after a decade of work with the International Planned Parenthood Federation.

During her years in the field, Sanghvi observed numerous instances in which people developing public health solutions overlooked contextual factors that were contributing to the problem. In clinics, for example, she saw how redesigning ventilation systems, retrofitting inefficient lighting, or choosing different building materials could improve
treatment conditions and accessibility, but these things were rarely addressed. Likewise, in supermarkets, features like store layout and air temperature can influence purchasing decisions, but food access initiatives often stop short of such nuances of structural design.

“Standard supermarkets are designed to promote consumption of foods that are high in sugar and preservatives,” explains Sanghvi, “because those are the high-margin items that maximize profit.” According to current guidelines, in an average 10,000-square-foot supermarket, only 500 square feet must be utilized for fresh produce. If the U.S. spends millions to build supermarkets according to the conventional mold, she argues, we may see some improvement in public health simply as a result of increased access to food, but we stand to achieve far better outcomes if we first reconsider supermarket design itself.

more via A Better Way to Fight Obesity: New, Smarter Supermarkets – Sarah Rich – Life – The Atlantic.

This is a great point being made about how our environment has a huge impact on our behavior, as well as corporate responsibility for health and wellness, and not just profits. This seems especially important for food stores, and I’m glad to see somebody taking up the cause.

Related:

Supermarket “Video Game” Designed to Help Shoppers Buy Healthier Food

community · creativity · education · health · learning · school · technology · youtube

Google Global Science Fair 2011: Finalists announced

Beth Kelley

What a great way to support kids’ love of science and exploration! I also like how the proposals are via YouTube videos. This is more than just the typical science fair fare (so to speak), it contains some pretty hard-hitting science stuff.

The Judging Panel has identified the 60 semi-finalist entries, and now it’s up to YOU to decide which project will take home the People’s Choice Award. You can vote once in each of the three age-group categories until 20 May at 11:59 PM EST. The People’s Choice winner will be announced on 23 May, along with 5 finalists in each age category.Click on a project title below to learn more and vote for your favorites.

more via Google Global Science Fair 2011.

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behavior · community · culture · environment · happiness · Social

“The Economics of Happiness” documentary argues buying local will save the planet, ourselves

Beth Kelley
Helena Norberg-Hodge
Helena Norberg-Hodge, director of "The Economics of Happiness" and founder of ISEC. Image via Wikipedia

I am a huge fan of buying local (although I could be a lot better at it). This film makes an interesting argument that buying local is not only good for the environment and the local economy, but also connects us back to our spiritual sense of community.

Economic globalization has led to a massive expansion in the scale and power of big business and banking. It has also worsened nearly every problem we face: fundamentalism and ethnic conflict; climate chaos and species extinction; financial instability and unemployment. There are personal costs too. For the majority of people on the planet, life is becoming increasingly stressful. We have less time for friends and family and we face mounting pressures at work.

The Economics of Happiness describes a world moving simultaneously in two opposing directions. On the one hand, an unholy alliance of governments and big business continues to promote globalization and the consolidation of corporate power. At the same time, people all over the world are resisting those policies, demanding a re-regulation of trade and finance—and, far from the old institutions of power, they’re starting to forge a very different future. Communities are coming together to re-build more human scale, ecological economies based on a new paradigm – an economics of localization.

more via The Economics of Happiness | Full Synopsis.

I have seen this same community/spirituality argument proposed as well with farmers in Hawaii trying to preserve traditional knowledge of taro planting, as well as other indigenous groups in South and Central America, and all over the world, so it is interesting to see this documentary maker make the argument on a larger scale, saying it can benefit all of us. I tend to agree.

I also like the idea of “grandmother universities,” which fit in well with the current trend of DIYers.

Has anybody seen this film, or know more about it? It’s sponsored by the International Society for Ecology & Culture, and directed by Helena Norberg-Hodge.

behavior · children · community · environment · family · learning · Nature

7 Creative Ways to Experience your Local Farm this Spring | Inhabitots

Beth Kelley
A pastoral farm scene near Traverse City, Mich...
Image via Wikipedia

Where I grew up and where I live now, though focusing on very different kinds of agriculture, were both very farm-focused communities, and I always encourage people to  go out and see what a working farm is all about. It is a great way to learn about where your food comes from, different jobs, and all about nature.

Beyond simply stopping by to view the animals at your local farm, there are many other hands-on and creative activities you can do with your family — and the spring is a great time to go. Visiting your local farm during the spring comes complete with baby animals, plus the weather is warming up and it’s the perfect opportunity for outdoor learning time with your children. To get the most out of your springtime visit to the farm, you’ll want to explore it with a different lens and look at your local farm as more than just a place that keeps animals and agriculture. Read on to learn seven creative ways to experience your local farm this spring with your family.

more via 7 Creative Ways to Experience your Local Farm this Spring | Inhabitots.