‘Food corridor’ brings urban neighbors together – The Olympian

July 11, 2011July 11, 2011 Beth Kelley

For the past couple of years people have been discussing the idea of “food deserts” in urban areas where there are no groceries or places for people to purchase fresh veggies and meat. This is an interesting concept of how to address that: a food corridor in Olympia, WA.

The commons is a collection of gardens, pathways, landscapes and building demonstration projects under the stewardship of the Fertile Ground Community Center and the South Sound Chapter of the Northwest EcoBuilding Guild. Together, they take up half a city block and include the guild headquarters known as EcoHouse, the Fertile Ground Community Center and the Fertile Ground Guesthouse, a bed-and-breakfast owned and operated by Karen Nelson and Gail O’Sullivan.

If chickens aren’t your thing, you’re welcome to pick a handful of fruits and berries — everything from Asian pears and Cascade cherries to golden raspberries and strawberries — growing along the sidewalk.

The community invitation extends into the garden where flowers, vegetables and herbs grow in raised beds built out of recycled wood and tree limbs.

more via ‘Food corridor’ brings urban neighbors together – Soundings – The Olympian – Olympia, Washington news, weather and sports.

I’m interested to see how this might manifest in other places, particularly those where it’s less common already to have chickens in backyards and use the front strip of grass in your yard as a raised bed. During World War II people had “Victory” gardens in containers on their front stoops, so it’s definitely doable to grow things even in the most compacted urban spaces, but it seems like the biggest hurdle is acceptance, so what could possibly be done to raise acceptance of backyard broccoli? Ideas?

Food deserts: If you build it, they may not come (economist.com)
Olympia garden program raises food, self-esteem (seattletimes.nwsource.com)
Sustainable Garden Starter Kit: 10 Must-Have Products for the New Green, Grower (Slideshow) (treehugger.com)

behavior · community · culture · education · environment

Bicycling our way into work and out of the Great Recession | Grist

July 5, 2011 Beth Kelley

I am always interested in how organizations promote healthier, more enriching, more environmentally friendly practices, and I think this article makes a good point, that a lot of the bike commuter programs are geared towards the middle to upper class, yet the people who NEED to use bikes, and in many college towns I’ve lived in DO use bikes but need the support and information, are poor young folks:

The way we work has been changing for a long time, and our transportation needs and options along with it. With the recent recession, fewer people are working as much or for as much money, or as regularly — or at all. More of us are, in a word, poor.

We’re the ones who need bicycling the most. Yet the broke and the tenuously employed aren’t always reached by bicycle transportation advocacy, education, and services. When they are, the messages being promoted are not always relevant or welcome.

The mainstays of bike advocacy organizations are the three E’s: engineering, enforcement, and education — with a fourth E, encouragement, becoming increasingly popular.

U.S. bike advocacy is also imbued with a heavy focus on individual responsibility as more important — or perhaps more readily achievable — than social and infrastructure change, as exemplified by the until-recently prominent vehicular cycling movement.

Such initiatives tend to reach out to the people who ride — or don’t — out of choice rather than economic necessity, whose only barrier to getting on a bike is motivation.

When you’re already broke, you don’t need to be encouraged to adopt someone else’s lifestyle. You need solutions that arise from your own circumstances and community.

That means that simply choosing to hop on a bike isn’t actually that straightforward. Even as your car is sucking your savings dry and pummeling your credit, at least it’s the devil you know.

People living in low-income households are less likely to have access to a working bicycle (only 29 percent of households making less than $15,000 do, according to the NHTSA’s most recent survey). Aside from the cost and learning curve of acquiring, outfitting, and maintaining a reliable everyday bicycle, if you’re broke your neighborhood is also less likely to be graced by bike lanes, calmed traffic, and other facilities that are lauded for their ability to raise property values. You’re also less likely to have easy, central access to grocery stores and other amenities.

more via Bicycling our way into work and out of the Great Recession | Grist.

I’m curious to hear what solutions people may have for this. How do we focus more on getting the poor, or more accurately the broke, onto bikes safely and effectively?

The economic case for bike racks (jimsbikeblog.wordpress.com)
Bike Commuting Tips (fitsugar.com)
Bicycles Make Sustainable Sense (buildingsustainablelifestyles.wordpress.com)
Unlikely models for a cycling culture (jimsbikeblog.wordpress.com)

behavior · design

Nicole Howell’s ‘Toss With Care’ Trash Can Good for Sustainability, Homelessness | Inhabitat

June 17, 2011 Beth Kelley1 Comment

I am an aggressive (yet polite!) reuser/recycler, and always on the hunt for effective ways to encourage people to divide and conquer their trash, so to speak. This looks like a great idea.

The Pratt Institute for Design is known for its phenomenal furniture design students as well as architects, artists, graphic designers, but for trash can designers? Yes, that’s right, recent graduate Nicole Howell turned her ‘Toss With Care’ trash can design thesis project into a full on mission to better understand homelessness in New York City, and along the way, she became fascinated with trash divers. Her project, Toss with Care, which developed out of her initial experiment the trashpoline, was design to not only act as a traditional trash receptacle, but also a recycling can and a place for edible leftovers for street dwellers in search of food.

more via Nicole Howell’s ‘Toss With Care’ Trash Can Addresses Homelessness & Sustainability in NYC | Inhabitat New York City.

I wish there was a consumer model for this; of course, it wouldn’t be that hard to replicate…hmm….

behavior · children · community · creativity · health · play

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

June 1, 2011 Beth Kelley2 Comments

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!

behavior · community · culture · Social

From Tsunami to Storm, communities continue to give

April 28, 2011April 28, 2011 Beth Kelley

My work was having a bake sale today for the tsunami victims of Japan when we heard the news about the major tornado in Alabama (one of the managers’ first thoughts: “maybe we should have another bake sale for Alabama.”). For my birthday we made crafts to donate to a local children’s hospital.

While it seems like the last couple of years have been filled with horrible natural disasters (or man-made; thanks BP!), and a bake sale isn’t going to fix much in the large scheme of things, what struck me is that despite our nation’s economic woes and our disaster-weary national psyche, we are still interested in reaching out to help each other, whether across the nation or across the Pacific.

As organizations and first responders offer emergency relief, food and shelter, many people across the country are looking for ways to help storm victims.

The Salvation Army has set up 10 mobile kitchens to provide hot meals to survivors in hard-hit areas like Tuscaloosa, Guntersville and Lauderdale in Alabama and Montpellier and Oxford, Mississippi.

Another 22 mobile kitchens are on standby.

Follow The Salvation Army’s blog for updates, visit its website or text “GIVE” to 80888 to make a $10 donation to the organization’s relief efforts. It will show up on your next mobile phone bill.

Samaritan’s Purse has dispatched experts and two disaster relief units, tractor trailers stocked with emergency supplies and tools, to assess the needs in Tuscaloosa, Birmingham and Cullman, Alabama.

more via Storm recovery: How you can help – CNN.com.

There are lots of different ways to help both nations. Post here for different ways you have seen your community reach out, either for these disasters or others.

anthropology · behavior · community · happiness · mental health · Social

Transparency: Which Countries Are the Happiest?

April 9, 2011April 9, 2011 Beth Kelley

Thanks Facebook for directing me to this follow-up to my earlier post!

For decades, the World Database of Happiness has tracked down how happy people are—not at all happy, not very happy, quite happy, or very happy. As it turns out, most of us are mostly happy, even when things aren’t going so well. Here is a look at how happy people said they were (on average) over the last 30 years.

Find out more at Transparency: Which Countries Are the Happiest? – Culture – GOOD – StumbleUpon.

Uncategorized

Levi’s waterless pants game/campaign

March 25, 2011March 25, 2011 Beth Kelley

Since my day job is looking at how messages are spread through social media, it’s hard to miss some of the interesting ways corporations are trying to tap into it. There is an interesting trend of companies supporting global campaigns for water rights, raising money for earthquake victims, or other humanity efforts. Some people just see it as corporations trying to make themselves look nicer, and in some ways that’s probably right, yet maybe despite their marketing efforts, or on top off, they’re also promoting community, group involvement, and making a change.

For example, Levi’s recently launched a game that also supports water rights around the world. Sure it’s raising awareness about Levi’s, but it also supports the efforts of clean drinking water, and play!

Through the initiative, Levi’s plans to donate $250,000 to Water.org to fund programs that will provide at least 200 million liters of water to the more than 1 billion people who lack access to potable sources. The point of the game goes beyond Levi’s largesse, however. Participants also help telegraph word of the water crisis while reexamining their own use of the precious commodity. (Pledging to wash your jeans less and take shorter showers is another challenge.

I say, go play the game, and when the boss comes by, explain it’s for humanitarian reasons. She’ll buy it, really! 🙂

culture · disease · environment · happiness · health · mental health · play · psychology · Social

Secrets To Longevity: patience, planning, and moderation

March 24, 2011March 25, 2011 Beth Kelley

This is a very cool study that was featured on NPR; it is in fact a follow-up study done back in the 1950’s on the habits of successful kids, almost 1,500 of them. These new researchers picked up on the study and tried to track down the kids to see how they were doing.

They found some interesting patterns appear in the kids who live the longest and healthiest:

"The most cheerful, optimistic kids grew up to take more risks," explains Martin. "By virtue of expecting good things to happen and feeling like nothing bad ever would, they predisposed themselves to be heavier drinkers, they tended to be smokers, and their hobbies were riskier."

So, she concludes, "some degree of worrying actually is good." And, in fact, adds Friedman, "the prudent, persistent, planful people — both in childhood … and then in young adulthood we measured that — that was the strongest individual difference, or personality predictor, of long life."

Friedman and Martin also found that the conventional wisdom on fitness isn’t quite right. If we try too hard to push ourselves into exercise regimens, it can backfire. Physical activity is important, they found, but it’s more about doing what you love than adhering to a certain fitness program.

Yale law students can (maybe?) check out a dog for stress relief

March 11, 2011March 11, 2011 Beth Kelley

For me, it is soooo one of those Fridays where everything is blowing up after a long week and you have a doctor’s appointment that took a month to schedule so you really don’t want to miss it, and the coffee’s worked a little TOO well this morning…

For days like this, I have my dog waiting for me at home (assuming I ever get home); for students away at school, they may not have that option.

There are now rumors circulating about Monty, a border terrier at Yale who is available for some quality time with Yale Law students who really need some good adorable animal therapy. While Yale has officially denied this, unofficially they announced he is available for therapy services.

The myth of Monty—short for “General Montgomery“—first surfaced last fall on the popular blog Above the Law. The border terrier was allegedly in a basket behind the circulation desk, but the school later issued a denial about Monty’s existence. Now New York Magazine’s reporting that Yale students have received a memo saying that, Monty is back and available for checkout.

It sounds like they’ve made Monty fully available to students now:

And, even though Monty is hypoallergenic, “visits will be confined to a dedicated non-public space in the library to eliminate potential adverse reactions from any library user who might have dog-related concerns. Kauffman also says they’ll be looking for student feedback on whether to have therapy dogs available “during stressful periods of the semester, for example during examinations.”

My firs thought? Why don’t they have this instituted in MORE high-stress places like graduate school? I can understand businesses not wanting people to bring their dogs into work, but a fully vetted and therapy-trained dog for as-needed therapy? Brilliant!!!!

Yale Law School Library Lending Out Therapy Dog for Stressed-Out Students (nymag.com)
Smiles go viral with videos of therapy-dog visits (seattletimes.nwsource.com)

community · creativity · design · happiness

From: DesignSponge » paul price’s signs of affection

February 3, 2011February 3, 2011 Beth Kelley

Just in time to get into the Valentine’s Day mood: enriching signs that spread joy and cheer to everyone, not just your favorite sweety!

Colorful “Signs of Affection” from graphic designer Paul Price. Wandering by one of these on a cold afternoon sure would be a cheerful surprise. I’m hoping Paul’s work somehow makes it over to the gray Brooklyn streets in my area, so I can stumble upon “Your Hair Looks Dashing.” That would totally make any bad day feel like it was taking a turn for the better. Click below to check out more of Paul’s work online.