July 2013 – Kristen Baumlier

Month: July 2013

Recycling a Bottle, Flashmob Style

Posted on July 28, 2013July 31, 2013 by Kbaumlier

If there was a plastic bottle on the floor near the recycling bin, who would be the first to pick it up? To raise recycling awareness, a flash mob infiltrated the food court of a Quebec shopping mall and waits for someone to recycle a bottle.

The event was organized by the Testé sur des Humains team at TVA in Quebec. The video is online, and you can see how most shoppers in the mall walk by a plastic bottle that is lying directly next to a recycling bin. If you watch closely, you can tell that there is something else going on in the mall.

Earth 911 reports that in 2008, the United States generated about 13 million tons of plastics in the MSW stream as containers and packaging… The total amount of plastics used was about about 30 million tons, which was 12 percent of total waste generated in 2008.

You watch the act of recycling, and see just who picked up the bottle see the energy that the Flashmob brings to the event on Youtube.

Image Source and Links:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GYnd5JRu86E

The Balloon Hat Project

Posted on July 25, 2013July 31, 2013 by Kbaumlier

Does a balloon hat make you feel happy? Balloon artist Addi Somekh and photographer Charlie Eckert think they do. Since 2001, Somekh and Eckert traveled to 34 countries and shot more than 10,000 photos of people wearing balloon hats.

Somekh works professionally as a balloon artist, and worked with various groups including executives, mothers, and children. He realized that everyone balloons were enjoyed in the same way, and that ,” balloons could tap into a universal language of laughter and connectedness.”

Teaming with photographer Charles Eckert, Somekh made balloon hats for people everywhere they went, and took pictures of people wearing them. Some of the countries included Mongolia, Nicaragua, Kenya, India, Bosnia, Norway, and others.

You can read stories from the project, and see more images on the project website.

Image Source and Links:

http://www.balloonhat.com/

Baking for a Cause – The Depressed Cake Shop

Posted on July 22, 2013July 26, 2013 by Kbaumlier

As I posted last week, Miss Cakehead, a freelance creative director and managing director of Cakehead Loves generates and executes stunts, experiences and publicity campaigns that sometimes use food and drink in unusual ways.

This summer she is doing a charity project called The Depressed Cake Shop, which is a unique pop up cake shop where every single cake on sale will be grey, with color on the inside. The project will open in London on August 2-4, with other popup events taking place around England, and maybe even across the world.

The project is meant to bring awareness to depression and mental illness. The project website reports that one in four people will suffer from mental illness at some point in their lives, and the project will raise funds for a mental health charity, while bringing awareness to this issue. The project hopes to raise discussion about mental illness and to engage people with the issues that stems from this disease, and to talk about depression and mental health.

Just like how the symptoms of depression can vary widely, so will the cakes. Since depression makes others feel sad, hopeless and lose interest in things you used to enjoy, the bakers contributing cakes and baked goods to the project will try to visually represent this. Some of the cakes might be half decorated, be grey or dull in color, and provide visual ways to show the effects of depression.

Many of the bakers will be made by individuals who have personal experiences of depression, using baking as a way of expressing their struggles with, and experiences of, the illness. The project also has been looking for sponsorship to help setup a series of baking therapy sessions around England, and set up a support network for those who use baking to help combat depression.

If you want to get involved, or create a pop-up shop of your own, you can get information from the Miss Cakehead website, or the project Facebook page.
Image Source and Links:

misscakehead.wordpress.com/

www.facebook.com/groups/

Will you skip meat on Mondays? – Meatless Mondays

Posted on July 19, 2013July 26, 2013 by Kbaumlier

During both world wars, Presidents Wilson, Truman and Roosevelt motivated citizens in the United States to support the war effort with voluntary meatless days. The Monday Campaigns, in association with the Johns Hopkins’ Bloomberg School of Public Health, has developed Meatless Monday as a way to bring back skipping meat as a way to mobilize an effort to improve health and improve the environment.

The Meatless Monday campaigns is spreading to schools, campuses, restaurants, and various communities in an effort to improve health, reduce our carbon footprint and contribute to reducing climate change. Skipping meat for one day a week sounds small, but this one change can reduce your risk of chronic preventable conditions like cancer, cardiovascular disease, diabetes and obesity and reduce your carbon footprint.

I recently checked out the The Monday Campaigns website, where you can get information and recipes to go meatless – either at home, school, or in the workplace. The goal of the campaign is to get individuals to reduce their meat consumption by 15% in order to improve your personal health and the health of the planet.

Why Monday? The project’s site answers this question with, “For most Americans the week begins on Monday. On Monday we move from the freedom of the weekend back to the structure of work or school. We set our intentions for the next six days. We plan ahead and evaluate progress. From an early age we internalize this rhythm. And studies suggest we are more likely to maintain behaviors begun on Monday throughout the week. That makes Monday the perfect day to make a change for your health and the health of our planet.”

The Monday Campaigns catch phrase is “The day all health breaks loose.” To go meatless, you can download tool kits, pledge sheets, recipes, and resources. Some of the campaigns are geared to various groups, with Monday health runs, “me time” Monday for caregivers, and “Kids Cook Mondays”

So far the project reports that over 100 Universities, 20 K-12 school districts and many public and private institutions offer Meatless Monday to their students. Michael Pollan, Oprah Winfrey, and Paul McCartney have supported the campaign, and the campaign is going on in over 23 countries. Why not ditch the meat on Mondays?

Image Source:
www.mondaycampaigns.org/

Links:

www.meatlessmonday.com/

www.mondaycampaigns.org/

in.gredients – A Grocery Store Without Prepackaged Goods

Posted on July 16, 2013July 19, 2013 by Kbaumlier

Today it is easy to go to the store, and end up bringing up many things, even fresh and whole food items, in packaged containers. In an effort to eliminate waste in packagin, in.gredients is a neighborhood microgrocer that sells local food with pure ingredients and without the package. The store describes its mission with this phrase, “Think grocery store in scope, convenience store in scale.”

The store opened in Austin, TX in August 2012 into a 1,300 square feet space where shoppers can buy over 400 products that can be measured out and packaged in their own containers. “We’re a brand new business in more then one way,” Co-Founder Christian Lane said, “We’re a new business in the traditional sense, but we’re also bringing a fresh take on what it means to shop for food.”

The store has also become a venue for events, movie screenings and lectures. in.gredients also offers ready-to-eat foods, beer and wine, and free wi-fi, with outdoor seating and a playground for kids.

in.gredients is one of a few stores that have recently opened up that are providing consumers with the opportunity to purchase the product in quantities that they want, but without the prepackaged goods. Similar stores that have done this include another small grocery store in London called Unpackaged which opened in 2006, and Bulk Barn in Canada that has over 170 stores.

The model is appealing to many shoppers (like me), but I recently read on greenerpackage.com about some of the challenges that this model can present, which includes contamination, mess, and complexity. Having more food in bins can allow for bugs to get into the food, people can be messy when they package their own food, and for some shoppers it might be difficult to weigh a container (to get what is called the tare, or the weight of the container) and go through the packaging process.

I recently checked out in.gredients Facebook page, and they have a year anniversary party planned for August 4^th, and recently got some fresh figs in the store from a local farm. Go on and get your bulk on!

Image Source:
http://in.gredients.com

Links:

in.gredients.com/2011/05/26/in-gredients-video-full-version/