Community – Page 5 – Kristen Baumlier

Category: Community

Menu for the Future: a 6 Week Community Discussion Course about our Food

Posted on April 29, 2012April 29, 2012 by Kbaumlier

A couple of months ago I read about a new community discussion course called Menu for the Future that explores our food system and agricultural practices. The groups that were forming in my area did not work with my schedule, but I am planning to join one of the groups that are coming up this summer.

The discussion groups use a book which has a series of contemporary readings and questions to facilitate discussion. The groups meet for 6 weeks, and if there is not a group that works for you, you can make your own group at work, in your neighborhood, at the library, or with family and friends.

The course focuses on talking about our food system and agricultural practices that promote personal and ecological well-being.

The goals of the course is:
• To explore food systems and their impacts on culture, society and ecological systems.
• To gain insight into agricultural and individual practices that promote personal and ecological well-being.
• To consider your role in creating or supporting sustainable food systems.

The topics covered in the 6 sessions include:

What’s Eating America -eating in a modern industrial society

Anonymous Food: The history of farming and present day questions about genetically modified organisms (GMO) and industrial organics

Farming for the Future: Emerging food system alternatives and sustainable growing practices

You Are What You Eat: Food systems from a human health perspective

Toward a Just Food System: Hunger, equity, and Fair Trade

Choices for Change: Inspiration and practical advice in taking steps to create more sustainable food systems.

Want to join or create a group? Right now there are 5 new groups listed on the site hat are meeting starting in May, and the site reports that there are more groups forming. You can read more about the project, and look for a group to join (or create a new one) at menuforthefuture.webs.com/
Image Source:
www.nwei.org/discussion_courses/course-offerings/menu-for-the-future

Links:

menuforthefuture.webs.com/

www.nwei.org/discussion_courses/course-offerings/menu-for-the-future

PieLab (Pie + Conversation = Change)

Posted on April 8, 2012April 9, 2012 by Kbaumlier

Apple, cherry, or pumpkin? Who doesn’t like pie? PieLab, located in Greensboro, Alabama, is a café/meeting space that was created not just to serve pie, but also to create a place for the community to come to a space for conversation and connections.

The project was started by Project M, which was a group of designers who shared an interest in using design to “do good.” Pielab started as a project called Free Pie Day, during which Project M members stood on a street corner and handed out slices of pecan, pumpkin and apple pie to individuals walking by. The idea was to spur community and conversation with each slice of pie. Out of this event, the group got inspired to create a place where pie and conversation could occur in a “town hall atmosphere.”

The space was designed to be a neutral environment where people from every race and class are welcome to sit together and talk. There are fresh pies made every day, as well as some other food items that were added to the menu. Blueberry, peach, coconut, and even Taco are some of the pie flavors on the menu listed on the website.

Since PieLab opened, it got a lot of press which inspired others to create similar spaces in other states including Texas and Oregon. Pie, conversation, optimism and design all in one place? Pielab and other community café are places where you can find all of the above.

Image Source:
www.fastcompany.com

Links:
Pielab.org

Mapping Main Street: A Collaborative Documentary Project

Posted on April 4, 2012April 4, 2012 by Kbaumlier

Hey, did I see you on Main Street the other day? Maybe. Maybe not.

There are more than 10,466 streets named Main in the United States. The collaborative project Mapping Main Street has a goal to get photo, video, and stories to document all the Main Streets that exist. The idea is to collect this in order to tell real stories about Main Street – whether it is an abandoned street, a main thoroughfare, where we work, or where we live.

The project started in 2009 and is still going strong. To start the project some of the team behind the project went on a 12,000 mile road trip to visit Main Streets. Some bands were commissioned to write songs for the project.

Recent posts on the site include some videos made on Main Street in Louisville by 29 student journalists, and on the Flickr photo site there are photos from Main streets in North Carolina and Vermont.

The project is produced supported by Maker’s Quest 2.0, an initiative between the Association of Independents in Radio and the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and the Berkman Center for Internet and Society at Harvard University.

Been to main street? Head on back and contribute a story, photo, or video of the project. To date there are 881 Main streets documented – and over 9,000 to go.

Image Source:
www.mappingmainstreet.org/

Links:

www.mappingmainstreet.org/

Want to be a Social Citizen? Millennials Making Positive Change

Posted on March 25, 2012March 26, 2012 by Kbaumlier

In the past two years I have noticed a change in my students. My students today are different than my students I had even three years ago in terms of their attitudes, skills, and values. To improve my teaching, I have been reading upon millennial generation in order to better understand and teach my students.

The term Social Citizens is a name for the new generation of activists of the millennial generation who are working to make change in the world using technology. Passionate about social causes and equipped with digital tools, some of the millennials are working to make change in the world.

The website socialcitizens.org in 2008 released a discussion paper about young people affecting civil engagement, and termed it Social Citizens.

Some issues they investigated with the site were whether institutions can and will survive, if social networks are “bubble cultures” that need to be expanded, if access is granted or taken, and whether government matters.

The outcome of interviews showed that young people feel they have no access to decision makers and decision making, particularly with regard to public policy, that most social networks are cliques and not open, and that millennials value peer relationships over institutional loyalty.

What to become a social citizen, or read about the morals of the millennials? The site, blog, and original paper are an interesting read that I found to be hopeful since most of my students have no interest in creating change, and on the whole do not seem to believe that they can affect policy and the world.

Image Source:

www.tusconcitizen.com
www.casefoundation.org/

Links:

http://www.socialcitizens.org

http://www.casefoundation.org/

Want to Live off the Grid? The Global Village Construction Set Can Help

Posted on February 28, 2012February 28, 2012 by Kbaumlier

Open Source Ecology is a network of farmers, engineers, and supporters that for two years have been creating the Global Village Construction Set (GVCS), an open source, low-cost, high performance technological platform to support easy, DIY fabrication of 50 various Industrial Machines that are needed to build a sustainable civilization with modern comforts. The open-source project can assist entry into farming, building, and manufacturing. Similar to a life-size lego-like set, the GVCS is a set of modular tools that can create entire economies, in both rural and urban areas.

If I was going to be part of a community off the grid, I would want to live in a wood house, have fresh bread every morning, and would want to get power from a wind turbine to power my laptop. Some of the plans from the GVCS that would help with this venture are plans to build a sawmill, a commercial baking oven, dump truck (!) and a wind turbine.

All of these machines rely on other machines to exist – which GVCS calls a “simple, closed-loop system,”and they are working by the end of the year to have instructions and information on how to make 50 machines which include a 3d printer, 3d scanner, an Aluminum Extractor from Clay, a Backhoe, Bakery Oven, a 50kW Wind Turbine, Baler, Cement Mixer, Universal Rotor, Universal Seeder, Well-drilling rig (to dig wells) and 39 other machines. They currently have eight prototypes available on their website complete with planning designs, DIY videos that show how to assemble them, and budgets.

The project is an open source venture and is facilitated by a core development team in collaboration with hundreds of online project contributors and volunteers.

Some of the features of the GVCS is that it is open source, modular, low-cost, made to be DIY, high performance, tested designs, and flexible.

Image Source:
opensourceecology.org

Links:

opensourceecology.org

Open Source Ecology – NPR story

Global Village Construction Set – TED Talk