Fill In the Blanks

The Insert ___ Here project by Eve S. Mosher encourages civic engagement by allowing people to comment on their environment using a printable arrow that can be customized as the user sees fit. The resulting images can be used to encourage discussion and hopefully eventual "remediation". Find out more or participate HERE.

Thanks Shelia!

Desolation Doorknob Hangers

D.C. based artist Linda Hesh has made a series of doorknob hangers featuring messages like "I didn't ask for this" and "I feel so lost" that she leaves on various commercial and residential buildings. The Desolation Doorknob Hangers are also for sale on her site so you can participate in he project as well.

via Mica

Community Graffiti

Artist Jorge Rodriguez-Gerada makes urban murals of everyday people...

Living Simply in Richmond, VA: February 19th

If you are in the Richmond, VA area please consider attending the free community forum Living Simply: Making Green & Just Choices on February 19th, where I will be one of several speakers. Here are the details:

This community event is all about how to live and consume in ecologically and socially conscious ways here in the Richmond area. Please come, and spread the word.

Living Simply: Making Green & Just Choices

Panel discussion followed by networking time
Tuesday, February 19, 7 p.m.
VCU Student Commons Ballroom
Free and open to the public

* Connect with farmers markets, urban gardens, energy alternatives, green
building, natural products, and fair trade opportunities here in Richmond!

* Learn how your buying choices impact community, economic justice, and
the global environment!

Speakers
Karl Bren--Green Visions Consulting, Earthcraft Virginia, social justice
advocate
Noah Scalin--founder of Another Limited Rebellion and Sprout
Azibo Turner--Vanguard Ranch Limited Natural Gourmet Products
..and more

Co-sponsored by the Falls of the James Group of the Sierra Club, the Green
Party, Richmond Peace Education Center, Sierra Student Coalition at VCU.

For more information go to www.rpec.org

Spotted in NYC: Public vs. Private Property

I stepped out of a subway on Sixth Avenue and saw this marker at my feet. It divided a wide sidewalk that otherwise was indistinguishable from blocks around it.

James Howard Kunstler on Suburbia

Author James Howard Kunstler entertainingly critiques suburban sprawl at TED in 2004.





Thanks Chris!

PARK(ing) Day: September 21

Started in San Francisco in 2005, PARK(ing) Day is now an international event of small proportions. City dwellers worldwide are encouraged to build a mini-park in a parking spot to draw attention to how streets are utilized and the lack greenspace in urban areas. Find out more and directions for making your own Park(ing) Space here.

Thanks Mim!

Get LinkedIn for good

LinkedIn, the online business social network has launched LinkedIn For Good as a way to leverage the 11 million professionals around the world, currently using their site for business networking, to promote positive social change.

As a first project, they have added pages for organizations like Doctors Without Borders and Unitus, where users can easily make donations or add a links to promote the cause on their profile page.

In addition, LinkedIn is also giving away free job postings to registered nonprofit organizations to support their hiring needs.

So if you are not yet LinkedIn, now is the perfect time!

Sign-Free Cities

Several European cities are following the example of the Dutch town of Makkinga, which has removed street signs as a means of fostering better driver/pedestrian interactions and ultimately increased safety for all. From a recent(ish) Der Spiegel article:

...About 70 percent of traffic signs are ignored by drivers. What's more, the glut of prohibitions is tantamount to treating the driver like a child and it also foments resentment. He may stop in front of the crosswalk, but that only makes him feel justified in preventing pedestrians from crossing the street on every other occasion. Every traffic light baits him with the promise of making it over the crossing while the light is still yellow.

...It may sound like chaos, but it's only the lesson drawn from one of the insights of traffic psychology: Drivers will force the accelerator down ruthlessly only in situations where everything has been fully regulated. Where the situation is unclear, they're forced to drive more carefully and cautiously.

Read the entire article here.