A Forest Year by Samuel Orr. How landscapes change over time

This Saturday Sustainable Diary does not have many words. It leaves pictures to tell the story today. A year long story, which you can see in three minutes. Photographer Samuel Orr for about 2 years in 2006-2008, lived just outside Bloomington, Indiana, at the edge of one of the more wooded regions in the midwest. He was there because at the time he was creating several nature documentaries on the natural history of Indiana for PBS. His house was into the middle of a large nature preserve. Every day for 15 months, took photos out of the window of his house, then put the accumulated 40,000 photographs into an amazing time-lapse video, A Forest year. Samuel explain:"Over 40,000 images were taken, and I made little movies of 5-8 seconds...

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Starving Artists Project tells the stories of homeless artists

Despite their massive presence, the homeless are widely ignored. They are part of city invisible culture. But every day this people communicate to us, telling their basic need for help through a piece of cardboard. Each sign expresses a basic human need in a creative way completely unique to the creator’s life. StarvingArtists Project is a new initiative, it try to change all of that by giving NYC’s homeless community a platform to showcase their cries for help. The program seeks to turn the cardboard signs we see being held up on street corners and in subway stations into art that funds social change. The creators of the project, Nick Zafonte and Thompson Harrell, worked with world-renowned photographer Andrew Zuckerman (famous...

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NLE architects and Makoko community in Lagos: floats idea for life on the water

Today is a rainy day here in Milano and maybe for inspiration, Sustainable Diary speaks of a water story. As you know on our planet water levels are steadily rising, and along west Africa's densely populated coast many waterfront communities are finding themselves inundated with the problem of adaptive housing solutions that withstand swelling tides and swift currents. NLÉArchitects has been working on a three-phase plan for the waterfront community of Makoko in Lagos, in Nigeria. An estimated 250,000 people live here, they trade, shop and build aquafarms on the lagoon's waters. This slum was said to be created in the 18th century as a fishing village, but has ballooned as others have sought to find a home. Each year, the...

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Hang Hao tell his stories through daily life found objects

Hong Hao, born in Beijing in 1965, will be showing an eclectic spectrum of works in an upcoming exhibition at the Pace Gallery in Beijing from March 16th through to april 27th, 2013. This is a comprehensively retrospective of the artist's works from various periods of his career, as well as new works. The exhibition will be show his 2013 series Deja vu, and pieces from one of Hong Hao's best known photographic series, "My Things", started in 2002. The pictures are composed of thousands of scanned images depicting objects from his own life. Hong tells us his life story through daily life found objects, including maps, books, tickets, receipts, banknotes, food, and containers. These commonplace things are arranged and assembled...

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A local solution for the next generation of global food supply

A common thread between the post of Sunday and the one of today. Another story about food, a topic that Sustainable diary love. Sourcing food that is grown locally and sustainably is integral to solving the environmental problems we face today. The innovative minds at FreightFarms create access to food in areas of the world where the climate or the urban condition cannot support traditional farming methods. They retrofit used shipping containers into little modular farms that can be strategically placed to supply the needs of communities. By employing a vertical farming system, they can maximize the the growing space within the container and is possible have year-round growing season. This system brings a high volume...

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Afghan Dreamers, a project book to break stereotype on a country

Afghanistan is probably best known in the world for its poverty, destruction, terrorism and oppression. But Afghanistan is not just a ongoing conflict. We are all half blind by the influence of the world of mass media, seeing only one part of a story. Against this backdrop, are the dreamers and visionaries. Artists, musicians, innovators, activists, media moguls, and politicians. Just like any other country – the dreamers and the free thinkers are often those whose stories are quieter than the stories of violence and anger that shout more loudly. That doesn’t make them less powerful. Afghan Dreamers is a book project that seeks to tell these stories; the ones that draw a different picture of Afghanistan. A picture that shows the...

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Sunday's Tale: Mandela Foods Cooperative take care of food system of West Oakland, California

Sunday's Tale: a post from the past Just three days ago on Sustainable diary we wrote of the cool song FoodFight, by Earth Amplified and with today's story we really recognize how people need for being more conscious about our food and food systems. Until a few years ago West Oakland, a neighborhood situated in the northwestern corner of Oakland - California, had 53 liquor stores and no grocery stores at all. The community had the nearest supermarket, with a full produce section, at one hour's walk away. In the video we can see James Berk, a local inhabitant, explain that for this lack is diet used to consist of Fritos, Cheetos, and Doritos, and not much more. But in june 2009 with the opening of Mandela Foods Cooperative...

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