My space is small. My life is big

TreeHugger founder Graham Hill describes his lifestyle in the New York Times,

Here youcan read the complete interview. I did not consider the case to summarize it, it is very good and well worth to read it all!

"I sleep better knowing I’m not using more resources than I need. I have less — and enjoy more."

He draws the principles of degrowth theory. The decrease is a current of political thought, economic and social environment to the controlled reduction, selective and voluntary economic production and consumption, with the aim of establishing relations of ecological balance between man and nature, as well as fairness among human beings themselves.

Degrowth is something that we need to think:

"Our fondness for stuff affects almost every aspect of our lives. Housing size, for example, has ballooned in the last 60 years. The average size of a new American home in 1950 was 983 square feet; by 2011, the average new home was 2,480 square feet. And those figures don’t provide a full picture. In 1950, an average of 3.37 people lived in each American home; in 2011, that number had shrunk to 2.6 people. This means that we take up more than three times the amount of space per capita than we did 60 years ago.

Apparently our supersize homes don’t provide space enough for all our possessions, as is evidenced by our country’s $22 billion personal storage industry."

In this video you can see where and how Graham Hill lives:

More info

website  Graham Hill

facebook page

Photo credit © New York Times

Read more »

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 for each of the key days/events/seasons, and blended them together into the finished film at 30 frames a second. The audio was added to give another dimension. I tried to put in wildlife songs and calls appropriate to the season. For instance, the honking during what is late winter are Sandhill Cranes, which used a migratory flyway that passed directly overhead".  

At the moment Samuel has a new project, you can see, and help, here...

More info

website Samuel Orr

Read more »

Walkonomics mobile app, walking forward in the 21st Century

After talking for two days of food sustainability (monday, tuesday) now it's time to go for a nice walk. The quality and amount of walking as an everyday activity, in any given area, is an established and unique primary indicator of the quality of life. And when I read yesterday of the launch of the new Walkonomics app for iPhone and iPad I thought that was a fantastic development after the Android version. The free Walkonomics mobile app maps and rates the pedestrian-friendliness of every street in San Francisco, New York and England, yes we miss Milan and the rest of the world but let's hope it will arrive in the soon future.

Walkonomics provides 5 star ratings for each street in the following 8 main criteria:

Road safety: How safe do you feel from traffic on this street? It is influenced by actual road accident statistics (where available), street type, traffic speeds and activity.

Easy to cross: How easy it is to cross the street at regular points along the street? It is influenced by the traffic activity on the street, street width, physical barriers and provision of pedestrian crossings.

Pavements /Sidewalks: Are pavements/sidewalks provided along the street? Are they high quality? Are they wide enough? Do they have a lot of unnecessary clutter/furniture on them? Are they overcrowded?

Hilliness: Is the street flat or on a hill? How steep is any slope? If the street is steep, then are any hand-rails or seats provided?

Navigation: How easy is it to find your way around in this street and area? Is it easy to become lost here? Are any street names, pedestrian signs or maps provided?

Fear of crime: How safe do you feel from crime on this street? It is influenced by actual crime statistics (where available) as well as perceived fear or crime. Other factors include lighting, vandalism, graffiti and presence of police.

Smart and beautiful: How clean is the street? Is there much litter or vandalism? Is it regularly cleaned? Does the street have any trees or other green vegetation? Are the buildings attractive and in good condition?

Fun and relaxing: Is this a fun, interesting and popular place to be? Are there things to do in this street? Would you choose to spend time and hang-out here? Does the street have a relaxing atmosphere? Is it noisy or stressful? Can you play in this street?

Walkonomics app shows promise, we have just to wait until they expand coverage!

For the moment if you are a luck one based in New York City, San Francisco or in the UK you can get the new Walkonomics iPhone app here and for Android here.

More info

website Walkonomics

Photo credit © Walkonomics

 

 

Read more »

Announcing the Economics of Happiness Conference 2013 in Byron Bay, Australia

After the success of the first conference held in March 2012 in Berkeley, California, the not-for-profit organization ISEC - InternationalSociety for Ecology and Culture - is hosting the second international Economics of Happiness Conference in Byron Bay, Australia - March 15-17, 2013. The conference is an annual event of the global grassroots movement whose mission is to promote systemic solutions to today’s environmental, social and economic crises led by ISEC, which has also led to the production of the corresponding documentary in 2011.

"The Economics of Happiness conference will focus on the multiple benefits of localisation, an economic strategy that can take us away from jobless growth towards sustainable livelihoods; from giant, unaccountable corporations towards human-scale business; from self-recrimination towards empowerment; from competition to collaboration; from a globalised system of exploitation and pollution towards an economics of human and ecological well-being, or 'an economics of happiness'".

The interactive program will consist of plenary sessions, workshops, and social and creative time, participants will have a rare opportunity to learn from and share with some of the foremost leaders in the worldwide localization movement. The conference also offers the chance to make new connections, build on current projects and find new inspiration.

This event will bring together a unique international group of speakers, each one acclaimed for their vision, activism, wisdom, and leadership. These include:

Vandana Shiva (India), activist, physicist, feminist and the author of Earth Democracy: Justice, Sustainability and Peace and Staying Alive: Women, Ecology and Development.

Bill McKibben (USA), founder of 350.org and author of numerous books, including The End of Nature and Deep Economy.

Donnie Maclurcan (Australia), co-founder of the Post Growth Institute, and author of Nanotechnology and Global Equality.

Michael Shuman (USA), the author of Local Dollars, Local Sense and one of America’s leading localists.

Christian Felber (Austria), author of numerous best-selling books, and a leading theoretician of the Common Welfare Economy.

And more, you can see the program here.

The 2012 conference was a life-changing event for many involved, and the Economics of Happiness Conference 2013 promises to be even better.

More information

theeconomicsofhappiness.org

ISEC- International Society for Ecology and Culture

Read more »

Italian Pavillon in the 55th Venice Biennale: vice versa, exhibition and crowdfounding project

Padiglione Italia, ph RobertoGalasso

It was presented yesterday in Rome "vice versa," the exhibition curated by Bartolomeo Pietromarchi that will be the Italian Pavilion at the 55th Venice Biennial, from June 1 to November 24, 2013.

vice versa will consist of seven rooms (specifically: 6 adjoining rooms plus a garden of thousand square meters) set up inside the Italian Pavilion, with seven pairs of artists, sometimes also combined between generations distant. The names: Fabio Mauri and Francesco Arena, Luigi Ghirri and Luca Vitone, Marcello Maloberti and Flavio Favelli, Gianfranco Baruchello and Elisabetta Benassi, Francesca Grilli and Massimo Bartolini, Piero Golia and Sislej Xhafa, Giulio Paolini, Marco Tirelli.

vice versa picks up on a concept introduced by Giorgio Agamben in his book Categorie italiane. Studi di Poetica (1996), in which the philosopher maintained that in order to interpret Italian culture, we must identify a “series of diametrically linked concepts” capable of describing its underlying characteristics – binomials like tragedy/comedy, architecture/vagueness and speed/lightness thus become original keys for reading the fundamental works and artists of our cultural history.

But with 600 000 euro provided by the institution - they say - you do not get to cover everything. The amount is certainly less than those handed out in previous years, but are even a little money from here a call for help.

To the idea curatorial background, Pietromarchi added a gimmick, cool in this period, which serves as a support for the work: it is called "crowdfunding" procedures blossomed within the underground, now also paid to public giants. It is the old method "Collect", reformulated in key 2.0: people recruited on the web, married a project and give a contribution, receiving in return a small benefit.

The crisis leads to the development of new formulas, in which solidarity, cooperation, creativity, networking, communication, make a difference.

Bartolomeo Pietromarchi during the press conference

The project will be launched by February 12th, the collection will have a period of ninety days and has set itself the target of at least fifty thousand euro. Everyone can participate and support the event, drawing an "advantage" of treatment, for example, the visit to the exhibition, plus the name of each supporter will appear at the entrance, in the catalog and on the website of vice versa with distribution folder with prints of the works in a limited edition , numbered and signed in original.

The crowdfunding, inspired by similar initiatives implemented at the Louvre with "Tous Mécènes" and "Let's build a GoddamTesla Museum" in the United States will be inaugurated with events in Rome, Milan, London and New York.

The ability to have these methods of generating consensus, participation, responsiveness and social feeling, is very high. And it is an absolute winner, from the point of view of cultural and ethical, even before the financial.

Destination of funds gathered through crowdfunding

Funds gathered through crowdfunding will be designated, in agreement with the Ministry for Cultural Heritage and Activities, for the financing of various initiatives for the exhibition vice versa at the Italian Pavilion at the 55th International Art Exposition, including:

- Additional funding for artists’ works and productions

- Cultural mediation and educational activities geared towards schools, universities and visitors

- Promotional and communications activities, including a vice versa exhibition App

- Organization of encounters with artists and opinion leaders and a concluding conference on the themes of the Italian Pavilion

Possible financing targets and destination of relative funds

Based on the amount of funds raised, the following activities may be supported in different ways:

- €50,000 designated to support:

Additional funding for the artists’ work and productions

- €70,000 designated to support:

Additional funding for the artists’ work and productions

Cultural mediation/educational activities geared towards schools, universities and visitors

- €100,000 designated to support:

Additional funding for the artists’ work and productions

Cultural mediation/educational activities geared towards schools, universities and visitors

Promotional and communications activities, including the creation of a vice versa exhibition App

- €120,000 designated to support:

Additional funding for the artists’ work and productions

Cultural mediation/educational activities geared towards schools, universities and visitors

Promotional and communications activities, including the creation of a vice versa exhibition App

Organization of encounters with artists and opinion leaders and a concluding conference on the themes of the Italian Pavilion

More info

www.viceversa2013.org

55th Venice Art Biennal

Read more »

AfriGadget arrives to the larger screens of broadcast television

AfriGadget is a multi-authored blog created by tech expert Erik Hersmande, dedicated to simple, sustainable inventions in Africa. It is a testament to Africans bending the little they have to their will, using creativity to overcome life’s challenges.

AfriGadget in these days have decide to implement itself, with a passage from the small screens of laptops to the larger screens of broadcast television. The production company Made in Africa TV is taking AfriGadget to the East African airwaves to inspire millions of viewers to become active creators of new and ingenious products, themselves.

Made in Africa TV plans to produce AfriGadget as separate programs in each of the Kenyan, Tanzanian and Ugandan television markets. A local presenter will host the program and introduce the correspondents and their stories.

Each episode of AfriGadget TV will consist of five thoughtful stories from around the region, highlighting remarkable and unexpected hardware innovations by East Africans. These stories are inspiring mini-documentaries, portraying young and old, men and women, as well as high and low-tech innovators and their products.

"Made in Africa TV is an East African social enterprise producing mass media with a social impact. We are in the process of setting up a network of video journalists from across Africa to produce the stories, which will be made available on the website as well. As an AfriGadget TV-correspondent you explore your local surroundings to find and capture the innovators and their AfriGadgets. If you are a videographer willing to become a correspondent for this program, or if you know of great AfriGadgets that should be considered for inclusion, please send an email to afrigadget@gmail.com"

More info

www.afrigadget.com

Read more »

Liberos, the community of readers of Sardinia

Liberos is a social network built by some writers, publishers, booksellers, libraries, cultural institutions, festivals and other publishing professionals in Sardinia.

Liberos won yesterday, January 29, the "Prize cheFare" The jury, after studying the proposals of the six finalists, decided to award the victory to the network that enhances the value chain of the book, and the protagonist of cultural projects.

The reasons are:

• recognizes the reading value economic, cultural and social, individual and collective;

• involves an original way all the actors in the chain of the book;

• develop a model capable of balancing instances commercial and cultural;

• Balance physical and virtual network in the process of building community;

• the promoters were able to act in a highly reactive and have used the announcement as an opportunity for learning and focus the project efforts.

The project is now firmly anchored in the reality of Sardinia, but the problem is that addresses national concerns in the first place and the less populated areas of the country and those who do not have a bookshop or a library. The Jury recommends that, during the maturation phase of the project, the winning group to address explicitly the issue of the growth of the idea beyond regional borders.

Liberos born as a working group in July 2012 and was officially presented at the Festival “Isole delle Storie" in Gavoi. The Association is formally established September 18, 2012 by seven founding members who each represent a segment of the chain of the book. The social network has now registered the satisfaction of the readers and operators, who approached with a curious attitude and full of expectations.

Turning point in the conference "Stile Liberos" organized in Fordongianus on 13-14 October, with the participation of publishers and writers of national importance.

Liberos make of the interaction its strong point. Users - in addition to the normal functions of the forum - have the opportunity to sign a card (card VIR - Very Important Reader) and to accumulate points that will enable them to have easier access to presentations, festivals and initiatives related to the book. These points will be accumulated through actions in line with the ethical manifesto of the project, such as the purchase of books in-store associates and constructive participation in the community. Readers will have the opportunity to receive automatic updates regarding publications and initiatives in which they are declared explicitly concerned; publishers and authors to propose thus its novelty, and booksellers to communicate presentation events and new arrivals in the catalog, as well as libraries.

So explain: "The crisis that we were doing to die one by one, has come to show us that we are not exploiting the potential: the common strength of our relationships and expertise."

More info

www.liberos.it

PremioCheFare

Read more »

With Promised Land fracking arrives in Hollywood

The begining is 2010, when was realized the documentary Gasland. The movie portrayed the devastating effects of a method of drilling into shale gas formations called hydraulic fracturing colloquially known as "fracking", in rural american communities. It garnered mostly positive reviews from film critics and newspapers but also negative responses by fracking lobbyists. They answer with the production of a movie titled TruthLand, by the Independent Petroleum Association of America, concerned with listing false information propagated in Gasland and showing a different view on fracking.

The new film Promised Land reflected a trend about fracking since the release of Gasland, which was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Documentary. Promised Land, released in December 2012, directed by Gus van Sant starring Matt Damon, John Krasinski and Frances McDormand. The screenplay was based on a story by Dave Eggers. It is the first Hollywood treatment of fracking, much to the displeasure of the oil and gas industry which have yet again launched an almost targeted campaign to discredit the movie even before its release, they said: "Promised Land will increase unfounded concerns about fracking."

The film is set to have its international premiere at the 63th Berlin International Film Festival in February 2013.

Read more »

Diario di Felix, a project about life

A year in Felix, a foster house in Rome, southeastern suburbs near Tor Bella Monaca, to tell the stories of Valerio, Ishmael, Joseph, Saleem and the other guests of the community. The photojournalist EmilianoMancuso has lived in Casa Felix with a group of teenage boys and their stories complex and difficult, creating "Il diario diFelix" (The diary of Felix), a multimedia project - consisting of documentary film, a blog and a photography project - in collaboration with Parsec and the association Zona.

With the intimate and spontaneous language of the diary has immortalized the life of eight of these guys, sent here by the Juvenile Court, foreigners arriving in Italy and accompanying unprotected, or Italian separated from their parents, often for violence. Guys who have suffered and who are facing life "almost without skin," Emiliano Mancuso tells us day by day their moments of joy, the most sad and trivial.

Il diario di Felix - Trailer from Zona on Vimeo.

He writes in one of the blog post in which he tells his experience, because he realizes that he needs words, because the images are not enough to tell these stories invisible.

"My way to stay in the foster home is to try to resume life in there, they are there for that and that is my interest in their story I relate to everyone, young or operators across the room. I am a witness and my job is to film the scene. But after almost a year my relationship with them, the guys and the operators, has changed. Over time almost every day and staying at Casa Felix the distance of the witness decreases more and more and I am involved in the dynamics of the house. Was not only unavoidable, but necessary. And that's what I want in the end, that prompted me to Felix: stay, return, give presence, so you have to get involved in changing the confidence of all, because I live there and the house too. "

The project is supported by the European Community through the program "Youth in Action". The final version of the documentary is expected in June 2013.

More info

Diario di Felix

www.emilianomancuso.it

photo credits: Emiliano Mancuso

Read more »

Solar Mamas

Solar Mamas follows the remarkable story of Rafea Anad, a 32 years old with children and a husband who is eager to take a third wife. She is a Bedouin woman living in a Jordan’s poorest desert villages. She has only five years of primary education, and lives in a tent. 

She challenges the status quo by travelling to go to the Barefoot College in India, run by the inimitable Roy Bunker, to train as a solar engineer for six months. Along with 27 other mothers and grandmothers from Kenya, Burkina Faso, Columbia, and Guatemala - many of whom are illiterate - she will learn the skills needed to bring solar power to the desert. Rafea struggles to make a difference in the world.

For Rafea it is a life changing journey, she has had limited opportunities in life. Now she is the first Jordanian woman ever to attend such a program, and she dreams of returning to bring needed income and talents to support her family and the community. Her new knowledge will see her do things she never imagined, but it will also have an unexpected effect on her relationship with her patriarchal husband.

When him tell Rafea to return home or he will divorce her and take the children, we recorgnize from the reaction of the women that process has started for her and she can’t be stopped. That’s pretty amazing. She is fearless and intelligent.

Addressing themes of gender equality, education, development and environmental sustainability the documentary takes look at the ways women around the world are working to pull themselves out of the poverty.

The filmakers are Mona Eldaief and Jahane Noujaim, the documentary is part of "Why Poverty? "(a series of documentaries that tackle the subject of poverty, focusing on issues such as food security, education, climate change and more) and "Women and Girls Lead".

Ps: today Rafea had her fifth daughter. She has continued to work on the solar project in the village in Jordan.

More info
Facebook
Solar Mamas

www.whypoverty.net

photo credits: Rafea Solar Mama

Read more »

The Azolla Cooking and Cultivation Project

The Azolla Cooking and Cultivation Project has been realized by Erik Sjödin in collaboration with various cultural organizations, universities and people who have supported and helped him. Is it now available as free pdf, as paperback at AmazonUS / UK and as e-book at Kindle Store.

The Azolla Cooking and Cultivation Project (formerly Super Meal, 2010 - 2012) has been exhibited in several art spaces, at Färgfabrikensin Stockholm, at Kalmar konstmuseum, RIXC Gallery in Riga, at Kultivator in rural village Dyestad, at Salo Art Museum in Finland etc.. and of course on the artist own balcony!

In this work artists, researchers, farmers, gardeners, chefs and scientists experiment with cooking and cultivating the water fern Azolla. Azolla is cheap and easy to cultivate, is one of the world's fastest growing plants and a rich source of nutrients. Yet it is virtually unexplored as a foodstuff for human consumption.

The Azolla Cooking and Cultivation Project is important also to reflect on how our food is being produced today and how it can be produced in the future. As the artist say: "When I started to work with Super Meal I knew very little about agriculture. Now I know enough to be convinced that the industrial agriculture we have to day is a dead end".

Erik Sjödin is an artist and researcher based in Stockholm and Bergen. His work is primarily constituted of transdisciplinary research and interventions in the public realm. His projects are often of an exploratory nature and take shape over several years.

More information:

The Azzolla Cooking and Coultivation Project

www.eriksjodin.net

photo credits: Erik Sjodin

view more photos >>

Read more »

What Did I Buy Today? A journal about Obsessive Consumption.

Kate Bingaman-Burt’s artful new mini-ledger, invites readers to answer that question every day, promoting frugality. Kate Bingaman-Burt is an illustrator and educator. She has been making work about consumption since 2002. Her first book, ObsessiveConsumption, was published, by Princeton Architectural Press in 2010. The new pubblication What did I buy today. Obsessive consumption introduces new charts, graphs and illustrations of items worth saving for.

“Obsessive Consumption is repulsed and grossly fascinated by the branding of consumer culture,” her site explains. “It wants to eat the entire bag of candy and enjoy the sickness that it feels an hour later. It doesn’t want to be an outside critical observer. It wants to be an active participant.” Her hope, she says, is to engage an audience on a more conceptual level, inviting them to think about consumption and obsession.

Bingaman-Burt has famously hand-drawn her daily purchases for years. The daily drawings were born out from drawing her credit card statements in 2004. Today she is in the seventh year of that. Soon she started collecting those images on a Web site. And this turned out to be the first iteration of something that continues to this day: “I basically built a brand out of Obsessive Consumption,” she says, “and ran with it.” It behooves us all to monitor our spending.

She started drawing something that she had purchased each day on February 5th, 2006, and of course she still drawing, "until the hand cramps!".

Kate Bingaman-Burt is an assistant professor of graphic design at Portland State University. She is a founding partner of the Public Design Center. Her work has been featured in the New York Times; in numerous magazines, including Print, Adorn, Dwell, and How; and in books including Hand Job and Handmade Nation.

More info

www.katebingamanburt.com

www.theokbb.tumblr.com

www.papress.com/html/book.details.page.tpl?isbn=9781616891367

www.papress.com/html/book.details.page.tpl?isbn=9781568988900

Read more »

Krisis: An Archive for disorientation

Archive for disorientation

Krisis Magazine is a project which underlying’s aim is to suggest a reflection about different aspects of the permanent crisis and about the responsabilities which come from operating as designer, that is to say as the ones who shape things, both material and immaterial, within this contemporary scenario. 

The theme of the last issue is Orientation. From time immemorial, mankind has tried to constitute their own orientation within the world in which we dwell by using different tools for discerning information: linear language (in the shape of narrations and myths), by systems of classification (mainly of taxonomical type), by graphic representations (atlases, guides and maps), etc. During the last decades these models entered a crisis. The crisis of orientation was born from the complexity of correlations between numerous different emergencies, which most visible effect is a total tendency to fragmentation, to individualisation, to selection, to separation, to the monetarisation of the social and environmental context. In this scenario it becomes crucial to think over disorientation as an experience that may be a source of renewal for new practices of orientation. 

From this point grow up the new project Archive for disorientation, an online visual archive about disorientational paradigm. 

Krisis is a project by the collective Unità di Crisi, which consists of communication designers, professors and theorists.

More info:

http://www.krisismagazine.com/

http://disorientation-archive.tumblr.com/

Read more »

Sustainable Diary

Date of Birth: December 2012, Milan

Sustainable Diary is a blog about day by day sustainable good ideas.
Here you can find news on architecture, design, art, fashion...
Follow us!

Read more »