Monthly Archive for April, 2009

10 Ways to Support a Sustainable Urban Food System through Politics and Participation in the Food Economy

by Jen Dalton, www.jendalton.com  &  www.gastronautsf.com

1. Start small and simple. Make things from scratch. Pick 3 things to do like stop eating packaged foods, prepare your own food and cut out meat eating once a week. Compost. Plant and grow your own herbs. Or, get clear on the origins of your favorite food (Do you eat burritos more than once a week? Or coffee? Sugar? Rice?) – where do the ingredients come from? How was it made? Harvested? Who harvests the ingredients and how is it processed? What’s the impact of your choice?

2. Share your passions with others. What about this opportunity for change do you love? Get curious about others and what they’re doing. Ask farmers how they prepare foods, talk to your friends about their favorite foods. Do you have a cultural tradition to share and keep alive?

3. Unite and create coalitions. Gather at tables. Start conversations about food, taste, traditions, people who grow food, what we eat and how it reflects who we are.

4. Vote with your fork. You have a responsibility as an eater to know what you’re eating, for your health and the health of the environment. You also have consumer choice and this is a powerful force. Money talks and you have an opportunity to have your voice heard every time you eat. Look in your refrigerator. Throw out everything that has more than five ingredients. And, anything with the #1 ingredient as high fructose corn syrup should be the first to go. Stop drinking soda and that would be huge. While you’re at it, do the same with your cleaning products. Continue reading ‘10 Ways to Support a Sustainable Urban Food System through Politics and Participation in the Food Economy’

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Thank you Todd Siler of Think Like a Genius!

We want to take a moment to appreciate Todd Siler of Think Like a Genius for his facilitation of a live 3-D modeling lab for tAL participants!  After a brief presentation about the history, philosophy, and practice of Think Like a Genius we literally dove into bags of modeling clay, tongue depressors, colorful pipe cleaners, photos, and styrofoam balls to create dynamic visual installations of how we feel when we are in our element and engaged in our passions/projects.  Ideas bounced, sparks flew, and time stopped!   Once our models were ready, each presented his/her model and received feedback and questions from Todd and the group, which deepened the experience even further.

And another thank you to Todd’s partners Eric Siler and Scott Perlman for their contributions to making this Abundance League meeting one to remember!

Warmly,

Susan (+Taj)

P.S.  Please feel free to respond to this post if you’d like to share your experiences….

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Divvy.com: Get the Most Out of Your Stuff

img-logo-divvy-about-timeIn a time when we need to save money, reduce our ecological footprint, and band together to make change, Divvy may be just what the doctor ordered.   Divvy.com helps people and communities to divide up use of various physical assets through a unique billing and asset scheduling system.   So for instance, you can use Divvy to schedule the use of conference rooms,  desks in a co-working space, a car, a snow blower, in fact, almost anything.  And if you want to charge for use, there’s a built in payment system.  The whole thing is pretty much self-service, so it doesn’t consume much time except at set up.  

I had the good fortune to do some work for founder Aaron Freed on the launch of Divvy.com (disclosure: I earned a small number of options for my work).  I got involved because I think that sharing our stuff will solve many problems at once.   And I see a new economy and culture emerging based on sharing that can help us enjoy life more and avert societal collapse.

Here’s my perspective.  And let me use the example of cars to illustrate.   Continue reading ‘Divvy.com: Get the Most Out of Your Stuff’

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Denver April Confluence: Todd Siler PhD & Metaphorming, a Process of Creativity & Innovation—Tue 4/14 @ Hooked on Colfax

Todd Siler, PhD

Todd Siler, PhD

For the April confluence I am excited to introduce Todd Siler, PhD who will be leading us in a process he calls Metaphorming. Todd has developed this over many years, working with people of all types & ages, from school children to top executives at Fortune 500 companies.

He tells us, “this interactive presentation will provide you with some key tools, methods, knowledge, and experiences for discovering and applying your creative potential in new ways … the Metaphorming process provides a global common language that enables people to conceptualize, visualize, express and present their ideas, viewpoints, knowledge, and experiences in ways that effectively communicate the essence and details of their thinking.”

—-IMPORTANT UPDATE AFTER THE BREAK—-

I was particularly pleased to read Todd’s goal for this exercise… Continue reading ‘Denver April Confluence: Todd Siler PhD & Metaphorming, a Process of Creativity & Innovation—Tue 4/14 @ Hooked on Colfax’

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Quick Thoughts on Money

A friend forwarded this quote to me, which rings true:

“Money is like an iron ring we’ve put through our noses. We’ve forgotten that we designed it, and it’s now leading us around. I think it’s time to figure out where we want to go – in my opinion toward sustainability and community – and then design a money system that gets us there.”

— Bernard Lietaer Interview with Yes! Magazine: Beyond Greed & Scarcity

This squares nicely with something I have been saying about systems in general: “the hand should shape the tool, and not the other way around.”

But let’s take that one step further and say this:

“The hand shapes the tool, the tool shapes the work, the work shapes the soul.”

And the soul … what does that shape? Please leave your comments; ask your friends, too.

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SF April Meeting: Calling All Gardening & Local Food Nerds

snail1This is your signal. Like Batman’s bat sign in the night sky, you’ve been called. But instead of a bat, you’re called by the silhouette of a SNAIL! It’s time to put seed in soil, so we’re gathering to share our gardening knowledge and inspire each other to create a sustainable urban food system. Not to mention that our deteriorating economy and environment give us ample reason to take control of our own food supply!

Three experts are kickstarting this month’s Abundance League discussion on gardening and local food. The discussion will be focused on practical gardening tips and how we can support a sustainable urban food system through politics and our participation in the food economy. Our panelist this month are:

-Tarka Sanchez: botanist, ethnobotanist, cook, sustainability consultant, and international cuisine and garden design entrepreneur. Learn more about Tarka here.

-Jen Dalton: food consultant, food journalist, Slow Food organizer, editor of the City Slicker Eats series on the groundbreaking food politics blog Civil Eats, cookbook collector, and gastronome. Learn more about Jen here.

-Olin Anderson:  urban planner, habitat restorer, eco-landscape architect, designer of therapeutic and edible garden spaces, and recent prize winner at the San Francisco Flower and Garden Show for a demonstration landscape entitled, “11:44AM, Friday.”  You can learn more about Olin’s work here.

The combined experience of our panelists is truly dazzling. It includes communing with shamans in the Amazon rainforest to learn plant medicine, selling authentic distrito federale-styled Mexican food in a London market stall, helping launch the Slow Food movement in the US, designing a prize-winning therapeutic garden for disabled veterans, and decades of hands on gardening experience.

We hope you’ll bring your own experience to share. As well as some yummy local food for the potluck.

MEETING
When: Thursday, April 16th, 6:30-10:00pm
Where: Citizen Space , 425 Second St., #100, San Francisco

AGENDA
6:30 – 7:00 Arrive, mingle, nosh
7:00 – 7:45 Member announcements: come prepared to share your passions, needs, gifts & favorite food or gardening experience
7:45 – 8:15 Break – share knowledge, mingle, nosh
8:15 – 9:45 Panel discussion
9:45 – 10:00 Clean up, and as an option, take the discussion to the 21st Amendment, a nearby bar

 

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