News & commentary on sustainability, activism, urban planning, politics, and our world.
Every year, Jane Hart, social business consultant, oversees voting for the 100 most popular social networking tools in education. As Jane’s data and observations have grown so has the use of the data to tweak policies that guide and entrepreneurs searching trends. This year’s voting is still open.
What has uprooting schools to the web been growing?
Today the Governor of the great state of California, Jerry Brown, just signed legislation which mandates that queer history and the many contributions of gay people, like Harvey Milk, must now be included in the state’s school curriculum. This landmark law will make California the first state in the nation to require this much needed inclusion in school lesson plans and textbooks.
The United States national soccer team’s dramatic come back in Germany last week against Brazil in the last seconds of the game is the stuff that legends are made of. The performance of the U.S. goalie, the aptly named Hope Solo, was also utterly awe-inspiring. Solo is a working class kid from Richland, Washington; which is also the home of the decommissioned Hanford Nuclear site, the most contaminated nuclear waste site in the western hemisphere.
Before you get caught picking cucumbers in your front yard, are slapped with a fine, and charged with a misdemeanor, here are some sneaky strategies you can try to disguise your subversive gardening acts. You can always resort to planting edible flowers and herbs among the veggies in your front yard, and Big Brother will be none the wiser.
It is both disturbing and extremely sad that growing food plants in your front yard garden may get you a misdemeanor in some cities, as happened to Julie Bass in Oak Park, Michigan. But I believe that it is worth leading by example (if you can avoid criminal charges), and working towards changing the aesthetic and attitudes in your own neighborhood. You may even end up helping to restore a more sane understanding of our food and where it comes from.
This year, nearly 900 million tourists worldwide hit the roads, skies and seas in pursuit of some rest and relaxation, and this takes a heavy toll on local ecosystems, water, air and wildlife. Being green this summer doesn’t require a complete lifestyle upheaval, however — there are many simple changes that you can make to your summer vacation (or staycation) plans. Alone, they may seem small, but these adjustments can collectively make an enormous impact on the environment.
