La Minga

May 2, 2012 § 1 Comment

If you ever have questions what ‘Food Justice’ is, means, or what it looks like in practice this video is the embodiment of the term. ‘La Minga’ demonstrates the revolutionary possibility of farming; empowering working peoples, combating racism, improving the environment, and doing it all in spite of competition via collaboration. This video is a beautiful tribute to the quiet undercurrents that all practitioners of the food movement (if you eat, this means you) ought to embrace and help advance. Please enjoy!

Milwaukee’s Visionaries Face Skeptics in the News

April 30, 2012 § 4 Comments

Last year, we introduced you to Sweet Water Organics, a hybrid company (read: for-profit and non-profit) that is trying to develop a viable urban farm using aquaponics. They’re one of the first aquaponic farms in the country, drawing inspiration from operations like Growing Power. Recently, Tom Daykin of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel ran an article  about Sweet Water that reads like a bullet-point list of charges against the company.

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When Riverwest Wins the Nobel Prize: James Godsil’s Vision of Milwaukee

April 30, 2012 § Leave a Comment

In one of our first guest writer features, we bring you James Godsil, the co-founder of Sweet Water Organics, on how Milwaukee became an incubator for the nearing sustainable cities revolution.

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How the Midwest Will Spend Its Foreclosure Settlement Scrill

April 26, 2012 § Leave a Comment

Earlier this month, on April 6, the foreclosure settlement was approved in federal court, despite its obvious flaws.  But as they say, when life gives you lemons, you make lemonade–so what do you do with a bad deal like the foreclosure settlement?  With the $1.5 billion it netted as a region, the Midwest has come up with some possible answers, although there’s always room for improvement.

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At Coworking Spaces, Plenty of Coffee (Without Any Cubicles)

April 25, 2012 § Leave a Comment

You’re right to be skeptical about co-working spaces. Let’s face it, you might be more concerned about finding “work,” period. But last week I had the opportunity to sit down with two pretty incredible people, Graham Veysey and Emmett McDermott, and talk about their newest venture, Cowork Cleveland. There, I got a glimpse of the future of work.

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Fasten Your Rustbelt: Jay Williams Talks Cities (audio)

April 23, 2012 § Leave a Comment

At the April 20 conference, “Open/Closed: Exploring Vacant Property in St. Louis,” Jay Williams offered these thoughts before the screening of Detropia. Williams is the former mayor of Youngstown, Ohio and the current executive director of the federal Office of Recovery for Auto Communities and Workers. This talk is from April 20th, 2012 at St. Louis’s Soldiers Memorial. Stream the audio after the jump!

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Detroit’s International Bridge: Make That a Double

April 14, 2012 § 2 Comments

This past weekend I was in South Haven, Michigan, on Michigan’s dazzling western coast.  Although this remote lakeside town is usually pretty quiet, nowadays the airwaves are abuzz with television ads attacking Rick Snyder, the state’s Republican governor, for his proposal to build a second international bridge between Detroit and Windsor.

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