Monocle recently took a look at some of the world’s best urban farming projects.
Monocle’s favourite cities combine small-scale neighbourhoods with green spaces, but not all cities were built with the right foundations for future growth and sustainability. We champion four urban innovators who see potential in derelict spaces and find creative approaches to make some of the worlds more challenging neighbourhoods bloom into richer and more pleasant places to stay.
Washington D.C. lawmakers approved a proposed bill that institutes a living wage for the region. This is after a loud and boisterous campaign from Walmart to keep poverty-level wages. Walmart is known for low wages, firing employees who report animal abuse, and a whole list of other criticisms. Yet, Walmart makes millions of dollars and has been known to use it’s size to influence policies in their favour so it’s good to see that D.C. stood up to this anti-people corporation.
“The question here is a living wage; it’s not whether Wal-Mart comes or stays,†said council member Vincent B. Orange (D-At Large), a lead backer of the legislation, who added that the city did not need to kowtow to threats. “We’re at a point where we don’t need retailers. Retailers need us.â€
Whether or not Wal-Mart needs the District, it had spent the past three years wanting to enter the city in a way no other business had. Activists celebrated Wednesday’s vote, saying the company, which reported net income of $17 billion on sales of $470 billion in its most recent fiscal year, could afford to pay better wages. But the council action threatens to halt several developments anchored by Wal-Mart in neighborhoods long underÂserved.
Camino Wear is a clothing line that is focused on celebrating walking, travel, and adventure. The inspiration for the clothing line comes the founder’s walk along the Camino de Santiago.
We believe that walking, travel and adventure are some of the most important things in life.
Walking, because (in our humble opinion) slow travel is best. To be outdoors, to be active, to be in one’s environment = a happier, healthier life full of beautiful, small moments.
Travel, because this world is incredible and so very diverse. Meeting new people and experiencing new things allows us to grow; both in our compassion for others and also for ourselves.
Adventure, because life is too short to become complacent.
Because purposeful wandering is the opposite of being lost.
They are looking for love and support on Indiegogo, there are only 8 days left:
The meat industry is very energy intensive and the raising of animals for food takes up a lot of land. It’s no surprise then that to help save the environment one ought to eat less meat, but many people find it difficult to cut back their meat intake. Over at Flexitarian there’s a nice post on eight steps one can easily accomplish to decrease their meat consumption.
3) Go Local, Go Seasonal: visit your local market or farm shop. See what vegetables are in season and plan a dish around them. If you are not sure what to do with some of them ask the vendor.
4) Try World Cuisine: some cuisines (especially the ones blending lots of flavours and spices) are particularly well suited to meatless cooking. Try Indian, Mexican, Ethiopian etc..
Yesterday we looked at labelling gas nozzles and today here’s good news about a better way to label food. A series of studies add up to the conclusion that if people were aware of how much walking it would take to burn off food they eat less. Calories can be confusing so by telling people how much time walking it can help people understand how much energy they are consuming.
“People who viewed the menu without nutritional information ordered a meal totaling 1,020 calories, on average, significantly more than the average 826 calories ordered by those who viewed menus that included information about walking-distance,” writes Scientific American. People who saw the menu with walking-distance info also ordered less than people who just saw calorie info.
Now I’m going to go for a walk…