Category Archives: Good Fact

Better Block is Bettering Cities

The Better Block initiative was started in Dallas, Texas as a rapid urban revitalization project of an underused, nearly abandoned block of Â old buildings along an old streetcar line. Â They project takes the “pop-up” business model to completely revitalise old city blocks with storefronts, community events, and cafÃ©s, and sustainable transportation (like bikes and streetcars)! Â By combating out-of-date laws, re-purposing unused space, and connecting with engaged citizens, the Better Block has spread to multiple cities in the USA.

Watch an energized, exciting, and inspiring talk by Jason Roberts (who started The Better Block) from TEDxOU (Oklahoma University):

Thanks to urbanvelo and Upworthy for posting the original story!

Really Cool Aquaponics Setup in Oakland

Oakland California is not known for farming let alone technologically-driven hydroponics. Kijani Grows is a small company in Oakland that is trying to change this with a system of cycling water through fish, gravel, and plants to create a very efficient farming setup in a small space. What makes this system better than others is that it is integrated to modern electronics so you’ll get notifications when you should water or harvest the plants!

Check out this video of their system:

The land in West Oakland where Eric Maundu is trying to farm is covered with freeways, roads, light rail and parking lots so there’s not much arable land and the soil is contaminated. So Maundu doesn’t use soil. Instead he’s growing plants using fish and circulating water.
It’s called aquaponics- a gardening system that combines hydroponics (water-based planting) and aquaculture (fish farming). It’s been hailed as the future of farming: it uses less water (up to 90% less than traditional gardening), doesn’t attract soil-based bugs and produces two types of produce (both plants and fish).

Via Reddit.

Bike Lanes Help Local Economies

As a cyclist the fact that bicycle infrastructure helps business makes senses to me. Bike lanes encourage more cyclists which can bring more people to an area, drivers on the other hand seem to just keep driving though. I hope the backwards thinking politicians in Toronto see this study since they recently decided to waste money on cars at the expense of cycling.

Whether businesses reached out and made their locations more bicycle friendly, or streets were redesigned to include bike lanes, the overall outcome has been increased spending in local neighborhoods. Shoppers who arrive in urban neighborhoods via cars may spend more in one sittingâ€“but overall those who arrived on foot or by bicycling spent more month to month. The results indicate that neighborhoods and business districts that seek a healthier bottom line should work with municipalities and support such features as protected bike lanes, bicycle racks and pedestrian safety improvements.

A Phone Call to Diagnose Parkinson’s

About a week from now I’ll be running to fundraise for the Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson’s’ research. As a result of my participation, I’ve been researching Parkinson’s and found out that some enterprising researchers have discovered a simple way to diagnose the neurological disorder through a simple phone call.

“He came up to me and said, ‘Max, we’ve got vast amounts of data recorded from Parkinson’s disease patients and we really don’t know what to do with it. So perhaps your algorithms might be useful for analyzing this,'” Little remembers.

The recordings were voices of people both with and without Parkinson’s and Little’s algorithm sorted them. It was 86 percent accurate.

“And that’s when we thought ‘Ahh, okay, we got something here,'” Little says.

How to Reduce Household Food Waste

It was recently found out that Canadians waste a lot of food, 51% of which is wasted inside the home. This means that there are ways that each individual can make a difference! The CBC has a tip sheet on what you can do at home to ensure you don’t throw out perfectly good food.

4. Don’t assume you need to buy in bulk
Grocery chains like Costco and Sam’s Club have enjoyed great success by convincing consumers that they will save money if they buy in mass quantities. But some experts warn against this purchasing strategy.

“People buy in bulk to make an effort to save money, but what they’re not realizing is that if they buy more than they need and throw away food that’s rotten, they haven’t saved money. They’ve actually wasted food and wasted money,” says Rosenbloom of Words to Eat By

Things Are Good

Inspirational and good news.