Imagine you are walking around your city, and you see an amazing piece of street art in the wall of a building. You go next to it, like in a museum, and take a look at the tag next to the piece of art, identifying the artists, the techniques he used, and also, if you have your iPod in hand, an audioguide track recorded by the artist himself, talking about his art and inspirations.

That’s exactly what we did in Lisbon, with the World’s First Ephemeral Museum. We cataloged more than 100 pieces of street art in 3 major neighborhoods around Lisbon, and with your mp3 player and map in hands, that you previously downloaded from the Ephemeral Museum Website, you can walk the city streets like a real museum.

Every important piece of street art is tagged and identified. This way people could enjoy and understand more Street Art while walking through the biggest museum in the world, the streets of Lisbon.

We are working to open new galleries in Madrid, Barcelona, and São Paulo.

http://www.museuefemero.com/

As found on Doors of Perception, China has been testing with experiments to re-purify their water supplies, due to what is thought to be caused by fertiliser running off the land into their rivers. Oenanthe Javanicas are planted into floating beds to resolve the problem of dirty water. The full article can be found here.

Cardboard Citizens changes the lives of homeless and displaced people through theatre and the performing arts.

Mission:
- Present plays performed by homeless and displaced people, to share experiences and problem-solve together.

- Work in partnership to widen the reach of the company’s work and underpin its support for participants.

- Make theatre for general audiences so a wider public can share in the company’s learning and understanding of the issues faced by homeless people.

- Enable excluded people to develop skills and confidence through projects and workshops.

- Meet the practical needs of homeless and displaced people, supporting them in matters of housing, education, employment, health, career and personal development.

Vision:
- Cardboard Citizens strives to be a world leader in its field, creating great theatre that makes a real and positive difference to our society and those living on its margins.

- They know that theatre can be a catalyst for change, growth and learning for participants and audiences.

- They are working to further develop theatre projects in and out of hostels for a wide range of audiences, focussed on the lives of homeless and displaced people.

- They will be supporting people in diverse ways, helping homeless people to play their part in the world, and society to understand how life is lived on the margins.

- Their ambition is to enable every hostel resident in London to be able to access the company’s work, as audience or participant.

- And to offer all homeless or displace people who become involved with the company individual help and support.

- They will produce theatre-based and site-specific productions on a regular and sustainable basis, telling stories of the excluded.

- Every audience member at a Cardboard Citizens show will learn about issues affecting the displaced and homeless people they work with.

- The company will be fully engaged in national and international networks, where appropriate joining in alliances and campaigns to bring unheard voices to the fore. 

- All their partners, peers and friends will have the opportunity to share best practice, knowledge, skills and expertise, and to travel further with us on Cardboard Citizens’ future journey.

http://cardboardcitizens.org.uk/p1.html

FareShare has been operating since 2004 and today has 12 locations around the UK. Established in 1994 as a project within the homelessness charity Crisis, FareShare aims to help vulnerable groups, whether they are homeless, elderly, children, or other groups in food poverty within our communities.

FareShare helps to improve lives:

In 2008/09, the food redistributed by FareShare contributed towards more than 7.4 million meals.
The FareShare Community Food Network has over 530 Community Members across the UK receiving food, training and advice.
Every day an average of 29,000 people benefit from the service FareShare provides.
As well as redistributing food, FareShare provides a programme of education and vocational training opportunities – the Eat Well Live Well programme.

FareShare Helps The Environment:

The redistribution of food by FareShare minimises surplus food going to landfill.
This redistribution of food helped businesses reduce CO2 emissions by 13,950 tonnes in 2008/09.

FareShare’s New Vision:

Open a further 18 depots, bringing the total number to 30.
Provide nutritious food to 2,500 community organisations and charities.
Redistribute 20,000 tonnes of food per year.
Everyday support 100,000 vulnerable people through food provision; as well as provide training and education through our Eat Well Live Well programme.
Offer 6,000 volunteer opportunities.

http://www.fareshare.org.uk/

The inaugural Maker Faire Africa was a gathering of inventors and entrepreneurs from around the globe. One of the main purposes was to showcase African ingenuity to world. Taking place in Accra, Ghana, Maker Faire Africa had local artisans as well as Makers from as far as Liberia, Malawi and Uganda.

http://makerfaireafrica.com/

On an annual basis, Macmillan Cancer Support hosts the World’s Biggest Coffee Morning inviting people globally to participate by getting together with friends and family having coffee, cake and anything else that encourages others to raise money for the work Macmillan carries out. With over £6.5million raised in 2009 to help the charity’s work, 2010’s coffee morning looks set to be even bigger. Macmillan have tapped into an idea that globally, everyone can relate to (drinking coffee) to raise money and raise their profile. A day of tea drinking throughout the UK for instance, could be another idea which has scope to reach everyone, if another charity was to implement it. You can check out the Flickr group of Macmillan’s coffee morning here and be sure to check out the rest of the information on Macmillan’s website here.

Usually, when ordering food in a restaurant, you get the choice of which food you eat, but never how much ends up on the plate. Now, a new chic restaurant called SML opened in August 2009 in Times Square at Causeway Bay in Hong Kong and it introduces an innovative size-orientated dining experience. From bite-sized appetizers to large plate main courses, you can always find something you want to try on the menu with the right size!

SML offers the total freedom of choice, except the numbers of choices of Mediterranean food, everything on the menu are in Small, Medium and Large size, so no matter you feel like sharing with a large group of friends or just a casual dinner with your lover, this option is a perfect fit. Different European style dishes will be served with lovely presentation. The wine list features 38 various wines. Some of them are available from the automated wine dispenser. This wine serving system provides the choice of 15mls, a half or full glass of wine, which allow guests to sample different wines and this system surely goes well with this choice-driven restaurant. You can find more out about SML and the new dining concept it has created here.

PechaKucha Night was devised in Tokyo in February 2003 by Mark Dytham and Astrid Klein of KleinDytham Architecture as an event for young designers to meet, network, and show their work in public. It has turned into a massive celebration, with events happening in hundreds of cities around the world, inspiring creatives worldwide. Drawing its name from the Japanese term for the sound of conversation (”chit chat”), it rests on a presentation format that is based on a simple idea: 20 images x 20 seconds. It’s a format that makes presentations concise, and keeps things moving at a rapid pace.

PechaKucha is currently in 255 cities worldwide and is growing every week. I myself am now part of the London team who have brought it back to the capital, with the first event happening on the Monday just gone. You can join the London PechaKucha Facebook group here.

With a recently re-launched website, you can now view presentations online here and make sure to check out all the other information on the PechaKucha website.

http://www.pecha-kucha.org/

Just like the Brixton Pound, Ithaca Hours is a local currency system that promotes local economic strength and community reliance that will support economic and social justice, ecology, community participation and human aspirations.

In Ithaca, New York, the group who started the alternative currency have gained control of the social and environmental effects of commerce by issuing over $110,000 of their own local paper money, to thousands of residents, since 1991. Tens of thousands of purchases and many new friendships have been made with this cash, and millions of dollars value of local trading has been added to the Grassroots National Product. They printed their own money because they watched Federal dollars come to town, shake a few hands, then leave to buy rainforest lumber and fight wars. Ithaca’s Hours, by contrast, stay in the region to help people hire each other. While dollars make people increasingly dependent on transnational corporations and bankers, Hours reinforce community trading and expand commerce which is more accountable to the concerns for ecology and social justice.

Here’s how it works: the Ithaca Hour is Ithaca’s $10.00 bill, because ten dollars per hour is the average of wages/salaries in Tompkins County. These Hour notes, in five denominations, buy plumbing, carpentry, electrical work, roofing, nursing, chiropractic, child care, car and bike repair, food, eyeglasses, firewood, gifts, and thousands of other goods and services. Credit unions accept them for mortgage and loan fees. People pay rent with Hours. The best restaurants take them, as do movie theaters, bowling alleys, two large locally-owned grocery stores, the local hospital, many garage sales, 55 farmer’s market vendors, the Chamber of Commerce, and 300 other businesses. Hundreds more have earned and spent Hours who are not in the Hour Town directory.

The Success Stories of 300 participants published so far testify to the acts of generosity and community that the system prompts. A community is being made while making a living. As the Hours do so, they relieve the social desperation which has led to compulsive shopping and wasted resources. At the same time Ithaca’s locally-owned stores, which keep more wealth local, make sales and get spending power they otherwise would not have. And over $10,000 of local currency has been donated to over 100 community organizations so far, by the elected Hour board of directors. We regard Ithaca’s Hours as real money, backed by real people, real time, real skills and tools. Dollars, by contrast, are funny money, backed no longer by gold or silver but by less than nothing- $8.4 trillion of national debt.

HOURS expand the local money supply
HOURS promote and expand local shopping, with an endless multiplier
HOURS double the local minimum wage to $10.00, benefitting not only workers but businesses as well, who find new and loyal customers.
HOURS enable shoppers to afford premium prices for locally-crafted goods and for locally-grown organic food.
HOURS help start new businesses and jobs
HOURS reduce dependence on imports and transport fuels
HOURS make grants to nonprofit community organizations
HOURS make zero-interest loans
HOURS stimulate community pride

http://www.ithacahours.org/index.php

In the Summer and Autumn 2007, thousands of people living and working in the town of Middlesbrough, Tees Valley participated in a project to increase local food production and reduce food miles. Along the way, young, old, rich and poor worked together, growing food and realising new relationships with local food producers and existing growers in the town and its surrounding area. Their goal has was to pioneer a new sustainable future – not just for Middlesbrough but also for other post-industrial communities across the UK

They were also working to raise awareness of the benefits of and opportunities for growing and securing food for our towns and cities. Local growers need to be connected to existing and new markets, a new relationship needs to be struck between urban and rural, and communities need inspirational and educational ‘soil to plate’ experiences.

Middlesbrough Council and David Barrie, senior producer for Dott 07, have led the project, working in close partnership with Groundwork South Tees, Middlesbrough Primary Care Trust, more than 15 primary and secondary schools, many local community and voluntary sector organisations, and existing allotment growers in the town. It was driven by Bioregional’s commitment to the concept of one planet living, developed in collaboration with the World Wildlife Fund and endorsed by the Minister of State for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs.

The groups from the schools identified locations in which to grow food and the produce they would like to cultivate. Then, in May 2007, about 1,000 people began growing fruit and vegetables in containers at locations across the town. They received support from local horticulturalists, allotment growers, farmers and food producers. Between June and September, this new team of urban farmers brought their harvested ingredients to a ‘kitchen playground’ event: three week-long blocks of activity in which people prepared, cooked and ate dishes based on ingredients that they had grown themselves. The frenzy of food production culminated in September in a ‘Meal for Middlesbrough’ – a banquet for 1,500 in the town’s main square. Participants in the growing project created the menu from produce they’d harvested. Local producers provided meat and vegetables to supplement the meal, which was cooked and eaten in the open air.

Finally, several containers grown in Middlesbrough were presented at the Dott 07 Festival and participating groups prepared food for visitors in a special-edition kitchen playground.

A fantastic sustainable idea which involves everyone from the local community and has endless amounts of benefits.

http://www.dott07.com/go/food/urban-farming