Recreating Public Commons by Sura, September 20

a great video about neighbors using art to calm traffic and create a pedestrian-friendly community using the streets and public spaces.

you can read more and see other videos here or here

20 Sep 2007 | 3:40 pm | Streets, Bicycles, Pedestrians | No comments yet - Add your comments

Mini Solar Furnace by Sura, September 20

Here’s a way you can create a mini solar furnace using aluminum cans painted black and set in a frame. Comments following the instructions give you even more ideas to make it efficient and effective.

20 Sep 2007 | 7:51 am | DIY - Do It Yourself | No comments yet - Add your comments

Make your own tinder by Sura, September 18

An ex-firefighter told me that lint is an excellent combustible. Put it in an empty toilet paper or paper towel tube and use it as tinder. Here are more dryer lint ideas. Note the caution about using lint from man-made fabrics that will put out toxic fumes.

18 Sep 2007 | 2:15 pm | DIY - Do It Yourself | No comments yet - Add your comments

Green is the New Black by Sura, September 17

Here’s an incredibly inspiring video of Majora Carter on Greening the Ghetto. A bit long but worth it. This is an empowering story of a community that organized to effect big environmental and development changes. She talks about finding commonalities and bridging divides between different communities, from her two worlds. “I have come from so far, to meet you like this. Please don’t waste me. By working together, we can become one of those small, rapidly growing groups of individuals, who actually have the audacity and courage to believe that we actually can change the world. We might have come to this conference from very, very different stations in life, but believe me, we all share one incredibly powerful thing—we have nothing to lose and everything to gain.”

17 Sep 2007 | 5:10 pm | Environmental Sustainability | Read 1 comment - Add your comments

Citizen Representation by Sura, September 11

Representation is fundamental to the history of our Democracy. Cries of “No taxation without representation” or “When in the Course of human events…” are at the core of what it means to be American.

As our Declaration of Independence says, “Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, –That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government.”

When the government no longer represents the governed, it is time for change. We can wait until it’s so bad that only a revolution will suffice. Or we can evolve now, as the “governed” to consent to a new kind of governance, one that is of the people, by the people, for the people, is responsive to the people.

11 Sep 2007 | 11:08 am | Representation | No comments yet - Add your comments

Supporting Bicyclists / Reducing Automobile traffic by Sura, September 9

Bill Sell, an avid bicyclist, sent me this video, about different kinds of bike lanes, making streets safer in NYC. Why not apply some of these principals in Milwaukee? What do you think? Continue reading ‘Supporting Bicyclists / Reducing Automobile traffic’

9 Sep 2007 | 4:42 pm | Streets, Bicycles, Pedestrians | No comments yet - Add your comments