Time magazine wrote about how the green movement in the States is being eclipsed by the Slow Food movement. I think they kind of created a false dichotomy between the two movements, but isn't the change being created by peoples' interest in food exciting? Maybe the reason for the split they perceive is that for Americans, environmentalism has become an issue of the political left, while food is more apolitical.
The Bodega Chronicles summarized the challenges for the official Slow Food movement in the United States in helping with food justice policy issues, like inner-city access to healthy food. Definitely worth a read.
There is an uproar in the permaculture and backyard farming communities over the controversial trademarking of the terms "urban homestead" and "urban homesteading", which have been commonly used by the successors of the back-to-the-land movement to describe what they're doing for decades (the phrases have possibly been used since the late 1800s, according to some critics). The controversy is as much about the inappropriately draconian way in which the trademark holders have had Facebook fan pages of other businesses shut down, and sent letters threatening legal action to recreational bloggers using the terms. You can read about that case study in how to swiftly alienate your target demographic here, among many other places. My take? It's only a matter of time until the trademarks are overturned by the courts, and the trademark holders have already irreparably damaged their brand through their actions (I am quite deliberately not naming or linking to them.). Karma's a bitch.
Chef 2 Chef wrote a brilliant synopsis of Slow Food International's guiding principles in their Five Ways to Live Slow article.
The FoodCorps project will educate children in American communities in need through school garden and nutrition projects. Fantastic stuff, given the proven benefits of school gardens and school cafeteria reforms.
Meanwhile the Canadian federal government has taken a step in the opposite direction by caving to food industry pressure and disbanding the task force on sodium reduction. Sigh.
via cubedtv.com,
wherein the marketers for an SUV co-opted the slow movement.
Great poster though! No wonder so many slow bloggers are using it.
On Slow Fashion:
- Ecouterre reported on H&M's new, permanent slow fashion line - which seems like a nice bit of cognitive dissonance, given that their whole business model is built on the opposite. But the pleated dress sure looks pretty.
- Ecouterre also pointed out that Sheena Matheiken from the Uniform Project has done a wonderful TEDx talk on their original Little Black Dress project and its recent offshoots, covered eco-fashion from New York Fashion Week, and did an expose on the toxic legacy that leather tanning is leaving in Bangladesh.
- The newly-launched website for Australian slow design collective A Bit Slow summarized Slow Fashion 101. Ecosalon also wrote a brilliant introduction to slow fashion.
- 10 Questions to Ask Your Ethical Fabric Supplier http://ow.ly/3NL1p
- Slow Fashioned interviewed the designer of wonderful accessory line English Retreads.
- The Green Stylist reviewed Laura Ashley's capsule collection for People Tree.
On Slow Travel:
- Leah Mayor wrote an article for The Huffington Post about the trend toward slow travel.
- Grantourismo! summarized the most fascinating neighborhoods around the world to explore.
- The Slate's Tim Wu wrote a fantastic piece on Slow Photography - that is, reacting to digital image overload by taking time to create high quality, meaningful, thoughtfully created photographs - which was also summarized with additional links by the marvelous Jorg & Olif blog.
- Jorg & Olif also covered the emerging Slow Computing, or Zenware, trend.
- Slow Sex is also trending (of COURSE it is), and this article at HuffPo gives the skinny on how to make your sex life more eco-friendly.
- via Carl Honore's twitter feed: Delayed Gratification, a new Slow Journalism quarterly magazine from the UK.
- The Winnipeg Free Press reported on artist Dominique Rey's Do Less, Slowly art project.
- From the wonderful Create The Good Life! blog: From Friending To Friendships
- Slow Fashioned wrote about the Good Shopping Guide app.
- A Bit Slow explored the principles behind slow product design and slow architecture and interiors.
- Inhabitat had sustainable architect Sarah Susanka, famous for her Not-So-Big book series, give 5 tips for eco-remodelling. (Tip 3: quality or quantity.)
- Interior designer Cynthia Mason gave a great synopsis of the SHED session at Yale and how the discussions on sustainability there impact on the semi-disposable culture of the decorating industry.
- A newspaper in Ohio profiled the brilliant slow architecture approach of the guys at SlowHome Studio.
- Scientific American reported that climate-change induced sea level rise could threaten 180 coastal cities in the U.S. by 2100.
- Treehugger reported on a Harvard study that indicates that coal costs the U.S. public up to $500 billion annually, when lifecycle costs such as pollutant cleanup and public health burdens are included in the analysis.
- Huffpost Green reported from the AAAS annual conference on research that demonstrates that oil from the BP spill on the seafloor of the Gulf of Mexico is not degrading as quickly as hoped.
- Other researchers presenting at the AAAS conference forecast that global population growth to 9 billion by 2050 will put unprecedented pressure on natural resources and require us "to produce as much food in the next 40 years as we have in the last 8,000".
- A report from the United Nations Environment Programme outlines how an investment of 2% of worldwide income into key areas would pay for itself in boosting the economy without sacrificing the environment.
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