There are all kinds of coops: health care, farmers, utilities, etc. If you’d like to learn more about cooperative grocery stores, there is a free listserv you can sign up for.
Our focus on eating local foods and supporting our farmers is one step towards reducing our oil dependence. Progress! This article details the grassroots Transition Albany project, which aims to make SF more sustainable. What ideas can we take as inspiration?
Wow! What an information-filled day! It’s so great to see cooperators from around the country. Did you know that there are now around 300 food coops here in the US?
I went to several sessions and have a lot to report. Because it’s 11 pm and I gotta get up early, it’ll have to wait! But I’ll leave you with a great idea I learned: now that the desire for organic and local foods has become more mainstream, we can expect Wal-Mart to soon begin to carry local, organic produce. What do our coops have to offer that can compete with that? Community and authenticity. What are some of your suggestions around building our capacity for these character traits?
In case you missed her last time she was in Syracuse in 2008, Majora Carter, pioneering founder of Sustainable South Bronx, will be part of the SU University Lectures series for the 2010 – 2011 season.
Eric Schlosser, author of Fast Food Nation, will speak in the spring.
In a recession, it’s a good problem for a store to have: Not enough space and not enough selection, coupled with a loyal customer base that wants more of both.
Read the rest of the Syracuse Post-Standard article here.
One response to the problems of rusted-out industrial cities such as Detroit has been a new urban reclamation effort called “shrinking cities.” The idea, perhaps inspired by Pittsburgh, has caught on in smaller cities in the American Midwest, such as Youngstown, Ohio, and Flint, Michigan, and their European counterparts. The basic notion is that older industrial cities need not grow to improve. They can be better places by making do with less, by focusing on improvements in the quality of life for their residents, and by bringing their level of infrastructure and housing into line with their smaller populations.
Yes, we’re finally going to reveal the new location! Don’t think we haven’t wanted to tell you! The meeting is at Grace Church, 819 Madison Street, Syracuse, at 7 pm. You can use the following bus routes: East Genessee, Westcott, Drumlins. Hope to see you there!
Now here’s an interesting idea to combine slow food with community service: the San Francisco Food Wars. This yearly event gathers cooks from all over SF to celebrate local foods. It sounds similar to Syracuse’s own Men Who Cook event, but with a locavore spin:
SF Food Wars is celebration of the shared act of eating. It is a rejection of isolated feeding. It is a refusal of mechanized and processed flavors. It harkens a return to the community table, where tastes were personal, recipes familial, and flavors a matter of local pride. It is a reminder of the regional, the small-batch, and the seasonal over the standardized.
To find out more, read here. (GN)
Muhammad Yunus, Nobel Peace Prize recipient, founder of The Grameen Bank and creator of the global practice of micro-lending, will visit Syracuse University on Tuesday, Feb. 23 at 7:30 in Hendricks Chapel, as the first offering in the University Lectures presentations for spring 2010.
For more details, click here. (GN)
