Watch This Now // Parsons' DESIS Lab Amplifies Social Innovation in North Brooklyn

 

People in our neighborhood are always up to amazing things, so it's not surprising that last year the DESIS Lab at Parsons The New School for Design focused its lens on North Brooklyn to highlight local examples of sustainable living and innovation.

As part of its two-year Amplifying Creative Communities project, which looked at the Lower East Side in 2010, DESIS (short for Design for Social Innovation and Sustainability) explored different organizations and initiatives in Greenpoint and Williamsburg to learn how they work, help them improve through design service, and share information that will allow others to create their own alternatives to standard commercial and government services.

In addition to an exhibition and a series of workshops about local sustainable change, Amplify Brooklyn also produced some inspiring videos featuring examples of local food, sharing, biking and more, including interviews with the people behind the Greenpoint-Williamsburg CSA, the North Brooklyn Compost Project, Not An Alternative, Times Up!, the Pa-La Loma Bicycle Club and the Brooklyn Greenway Initiative.

Check out a few of those videos after the jump and head over to the Amplifying Creative Communities website for more insight and inspiration.

-- John Ruscher

Go Here Now // Carrotmob Chooses Carrots Over Sticks, "Buycotts" Over Boycotts

If you were excited by the infographic about The Future of Money that we posted back in December, you'll likely also share our enthusiasm for Carrotmob, an idea that fits right into that chart's "new lenses of wealth." Before you go any further, hit play on the video above for a quick and entertaining look at what it's all about.

Carrotmob takes the age-old concept of a boycott and flips it on its head. Rather than gathering together a group of people who promise to withhold money from a business to bring about change, Carrotmob proposes having a group pledge positive financial support for a business to achieve the same end. "We are called Carrotmob because we use the 'carrot' instead of the 'stick,'" the Carrotmob website explains. The reasoning? "In a boycott, everyone loses. In a Carrotmob, everyone wins."

In a recent feature on food and consumer choice, BBC 4 highlighted Carrotmob's "buycotts" as an example of a "growing attitude about technology and the desire to make things happen." Founder Brent Schulkin described how he started Carrotmob after noticing that boycotts don't really connect with how businesses make decisions. "What really matters to a business is money, spending, new customers, marketing and that sort of thing," he says.

On the Carrotmob website you can explore past campaigns that people have successfully organized across the globe. Focusing on convincing businesses to make environmentally friendly and sustainable changes, they range from asking a Bangkok grocer to stop using plastic bags to a Park Slope hardware store that agreed to use 22% of the money spent by Carrotmob shoppers on energy improvements. 

You can log into the Carrotmob website and share your own completed campaign, and soon you'll also be able to create and promote new ones. Start thinking of the carrots you and your network can dangle.

-- John Ruscher

ILLUMINATING // LuminAID Is Spreading Sustainable Solar Light Across The Globe

 

The folks behind LuminAID reached their fundraising goal of $10,000 just two days after launching their campaign on IndieGoGo. They've now raised more than triple that amount, and the total continues to climb with over two weeks left to go. 

Such enthusiasm and support is no surprise considering what an amazing idea they have. The LuminAID light is a solar-rechargeable waterproof lantern that's lightweight, portable and inflatable, making it useful in almost any situation where light is needed, from a weekend camping trip to disaster-stricken areas or developing communities across the globe. 

These lights will be particularly valuable to the many people around the world who lack regular electricity and are forced to rely on dangerous kerosene-fueled lanterns. That's why, for a pledge of $25, you can purchase your own light while also donating one to LuminAID's worldwide community projects.

After charging in sunlight for four to six hours, a LuminAID light can provide three hours of light on its high setting and six on low. It can also be shipped more efficiently than other light sources, with more than 50 LuminAID lights taking of the space of 8 traditional solar flashlights.

Head over to LuminAID's IndieGoGo page to order your own LuminAID light and help spread safe and sustainable light around the world. For larger pledges you can receive and give even more, from your own LuminAID t-shirt to helping supply an entire orphanage with lights. Check the community map to see places that have been illuminated so far. A LuminAID light has already made it to the peak of Mount Kilimanjaro!

Hit the jump for more photos and a video about the LuminAID light.

-- John Ruscher

GO HERE NOW // Escape from NYC with offManhattan

Ed. note: 3rd Ward has zero affilliation with offManhattan--it's simply something we're excited about.

Now that you've overdosed on other people talking about their summer getaways, it's time for you to schedule your own autumnal trip out of the city--and we want to share a go-to resource for hatching your escape plan (especially if you're like many of us and don't own a car.)

Founded in 2007, offManhattan showcases different ways to get away from all this hustlin'. Recommendations range from unique spots inside the five boroughs, like Staten Island's tug boat graveyard, to the more far-flung locales of Puerto Rico and Banff.

They also provide some mighty enticing seasonal features, like upcoming apple festivals, fall foliage getaways, hiking trails, and farm-to-table restaurants near NYC.

And the kicker: you can get to all of these places car-free (check the site to see what we're talking about.)

Be sure to check out a great Google Map showing all of their suggested destinations.

Get outta dodge, people!