MICRO MOVEMENTS THROUGH LESS THAN MACRO EATING
Once again, GOOD Magazine has introduced me to a mouth-watering social innovation. This time it’s about dining out. We’re all quite aware of the fact that restaurant portions have grown significantly over the decades, right? And the result is a barbell of extremes: we are eating way more than is healthy for us or we end up wasting criminal amounts of food in a world where there are way too many that experience food insecurity each day. Continue reading
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TREADING NEW GROUND IN NEW SHOES
We’re all familiar with TOMS Shoes, right? It’s the company launched by Blake Mycoskie’s that hand-delivers a pair of shoes to a child in need for every pair of shoes purchased. It’s a widely recognized name now, and with good reason. My daughters really dig the shoes and love the underlying story of how they operate even more. But have you ever heard of Oliberté? I hadn’t either, until I read this article in GOOD. Continue reading
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COMPLEXITY BUILT TO BE HEARD … AND UNDERSTOOD
Last month I wrote a blot post called Making the Veggies Taste Like Candy about BrainPOP, an outstanding website and iPad application that makes learning sweet as candy. I did my raving about it, but what I didn’t do was note that it’s a tool for children. It really is fantastic … but not aimed for adult needs. But then, why shouldn’t the grown ups get some brain treats too? Continue reading
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A NOTE TO MY FRIENDS
A TEDxTC speech that I gave a while ago was posted on the main TED site this past Saturday and the number of views has just skyrocketed. I can’t tell you how gratified I am that the folks at TED chose to promote my talk and it thrills me even more to see some of the wonderful conversation that is being generated in the comments section. My talk is about how we can create a better world by integrating common good values as an intrinsic design in the products, services and processes that we use in our everyday lives. We have become too reliant on the input of angry politics that move us right and left as the way to regulate our world, when what we need are outcomes that move us forward. Building habitats and cultures that honor our values and our needs is one way to do just that. Continue reading
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THE B CORP ADVANTAGE
Back in September I wrote a post called The (Re)New-Age Consumer about Patagonia’s bold public suggestion: Don’t buy Patagonia products new unless you need to. Buy them used if possible.
I thought this outdoor clothing giant’s declaration was cutting-edge and risky, in the way that businesses ought to be risky. And because of that, it didn’t surprise me that this week on the very first day that companies in California could make the jump from a regular corporate status (as a C Corp) to a Benefit Corporation (B Corp), Patagonia switched over. Continue reading
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GET KNITTING. NEEDLES NOT NECESSARY.
If you happened to be on FastCompany.com a couple weeks ago, you likely saw an article called “Why In-Person Socializing Is A Mandatory To-Do Item.” In it, Kevin Purdy, a young writer that works from home, says that the most idea-generating part of his week is his time spent in a knitting circle. But instead of knitting threads and fibers, his knitting circle weaves ideas and opportunities. Continue reading
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MAKING THE VEGGIES TASTE LIKE CANDY
“Eat your vegetables!” has been the stern demand of moms throughout history as kids push the green stuff around their plates but rarely around their palates. Working off of the hilarious and hard-to-argue-against tag line, “The more you know, the more you know,” BrainPOP is doing to education what we should be doing with our veggies: making it taste much better. BrainPOP is a free, curriculum-based website for youngsters who like to surf the web and play games. Continue reading
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CIVIC DESIGN GONE AWRY
When you hear the term “design,” you likely think of things like logos, Photoshop and well-oiled machines. What you likely do not think of is government. But, whether it’s good or bad, our government is a design. We know the blueprint of our government as the Constitution and Bill of Rights of course. And lately it would seem that, like so many other institutions in our country, our government is failing us. But what if it isn’t the design of government, but rather the design of our politics that is to blame? We’re not used to thinking of politics as separate and apart from our governmental institutions, but separating the two just may lead to a better ability to redesign and make what’s wrong, right while not messing with what’s actually working. Continue reading
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BREAKING IT DOWN SO WE CAN BUILD ANEW
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