Some amazing photographs of abandoned buildings in Detroit by Yves Marchand & Romain Meffre Photography.

via Joyengine.

Read and watch more at Rob’s website: Transition Culture.

Dear Old People Who Run the World,

My generation would like to break up with you.

. . .

You wanted big, fat, lazy “business.”

We want small, responsive, micro-scale commerce.

+

You turned politics into a dirty word.

We want authentic, deep democracy — everywhere.

+

You wanted financial fundamentalism.

We want an economics that makes sense for people — not just banks.

+

You wanted shareholder value — built by tough-guy CEOs. We want real value, built by people with character, dignity, and courage.

From Umair Haque on Harvard Business. Seen it on Joyengine.

Really interesting article in the Telegraph about the controlled demolition of Flint Michigan so the city doesn’t become involuntarily derelict and run down.

The government looking at expanding a pioneering scheme in Flint, one of the poorest US cities, which involves razing entire districts and returning the land to nature.

I think it’s pretty amazing that people and local as well as the federal government know and are already planning to deal with the unsustainable overgrowth of certain suburbs and developments.

The South Central Farm was one of the biggest and most important community farms in the United States which sadly (like so many things) was quashed to be replaced by warehouses because the warehouses would make more money for the city than the garden.

All the garden did was help the community by providing purpose, food and healthy interaction. A real community. A really sad story.

We ought to have gardens and public spaces for gardening and farming in every city.

Find a screening here.

The Canary Project is an organization working to increase the public’s awareness of our global ecological predicament. They do this by “[producing] visual media, events, and artwork that builds public understanding of human-induced climate change and energize commitment to solutions.”

The list of related projects on their website is very impressive, and inspiring.

Beautiful work, to be sure. please do check it out.

The d2e convention is happening right now in Boston, where businesses and organizations both local and global are on display for your pleasure and enlightenment. Hopefully somebody out there in interweb land can make it for it’s last day and report back to me?

(i’m very intruigued by such things as these, but have managed to miss Seattle’s comparable convention for the last two years running.)

One possible source for learning about such activities before they happen (and looking for ones in your area). is the ‘take action’ section of Changents.com:

More importantly, they offer connections to causes which require you to really TAKE ACTION, in everything from educational measures to donation opportunities, to volunteering at a ranch to rehabilitate rescued abused horses. Find a cuase in your area to get involved!

Sustainable Innovation Conference 2008: Alex Steffen from Joel Mulligan on Vimeo.

Majora Carter explains some things about how civic planning can effect a community, how sustainability can mean something to average people, and hints at how the U.S. of A’s race and poverty problems have been manufactured, plus how she and many others have worked to combat that manufacturing: