Monday, March 28, 2011

Informs our Understanding!

Join us on our latest challenge for positive social impact!
We're hyped to be launching a fresh OpenIDEO challenge: How might we better connect food production and consumption?

If you're passionate about local food, sustainability, and improving community happiness – then come inspire us with your thoughts!

Working together with the Government of Queensland, Australia, OpenIDEO is posing the question: "How might we better connect food production and consumption?" It's a huge global issue but one that Queensland is keen to tackle. Check out this inspiring message from Queensland's Premier, Anna Bligh, as she explains why this challenge is so meaningful to her community and globally.

What's even more exciting about this challenge is that the winning ideas will be announced in mid May at the IDEAS Festival 2011 in Brisbane, where teams of policy makers, industry, and community representatives will consider each idea as a potential solution in Queensland and beyond. That's right – the OpenIDEO community has a huge chance to make some awesome social impact here!

This challenge asks us to consider ways to improve and enhance the relationships and interactions between producers and consumers, rural and urban communities, growers and retailers, retailers and consumers. We'd love you to consider issues such as energy use, transportation, biodiversity, food security, nutrition, obesity, the health of rural economies and the strength of inter-generational and intercultural knowledge sharing.

We're on a tight timeframe for the challenge, so get your inspiration caps on for this first phase and populate the site with cool examples of existing stuff that makes you think differently and will help light a spark in the community. Then, during Concepting, you'll be able to wow us with your fresh ideas.

So get posting your images, sketches, diagrams or stories and let's make a difference! And because we like doing it together – why not spread the good word?

Cheers,

The OpenIDEO Team

SOMETHING to be MINDFUL Of (And Aspire Too!)

Wayne State, Detroit Public TV Launch New Midtown Studio

March 27, 2011 3:07 PM

Reporting Matt Roush

Wayne State University and Detroit Public Television, WTVS Channel 56, Friday launched a new Midtown Detroit studio at 5057 Woodward Ave. The studio is located in the landmark Maccabees Building, owned by Wayne State.

The studio was once home to WXYZ-TV Channel 7 and the official birthplace of the iconic “Soupy Sales Show.”

“This WSU–DPTV studio collaboration creates an opportunity for us to bring TV production back to Midtown,” said Matthew Seeger, interim dean of the Wayne State College of Fine, Performing and Communication Arts. “In addition to revitalizing the historic relationship that existed between Wayne State and WTVS through the late 1970s, the new studio will serve as a training ground for our media arts students, many of whom plan to stay in Michigan after graduation and become part of the state’s growing TV and film industry.”

In the 1950s and 1960s, Wayne State’s University Television co-produced educational, entertainment, and public affairs programs with DPTV. Today that partnership continues with the Wayne State University School of Business and DPTV co-production of “Leaders on Leadership,” an Emmy award–winning talk show that delves into the success strategies of globally significant CEOs and newsmakers.

The studio will be the new venue for taping “Leaders on Leadership,” which is currently produced at St. Andrews Hall on the Wayne State University campus. In preparation, the studio will undergo a phased renovation that includes the addition of new equipment and enhanced capabilities like the origination of live programming for transmission to DPTV from the studio. “Leaders on Leadership” will feature a live taping of Wayne State University President Allan Gilmour as part of the official March 25 opening of the studio.

DPTV will use its high-definition remote truck to provide production facilities for the studio until permanent equipment is installed. The truck will also be used for student instruction. DPTV will establish internships for Wayne State students that combine hands-on educational instruction with opportunities to produce content for the station.

Upon completion of the studio, DPTV and Wayne State will expand their collaboration beyond “Leaders on Leadership” and potentially partner to produce DPTV’s local public affairs shows, such as “Am I Right” and “American Black Journal.” DPTV will continue to operate permanent studios in its Wixom headquarters, in addition to the new Detroit studio.

According to Rich Homberg, president and general manager of Detroit Public Television, the new Midtown studio will play an important role in engaging the community and leadership organizations to tackle the city’s toughest challenges – children and education, arts and culture, energy and the environment, leadership and public affairs, and health issues.

Homberg noted that with a radio operation — WRCJ 90.9 FM, managed by DPTV for the Detroit Public Schools in the Detroit School of Arts — and now again a television operation in Detroit, a new headquarters building and the state’s only full, high-definition production truck, “Detroit Public TV is well positioned to serve Metro Detroit and beyond.”

Sunday, March 27, 2011

ARTS Schoolhouse Incubator (LTU Design Critique 3-17-2011)

Create your own video slideshow at animoto.com.

Allied Media Conference 2011 (Session Proposal Submitted)

Wednesday, March 23, 2011

Renovation and re-design project in Traverse City

http://www.leftfootcharley.com/pages.php?tabid=5&pageid=23&title=Left+Foot+Where%3F

Saturday, March 19, 2011

Variation on a Theme!

ENVISIONING A SUSTAINABLE FUTURE

LTU aims to make district self-sufficient on energy

By JOHN GALLAGHER FREE PRESS BUSINESS WRITER

Southwest Detroit has always been one of Detroit’s most heavily industrialized districts.

Now, thanks in part to innovative planning by students at Lawrence Technological University in Southfield, the area is aiming to become one of the city’s greenest districts.

The LTU students are participating in a project to make southwest Detroit the city’s first net-zero energy community, meaning a district that produces more energy than it actually uses.

One idea would wrap the dilapidated Michigan Central Station in solar panels. Other ideas include connecting energy hubs like the station through a series of bike lanes, mass-transit lines and other green infrastructure.

The ideas might take years, and probably millions of dollars, to achieve. But, if nothing else, the LTU project emphasizes that no single project would be enough to achieve the goal of energy self-sufficiency, said Constance Bodurow, an LTU professor and director of the southwest Detroit project.

“It has to be a comprehensive approach, absolutely,” she said Friday. “We believe that southwest Detroit could supply all of its energy from alternative sources, which is a very exciting notion.”

The LTU project recently won a $50,000 grant from the Ford Motor Co. Fund, one of five such grants awarded annually to colleges engaged in projects that support a more environmentally sustainable future. Other grants in recent years have supported a bike-sharing program in Atlanta and the SEED Wayne urban agriculture project at Wayne State University.

Michael Schmidt, director of education and community development for the Ford Fund, said the company requires colleges getting the grants to engage students in all aspects of the projects. It’s a way of developing future leaders. “They’re the generation that’s going to have to figure all this stuff out,” Schmidt said.

Detroit’s iconic Michigan Central Station could serve as one of the energy hubs. The team suggests cladding it with solar panels, and possibly weaving other technologies such as wind turbines into the site.

Beyond producing some alternative energy for the district, the LTU team sees the idea as a catalyst for further experimentation, said Jordan Martin, 24, a recent LTU graduate in urban design.

“We want to start that brainwork and then hope that that would spark further growth and opportunities for the people,” Martin said.

Other tactics suggested by the team include creating more public transit and more green infrastructure, like the planned extension of the RiverWalk west of downtown.

Still other aspects of the project include mapping sites where higher-density, mixed-used development might create a more walkable urban environment.

The LTU team is working with the Southwest Detroit Development Collaborative, a coalition of more than a dozen community nonprofit groups. Kathy Wendler, president of the Southwest Detroit Business Association, said the LTU project dovetails with other greening projects under way, like the bicycle lanes and energy-efficient street lights planned along West Vernor.

“For a very industrial part of the city, it’s kind of refreshing that we might lead on energy use,” Wendler said this week.

The LTU work is being conducted by Studio (Ci), a design lab in the College of Architecture and Design. The studio, headed by Bodurow, is a multidisciplinary team of architects, urban designers, and civil and environmental engineers.

• CONTACT JOHN GALLAGHER: 313-222-5173 OR GALLAGHER99 @ FREEPRESS.COM

REGINA H. BOONE/Detroit Free Press

Southwest Detroit could become Detroit’s first net-zero energy user. Lawrence Technological University professor Constance Bodurow, left, and her students from left: Kurt Neiswender, Aaron Olko, Jordan Martin and HaiBin Tan with Ford’s Michael Schmidt.

Studio (Ci)

This architectural rendering shows Michigan Central Station wrapped with solar panels.

Super Duper!

Wow, the moon is going to be HUGE tonight!

Moon-gazers, this is your night! Tonight, the moon makes its closest approach to Earth in 18 years, and it’ll be big and bright. This phenomenon is known as a super moon.

STORY , 5A

A really big show

Rare lunar event to be easy to see

By DOYLE RICE USA TODAY

We haven’t seen a moon this big in almost 20 years.

Tonight, this unusually large full moon — known as a super moon — will rise in the east.

“The last full moon so big and close to Earth occurred in March of 1993,” says Geoff Chester of the U.S. Naval Observatory in Washington, D.C. “I’d say it’s worth a look.”

Why the “super moon” label?

“A super moon is a situation when the moon is slightly closer to Earth in its orbit than on average, and this effect is most noticeable when it occurs at the same time as a full moon,” said James Garvin, chief scientist at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md.

This month’s perigee will put the moon about 8% closer to Earth than usual — about 221,565 miles at its closest point.

According to NASA and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, it’s nothing to worry about. In most places, lunar gravity when the moon is normally close to Earth pulls tide waters only about an inch or so higher than usual. Don’t be concerned about other natural disasters: The super moon of March 1993 passed without incident. And an almost-super moon in December 2008 proved harmless, too.

Friday, March 18, 2011

FEEDING THE IMAGINATION AND THE PALLETTE

Shipping containers have been redesigned to become housing, offices and even health clinics, but now a startup in Tucson is transforming them into sun-free, soil-free greenhouses. Leaf lettuce from their test system shows they've got dark-green thumbs.
Verdant Earth Technologies has a plan to retrofit standard 20-foot shipping containers into mini farms. Each of their controlled environment agriculture systems -- or CEAs -- is fitted with five shelves, where the plants live. Instead of sitting in soil, however, the plants sit in a nutrient-rich solution that also works to irrigate them.
Cofounder and CEO Josh Hottenstein says they're experimenting with different artificial lighting options, including one that uses solar concentrators and fiber optics to distribute light from LEDs. "Plants don't need the full spectrum of light," he says. Solar concentrators allow them to get the right wavelength and direct it.
Each containerized growing system has hookups for water and electricity, sort of like an RV. Unlike RVs, though, the system can be set to run for a set period of time, taking advantage of a utility's off-peak hours to even out the electrical load. Because there is no soil, growing a head of lettuce uses just one percent of the amount of water as lettuce grown in an outdoor field.
"It's resource-efficient," Hottenstein says of the system. "It's getting the most out of the limited resources you have."
The idea came together about a year ago when Hottenstein and his grad school classmate at the University of Arizona Myles Lewis sought a way to combine advanced greenhouse mechanics and hydroponics in an enclosed structure.
Hottenstein has an IT background and Lewis specializes in horticulture. Their savvy business plan won a competition at the university's McGuire Center for Entrepreneurship last year. Verdant Earth was just chosen as a regional semifinalist in the Cleantech Open, a national competition to identify promising clean- tech startups.
All that tech packed into a shipping container sounds expensive, but Hottenstein says that because the process maximizes resources, he expects the cost to be competitive with commercial greenhouse structures, around $20 to $30 per square foot.
The cost of the produce will be competitive with organics, Hottenstein adds. Currently the startup is between the proof-of-concept stage and prototyping, working on getting test systems to several customers. From there, they plan to begin manufacturing the systems.
So they've got technology to grow plants efficiently without soil, in the dark...a la other certain, leafy illegal plants. Hottenstein tells me he's used to fielding questions about those.
"Like any technology, there's a double-edged sword we need to deal with," he says. "There are a lot of misconceptions as to what hydroponics is and what it is not."
For him, the goal is growing vegetables. So far, he says, their system can produce 2,000 heads of lettuce within a one-month period, compared to 90 days for the same amount from a field. Hottenstein says the lettuce tastes good and is already being used at some fine dining spots in Tucson.
One thing I never considered is that in an enclosed, controlled growing space that has no sunlight or soil, the need for pesticides dips to zero. If this kind of tech can be scaled up for vertical farming in urban environments, perhaps we'll see a new kind of labeling that has more of a ring to it than "organic."
Image: Rendering of Verdant Earth's shipping container greenhouse system. Credit: Verdant Earth Technologies.

Thursday, March 10, 2011

Cameron Herold: Let's raise kids to be entrepreneurs

Tuesday, March 8, 2011

BICYCLE POWER - CALCULATOR

www.mne.psu.edu/lamancusa/ProdDiss/Bicycle/bikecalc1.htm

SHOUT-OUT to the WHITE HOUSE!

Advise the Advisor is a new program to help senior staff at the White House stay connected to the American people.

Providing our nation’s students with a world-class education is a shared responsibility. It’s going to take all of us – teachers, parents, students, philanthropists, state and local governments, and the federal government – working together to prepare today’s students for the future.

This week, Melody Barnes, Director of the Domestic Policy Council and one of President Obama’s senior advisors on education policy, is asking for feedback from parents, teachers and students about what’s working in their communities and what needs to change when it comes to education.

You can add your voice to the conversation by answering one or all of the following questions:

Parents: Responsibility for our children’s education and future begins in our homes and communities. What are some of the most effective ways you're taking responsibility at a personal and local level for your child’s education?
Teachers: President Obama has set a goal of having the highest proportion of college graduates in the world by 2020. How are you preparing your students for college and career? What’s working and what challenges do you face?
Students: In order to compete for the jobs of the 21st century, America’s students must be prepared with a strong background in reading, math and science along with the critical thinking, problem solving, and creativity needed to succeed in tomorrow’s workforce. How has your education prepared you for a career in the 21st century? What has worked and what challenges do you face?

Saturday, March 5, 2011

"Creative Class" (update)

Film credit backers told to push Lansing

‘What happens depends on what you do’

By KATHERINE YUNG FREE PRESS BUSINESS WRITER

About 500 supporters of Michigan’s film industry gathered Thursday evening in Troy to learn how they could save the state’s movie production business from Gov. Rick Snyder’s budget ax.

The meeting at the Troy Marriott occurred a week after more than a thousand people showed up in Livonia to express support for the industry, which would likely be crippled if Snyder succeeds in his plan to drastically scale back incentives for filmmakers.

Thursday’s gathering, billed as a call to action, lacked the drama of the previous meeting. But it offered supporters — people who work in the industry, union members and small-business owners — advice about how to win the hearts of lawmakers in Lansing.

“The film credit as we know it will not continue to exist anymore,” Jim Ryan, a lobbyist at Lansing-based Public Affairs Associates, told the crowd. “There are going to be changes. What happens depends on what you do.”

Ryan is a board member of Michigan Film First, a new industry group that organized Thursday’s meeting. He and speaker after speaker urged attendees to meet with their state senators and representatives, telling them why the movie industry matters in Michigan.

The Michigan film tax credit program, effective since April 2008, pays production companies up to 42% of the Michigan-based costs of state-approved film or video projects . When it files its taxes, the production company applies the credit to eliminate state taxes it owes, which are usually minimal, and then the state writes the company a check for the balance.

Snyder has proposed allocating $25 million a year for filmmakers. But the industry strongly opposes that cap because it would limit production to a handful of small films a year.

At Thursday’s meeting, Rep. Ellen Cogen Lipton, D-Huntington Woods, told the audience that economic development incentives, such as the film credits, need to be kept for at least five years before their effectiveness can be assessed.

KIMBERLY P. MITCHELL/Detroit Free Press

Raleigh Michigan Studios Chairman and CEO Linden Nelson greets a friend Thursday during the Michigan Film First meeting on saving the film credits held at the Troy Marriott.

ARTS Schoolhouse Incubator