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Idle parents in search of a slow, free range childhoodvideos
"It seems to me that today we are speeding up children too much in some ways (academic hot-housing, for example)," explained Slow Movement chronicler Carl Honoré to the New York Times' Lisa Belkin, "while slowing them down too much in other ways (not letting them walk to school alone until ...
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2 months, 2 weeks ago by: kirstendirksen staff 5 comments
A tiny home for a growing family (bed under stairs included)videos
They're not part of any official Small House Movement, but they live in a small home and they live well.When Marta Barceló and her husband Miguel prepped their 47 square meter (505 square foot) apartment for the arrival of her first child, Bruno, they had to create space ...
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2 months, 1 week ago by: kirstendirksen staff comments
Brightkite and faircompanies founders talk about happinessvideos
Given that we work from home and are substantially downshifted (i.e. we are very salary-light), when we socialize, we often do it by inviting people to join us for a meal in our work/home space.Over the past year our mealtime conversations with expats, locals and visitors to ...
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2 months, 4 weeks ago by: kirstendirksen staff 8 comments
Call for submissions for documentary on pursuit of happinessvideos
"Why don't we look at the changing American dream, the old (Gatsby) and the new (Obama)?", I asked in an IM chat with my husband one day. We were discussing our documentary, nowadays practically a daily event in our household. "Real value vs mercantilism," my husband shot back, adding ...
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3 days, 20 hours ago by: kirstendirksen staff comments
Slow, free range, idle parents can increase IQ and happinessblogs
In my Silicon Valley hometown, there seemed to be only one speed for raising children: fast forward to college. Here kids are prepped for "success" (i.e. the right colleges) as soon as they can toddle to a sport or art class, if not before with nannies to assure their ...
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2 months, 3 weeks ago by: kirstendirksen staff 12 comments
What hackers can teach greenies and Sarah Palin as eco-modelblogs
I was publicly criticized by a few hackers* last week and after a bit of soul searching, I've decided their action-oriented ethos may be what's needed to help fix what's wrong with the fight against climate change. (*I'm using the term hacker in reference to computer ...
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3 months, 4 weeks ago by: kirstendirksen staff 6 comments
Hackers on happiness & tiny houses, plus The Story of Stuffblogs
Last week, my husband posted to Hacker News a link to my video about a guy who
lives in a 96-square-foot home. It seems hackers like
small houses. Within hours, a couple thousand of them had visited the
video.Their comments were different from the average green blog
crowd. Besides ...
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4 months, 1 week ago by: kirstendirksen staff 8 comments
Barter markets: trading beef for a backpack to curb spendingblogs
Blame it on the recession, the Internet, or a rejection of consumerism, barter markets are no longer fringe in Barcelona.I first heard about this world without money a couple years ago from a friend who had just exchanged a head of lettuce for a baby backpack.How to buy ...
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7 months, 3 weeks ago by: kirstendirksen staff comments
William McDonough & Cradle to Cradle design (1/5)videos
Architect William McDonough argues we need to go beyond worrying about the world and its limits of fossil fuels and instead look at the things we create and consume and come up with a new plan."If we look at the current situation of human design," says McDonough, "and its ...
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8 months ago by: kirstendirksen staff comments
Barcelona's barter markets: an antidote to overconsumptionvideos
A barter economy may seem far-out, but this world of trade is growing in parts of Spain (particularly Catalonia). "We've noticed that barter is growing significantly", explains Juan Manuel Sánchez of sindinero.org (sin dinero meaning "without money"). "I'm referring to virtual barter (websites focused on exchange) to ...
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9 months, 1 week ago by: kirstendirksen staff comments