The Echo Park Time Bank

http://www.echoparktimebank.com meeting last

From a memberÕs description:  ÒPeople "bank" their hours, helping each other in various ways. Each hour of labor, regardless of what you contribute (hard labor, computer labor, teaching, babysittingÉ) is worth one time bank dollar, then they bank the hours and take out hours in areas needed.Ó

 

 

Side Streets Projects

http://sidestreet.org/armadillo/

 

Side StreetsÕ Woodworking Buses have been traveling around the Los Angeles region for many years, teaching basic woodworking skills to children and teens.  Their philosophy is to take the activity where the people are with Òa fleet of mobile art education classroomsÓ, and is the philosophy of their newest acquisition, The Armadillo. ItÕs a vertical and mobile community garden designed by the students and faculty of MIT.

 

 

Breath

http://www.aliento.mateomunozphoto.com/

 

                                                                                    Photo credit, Mateo Mu–oz

Breath is an apparatus made by Jorge Resptrepo to gather simultaneously the breaths of 42 people.  Started as a project with his wife Claudia for their family reunion, he calls it, ÒAn end of the year reflection about family, life, negentropy, group effort and hope for the future of humanity, the biodiversity and the planet.Ó

 

 

XSProject

http://www.xsprojectgroup.com

 

XSProject strives to support the trash picking community not only by purchasing trash at higher than average prices but also through a number of other ways. In 2002 in Jakarta, artist and environmentalist Ann Wizer started the XSProject where XS equals excess. This initiative was an out-of-studio experiment to involve poor communities in the development of simple solutions to problems of unmanaged consumer waste. By buying non-recyclable waste from trash pickers she designed and made new products at small scale NGOs and cottage industries, creating new income opportunities for the very poor, mentally and physically challenged.

 

 

Seed saving and more

http://www.herbnwisdom.com

 

Marisha Auerbach encourages sustainable futures through sharing knowledge with others on a variety of topics including: permaculture, polyculture gardening, flower and gem essences, local economics, community building, ethnobotany, herbalism, edible landscape design, and organic gardening.

 

 

Project M : Think Wrong

http://www.projectmlab.com

 

                                                       Still from the PieLab video on kickstarter.com

We learned about this collective through one of their projects called, PieLab, that is listed in kickstarter.com as a project for collective funding.

 

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/795396878/pielab

 

Project M, founded by John Bielenberg in Belfast, Maine, is a group of designers, writers, and photographers brought together from around the world to challenge the conventions of design, and think wrong about how their talents can be used for the greater good.

 

 

Non-franchise coffeshops in your area

http://www.delocator.net

http://www.finishing-school.net

 

 

 

This is one of many smart and useful projects brought to you by Finishing School, an interdisciplinary artist collective that explores contemporary social, political, and environmental issues.