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Cemeteries Going High-Tech with Interactive Grave Stones
CRAWFORDSVILLE, Ind. - Technology is making a visit to the cemetery a more pleasant experience. Interactive tombstones are allowing families to learn more about their deceased loved ones. Randy Allen's family sees more than a headstone when they visit his grandmother's grave. An interactive tombstone offers his children a glimpse into his great grandmother's past. Allen owns Allen Monuments. The business recently became the only dealer in Indiana authorized to sell high-tech gravestones. The idea is to combine a physical and virtual memorial. It's drawing interest from people all over the country.
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'Wye Island' 35 Years Later by David Bruce Smith
In an earlier time-when conservation was barely regarded-there was a hamlet in Maryland called Wye Island, where the subject was often disputed-without much resolution. Few inhabitants were in favor of tampering with Time, but by the 1970s occasional developers had already appeared, edged out pieces of land, and constructed homes. Their successes were usually modest; "progress" was relatively non-threatening. Boyd Gibbons's "Wye Island"-now observing its 35th anniversary of publication, is the story of the builder who envisioned a much more ambitious future. James Rouse was known as the "father" of the Columbia, Maryland community: a large enclave of residential, retail, parks, and harmonious economic diversity, with "almost 35,000 residents, over 400 businesses, [and] 90 industries..." His intent was superimpose a similar-but smaller model-on Wye, respectful to the environment, the wildlife, and the hot-tempered, multi-generational dreams of the people.
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Smart growth is a start. But it's not enough.
I want to follow up on yesterday's article about placemaking. Reacting to an excellent essay by Ethan Kent, I posited that that the creation and strengthening of great places - great people habitat, if you will - should be a very important part of a "new environmentalism." Indeed, I wrote that to a great extent it already is, having been taking hold at least since sometime in the 1990s. Today, I would like to take that point further and argue that great placemaking should also become a very important part of, or even a possible successor to, what we have been calling "smart growth." I don't think that it is currently an important part of the smart growth agenda, unfortunately, or that it is to nearly the degree that it should be.
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Introducing the Regional Food Hub Guide: An Innovative Tool for Growing Local Food Systems
What can farmers and ranchers do if they're interested in selling locally but don't have the resources to run their own trucks, processing plants or marketing strategies? What can institutional buyers, -like schools, hospital and retailers - do to offer more local food to their customers? A regional food hub is one possible answer. Regional food hubs - businesses or organizations that connect farmers and buyers by offering a suite of production, distribution, and marketing services - can play a critical role in developing stronger supply chains for local food. They can also help address the infrastructure challenges that many small and midsize producers face when trying to break into local markets, and help aggregate products from smaller local and regional producers. Food hubs can also support food access, regional economic development and job creation.
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Street Games Bring Back Retro City Pastimes
HARLEM-As a kid growing up on the Upper West Side, Parks Department Commissioner Adrian Benepe was great at Chinese handball - but not so much at stickball. When he got bored with those games, there were marbles and basketball to keep him busy playing outside all day. "Nothing can replace the feeling of being outside," said Benepe, who recalled losing many a marble. "The beauty of these games is no expensive equipment is required," he added. Kids today have gotten away from the great New York street games of the 1960s and 1970s in favor of video games, computers and iPods. But the Parks Department is trying to revive those traditions with its annual Street Games on Saturday at Thomas Jefferson Park in East Harlem.
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