Can changing what schools serve for lunch help to address deep challenges in the food and education systems, while inspiring ecological awareness in children? A child in the state of California's public education system will consume around 4,000 school meals between the time of entering kindergarten and leaving high school. With more than 6 million children attending California state schools, the simple question of what gets served for lunch, and [...]
How can we turn individual urban improvement initiatives into systemic change to produce resilient, livable cities? Cities for People is an initiative based in Montreal, Canada that believes that like an ecosystem, a city’s strength and resilience depends on its ability to nurture the full diversity of its inhabitants and give them what they need not just to survive, but thrive. Cities for people has focussed on fostering collaboration, cross-pollinating [...]
Cities are tackling many environmental issues that have proved extremely challenging to deal with at larger scales. Are cities an efficient and effective scale at which to take action on challenges in the Anthropocene? 100 Resilient Cities (http://www.100resilientcities.org) is a program initiated by the Rockefeller Foundation that aims to help cities around the world become more resilient to environmental, social and economic problems. The program aims to help cities develop strategies to [...]
Is research and collaboration around sustainable food production a key component of building a good anthropocene? Objective: Identifying a range of current practices in the context of European food systems that have the potential to contribute to transitions to sustainable food and nutrition security in Europe. TRANSMANGO (http://www.transmango.eu/index.html) is a research project supporting the goal of sustainable food and nutrition security in Europe. Scenario work is employed to explore a [...]
An experimental method using technology to connect thousands of people to develop creative solutions to governance problems rapidly Objective: to improve governance and decision-making, as well as the design of interventions, using crowd-sourcing methods Connected Citizens (http://game.connected-citizens.org/about) is a global conversation about how connectedness will change the relationship between citizens and governments, and how government services will be designed and delivered in the future. New civic technologies are changing the relationship between people [...]
Connecting people to people, rebuilding understanding of how systems work: Can creative, international and interdisciplinary education structures focusing on broad topics such as the Anthropocene create synergies and networks that could improve information flows and help to change ingrained ways of thinking and behaving? Objective: To affect participants intellectual, emotional and consequently scientific engagement with the idea of the Anthropocene The Anthropocene Campus & Curriculum was a 10-day event run by the House of [...]
The values of satoyama landscape, Japanese traditional agricultural landscape, has been increasingly recognized in Japan, as provider of a bundle of ecosystem services to humans while harnessing unique and higher level of biodiversity. It has been understood that continuation of appropriate management of landscapes has created sustainable landscapes benefitting both humans and nature. The challenges faced to the satoyama landscapes today are more on the underuse of natural resources rather than overexploitation which comes from depopulation in rural areas and decline of agricultural sectors. Responding to this, new ways to maintain satoyama landscape is being explored by linking urban and rural areas and creating mutual benefits.