Abandoned US

Sitting in my cousin Dan’s car driving through some lovely central Connecticut landscape, he points to something huge coming up on the right side of the car. “Look back there, you’ll see a huge building!”? Just beyond the trees that line the two lane road, I see what looks like a brand new shopping mall. Only with a second glance do I notice that the futuristic structure is surrounded by overgrown weeds and unfinished parking lots.? Looking in the building itself, you can see it is completely empty. “That was going to be a headquarters for one of the big mortgage lenders, until they went under” he told me.? In their wake these mortgage lenders have of course laid off many people, and as an enormous reminder of their recklessness, giant never used buildings dot our landscapes.

Driving through the different sections of Newark, I notice the familiar buildings that lay empty, “FOR RENT” and “SPACE AVAILABLE” signs that have turned yellow after sitting in the window for more than a decade. Housing projects, which were never paradise by any means, lay abandoned and boarded up… I’m reminded of my visit to New Orleans, and the fenced off condemned housing projects there.? One block further up on Muhammed Ali Boulevard I slow down the car as I scan a vast open construction project, what looks like a huge amount of low income housing being constructed. A few blocks away, more abandoned store fronts.

Scanning the feed from the Portuguese newspaper “O Publico” I see the headline about a German toy company that once based its factory in Portugal and moved to China in the late 90’s.? The story was about their return to Portugal due to the high costs of fuel and transport of their goods from China.? Being once again based in Portugal now seems more economically sound for this company, which means new jobs… or perhaps.. the return of old jobs to some community.

Abandoned buildings have long been a fact of life in much of the United States, especially in Newark.? As I thought back to them, reading this story about Portugal, I began to daydream about a scenario where factories and businesses that were once based in Newark returned. Picturing the abandoned buildings, long considered an eye sore, being now seen as valuable space to set up shop.? How happy the people in the new houses and the old houses alike might be. A real renaissance for places long forgotten. Or perhaps some people and places not so long ago left behind and abandoned.

bmtv87 Killing Fields and S21 Vlog

Im still getting over jetlag and settling in here in the US. In the meantime here is a video entry recorded in Cambodia last month. It features my visit to the killing fields and the s21 torture prison.

Crazy New Jersey Beaches

Having been born and raised in New Jersey, I often take time to read through the Asbury Park Press feed, to have a look at what is goiong on in my homestate in the US.? And if you’re reading the Asbury Park Press, you’ll surely run into stories about the beaches of New Jersey, the subject of many a pop-culture reference, the “Jersey Shore”.

Among the things that fascinates me about the Jersey Shore in relation to the rest of the world, the issue of paying to use beaches – why should we and why shouldn’t we?

In some countries highways do not have tolls, they are paid for solely by your tax money, and that is how it is.? In many more countries, beaches are smiliar… kept clean and surpervised with the help of your tax dollars. Just as the street lights outside, the garbage collectors, the street sweepers, it is all publicly funded and accessible.

Yet the Jersey shore, being both a very free market American phenomenon, and also having strong roots in very extremist christian religious values (many beaches were founded by religious communities who wanted to create perfect little oasis communities following their interpretation of a book or a god), you either get communities that value free beaches and all the benefits they provide. Or you get those who believe strongly in the tradition of paying for using the beach, seeing beaches as an extra cost, a special circumstance, not to be compared with roads or garbage collection or other municipal services.? They also see beach fee’s as a way to raise money for cities and towns that are only able to make real profits a few months out of the year.

And so it goes that as you drive (and of course you have to drive in that culture) the Jersey coast, you will encounter all of this. Besides the free beaches, the cheap pay beaches and slightly more costly beaches. On all sides there are town leaders and citizens both complaining and praising.

Stepping back from that region of the world, you consider the other beaches of the US and the world. I’ve seen a decent number of places, well off and poor, and in either case you rarely hear talk of a beach as being somehow seperate from other public resources. Sure there could be private beaches belonging to hotels or clubs, I’ve seen some examples of that.? But otherwise it is a very interesting and perhaps concerning tradition in that part of the US – where people are raised to see a beach not as a public place, but as something more private or simply an extra that one must pay for.? While politicians and citizens look at access to the beach as something they can control and profit directly from.

And that is just one piece of the tattered and beloved Jersey shore puzzle.? I think I’ll go give it a visit next week.? My flight leaves in a few hours.

bm270 Vancouver’s City Farmer in Your Backyard

The cityfarmer project in Vancouver began as a small group of people concerned with energy costs and reducing waste. 30 years later, those concerns have been amplified throughout the world, and cityfarmer is still there in the trenches. My guest, Michael Levenston, executive direction of cityfarmer, has been there since the beginning; in this interview we talk about how it developed.

Besides the link above, further info and resources are available on cityfarmer.org

We Discuss:

  • Starting it in 1978
  • The concerns at that time
  • Early source of funding
  • Profile of who is involved
  • The backyard
  • Reducing waste
  • Energy
  • Global urban farming
  • Being on the front page
  • and more

Music:

  • Aqueduct – The Suggestion Box
  • Eddie Vedder – Long Nights

Tony Schwartz on Audio

He walked around with a recorder in a little sidebag, recording the sounds of everything. Kids in the playground, a conversation with a taxi driver, personal life histories… the list goes on and on.? He also contacted other audio recorders in his day, people who had bought the same recorder, and would send them his audio by post… all over the world.

Tony Schwartz was a podcaster before there was internet.. before there was podcast.? He understood the value of everything, and dedicated his time and energy to capturing audio glimpses of everything around him, and sharing them with complete strangers or friends alike.

Up until a week ago, i didn’t know who Tony Schwartz was.? Now, I think of him as an audio idol, with a style and a mission that I can relate to and hope in some way to be emulating.? No I don’t record the sounds of everything, but Tony’s spirit and drive, I feel a lot of that with what I do here on this blog.

To hear about Tony Shwartz’s life and also hear his beautiful audio recordings, i recommend two podcasts this week:

1 – On the Media dedicates much of their latest program to his story. If you like what I do, I think you may love what he did.

2 – My friend Chris Lydon over at Radio Open Source, sat down with a documentary film maker who’s film Guerilla Media, is all about Tony. High recommended listening.

As for Tony Schwartz, my new audio idol, I’ll be shopping around for his work and soaking it in.? I may not have known him or known about him when he was alive, but I’ll sing his praises from now on whenever someone brings up the sounds of life.

bm269 Vertical Farming and the New Agricultural Revolution

There is more to urban farming than just growing crops on empty lots in cities. In fact, there is a type of urban farming that involves growing alot more food in tall buildings, making use of the latest innovations of crop growing and energy usage. My guest, Professor Dickson Despommier of Columbia Universty explains what vertical farming is why it is so important for the future of human existance.

The site for all information on Vertical Farming

We Discuss:

  • Types of crops that can be grown in vertical farms
  • Where would they be located
  • The costs
  • The end of flood or disease damage
  • Growing seasons in vertical farming
  • Funding and who is interested
  • Power and outside needs
  • Problem with regular urban farming

Music:

  • Tom Waits – Lost in the Harbor
  • Okkervil River – A Hand to Take Hold of the Scene