This week, we learned that the future of manufacturing is local, that there are cheerful DIY alternatives to the dreaded cubicle and how to green your pantry. We also learned more about gluten and why it may be a good idea to avoid it, looked at food as a lens for understanding the world and how it can make us look better to boot. Also, organic cityscapes and a public art project that shows us what colors we should be eating.
HEALTHY HABITAT: The Future of Manufacturing is Local
Think manufacturing, and most likely your brain defaults to abandoned factories, outsourcing and economically devastated regions like the Rust Belt. So strong is our tendency to focus on American manufacturing as something that’s been lost that a chorus has risen up to decry the prevalence of “ruin porn” — those aestheticized versions of the decidedly un-pretty, with a particular focus on the once-triumphant automotive center of the universe, Detroit.
The Future of Manufacturing Is Local, by Allison Arieff, The New York Times
HEALTHY HABITAT: A Cheerful Alternative to the Cubicle
Architecture and general contracting firm, Tres Birds Workshop in Boulder, Colorado was given the task of mitigating sound for an open floor plan office. After researching sound attenuation, the decision was made to go cellular – resulting in these lovely cork dividers. Thousands of reclaimed corks were stuffed into steel rings to create these organic dividers sculpted to break up sound, provide privacy, and create pin-up spaces.
Beautiful Cork Dividers Are a Cheerful Alternative to Boring Cubicle Walls, by Melissa Belongea, Inhabitat
HEALTHY HABITAT: Green Your Pantry: 10 Do’s and Don’ts
From safe, nontoxic food storage and green cleaning to the basics of whole bulk foods and integrated pest management, get started on a healthier Earth-friendly diet today with these tips.
Green Your Pantry: 10 Do’s and Don’ts, The Daily Green
HEALTHY YOU: Clues to Gluten Sensitivity
Lisa Rayburn felt dizzy, bloated and exhausted. Wynn Avocette suffered migraines and body aches. Stephanie Meade’s 4-year-old daughter had constipation and threw temper tantrums. All three tested negative for celiac disease, a severe intolerance to gluten, a protein found in wheat and other grains. But after their doctors ruled out other causes, all three adults did their own research and cut gluten—and saw the symptoms subside. A new study in the journal BMC Medicine may shed some light on why. It shows gluten can set off a distinct reaction in the intestines and the immune system, even in people who don’t have celiac disease.
Clues to Gluten Sensitivity, by Melinda Beck, Wall Street Journal
HEALTH & WELLNESS: Food As A Lens For Understanding & Changing The World
GOOD Food Editor Nicola Twilley launched GOOD magazine’s new Food Hub this past January with a goal of engaging readers in dialogue and action. Through her editorial direction at GOOD, her blog Edible Geography, The Foodprint Project, the “Landscapes of Quarantine” exhibition, and Future Plural she helps us use food as a lens through which we can explore, understand, and reshape conversations about the design of health, global trade, poverty, cities, the environment, and of course food.
Nicola Twilley On Food As A Lens For Understanding & Changing The World, by Danielle Gould, Food+Tech Connect
ART & ARCHITECTURE: Organic Cityscapes
Cities have a power that’s highly impressionistic. More often than not, what we remember best about the ones we’ve visited isn’t the famous monuments but the mood of particular neighborhoods and streets. Sze Tsung Leong’s series of photographs “Cities,” on display now at Yossi Milo Gallery, consists of big, bird’s-eye views of different cities around the globe. In capturing the organization, architecture and geography of each metropolis, they go a long way to convey the character of these places.
Organic Cityscapes
, by Nalina Moses, Planet°
FOOD & DESIGN: A Public Art Project Shows You the Colors You Should Be Eating
Tattfoo Tan, a Malaysian-born artist who lives in Staten Island, New York, takes regular trips to the Union Square Greenmarket. After photographing his purchases, he started using Photoshop’s eyedropper tool to extract 88 colors that would best represent 88 different fruits and vegetables. He called it the Nature Matching System.
A Public Art Project Shows You the Colors You Should Be Eating, by Peter Smith, GOOD
FOOD & WELLNESS: The 10 Best Foods for Your Looks
You can slather yourself from your forehead to your pinkie toe in organic lotions, but if you think that alone will make you glow, we have some bad news. From its well documented health benefits to its undeniable impact on physical beauty, good nutrition is the pillar of every kind of healthy lifestyle. That doesn’t mean you need to swear off bacon and beer or anything. The trick is finding the right balance.
The 10 Best Foods for Your Looks, by Siobhan O’Connor, GOOD
