INDEPENDENT MEDIA by Steve Anderson Jeff Howe, who coined the term “crowdsourcing,” defines it as “the act of taking a job traditionally performed by a designated agent – usually an employee – and outsourcing it to an undefined, generally large group of people, in the form of an open call.” When Vancouverites gathered for the...

Nov 5, 2010

ON THE GARDEN PATH by Carolyn Herriot The conclusion of another fast-paced year approaches, one in which I have been immersed in discussions about food security issues and also witnessed many inspiring initiatives to jumpstart a local food revolution. It’s no wonder so many British Columbians are concerned about food security; you only have to read the...

Nov 5, 2010

UNIVERSE WITHIN by Gwen Randall-Young You are responsible for your life. You can’t keep blaming somebody else for your dysfunction. Life is really about moving on. – Oprah Winfrey Life is such an interesting journey and part of being human is the attempt to understand the meaning of it all. The meaning we ascribe to our experiences depends...

Nov 5, 2010

FILMS WORTH WATCHING by Robert Alstead The face of the financial crisis has taken many forms, from people lining up outside banks desperate to get at their savings to the dilapidation of newly built suburban homes that have been foreclosed on. Inside Job, a punch-packing documentary by Charles Ferguson, the director who previously picked through the wreckage of...

SCIENCE MATTERS by David Suzuki with Faisal Moola Coffee is the second most traded commodity in the world, after oil. And as with oil, the massive scale of production necessary to meet our insatiable demand for coffee results in an enormous ecological footprint. According to the UN Food and Agriculture Organization, more than seven million tonnes of coffee will...