In May 2019, Ben Steverman in Bloomberg Businessweek reviewed the Economist Gabriel Zucman, “The Wealth Detective “ and the new army of economists remaking economic theory. Professor Gabriel Zucman studied under Thomas Piketty in Paris, the author of “ Capital in the Twenty First Century” (2013). Professor Zucman , along with colleague Emmanuel Saez, estimate that the top 0.1% of tax payers – about 170,00 families in a country of 330 million people – control 20% of the American wealth, the highest share since 1929. The top 1% control 39% and the bottom 90% have only 26%. Zucman also found [ Read More ]
Author Archive
FWOP has been involved in various urban and rural agriculture projects in Mexico, Costa Rica and USA for many years. Our FWOP colleague, Dr. Isidor Wallimann, a leader in social economy and urban gardens ( some 5000) in Basel, Switzerland. Basel. Social Economy focuses upon unemployed and underemployed in Basel. http://urbanagriculturebasel.ch/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/Social-and-Solidarity-Economy-for-Sustainable-Development-Perspectives-and-the-Social-Economy-Basel-Example-of-Practice.pdf Bonton Farms in Dallas is a Texas attempt to restore hope in a depressed urban community. https://www.facebook.com/pg/bontonfarms/videos/?ref=page_internal Hydroponics and Aquaponics Flor de Campo, a small village near Mazamitla, Mexico , was our first attempt with Aquaponics. UNT students teamed up with locals to build the structure according to Oscar [ Read More ]
Community Mapping for K-12 Students Measuring Fine Dust with Community Participatory Mapping By Wansoo Im, Ph.D. Department of Family and Community Medicine National Community Mapping Institute Meharry Medical College Nashville, TN The Community Mapping Center in Seoul, South Korea is a non-profit organization that promotes civic engagement and empowerment using location-based technology. The Center was founded in 2013 by Dr. Wansoo Im who is currently an associate professor at the Department of Family and Community Medicine and a director of the National Community Mapping Institute at Meharry Medical College in Nashville, Tennessee. The Center has used community participatory mapping, also [ Read More ]
Recently, we were made aware of Dr. Seth Darling work. FWOP has co-sponsored three Climate Change Discussion sessions at UNT in partnership with Citizens’ Climate Lobby. Dr Darling’s video lecture gives a comprehensive overview of climate disruption and potential solutions. He likes the term Climate Disruption as opposed to climate change or climate warming for various good reasons he explains. He sees solving the energy needs as crucial for solving issues of water access and reducing poverty as the world move away from fossil fuels. VIDEO LECTURE: Seth Darling Full Version Lecture (1 hour, 18 minutes.) “Climate Disruption — What [ Read More ]
Some years ago FWOP reported on the Choctaw Band being flooded out of the homes on the coast of Louisiana. Miami Beach as reported on the news (03-24-19) today is building sea walls or structures to stop the flooding in rich and poor neighborhoods. Can they build this walls and houses high enough? Citizens’ Climate Lobby in Denton sponsored two “Climate Change Discussions” along with co-sponsors – UNT FWOP Chapter, UNT/FWOP Air Monitoring projects, UNT Urban Policy and Planning Degree, Nonprofit Leadership Studies Degree, UNT Health Services Administration Program, UNT College Democrats. First session featured Phil Andrews, Managing Director of [ Read More ]
In the last years, FWOP in partnership with Southwest Airlines has built a network with a wide range of organizations and thus skills. FWOP helped to incubate the creation of ARISE Veterans Foundation www.AriseVeteranFoundation.org with projects in St. Louis, Nashville ( www.knowlesassistedliving.org ) and Carbondale ( http://www.livingatthelandings.com/ ) have been upcycling SWA leather seats for rehabilitation efforts, Knowles Assisted Living facility in Nashville, TN and has helped expand a veteran’s recycling business in East St Louis, IL. In early 2018, ARISE has helped Help Heal Veterans serve 35,000+ with veterans with Rehabilitation Kits, made out of SWA Leather. https://www.healvets.org/how-we-heal. ARISE [ Read More ]
“Resilience, Regulation and Climate Change in 2020” Steve Saunders Steve Saunders is the CEO of Tempo, Inc. Tempo is a holding company of diverse businesses that work to improve building performance in sustainability,efficiency, comfort and wellness. Steve has received a National USGBC Leadership Award and is a member of the Contracting Business Hall of Fame among many personal awards. Tempo (including subsidiaries) is a three-time ENERGY STAR Partner of the Year, three-time Contractor of the Year and five-time National Green Partner of Excellence. The company is owned by the employees and operates on the principles of Servant Leadership and Performance [ Read More ]
UNT/FWOP with many partners on campus and the Citizens’ Climate Change Lobby have sponsored three open forums to discuss prevention of and adjustment to climate change globally, nationally and internationally. Senior Fellow at Harvard, Camilla Cavendish noted in the April 20-21 issue of the Financial Times that the central bank governors of London and Paris said in a powerful joint statement that climate-related insurance losses have quintupled in 30 years, and that only a “massive reallocation of capital” can prevent temperatures from rising by 2 degrees centigrade. She concludes that the Extinction Rebellion needs to be taken seriously. The editorial [ Read More ]
We learned recently about an interesting organization, SCRAP, Inc (https://scrapusa.org/about/what-we-are/) . They operate in some 8 locations across the USA. They take “ waste” donations and sell at low prices to artists, craft’s people, and school teachers. Thus, they reduce waste going to landfills and create small businesses that create some jobs. They are similar to Habitat, Goodwill and other reuse stores. However, focus is mainly with materials for crafts or art projects. FWOP dropped some leather seats from Southwest Airlines at the local Scrap store in Denton, Texas for artists and teacher to use. Boxes and semi-truck loads of [ Read More ]
Recently FWOP was asked to locate wheelchairs and walkers for disabled in Muzquiz, Mexico. Projecto 10 Muzquiz in Denton, Texas has families related to families in Muzquiza and takes material and supplies to Mexico weekly or monthly. LTCare facilities in Denton County often have used chairs and walkers We have located a dozen or more in last two months and they are slowly being taken across the border.
