A bunch of towns in the USA have had to close their manufacturing plants as free trade and the global economy transplant jobs elsewhere. This has left a lot of people unemployed and a lot of warehouse and manufacturing space open. The surplus of space has given a great opportunity to craft brewers whose sales are increasing in the ongoing American recession.

Craft brewers are using the space abandoned by the old manufactures and hiring people who lost their jobs. Instead of producing useless consumer goods they are now producing delicious beer. All the more reason to drink from your local brewery instead of the big beer conglomerates.

Many brewers large and small are already focused on making their infamously resource-intensive industry more sustainable. Vermont’s Magic Hat Brew Company recently installed a digester that produces natural gas from the organic waste products of beer production; even giant Anheuser-Busch captures waste heat from brewing and puts it to use. Many local brewers are community-minded; craft beer giant Samuel Adams rents its corporate headquarters at the old Haffenreffer Brewery in Jamaica Plain, Massachusetts, a space they share with light industry, a couple of restaurants, artists’ studios, a fitness club, and a variety of local nonprofits.

“Shoe Town to Brew Town” offers an opportunity not only to celebrate such initiatives, but forge relationships between brewers and experts to leverage the unique qualities of the craft-beer industry. For Jimmy Carbone and his fellow craft-brew enthusiasts, beer pairs well with a menu that includes sustainability, jobs, and vibrant communities.

Read the full article here.

Thanks to Mirella over at Beerology.

International Institute of Mobile Technologies and Engineers Without Borders Toronto have joined forces to create Mobiles without Borders to encourage the use of mobiles in development.

To start things off there’s a networking event happening in Toronto tomorrow Thursday July 7th:

With over 5 billion mobile subscriptions worldwide, mobile technology is becoming more than a form of communication. In North America, Sparked is using mobiles to allow people to microvolunteer and in Kenya, M-PESA is using mobiles to provide financial services to locals. Mobiles are being used in both developed and developing countries for banking, healthcare, marketing campaigns, fundraising and so much more.

Whether you’re a local non-profit looking to build a mobile app to increase awareness about your organization, an international development practitioner looking to build a mobile platform, or a young professional, technologist or marketing professional, join us for a drink and the opportunity to meet others and discuss all things mobile.

Date: July 7, 2011, and every first Thursday of each month
Time: 6:00pm until late
Location: Fionn MacCool’s, 70 The Esplanade, Toronto, ON M5E1R2 (map)

Full disclosure I’m working with the International Institute of Mobile Technologies.

Small Change Fund is a Canadian organization that is trying to get people to help small efforts to make big differences. In Canada less than 1% of donations go to grassroots organizations and Small Change Fund wants to get more funding for the little guys. They seem similar in concept to sites like Kickstarter.

Small Change Fund empowers you to make big change with small change. We provide a place for you to discover, share, connect with, and support amazing grassroots projects in communities across the country – projects that need just a small amount of money to make a real and significant impact in the world.

We make giving simple.
Call it bottom-up investment, grassroots grant-making, place-based funding, micro-philanthropy. Whatever its name, it’s a new way of giving. We use the power of the Internet to engage everyone at their own level to share with others. We open up the giving process so you can have a hand in solving the problems you care about most. You read, you choose, you give. You can give money, you can give time, you can give support. It’s that simple

Go ahead and fund a project right now!

Check out the new look of the site!

There might be some bugs here and there, so bare with me as I update stuff. Category images will be coming soon plus a new random post from the archive in the sidebar.

Enjoy and let me know what you think of the new look!

Stoves can make a world of difference in places that rely extensively on old-school resource like wood and cow patties. Using an efficient stove can save trees from being felled and limit the amount of pollutants released during the cooking process.

Here’s episode one of Stove Man made by the Paradigm Project:

Episode 1: Woodwalk from The Paradigm Project on Vimeo.

Check out the website here.

Thanks Danielle!