Can we feed everyone?
Submitted 05-16-2011 under NONPROFITS
By the year 2050 it is projected that the world population will rise to by 2 billion people to 9 billion. With food prices today having increased beyond the level they were in 2008, sparking riots in the poorer regions of the world; it seems...
Cultivating A Sense of Place: Becoming a Forager & Land Steward
Submitted 05-11-2011 under LOCAL LIFE
Our culture is starting to shift. We are beginning to understand the connection between healthy soil and healthy people. We are beginning to make choices and invest in good, healthful and local whole foods as part of our health insurance. Lifestyles...
Fulton St. Farmer's Market opening day
Submitted 05-07-2011 under LOCAL LIFE
Winter is over: this is the message reverberating off sidewalks and garages surrounding the Midtown neighborhood as couples, families, dogs, cyclists and tons and tons of babies crowd the sidewalks. They came to the opening day at Fulton Street...
Photo Essay: A look back at a great National Volunteer Week service project
Submitted 05-05-2011 under NONPROFITS
On a cold, drizzly Saturday in April local teens gave up their free time to volunteer and serve their community in honor of National Volunteer Week. The teens, members of the Youth Grant Committee at Grand Rapids Community Foundation...
Trip The Light: Ephemeral
Submitted 05-04-2011 under OPINION
On behalf of the artists involved in Trip The Light: Ephemeral I'm privileged to premiere, here on The Rapidian, the only video you'll ever see (above) from this most groundbreaking live event. Most sincere thanks to our friends at...
The Rapid: A Bright Future?
Submitted 05-03-2011 under OPINION
Six o’clock in the morning. The alarm clock goes off and you hit the snooze button. The alarm goes off a second time and you sluggishly roll out of bed, not exactly ready to start the day. You make breakfast, get the kids ready for school, and...
Interview With Jim Bruckbauer of the Michigan Land Use Institute
Submitted 05-01-2011 under NEWS
On Tuesday, May 3rd, voters in Grand Rapids, East Grand Rapids, Kentwood, Wyoming, Grandville and Walker will vote on a millage to increase service on The Rapid, the area's public transit bus service. To help voters who may be...
May Day is for workers and soup - Live coverage of Sunday Soup #13
Submitted 04-29-2011 under NEWS
Showers or flowers, you never know with Michigan weather. The Division Avenue Arts Collective hopscotched past April and is kicking off May with Sunday Soup #13. Sunday Soup is a mini-granting program organized by The DAAC (115 S. Division...
[HISTORY DETECTIVES] Historical transit decision comes full circle with May 3 millage
Submitted 04-29-2011 under OPINION
A portion of the vintage footage featured in the video is from a film made in the 1920s. That promotional film was made by the Grand Rapids Railway Company, the private corporation that controlled the transit in the city. In the beginning of the...
Wild, weedy & edible: the infamous garlic mustard
Submitted 04-28-2011 under LOCAL LIFE
What is the adage, "A weed is a plant that is growing where you don't want it?" Abundant in areas of disturbed soil - at the forest's edge, along roadsides, and on river floodplains, the garlic mustard (Alliaria petiolata) is...