Commentary: On Creativity and Sustainable Restaurants

By Lori Sandefur
Creativity + Social Change, University of Connecticut
Media Reviewed:

TED: Arthur Potts Dawson: A vision for sustainable restaurants
If you've been in a restaurant kitchen, you've seen how much food, water and energy can be wasted there. Chef Arthur Potts-Dawson shares his very personal vision for drastically reducing restaurant, and supermarket, waste -- creating recycling, composting, sustainable engines for good (and good food).

The title initially caught my eye because of the two classes that we attended at Billings Forge Community Works in Hartford, Connecticut. After watching the video, I was impressed with Arthur Potts Dawson and his vision for not only sustainable food being served in his restaurants, but also that the restaurant should be sustainable as well.

He puts a lot of emphasis on what he refers to as the Four Rs: Reduce, Reuse, Refuse and Recycle. He also states that, “everything in nature is used up in a closed continuous cycle with waste being the end of the beginning.” He focuses on trying to connect the “community” of London to the rural food growers.

If everyone could practice even a fraction of this at home and at work, think what a tremendous impact this would have collectively on our environment. The hardest part is initially making the commitment, then starting it and continuing it until it becomes almost automatic.

I am going to try to start going to the indoor farmer’s market at Billings Forge on Thursday afternoons. Even if I start out going every other week, I hope that it will eventually turn into a weekly visit. I am also thinking about giving another try at gardening. Again, the key for me is to start small (and manageable). Every bit helps.

By Maria E. Zapata
Creativity + Social Change, University of Connecticut
Media Reviewed:

TED: Kiran Bir Sethi teaches kids to take charge
Kiran Bir Sethi shows how her groundbreaking Riverside School in India teaches kids life's most valuable lesson: "I can." Watch her students take local issues into their own hands, lead other young people, even educate their parents.

This is an amazing story and I really like the way she is using the word contagious. We need to be contagious with education, setting it  up as priority for the new generations. Education is the number one key to succeeding in life.

The kids are spontaneous and they have fabulous ideas and creativity but most of the time we burn those ideas and creativity because we set up a pattern for them, always telling them the way to do things. We need to trust them, letting them explore and follow their curiosity. Like Kiran Sethi said: “ We need to trust the kids. They will take the power and they will do much better."

We have to spread out the creativity, letting everybody use his or her own way, ideas, curiosity and the new world will be better and happier.

"It is possible to organize cities to teach usefulness, social responsibility, ecological skill, the values of good work, and the higher possibilities of adulthood." (Kiran Sethi)

Commentary: On Creativity and Marijuana, the Money Maker

By Jason Ynostroza
Creativity + Social Change, University of Connecticut
Media Reviewed: TBA

Marijuana. The very word can bring about a heated discussion about drugs, addiction, crime and money. There are reasons that both sides have about the issue that could persuasively convince a group of people to think in their favor. Instead of arguing about why it's a bad drug, we should be arguing about how it could affect a state's economy. People should be fighting over where the extra money could go and how we can use it, not about its effects on a person. If people were really that concerned about a population's well-being, then alcohol and tobacco would be illegal, as well.

I watched two short clips on the economic benefit that marijuana could have on the State of California. There were very interesting facts and figures, but I knew they were biased because of the favor that it showed to one side. Even though the facts were biased, they were very eye opening. Both videos mention the amount of money marijuana brings in to the state's economy from medicinal users alone -- $15 billion with $1.5 billion in returns in tax revenues. This is a lot of money for a state with such a high deficit. Without this money, where would California's economy be right now?

Connecticut, much like Northern California, has plenty of rich farmland. Our state's staple crop was tobacco for a very long time. Why not have those farms converted into pot fields? The video stated that in the rich soil in Northern California grows some of the best pot in the country. If marijuana were to be legalized, farmers would be able to grow there a lot more comfortably. This would save even more money for the state. California spends a countless amount of money on their Criminal Justice system and on the criminals that are caught growing and possessing marijuana illegally. We in Connecticut could have saved more than $119 million if we didn't arrest anyone for pot possession in 2006.

Both California and Connecticut could creatively put the money that they would earn from marijuana back into their state's economy. One of the videos stated that there is a college that teaches people how to grow pot and capitalize on the industry. A college like that could pump out entrepreneurs that can revitalize a struggling economy. Another clip mentioned a sales tax on legalized recreational use can pay for the salaries of 20,000 California teachers. Connecticut could put the money that they would earn into many positive programs in urban areas. They could pay for fuel assistance during the cold winter months. Struggling school districts can get the money they need to revitalize their schools and buy supplies they need. California's over-crowded prison population could be cut significantly if all the pot offenders were given another chance in society.

Marijuana is a money maker. There are no questions about it. If people could just agree on the positive impact marijuana could have on our society then we can move onto the next step of actually making money. That money in turn can start the process of digging this country out of our debt.

Commentary: On Creativity, Music and Technology

By RJ Sisca
Creativity + Social Change, University of Connecticut
Media Reviewed:

Peter Sassmannshausen/FUNKYSASSMANN - July 11, 2010: Official winner of the Sony Make.Believe Music Experience Competition.
I entered because it was a great opportunity to be creative and to learn how to produce a music video, although this is the first experience making a video whether i won or not it didn't matter, it has been awesome. This was what i had in mind: The 'Creativity Module' measures the amount of creative elements in ones life, in the clip the subject being tested is me. Enjoy!

This video shows how technology can be used to create music -- that one guy creates an entire band using just himself and a computer module. Creating music is a way people expresses themselves. However, there are pros and cons on using technology to create music. Music no doubt has come a very long way in just a short period of time. Although computers are a way of life, it is how we use them to enhance our work or, perhaps, to become more lazy doing the work.

The video shows one guy with many different instruments ranging from keyboards to snare drums. As the music starts, different instruments are used one by one, and the guy uses himself to start playing. As the song goes on, he ends up cloning himself to play more and more instruments. By being able to use a music computer module, the person is able to incorporate different beats, as well as other instruments to create the song. Recording studios, even small ones, use all kind of computers and ways to have one person be the band while recording the song. This seems to be very cost effective and provides more options for creating songs. Yet some may argue that using computers may limit the true creativity of music. In my view, computers and other music modules enhance a singer/songwriter to come up with a unique perspective on the song they are trying to achieve. Also, with the equipment we have today, we are able to take older songs and clean them up. By cleaning up and remastering songs from 50 to 70 years ago, we are able to preserve them, as well as let a new generation of listeners enjoy true music.

What are the cons of using computers to enhance music? Some may argue that the music is not pure or authentic. In the days of Sinatra and Elvis, no one dreamed of the possibilities that music can achieve today. For some people, hearing that snap, crackle and pop on a song takes them back to their glory days. You don't need tens of thousands of dollars to create music -- any person can create music out of anything. Just by clapping your hands or banging on a wall you are able to create music. Yet if you want to be a rock star, you are going to need the digital equipment of some sort.

Again, a lot of people will argue that technology and music limits creativity. I truly think that the technology we have helps bring music together. With the technology we have today, we are able to take singers from different generations and perhaps create a unique duet. Imagine a song being sung by Micheal Jackson and Richie Valens. Two different people that made it big at two different time periods. That's what technology can do with music today. No matter what, there will always be remakes of older songs, but the singers haven't forgot the pioneers of the music world, as well.

Commentary: On Creativity and Motivation

By Daniela Petosa
Creativity + Social Change, University of Connecticut
Media Reviewed:

TED: Dan Pink on the Surprising Science of Motivation
Career analyst Dan Pink examines the puzzle of motivation, starting with a fact that social scientists know but most managers don't: Traditional rewards aren't always as effective as we think. Listen for illuminating stories -- and maybe, a way forward.

Dan strongly believes in incentive design or rewarding employees for their performance. He explains extrinsic motivation and that it works -- depending on the situation. He references a concept known as the Candle Problem. He describes how motivation is being free to be creative and flexible. It is natural as humans to feel motivated with an incentive. Dan makes a compelling case on why we need to change our ways. He states that some rewards work well for some and not others. Some rewards work well for simple tasks because the mind is concentrated and has a narrow focus while difficult and more complex tasks narrow our minds and restrict possibility. He mentions that the more difficult tasks should not be over looked by keeping our minds restricted and to be open in our peripherals.

Dan believes there is a mismatch between what science knows and what business does. He believes the science of motivation: “As long as the task involved only mechanical skill, bonuses worked as they would be expected: the higher the pay, the better the performance, but once the task called for even rudimentary cognitive skill, a larger reward led to poorer performance.” He claims that this isn’t a feeling or a philosophy, but a fact. He divides the brain and categorizes people such as programmers and accountants as left-brain thinkers, while the right-brain thinkers as more creative. Organizations today outsource left-brain tasks overseas because it is easy to automate these activities, while the right-brain individuals have their own candle problem they are facing. Organizations are based on assumptions that are outdated. The solution is not to do more of the wrong things. “We find that financial incentives ... can result in a negative impact on overall performance.” Management is an invention that doesn’t last. To utilize management is to engage in self direction which works the best. To strengthen a business and solve candle problems, enhance creativity to drive individuals to do things that matter for their own sake. Dan concludes that IF-THEN rewards can destroy creativity. Organizations in the 21st century need to encourage individuals to be themselves. Perhaps the world would be a better place. ...

Overall, the presentation by Dan is correct. He makes a strong, science-based case for rethinking motivation. He does get the big picture right. He says that people would prefer activities where they can pursue three things:

• Autonomy: People want to have control over their work.
• Mastery: People want to get better at what they do.
• Purpose: People want to be part of something that is bigger than they are.

Top management sets the basic compensation and benefits structure. If that isn't perceived as fair and consistent, then natural, intrinsic motivation won't kick in. I personally applied a reward program at work and added a creative touch to it. I had employees compete amongst each other for prizes and as a result the staff was happier and generated more sales. Organizations need to implement a design where it will both benefit the company, as well as employees. If the employees are happy, the business will succeed.

Commentary: On Learning and Creativity

By Matthew Delaney
Creativity + Social Change, University of Connecticut
Media Reviewed:

TED: Malcolm Gladwell on Howard Moskowitz and the Reinvention of Spaghetti Sauce
Malcolm Gladwell is the best-selling author of "The Tipping Point" and "Blink." In this talk, filmed at TED2004, he explains what every business can learn from spaghetti sauce.

In this video, Malcolm Gladwell talks about his hero, psychophysicist Howard Moskowitz, who is most famous for reinventing spaghetti sauce. Malcolm goes into great detail about Howard's start-up consulting firm and how he was first hired by Pepsi to help find the right amount of aspartame to put into Diet Pepsi for the benefit of sales. Howard found in his studies that there is no "Perfect Pepsi" -- only "Perfect Pepsis," meaning that there are too many variations of preferred taste and preference among people to pigeon hole one perfect type. His findings were immensely vital to the food industry and had an instant impact on how food was created, sold and marketed -- most significantly with spaghetti sauce. However, his true findings were in the diversity of the preferences of Human Kind. As Gladwell states: "Where embracing the diversity of human beings, you will find a sure way to true happiness."

This speech is a wonderful example of how the creative process, in any problem-solving event, can take the solution of a simple problem, on a small scale, and develop it into a possible solution or idea that could spark change on a much greater level. As Biological Matter, we are connected to our surroundings physiologically and every part of our environment is as much a part of us as we are of it. That being said, where as, on a sub-atomic level, the smallest bit of change can start a domino effect that can cause a noticeable change in our lives as we know them, a change in the life of a single person can have the same effect on the world in which we live. As mathematics has proven, any given formula will have the same solution on any scale as long as the ratio of the parts and variables in that formula are constant. Using your creativity to overcome a problem in the smallest form could ultimately become the solution to a problem that could change the world for the better. One might not even realize they have sparked this level of change.

Howard Moskowitz was immersed in his work to find the right flavor of foods. However, his idea influenced Malcolm Gladwell, a well-known writer, teacher and great thinker of this generation. Being a best-selling author and journalist, Gladwell has the ability to reach millions with his thoughts and ideas. In the case of this video, Malcolm is speaking on the ideas of Moskowitz, as well as his interpretations of those findings, to millions. Thus, having an influence and a continuing domino effect on all who view this video. These viewers are influenced by what Gladwell is teaching.

Creativity, along with hard work, perseverance and determination, is vital to the natural progression and evolution of Human Kind. There must always be an embryo status to the creative process and that always begins with an idea. Without an idea, perpetuation of all things will continue. If you want to change the way something is on a grand scale or on a Worldly Level, you must begin with a small lab test. It is the thought that we are too insignificant to make change that hinders our progression. It is the belief that we have no control that damages our social landscape. It is the notion that finds studying the preferences of spaghetti sauce to be insignificant that labels our lives insignificant. Change begins with the creative process. Change begins with you.

"I’m starting with the man in the mirror." – Michael Jackson

Commentary: On Creativity and Food

By Todd Gabriel
Creativity + Social Change, University of Connecticut
Media Reviewed:

TED: Jamie Oliver
http://www.ted.com/talks/lang/eng/jamie_oliver.html
Read Jamie Oliver's challenge: How can we raise kids' awareness of the benefits of fresh food so they can make better choices?

Jamie Oliver explains very simply how most of the food we eat in America is nonnutritious and highly processed. His focus is on children, stating that every new generation will lose 10 years off their lives through obesity because of the bad food they eat. His mission is to raise awareness of the processed foods we eat as adults and feed our children, not only at home but in schools around the country as well as places of work. He wants to get good, local, whole foods back into our homes and schools.

Processed foods are usually made up of two products -- corn and soy beans. These crops are extremely cheap and can be grown in huge quantities in this country. Most large scale farmers in the United States produce three things -- corn, soy beans and animals that can be ground into processed meats, such as turkey (not the kind you eat at Thanksgiving) to make “turkey products” such as turkey bacon, turkey sausage, etc. The corn and soy beans can be refined to make fillers for a plethora of foods. If you look at the label of processed foods, you will find one if not both of these two ingredients in some form, such as corn syrup, corn starch, corn meal, soy protein, corn oil and hydrolyzed corn gluten, to name a few. They are added because it keeps cost down and adds a flavor of one or more of the three things that the food industry has learned we respond to -- sugar, salt and fat. We crave these things, so if they can some how get these things into the foods they sell us in a cheap way than they have succeeded. What they don’t realize or don’t care about is that it is killing us. And not only through weight gain but by using man-made products that our bodies can't metabolize properly and can lead to many unknown effects.

Jamie Oliver states three major things we can do. First, raise awareness about the foods we eat. Second, to get money and resources to the people who will help change the food environments from processed to whole foods. And third, start cooking at home. He states we lost our traditions of cooking real foods at home and passing down to next generations recipes and the know how of cooking. Children are a focus because they can change and stop the cycle before it continues.

I believe in Jamie Oliver’s cause. I personally look at food as a link in a long chain of fundamental change. If we can learn to understand the importance of sustainable, local foods and environments in our neighborhoods it will benefit us greatly in many ways. Jamie is creative in the way he took a passion for food and turned it into a way to change a country or countries for the better. He’s also creative in his execution. For example, he shows the kitchen he opened that took local, healthy food and distributed it to schools using local people. He put into action what he is speaking about. It takes many creative ideas and ways of thinking to be able to change conventional ways. Jamie is demonstrating this here with his food movement.

Commentary: On Creativity and the Brain

By Renee George
Creativity + Social Change, University of Connecticut
Media Reviewed:

TED - February 2008: Jill Bolte Taylor's Stroke of Insight
Jill Bolte Taylor got a research opportunity few brain scientists would wish for: She had a massive stroke, and watched as her brain functions -- motion, speech, self-awareness -- shut down one by one. An astonishing story. Brain researcher Jill Bolte Taylor studied her own stroke as it happened -- and has become a powerful voice for brain recovery.

Jill Bolte Taylor is an neuroanatomist who suffered a stroke. She experienced herself having the stroke for more than four hours. She studied herself from the inside out. It took eight years for her to have a full recovery. She wrote a book about her experience and has appeared on several talk shows to tell about her story. I found it very moving. I never realized that the left and right sides of our brain store completely separate information. The right side of the brain is where we make our dreams into reality. We decide what we want and we make it happen. Our thoughts turn into energy and we send that energy out into the universe. The universe gives back to us what are thoughts put out. Our cells communicate with one another and with chemicals in the brain. This is how we process information. The right side of the brain is where we are right now. In the present moment. Jill explains that we are energy beings all connected together. I can relate to this because when I dream of something or I put a lot of thought into something, it manifests. It is the energy carried in the thoughts that I put out and the universe gives me what I ask for. This makes perfect sense to me. The right side of the brain is where everything is peaceful and right and beautiful. It is the side where we have the power to choose. We can choose to be whole beings. We can choose to believe that we are all perfect just the way we are. We can choose to get along with one another and let go of our perceptions and judgments. We are at peace with ourselves and with everyone else.

The left side of the brain is very different. This is the side that lives in the past and lives in the future. This is the side where we catergorize and add details. This is the side where we attach memories, sounds and sights to. This is the side that we build on from when we are children. Every experience is a memory and a story and we file it away. The story reoccurs over and over. Everytime an applie pie is baked a certain memory from childhood may pop up. Everytime we hear a certain song or movie we may recollect a memory or an experience. This can be positive or negative depending on the experience. If there is a tragedy in our past and we don’t deal with it, it will haunt us because our left brain does not forget. If someone hurts us, our left brain tells us not to trust that person. We hold on to that. We can’t let it go. Our left brain won’t let it go. This is how tension and resentment starts. We are not able to let go and this is what Jill talks about. We fill our left brain with BAGGAGE. That baggage gets in the way of us being who and and what we want to be. This is is how we become single, solid and separate from the rest of the world. We are not unified. We are out for ourselves alone. The left side of the brain thinks in language. It affects our relationships. It prevents us from connecting and experiencing joy. It holds on to grudges and stories. It does not let us progress as human beings because our minds are always going with chatter and we listen to it and it controls us. It tells us what to do and how to react. It tells us how to respond and how to feel. It is full of interpretations. I feel it can be our enemy if we let it control us.

I was moved by the closing of this video. Jill shared that we can be loving, beautiful, compassionate people who choose to step to the right of our left hemispheres. She talks about taking back our power and how we are the lifeforce of the universe. We can choose how we want to be in the world. We can let go of the chatter in our minds and just be. We can be that GIANT person where we feel on top of the world and nothing affects us. I found it to be liberating. I found it to be refreshing. I found it to be inspirational and motivating. We don’t know how long we have on this earth. Why are we spending so much energy on things that don’t really mean that much in the scheme of things. We are cells! We are dust living in an orbit in space. Most of what we complain about does not really matter. Do we really need to put so much time into fighting a war and guns and killing? When you put things into perspective, the small stuff seems so trivial to me. This video has helped me realize that if I can let go of the thoughts in my left brain and add to the thoughts in my right brain, I will experience nirvana.

Commentary: On Creative Decisions

By Simone Maxwell
Creativity + Social Change, University of Connecticut
Media Reviewed:

Exploding Creativity Episode 4 - September 9, 2008: Decision Making and Creativity (click to listen to audio podcast)
You can and will use creativity in decision making, and you will make decisions in your creative pursuits, and depending how you look at it, creativity and decision making look a lot alike.

Who would believe that when you make an intuitive decision it is actually based on creativity? After the decision is made, we often exhaust our brain power, worrying about the consequences for the action we just completed. Not once did I believe that creativity and decision making were interlinked.

According to Bob Sharp on http://explodingcreativity.com/, decision making based on intuition is not irrational, it is creative. So all of us are creative, since at one point or another, a decision was made based only on that knee-jerk feeling we had. Decisions that based on the first thought that enter our brains are actually made because of our life experiences. In the moment the decision is made, we are actually being creative. "Decision" is defined by E. Frank Harrison as a “moment of choice; an ongoing process of evaluation of alternatives with a view to selecting one or some combination of them to obtain the desired end.” I love this definition. It makes me feel like a decision is an accomplishment. Did you know that not making a decision is a decision? I knew this, of course, but actually hearing someone else say it is another thing completely.

It was a complete eye opener to learn that a group decision can be more creative and somewhat easier than when a decision is made alone. I am not sure I agree with this idea. Being the master of my own destiny is easier to manage with me, my decision, and my consequences. Making a choice in a group can have its benefits, however. If all goes wrong, there is someone to share the blame with.

Decisions as a creative process have actually changed my outlook on the whole scenario. I will now take pride in the decision-making process. It is amazing to me that we do something that just comes naturally to us without thinking of the steps we actually take. So today I learned that creativity, decisions and intuition all go hand in hand. It is something that I am happy to say I learned and happy to acknowledge I do daily.

E. Frank Harrison also came up with a decision making process that I am going to place the flow chart below. You can tell me if you agree or not. I am still working my way through them.

Commentary: On Child-Driven Education

By Teley Quarshie
Creativity + Social Change, University of Connecticut
Media Reviewed:

TED - July 2010: Sugata Mitra: The Child-Driven Education
Sugata Mitra tackles one of the greatest problems of education -- the best teachers and schools don't exist where they're needed most. In a series of real-life experiments from New Delhi to South Africa to Italy, he gave kids self-supervised access to the web and saw results that could revolutionize how we think about teaching.

Commentary:
I logged onto Ted.com and clicked inspiring and ingenious and on one of the pages, the title "The child-driven education" stuck out to me. Children are the most creative and alive. Full of thoughts, ideas, eagerness. Education is a huge issue in this world, yet such a tool to change one's social-economic status. He has found the “child-driven” solution to education though children, along with the help of technology that is everywhere. A little strange that there is high-speed Internet in these Indian and African villages walls. Yet we all walk around with mini-computers in our pocket or on our ear. Society is very technologically driven. The global world connects via the Web. Teaching is a profession respected by many but very underpaid. Leaving teachers to pick and choose and neglect where the money is close to nothing. Leaving the children to teach themselves.

He is using the creativity that the child has to figure out problems. He questions machines they’ve never used and in languages they are unfamiliar with. It's also a very creative way to educate. Yes, it would be best if these children where in the classroom learning with a teacher and a desk ... but in this case, this is all they have and they should be lucky to be apart of such a study.

By working together to figure out the answers, they are processing the information more to find a solution instead of on their own. Makes you wonder if people should be taught in groups, not one on one. You vs. the paper. Open education seems like a better way for people to learn. Yes, there may be that person who really doesn’t know the answer or how to solve it, but by being apart and paying attention they will figure out why whatever it is is such. (That was a side thought I just discovered thinking about the children working together.) I feel working together is a better guide for how to work in a professional social community. We spend our whole lives in school progressing on our own. Maybe we wouldn’t loose so many students if it was a group effort. If we all succeed, the better off we can make things on a larger, societal level. Thinking not for just the "Me" but the "We."

Children love to learn, but not all the same way. If they learn how to learn outside of the box, they will be able to think and know outside the box. Creativity and innovative ideas will follow. I consider open environments with some structure the best support for such learning styles. The idea of the "grandmother" is brilliant. All grandparents do is love and encourage. Having someone like that there, but actually not there, while still being surrounded by your peers seems to be a great idea to the world's grim education issue. A lot of money is needed, but not much help. People are needed to help. The outcome can only benefit us as a society. Sugata Mitra's creativity is creating tomorrow's creative minds.