USP 530 – Session 13/14

Ingredients
- Peels from lemons, limes, grapefruits and/or oranges (use organic for an organic cleanser)
- White vinegar (organic for an organic cleanser)
- Mason jars with lids, or any airtight container
- Spray bottle
- Mesh strainer
- Distilled water

Instructions

Before peeling your citrus, be sure you have cleaned it with warm soapy water and have removed any stickers. You can use any variety or combination of citrus that you like. I prefer to do the peeling by hand to eliminate the possibility of any fruit getting into your cleanser base (sugar = mold).
Fill a clean mason jar, or airtight container, with the peels and pack as tightly as possible. Jars with a tapered opening work best, so that you can place a larger peel at the top to block the smaller pieces from floating above the vinegar, which in my experience can lead to mold.
Once you jar is packed, fill with vinegar until all of the peels are completely submerged.
Screw the lid on tightly and store the jar in a cool, dark place for two weeks. I like to check it every few days to be sure that the peels are still submerged, and no mold has grown on any exposed pieces.
After two weeks your cleanser base is ready. Pour the mixture through a mesh strainer into a bowl or another jar. Discard the peels
The base can be stored in a tightly sealed jar or airtight container until ready to use. When you are ready to make the cleanser, combine it with distilled water in a 1:1 ratio and, using a funnel, pour into a spray bottle.

All Purpose Cleaner Video

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tf7_zT_hI-s&ab_channel=BlueOllis

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Household Air Filter

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YnIvLBe6xUE&ab_channel=Wirecutter

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Unpaper Towel

Supplies:

2 yards of cotton terrycloth fabric
2 yards of cotton flannel
straight pins
sewing machine or sewing needles
plastic mesh canvas sheet
snaps and snap setter
rotary cutter (or scissors), cutting mat (optional if using scissors), and ruler

Steps:

Wash your fabric pieces in hot water so that any shrinking will occur before you sew and dry them.
Place your two fabrics on top of each other on top of your cutting mat and smooth out both layers so there are no wrinkles.
You are going to cut 12″ x 12″ squares and it’s really helpful if you have a template that you can use to cut each one so you don’t have to measure out each square every time (like a cardboard template or other stiff material).
Use your template and ruler to cut through both layers of fabric with your rotary cutter. If you are using scissors, lay the pieces of fabric flat and pin them so when you cut, they stay in place.
Repeat until you have 12 squares of two-layered fabric.
Use your straight pins to pin each set of squares together if you haven’t done so already.

Sew around your squares with a 1/2″ seam allowance (or edge), leaving a 3″ opening so you can turn your fabric inside out through the hole when you are done. Clip the corners of your square with scissors and then turn your fabric through the hole. You can press your seams flat by ironing each square if you like
Once they are all turned right sides out, make sure your 3″ openings are folded in and even with the rest of the towel edge and sew all the way around each square again with a 1/4″ seam allowance this time. (This will close your opening for you and help keep the towels lying flat.)
Get out your snaps and snap setter. Snaps have a stud side and a socket side (the stud part sticks out and the socket part goes in), so you’ll want to arrange all your towels with the flannel side up and set two socket side snaps facing downwards on the right side of the square and two stud snaps facing up on the left side of the square (Maybe practice on a piece of scrap fabric to ensure you know how the snap setter functions). I cut a piece of mesh canvas the height of my towel and marked two squares (the same height and depth from the edge) with a marker so I could just line that up with the edges and mark where to place the two snaps so I didn’t have to measure every time. Repeat by setting four snaps in this same manner on each towel.
Cut a piece of canvas 6 1/2″ wide and as tall as your towels (should be about 11″ tall). Attach stud and socket snaps (three on each side) with one set facing down and the others facing up so that your grid will overlap about 3/4″ on each end when you snap it into a roll. It can be helpful to use clips of some sort to help keep your roll rolled up while you are marking the spots for your snap locations. Once your end snaps are attached, you’ll want to attach two stud snaps that face outward when the roll is snapped together in the middle of your canvas the same distance apart as the snaps on your towels.
Once your snaps are all set, you can snap your roll together and start assembling your unpaper towel roll until all your towels are added!

New Sew Un-Paper Towel Video

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PEfihWhmsUg&ab_channel=SushmaHagadur

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Draft Snake (Window or Door)

Materials

Medium-weight fabric (how many yards you’ll need depends on how big your windows and doors are) (If you have an old pair of pants you no longer wish to wear, that should provide an adequate amount of fabric)
Scissors
Tape measure
Sewing machine, threaded
Straight pins
Insulating material

Steps

Measure your window or door
Measuring the width of the window or door you are working with will ensure your DIY project actually works and keep you from wasting supplies.
Cut your fabric
To know how wide to cut, add four inches to the width of your window or door. No matter how wide the item is, cut the fabric 8 inches tall (this will help make sure your heater can run efficientlyby blocking out cold air). Now you have a long rectangle of fabric.
Fold your fabric in half
Fold your piece of fabric in half lengthwise so that the long edges are touching each other Then, pin these edges together using a few straight pins.
Sew seams
Using your sewing machine, sew the long edge where the pins are as well as one of the short ends. Sew several backward stitches so the ends are firmly sewn shut. You could also handle the sewing by hand. Leave a 2-3 inch gap in the seam so you can turn the fabric inside out.
Turn the fabric tube inside out
This will help to hide the stitching and create a seamless look.
Next, you’ll want to fill your fabric tube with insulating materials. You do want it to be dense and have some weight to it, so using many materials to provide weight and fluff would be good.
1. There are several things you could use here, such as beans, sand, rice, old fabric scrap, plarn, etc.

ADD VIDEO

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Food and Gardening DIY

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Buying Food in Bulk

Tips for Buying in Bulk

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-oLJyZA73kI&ab_channel=minimalistcali

Where to Buy in Bulk in California

https://www.litterless.com/bulk-food-guide/california

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Preparing Immune System Boosting Foods and Remedies

– basic vegetarian or non-vegetarian soup with fresh herbs

-fire ciders, elderberry syrups, and echinacea tinctures

Add Raquel’s Elderberry Syrup Video

Firecider

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l7wRQdZfjp8&t=4s

Thyme Tinctures

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iPpDQ84oDxA&t=66s

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Growing Herbs Indoors

Article:

https://www.gardeners.com/how-to/herbs-indoors/8920.html

Video

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5mWH5ajGJF4&ab_channel=LittleHouseOnTheMountain

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PEfihWhmsUg&ab_channel=SushmaHagadur

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Growing Herbs and Food Outdoors

Gardening

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1X6KvqPjk6I&ab_channel=CarrieRad

Vertical Gardening

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TdI2YrNIf5g&ab_channel=RootsandRefugeFarm

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Composting and Vermiculture

Apartment/Indoor Composting

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LPsXy9gO40Y&ab_channel=Pildora

Apartment Vermiculture

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JH8QiSdBHR4&ab_channel=simplybychristine

Outdoor Vermiculture

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O_Fs6LcL-VI&ab_channel=TheEcoSwap

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Beekeeping (needs more)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h_2GMByKxNQ&ab_channel=NationalGeographic

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Master Gardener Certification Programs

How to:

https://www.mercurynews.com/2013/05/22/want-to-be-a-master-gardener-heres-how/

UC Master Gardener Youtube Channel:

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC_uTOm8KEE1qC57HbEJTPKw

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DIY Beauty, Hair, Cosmetics, and Hygiene

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Cosmetics

Videos with Various Makeup Products

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZAzMs7TtXjQ&ab_channel=RoseDust

This video contains recipes for: brow pomade, powdered blush, eyeliner/mascara, lip tint/cream blush, and setting spray

Foundation

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FNBP6o8v7bo&ab_channel=TheKindJourney

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Skin Care

This video contains recipes for: lip scrub, toothpaste, dry shampoo, face toner, and makeup remover

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cLejgvwAZpQ&ab_channel=JamieKateAdoc

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=43IY_gPXGis&ab_channel=WholeElise

This video contains a recipe for: face moisturizer and cream

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ESmunbBh2gg&ab_channel=iamvanessae

This video contain recipes for: cleanser, toner, and moisturizer

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Self-Care Products

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1QLkgxOhMSY&ab_channel=CraftingWitch

This video contains recipes for: face mask/scrub, facial serum, green tea rose toner, coffee scrub, vanilla cinnamon lip scrub, rose and lavender bath salts

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Hair

For Black or textured hair:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jEpyPoOpVnA&ab_channel=UnivHairSoleil

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oYh7eucIRCE&ab_channel=CurlMix

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zr9D0LNVZwc&ab_channel=Naptural85

General hair DIYs

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EuICUqndscY&ab_channel=Goodful

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lB8YRroyQs8&ab_channel=HallmarkChannel

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Hygiene

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E265iTEOa_4&ab_channel=RachelTalbott

This video contains recipes for: deodorant, shampoo, and shave cream

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L2PMiaHqEQc&ab_channel=EcoGoddess

Toothpaste and Mouthwash

CRAFTS

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Plarn and Plarn Projects

Plarn is Yarn made from upcycling plastic bags.

Pro-Tip! Plarn can be used for more than just weaving or crochet! Use it for packing material, insulation material, crafting material, and much more!

Video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gQwTcizA7Oo&ab_channel=Needlepointers

Plarn Bags (If you don’t know how to crochet, go to Crafts section)

30 – 40 plastic grocery bags (preferably bags you already have or naturally accumulate)
Scissors
Crochet Hook – size J to N – the bigger the hook the looser the weave
Safety Pins to use as markers
Optional – ruler and pen if you want to pen if you want the plarn strips the same width

Instructions

Make your plarn and roll into a ball.
Make the bottom rectangle. Decide on the size you want (Example – 10 inches x 4 inches) and chain about 20 stitches. Remember to keep the loops loose.
To make the “body” of the bag, single crochet all around the rectangle and continue in the round until you reach the desired height. The pictured bag is about ten inches.
To make the handle, start by placing four safety pins to mark where the handle will go.
Single crochet up to the first pin, crochet 20 and join the row with the single crochet at the fourth pin. Continue to single crochet around the top edge increasing the width of the handles until they are about 1 – 1 ½ inches wide.
Finish

Video Playlist of Plarn Projects:

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLAqhuhVuo9arP4z7Bw-9nZdn9ZC8It-h_

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Beeswax Wraps

What You’ll Need

Cosmetic-grade beeswax pellets
• 100% cotton fabric
• Scissorsor pinking shears
• Brush
• Parchment paper
• Baking sheet
• Hanger (optional)
• Binder clips or clothespins (optional)
• Ruler (optional)

LAB TIP: Some tutorials call for jojoba oil or powdered pine resin, but we found that these more expensive ingredients didn’t add any major benefits in our tests.

Cut the fabric.

Preheat the oven to 200°F or the lowest setting. Cut the fabric into sizes that will fit on your baking sheet. For a snack bag, use a 7″ by 14″ piece of fabric. A 14″ by 14″ square will cover most sandwiches. Pinking shears will help prevent your swatches from fraying, but scissors will also get the job done.

Place on a baking tray.

Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and place the fabric on top. If your fabric is one-sided, place the patterned side facedown. Use a fresh piece of parchment paper each time you make another wrap.

Sprinkle the pellets.

Evenly distribute a liberal amount of beeswax pellets all over the fabric. Make sure you get pellets near the edges too.

Melt and spread the beeswax.

Place the sheet in the oven for about 4-8 minutes. When the pellets melt completely, take the tray out and use a paintbrush to spread the wax evenly over the entire fabric.

NOTE: The beeswax will stick to the brush, so use one you’re okay discarding or saving to make future beeswax wraps.

Let dry.

Using tongs, remove the fabric from the baking sheet. It should feel cool to the touch after waving it for a few seconds in the air. Hang the fabric up to dry or set it on the back of a chair with the beeswax side facing up.

Customize your wraps.

Once the beeswax has set and is not very tacky, you can add buttons or hand-sew them into small pouches.

Snack Bags: Use a 7″ x 14″ piece of fabric. Once dry, fold the fabric in half with the non-treated sides facing inward. Hand sew the two sides together, leaving the top open. Turn the bag inside out, and add a button as a closure or stitch Velcro to both sides.

Sandwich Wraps: Use a 14″ x 14″ piece of fabric. On the patterned side, sew a button in two adjacent corners. To close, put the side with the buttons face down. Fold the fabric into thirds around the sandwich. Flip and fold the ends of the fabric up so the buttons are on top. Wrap twine around them in a figure-eight pattern for a secure closure.

How to Care for Your Beeswax Wraps

Wash your wraps by hand in cool water with a mild dish soap. Place them on a drying rack or clothesline to dry. Avoid any heat such as hot water, microwaves, or ovens that will cause the beeswax can melt, ruining your wraps.

Reference: https://www.goodhousekeeping.com/home/craft-ideas/g25642328/diy-beeswax-reusuable-wraps/

Videos:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_FhFnwNkXE8&ab_channel=SimplyKlaire

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6_bsxrqAF-s&ab_channel=CraftyPatti

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Beeswax Candles

Video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FL0CEqdg9PA&ab_channel=BrambleBerry

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Homemade Paper

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RR_218EtLJU

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Produce and Grocery Bag

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v-3XhDfTMig

Tips:

Use fabric scraps from old clothes you’d like to repurpose!

This can be hand sewn, does not necessarily have to be machine sewn.

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Upcycled Sewing and Weaving Projects

Hand Sewing Video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xvxqtc8thRg&ab_channel=Homedit

Machine Sewing Video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rnTwT-ifLkU&ab_channel=GoodHousekeeping

Upcycling Clothes:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lw__A_wdH9I&ab_channel=rachspeed

Mending Clothes:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SrV2gpeQI7o&ab_channel=EvelynWood

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CFhsftQzugo&ab_channel=BetterHomesandGardens

Basic Crochet: (This is great for plarn projects!)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aAxGTnVNJiE&ab_channel=simplydaisy

DIY Fabric Reusable Menstrual Pad

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6g9fQ-BvaqY&ab_channel=Angie

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Disaster Preparation and Survival DIY

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To-go Bag Kit

Household Earthquake Prep

Preparation

Practice Drop, Cover, and Hold On with family and coworkers.
Have hard soled shoes by your bed at all times in order to deal with broken glass.
Make an Emergency Plan: Create a family emergency communications plan that has an out-of-state contact. Plan where to meet if you get separated. Make a supply kit that includes enough food and water for several days, a flashlight, a fire extinguisher and a whistle.
- Include non-perishable foods, cleaning supplies, and water for several days, in case services are cut off in your area. If you are able to, set aside items like soap, hand sanitizer that contains at least 60 percent alcohol, disinfecting wipes, and general household cleaning supplies that you can use to disinfect surfaces you touch regularly. After an earthquake, you may not have access to these supplies for days or even weeks.
- Being prepared allows you to avoid unnecessary excursions and to address minor medical issues at home, alleviating the burden on urgent care centers and hospitals.
- Remember that not everyone can afford to respond by stocking up on necessities. For those who can afford it, making essential purchases and slowly building up supplies in advance will allow for longer time periods between shopping trips. This helps to protect those who are unable to procure essentials in advance of the pandemic and must shop more frequently. In addition, consider avoiding WIC-labeled products so that those who rely on these products can access them.
Protect Your Home: Secure heavy items in your home like bookcases, refrigerators, televisions and objects that hang on walls. Store heavy and breakable objects on low shelves. Consider making improvements to your building to fix structural issues that could cause your building to collapse during an earthquake. Consider obtaining an earthquake insurance policy. A standard homeowner’s insurance policy does not cover earthquake damage.
Wear a mask when in public to slow the spread of COVID-19. You may not have time to put on a mask in the event of an earthquake. Wearing one regularly will allow you to be prepared to drop, cover, and hold on safely with those who are not a part of your household. Masks should not be worn by children under two, those who have trouble breathing, and those who are unable to remove them on their own.

Reference: https://www.ready.gov/earthquakes#:~:text=Prepare%20Before%20an%20Earthquake&text=Plan%20where%20to%20meet%20if,cut%20off%20in%20your%20area.

Car Kit Video

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ot8_iiIWDmI&ab_channel=SpencerKrull

Preparing Your Home Video

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FDt_qCULe4c&ab_channel=CityPrepping

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Fire Starter

DIY Fire Starter

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uCni8yLXR3w&ab_channel=GMCCrafts

My Notes

Video advocates breaking candles into small pieces, melting them into pucks. Candle wax is flammable.
I think cotton swabs saturated in vaseline are much better as a firestarter and far less complicated.
Typically any kind of paper and cardboard work fine for starting fires.
- An axe and hammer make it much easier to split the wood and get it to burn if its wet.

DIY Rocket Stoves

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FMhUFthG4bU&ab_channel=OutdoorBoys

My Notes

The video advocates for combining a tee fitting with a downspout and cutting holes in it so that you get a small burn barrel with a fresh air intake at the bottom.
There are lots of similar solutions. Tire rims are much easier. I usually dig out a hole under one side and then do a log cabin fire that sucks air in through the hole.
Personally, my jetboil is great and I prefer that to trying to cook on a wood fire with its unpredictable temperatures.

13 Ways to Start a Fire

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X3-Tpf1KPSs&ab_channel=OutdoorBoys

My Notes

The video goes over lots of hacky ways to start fires. These skills are things you have to practice constantly for years to be any good at. If you are in a real emergency, this is not going to work. You need matches, a lighter, etc.
I find it very easy to use the jetboil to light things on fire.

Firestarter Mushroom

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Water Filter

DIY Water Filter

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0DlnAq5UAqY&ab_channel=SurvivalontheSKinney

My Notes

The video shows how to make a filter from garbage and things you can find in the forest. This is not going to actually make the water safe to drink, as the manual points out.
A cheap Sawyer filter, Lifestraw, or Lifestraw bottle would be a much safer way to filter sketchy water.

*Side Note:

Filtering water does not purify it. You must boil water after the filtration process in order to kill any pathogens, bacteria, or other microorganisms. Do not boil water in order to remove nitrate, lead or some other substances. Boiling water will actually increase the concentrations of these substances, not remove them.

What are pathogens and which pathogens should we be concerned about in our water? Pathogens are disease-causing organisms which may include types of bacteria, viruses, protozoan parasites, and other organisms. United State Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA) regulates the following pathogens in drinking water:

Cryptospridium: This is a single-celled protozoa parasite found in lakes and rivers, especially in waters with sewage or animal waste pollution. This protozoan parasite can cause gastrointestinal illness like diarrhea, vomiting and stomach cramps.
Giardia lamblia: This is a single-celled protozoan parasite that can be found in the intestines of infected humans and animals, in soil, food, or water contaminated by feces from infected humans and animals. This pathogen can cause nausea, stomach cramps, diarrhea, and associated headaches.
Legionella: This is a type of bacteria that is naturally found in the environment, usually in water. It grows best in warm water (hot tubs, cooling towers, hot water tanks, large plumbing systems or air-conditioning systems of large buildings are ideal places for this bacteria). Legionella bacteria in water can become a health risk if the bacteria are aerosolized (e.g., in an air conditioning system or a shower) and then breathed in. Inhaling Legionella bacteria can cause a type of pneumonia known as Legionnaires disease.

Reference: https://extension.usu.edu/waterquality/files-ou/Lesson-Plans/Homemade-water-purifier.pdf

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Neighborhood Phone Tree

How to Build a Phone Tree

A phone tree is a prearranged, pyramid-shaped system for activating a group of people by telephone. Using the phone tree system can spread a brief message quickly and efficiently to a large number of people.

USES

Quickly notify members and/or supporters about fruit deliveries. Spreads the work load out between members. Save printing and postage costs involved with communicating brief notices by mail.

RESOURCES NEEDED

People- A coordinator and a network of reliable people form the skeleton of the phone tree. See enclosure titled, “Example Phone Tree Layout”

Time- The coordinator will spend time organizing the tree. (This process should be done prior to serious activation of the tree.) Once it’s set up, the tree can do dozens or even hundreds of hours of work with only five to 50 minutes of involvement by each member, depending on the frequency and number of calls each member is assigned.

Money- No money is needed aside from long-distance charges, where applicable. Use home telephones and cell phones at no additional cost.

ACTION CHECKLIST

1) Make a list with current phone numbers of all the persons you want the tree to reach.

2) From that list, recruit a smaller group of people who will be responsible for calling and activating other members. This small group is referred to as the Key Group .

Keep the Key Group as small as possible, since each group may be responsible for reaching people who in turn are responsible for reaching out, and so on. It is critically important that the members of the Key Group are reliable!
Impress upon ALL participants the importance of completing all their assigned calls.

3) Divide the people on your list among the members of the Key Group.

Consider assigning responsibilities geographically to reduce any phone charges.
Try to limit calls to three to eight per participant so the phone tree won’t become too burdensome.

4) Make a chart of Key Group members and their assignments and distribute it to the Key Group. Be sure to include work, cell, office, and other numbers to locate members.

5) Ask key people to notify you when they are going out of town or will otherwise be unavailable. Have alternate Key Group folks that can fill in if someone is unavailable.

6) Hold message drills occasionally to test your phone tree for effectiveness and identify areas for improvement.

OPERATING THE TREE

1) As coordinator, you will start the tree. Write out a brief script complete with the specific details of fruit and delivery.

2) Call the members of the Key Group using the script. Make sure that Key Group members understand what they need to do and the time frame in which they should do it.

3) Spot-check the tree’s effectiveness by calling a few people down on the list to be sure they have received an accurate and complete message. Also, you can prearrange with folks down the list to contact you once they have received the message.

4) Train the folks in your phone tree to keep trying each person on their list until they make contact. If a member of the phone tree cannot be reached, have the caller notify you as the coordinator so you can fill in or delegate the responsibility to another member.

KEY POINTS Have an organization chart for your phone tree. Be sure that your Key Group members are reliable. Have multiple ways of reaching members (home, work, and cell numbers are key).

Reference: http://www.intermountainpro.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/Phonetree-IP.pdf

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Basic First Aid and CPR

Basic First Aid

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ErxKDbH-iiI&ab_channel=GetLicensed

First Aid Kit Contents

My Notes

The guide goes over things you should have in your first aid kit. Of course you’re not going to actually know what to do about arterial bleeds, broken bones, etc with these tools unless you get certified so you should definitely do that and also have a good first aid kit.
I am Red Cross certified for First Aid and CPR . Getting certified is quick and easy and probably free. Everyone should do this. This is like the one skill that no one has any excuse not to have. You owe it to yourself and others to get certified for First Aid and CPR.

To be prepared for emergencies:

Keep a first aid kit in your home and in your car. (And in your go-bag, hiking-bag, etc.)
Carry a first aid kit with you or know where you can find one.
Find out the location of first aid kits where you work.

First aid kits come in many shapes and sizes. Your local drug store may sell them. You can also make your own. Some kits are designed for specific activities, such as hiking, camping or boating.

Whether you buy a first aid kit or put one together, make sure it has all the items you may need:

Include any personal items such as medications and emergency phone numbers or other items your health-care provider may suggest.
Check the kit regularly.
Check expiration dates and replace any used or out-of-date contents.

The Red Cross recommends that all first aid kits for a family of four include the following:

N95 and cloth masks
2 absorbent compress dressings (5 x 9 inches)
25 adhesive bandages (assorted sizes)
1 adhesive cloth tape (10 yards x 1 inch)
5 antibiotic ointment packets (approximately 1 gram)
5 antiseptic wipe packets
2 packets of aspirin (81 mg each)
1 emergency blanket
1 breathing barrier (with one-way valve)
1 instant cold compress
2 pair of nonlatex gloves (size: large)
2 hydrocortisone ointment packets (approximately 1 gram each)
1 3 in. gauze roll (roller) bandage
1 roller bandage (4 inches wide)
5 3 in. x 3 in. sterile gauze pads
5 sterile gauze pads (4 x 4 inches)
Oral thermometer (non-mercury/nonglass)
2 triangular bandages
Tweezers
Emergency First Aid guide

Reference: https://www.redcross.org/get-help/how-to-prepare-for-emergencies/anatomy-of-a-first-aid-kit.html

Basic First Aid Video

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ErxKDbH-iiI&ab_channel=GetLicensed

USP 530 – Session 10

April 7th
Session Ten: Infrastructure: Water, Waste, Energy, Transportation, Building, Food

This session will focus on how changes in urban infrastructure can help cities become more inclusive, resilient, productive, livable, and sustainable. We will be guided by the following questions:

Infrastructure: Infrastructure refers to the long-lived engineered structures central to economic and social development. (Slightly modified version of the world bank definition.)
- A set of fundamental facilities and systems that support the sustainable functionality of households and businesses
- The services and facilities necessary for its economy to function
- Composed of public and private physical structures such as roads, railways, bridges, tunnels, water supply, sewers, electrical grids, and telecommunications (including internet connectivity and broadband access.) In general
- The physical components of interrelated systems providing commodities and services essential to enable, sustain, or enhance societal living conditions and maintain the surrounding environment
- In the face of the massive societal living conditions and maintain the surrounding environment
- Acknowledging this importance, the international community has created policy focused on sustainable infrastructure through the SDGs especially SDG 9 “Industry, Innovation, and Infrastructure.”

Class Topics

What changes need to occur in the water sector?
- Sewage reclamation
- Aquifer restoration
- Ban all forms of waterway pollution and rehabilitate waterways
What changes need to occur in the waste sector?
- Ban non-recyclable materials and anything single-use
- Mandate recycling everywhere
What changes need to occur in the energy sector?
- Drastic reduction in consumption
- Decentralization of production and storage
What changes need to occur in the transportation sector?
- Mass transit must be accessible to everyone
  - And only then, heavy incentives for not using personal cars
- Electrification
  - Plus better sources of electricity
What changes need to occur in the building sector?
- Drastically cheaper construction
- In lieu fees much higher than cost of building affordable units
- More sustainable materials
What changes need to occur in the food sector?
- Crop subsidies must end
- Nitrogen loading must be banned
- Pesticide use must end
- Food shown be grown in small, sustainable, permaculture farms instead of at the corporate scale

Common problems with civic infrastructure
- Inadequate infrastructure
- Fossil fuel based
- Inaccessible to impacted groups
Infrastructure policy has been identified as one of the easiest ways to have a big impact on the causes of many climate change impacts
- Our infrastructure has historically been badly maintained
- The energy consumed by our infrastructure is often not sustainably sourced
Discussion of structural adjustment and neoliberal privatization of infrastructure, and the impacts on infrastructure decay
Discussed green new deal and the differences from the plan
- Raquel prefers to think of the rights of people to things like clean air and clean water
Categories for DIY project
- Household
- Food & Gardening
- DIY Beauty, Hygiene
- Crafts
- Disaster Prep and Survival
  - Josh Ochoa
  - Chris Le
  - Austin Davis

Required Reading

Analysis of the BIDEN PLAN https://joebiden.com/clean-energy/#
- No climate issues meaningfully addressed
- Scale of the bill is not serious

Video:

Carbon Footprint of a Sandwich – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jRQEi-C5GDg

Importance of infrastructure in cities – pull from Raquel’s book

Case Studies of Ecologically Responsible Infrastructures

Bioremediation to purify water – living machines – https://www.esaa.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/02-05CarcamoPaper.pdf
Composting organic material at large scale – https://www.cityofpaloalto.org/civicax/filebank/documents/15113
Large scale wind energy projects (from Europe) – http://www.oecd.org/environment/cc/34878740.pdf
Large scale bicycle initiatives (from Europe) – https://www.theguardian.com/cities/gallery/2018/jun/11/copenhagenize-case-urban-cycling-graphs – https://cityobservatory.org/cph_bikelanes/
Buildings made from shipping containers, tiny homes, smaller dwellings – https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2020/mar/08/shipping-container-homes-from-tiny-houses-to-ambitious-builds – https://inhabitat.com/do-people-in-tiny-houses-live-more-sustainably/
Ecocities in Asia – https://www.eco-business.com/news/liveable-cities-series-asian-eco-cities-rise-to-climate-crisis/
growing food vertically – https://verticalfarminstitute.org/vertical-farming/ – https://www.vox.com/energy-and-environment/2017/11/8/16611710/vertical-farms

USP 530 – Session 8

March 17th
Session Eight: Disaster Preparation and Resilience in Cities

In this session we will focus on disaster preparation and resilience in cities. We will focus on the root causes of disasters, profiteering from disasters, the differential impact of disasters on different populations, and disaster preparation and resilience. We will be guided by the following questions:

Notes

Disaster is a noun
- A sudden event such as an accident or natural catastrophe that causes great damage or loss of life
Resilient is an adjective
- The ability to withstand or recover quickly from difficult conditions
- Synonyms: Strong, tough, hardy
7 most at risk cities in US are in California
3 in 5 cities worldwide with at least 500k pop are at a high risk of a natural disaster
- Collectively these cities are home to 1/3 of the world’s urban population
Many large cities are subject to 4 or 5 different kinds of natural disasters
Only three of the megacities (>10m pop) in the world are not at high risk of natural disasters
Building resilient and sustainable cities highlights the need for those cities to be able to
- maximally prepared to absorb the impact of hazards
- protect and preserve human lives
- limit damage and destruction
- do all of that while providing the critical infrastructure and services
what would a city need to prepare
- backup water supply
- rainy day fund
- backup communications system
- backup energy systems
- backup food distribution system
- automatic gas shut-offs in houses for earthquakes
- shovels
- disaster training
Climate change means there will be an increase in the number and severity of natural disasters in the coming years
Shock doctrine: book written after the tsunami in bali
- Government and private sector work together to take advantage of chaotic situations and privatize public entities.
- Investigated what happened very quickly
- Also what happened over time
- In Bali, the government told the fishermen residents they needed to be moved. came in with guns and forcibly removed them much further away from the coast because they said that area was unsafe for habitation. then they sold that land to luxury hotel developers
- City of New Orleans used hurricane Katrina as an excuse to close schools, hospitals, and public housing in black neighborhoods and then sell it all off to private organizations

What are the root causes of the range of disasters affecting cities?
Can we distinguish between human versus natural root causes of disasters?
Are corporations profiting from disasters?
Do we have a moral compass on disaster profiteering?
How do disasters impact different populations in cities?
What strategies and policies can be used to increase resilience in cities?
How can we ensure that these policies are inclusive?

Assigned Readings

Billionaire Bonanza from COVID-19 https://ips-dc.org/billionaire-bonanza-2020/
- Bezos used to shock doctrine to make tens of billions of dollars as a result of the pandemic
- Wealth tax would help cover the costs of the disaster
- The policies that were in place and the policies that were not in place gave rise to a situation in which people who had a monopoly in certain parts of the economy were able to make huge amounts of money by taking advantage of vulnerable populations.
The differential impact of disasters on different populations https://www.unisdr.org/campaign/resilientcities/assets/toolkit/documents/UNDRR_Making%20Cities%20Resilient%20Report%202019_April2019.pdf
- Making Cities Resilient
  - A study conducted by UN
  - Surveyed cities around the world to assess their resiliency
  - Three levels
    - Have they done the analysis and planning on disaster preparation (80% did)
    - Have they followed through by providing resources like funding to address those analyses (Most did not)
    - Have they engaged their communities in the planning for natural disasters (Most did not)
  - Lisbon Case Study
    - Had already done disaster preparation before the study began but they used the campaign to close the gaps and expand funding and partnerships to address disaster preparation
Disaster preparation and resilience NorCal Resilience Network
- This one was missing
https://www.iisd.org/system/files/publications/pcc-brief-disaster-mangement-emergency-preparedness.pdf
- Projections for more intense and frequent extreme weather events need to be integrated with disaster and emergency management planning.
  - Extreme weather events are projected to continue increasing in intensity and frequency and we have to start planning for that
- Contingencies for spare capacity and flexibility to deal with climate hazards occurring simultaneously or in quick succession need to feature in disaster and emergency management planning.
  - Capacity and flexibility are key. We need to stockpile things like PPE to prepare for disasters.
- Strategic investments in disaster prevention measures, including climate-resilient green infrastructure and updated building codes, will provide significant long-term cost savings and social benefits.
- Continuous outreach and engagement processes can ensure that citizens prepare for and can respond to climate-related disasters.
  - Outreach, green policies, better building codes, etc will help
- Raquel’s comments
  - A resilient city is one that is going to change the policies to make sure that the exploitation doesn’t happen again
  - Robust, redundancy
    - Systems are in place to take over during failure
  - Flexibility
    - Refers to the willingness to adapt alternative strategies in response to disasters
  - Resourcefulness
    - An educated population is ready to deal with shocks and stresses and changing circumstances on their own
  - Inclusiveness
    - There needs to be multiple stakeholders involved in building a resilient city
  - Integrated
    - Systems need to be coordinated

HOMEWORK ASSIGNMENT DUE March 31st

This assignment has two parts, make sure you answer both parts in writing.

FIRST: Write down all of the ways in which you understand how global warming and climate change are impacting cities and urban residents. Be as comprehensive and multidimensional as possible.

SECOND: Write down all of the solutions to reduce global warming that you are aware of. Be as comprehensive and multidimensional as possible.

USP 530 – Session 7

March 10th
Session Seven: Alternatives to Policing and Incarceration

This session will focus on alternatives to policing and incarceration. Over the last six decades, the movement to reduce policing and mass incarceration has been growing in the United States. In this session we will be guided by the following questions:

Why is there a movement to reduce policing and mass incarceration in the United States?
- To reallocate or redirect funding away from the police department to other government agencies and increasingly to community efforts.
What are this movement’s concerns about policing and mass incarceration?
What are this movement’s alternatives to policing and mass incarceration?
- Community outreach
- community self-policing
- cahoots model
- new orleans model
What strategies and policies could be used to reduce policing?
What strategies and policies could be used to reduce mass incarceration?
What strategies and policies could be used to abolish incarceration?
What is the history of policing in the us?
What alternatives to policing are on the table?
What are the financial consequences of defunding the police?
- Civil forfeiture
Three categories
- Prison Abolition
- Police Abolition
- Defunding (partially) the police

Required Reading for Alternatives to Policing

Sacramento Bee article by Angela Davis, Melina Abdullah, and Robin DG Kelly. “California must lead the way in abolishing school and university campus police
Alternatives to Police Services
- Rayshard Brooks found sleeping in his car in a Wendy’s drive through
  - Police responded, tried to arrest him. He took the taser and tried to shoot the officer.
  - Officer killed Brooks.
  - Officer charged but not convicted.
- Dion Johnson
  - Fell asleep in car
  - Officer came to arrest him
  - Officer shot him and got off as self-defense
- Both cases included police escalating drunk people into violence and then killed the person to whom they were responding.
- The claim of the article is that the police should not be bringing lethal force to these kinds of calls
- In the UK, 90% of officers have no guns and no power to arrest people
  - 55 shot in the uk in last 45 years.
  - Over a thousand times as many in the us
- Recommendations:
  - Create a specialized traffic officer
    - Militarized police are not necessary for traffic stops
    - Case Studies
      - Philando Castile
        
        Police asked for his ID and then shot him when he reached for it, accused him of reaching for a gun
      - Sandra Bland
        
        Falsely accused of assaulting officer
        
        Died in jail
  - Create specialized community outreach officers
    - Case study in Oakland
    - Specialize in de-escalation
  - Oregon 2017 Policing Stats
    - 50% of prison population has mental illness
    - 52% of arrest of homeless individuals
    - 25% of fatalities were mental health or substance abuse
  - Cahoots
    - Sending community member to respond instead of police
    - 25% of police calls in Eugene router to cahoots
    - Never any death or serious injury
    - 30 years
    - Another case study in Richmond
    - This could likely be implemented elsewhere
  - Other recommendations
    - Decriminalize drugs
    - Decriminalize homelessness
- Australia admitted publicly that systemic racism is the reason for disparate incarceration
Police abolition Links
- Abolish prisons is the new abolish ice
?
- Police are more likely to use lethal force with BIPOC people
- Reallocate funds to teams trained in de-escalation
- Police don’t prevent violent crimes, they respond afterwards.
4 Ideas to replace traditional police
- Create specialized traffic police
- Deploy community mediators to handle minor disputes
- Create a mobile crisis response unit
- Experiment with community self-policing
How Can We End Child Sexual Abuse Without Prisons
CFA at SFSU on police off campus from CFA website https://www.calfac.org/item/resolution-cfa-sfsu-union-local-condemning-systemic-racism-particularly-acts-police-brutality
- CSU faculty union statement;
  - Racist, militarized, police violence continues to grow and escalate.
  - Appeals to normal institutional channels have had no effect.
  - The police must be forcibly demilitarized and removed from CSU campuses.
https://kinder.rice.edu/urbanedge/2020/07/22/many-cities-are-rethinking-police-what-are-alternatives
- Police actions are involved in too many areas that are better suited for other areas of the government like public health
- Scope of policing is too broad
- 90% of police calls in one meta analysis of Seattle were related to mental health
  - Why are the police responding to these calls?
- Many types of calls that police are currently responding to would be better served by responses from other agencies
- Many “alternative policing” proposals could be seen as supplemental to existing police departments
- Community patrol groups are often accompanied by police officers
Abolish Prisons is the new Abolish Ice
- We need alternatives to prisons
- 13th amendment allows slavery for anyone convicted of a crime
  - California firefighters are enslaved prisoners
- Work on social determinants of crime
  - schools
  - healthcare
  - housing
- Restorative justice instead of incarceration
- “Abolition is just as much about building what we want to see as it is about tearing down the things we want to get rid of.”
- “It’s hard to get on board; it’s hard to tell the person who was raped that their rapist should not be punished.”

Video on Alternatives to Policing (find)

Angela Davis: Abolishing police is not just about dismantling. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8ebWFnGWOaA&ab_channel=DemocracyNow%21

HOMEWORK ASSIGNMENT: Required Reading for Alternatives to Incarceration

Students will choose 1 reading and summarize it for the class. Go to the pdfs (in the session sections to the side) to find links to these articles/reports:

Videos on Alternatives to Incarceration

Angela Davis on Prison Abolition, the War on Drugs and Why Social Movements Shouldn’t Wait on Obama – 20 minutes
Beyond Reform: Abolishing Prisons |Maya Schenwar| TEDxBaltimore – 15 minutes

HOMEWORK ASSIGNMENT DUE March 17th

First. Make a list of all of the disasters affecting cities, and their root causes

USP 530 – Session 6

March 3rd
Session Six: Surveillance in Cities – Assignment #1 DUE TODAY

This session will focus on the impact of increased surveillance in cities. For every 1,000 people in SF, there are over 3 cameras and the District Attorney’s office has access to almost ⅔ or their data (ABC7 News). Cameras are disproportionately in Tenderloin, Chinatown, DogPatch, Mission, Union Square. San Francisco ranks fourth in the United States in a study on public surveillance cameras. We will be guided by the following questions:

What do we mean by the term “surveillance”?
How does increased surveillance in cities effect urban populations?
What forms does surveillance take in cities?
How does surveillance impact different groups differently?
What strategies and policies can people/groups use to protect themselves from unwanted surveillance

Required reading

Videos

The Power of Privacy – 28 minutes

Virtual protection video – heather find this video

Notes

We talked about the challenges of urban planning when you’re ordering communities subvert your plans and specifically the example of Berkeley and Emeryville

This was connected to the implications of trying to do planning around banning cars and gas stations and car lots because they’ll just go outside your jurisdiction

We talked about IOT and the fact that it doesn’t necessarily give people more power but instead it gives corporations more power

She said we need to think about;

who is making the app and why
where is the data going
who is using the app.

These three lenses are the lenses through each of you IOT related issues

We talked about the problem of tracking online and the fact that even with all of these pseudo options like disabling location sharing and disabling cookies it actually makes no difference whatsoever as to whether these companies can track you and sell information about you

USP 530 – Assignment 1

CJ Trowbridge

2021-03-02

USP 530

Assignment #1

Choose a social problem that will impact cities in the future and use the healthy cities wheel framework to identify how urban authorities should address this problem – fill out every section of the wheel.

Assemble a diverse and inclusive group

There are many different kinds of stakeholders when it comes to the issue of black water remediation. Let’s take a triple-bottom-line perspective on classifying the stakeholders who want to onboard to the cause. On the one hand, there are the people who live in communities affected by existing remediation techniques, disproportionately BIPOC and people in other marginalized communities. On the other hand, there are those who have limited access to fresh water such as the unhoused. Last there are business interests who stand to profit from the change to reclaiming rather than merely remediating black water. Reclaiming black water means converting yesterday’s waste outputs into tomorrow’s resource inputs.

Generate a vision

The vision will depend on the perspectives expressed by the stakeholders. It will likely include leveraging the change from remediation to reclamation in order to ameliorate the impacts of existing waste management techniques on people in marginalized communities. It will also include addressing water scarcity and the lack of access to water resources in the community. Third it will include finding buyers and building a supply chain to handle the new resources being created in the form of fresh water and compostables as a result of implementing the new process.

Assess assets, resources, and barriers

The current techniques for remediation essentially just dilute black water with up to thirty times as much fresh water, then passing it through aerobic and anaerobic processes to sterilize it before dumping it into the oceans and rivers. One of the biggest challenges will be funding construction of new systems to separate liquids and solids before purifying each through bioreaction and composting respectively. This means not just these two outputs become resources, but also that enormous amount of water which is no longer being wasted diluting black water before dumping it during as a part of the current system.

Prioritize issues

The triple bottom line has to drive discussions about priorities. We must be certain to address all three perspectives without missing any. It’s not just about implementation cost-savings, increasing protection from harm in marginalized communities, or saving the environment; rather it must be all three.

Develop a community-wide strategy

Every person in the community produces black water every day. This means everyone is involved in both the problem and the solution. Everyone stands to benefit from the improved environmental impact, the implementation cost-savings, whether or not they are in marginalized communities who will see additional benefits. The fact that everyone in the community will be positively affected means everyone can be brought on board with the plan and play a role in pushing the necessary policy changes forward.

It also means the plan will need to be implemented in every current black water facility around the city and eventually the broader region.

Implement the plan

The biggest part of implementing the plan will be retrofitting or replacing existing facilities. Rather than diluting blackwater with enormous amounts of fresh water, we will be separating it, cleaning it, and then exporting each component as a valuable resource. This means in place of several large tanks, we will need special filtration systems to separate the liquids and solids, then holding tanks and an infrastructure for exporting the solid resources.

There are a lot of ways we could go with exporting the fresh water we create. Because many may be uncomfortable directly drinking the reclaimed fresh water despite its purity, it may make more sense to pipe it up to the headwaters of the same watersheds we originally took the water from. In the example of San Francisco, there are already pipelines bringing water down from Hetch Hetchy. Additional pipelines could take the purified water reclaimed from black water and pump it back up to the headwaters. This essentially mimics the natural process of evaporation and precipitation which we are already relying on. We are just skipping the step of dumping the water in the ocean and waiting for some small amount to evaporate and then later precipitate into the Hetch Hetchy system. We can skip this middle-man of mother nature and simply put the water back where we took it from.

There is also the potential to sell the purified fresh water to bottled water companies like Nestle instead of allowing them to drain and destroy the aquifers in order to make bottled water. The purity of reclaimed black water would likely improve the quality of the now totally unregulated contents of bottled water.

Monitor and adjust your effort

We will need to carefully observe the process of leveraging the outputs to make sure they are being used appropriately. Once we see adoption taking off, it may be time to take the fight to a broader geographic area and expand this vital technology into other nearby regions.

Establish new systems to maintain/build on your gains

We should be very vocal about the benefits we see from no longer wasting incredible amounts of water the way we are now. In addition, we should work to emphasize the triple-bottom-line benefits of turning waste outputs into valuable products. This will help accelerate adoption of this new system by other cities.

Celebrate benchmarks and successes

Once the system is up and running, the number of bad-pun-fueled galas and public relations events are endless. Imagine the look on a visiting dignitary’s face when they are offered a pu pu platter at the black water gala. Or when it is revealed that their $25 bottle of Voss water was actually repackaged human excrement. The potential for practical jokes celebrating the success of the system would be endless. We might even reach a point where San Francisco can name its sewer system not after people it doesn’t like (George W Bush), but in honor of people it does like.

Tackle the next issue(s)

The next issue is obvious; it’s the same issue but on a bigger scale! Now that San Francisco has adopted black water reclamation, we need to get Oakland and San Jose and Berkeley and all the other cities in the bay area to do the same. Then the rest of California and then the world!

USP 530 – Session 5

This session was canceled

February 24th
Session Five: Alternative Business, Housing, and Food Ownership Models and Structures

I Alternative Business Ownership Structures: Worker Owned Cooperative Businesses

Worker-owned cooperatives are businesses that are owned and managed by their workers. Although there are variations, typically, each worker owns a share and all shares are owned by the workers. The infrastructure of worker-owned cooperatives differs, as control by worker-owners can be performed through individual, collective, or majority ownership. Research on worker-owned cooperatives shows that they are often more efficient and productive, and that workers have much higher levels of satisfaction and pride in their company and work.

Required Reading

Worker Owned Cooperatives and Democratic Governance, John Pencavel
Worker Cooperatives Are More Productive Than Normal Companies (Chen, 2016)
Participation and Productivity: A Comparison of Worker Cooperatives and Conventional Firms in the Plywood Industry, John Pencavel
Worker Owned Coops – https://www.thenation.com/article/archive/worker-cooperatives-economy-business/

Videos

The Mondragon Cooperatives 3 minutes
Noam Chomsky on the Mondragon Cooperatives and Worker’s Council – 3 minutes
Defying the Crisis – The Spanish Collective Mondragón | Made in Germany
Jackson Rising: Creating the Mondragon of the South – 8 minutes
The Cleveland Model – How the Evergreen Cooperatives are Building Community Wealth (All of videos on this site)

II Cooperatively Owned Housing and Food: Coop Housing

Required Reading:

https://www.cccd.coop/sites/default/files/resources/HousingCoopsAccessibleLastingHomeOwnership.pdf
Housing Coops: Case Study form Denmark

Videos

Co-op Housing more than a home – 8 minutes

III Food Cooperatives

Required Reading:

Park Slope Food Coop in Brooklyn, NY – https://www.grubstreet.com/2018/04/history-of-the-park-slope-food-coop.html
https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2019/11/25/the-grocery-store-where-produce-meets-politics – New Yorker Magazine
https://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/25/nyregion/25coop.html
Rainbow Grocery in Bay Area – https://www.sfchronicle.com/food/article/S-F-s-Rainbow-Grocery-a-counterculture-6433041.php#photo-8391702

IV Digital Platform Cooperatives

Required Reading:

StocksyUnited https://start.coop/additional-resources/case-study-stocksy-united/

Session 4

February 17th
Session Four: Reducing Social and Racial Inequality: Basic Income, Universal Health Care, New Deal Type Stimulus Package for Job Creation, Affordable Housing, Eliminating Student Debt, Reparations, The People’s Budget

This session will focus on the increasing social inequality in the United States and its consequences. We will be guided by the following questions:

Notes

Discussed Texas power grid collapse and Malthusian comments about social darwinism from mayor of Colorado City
Bezos is now making $150k/hr
- His workers in Oklahoma are striking for a living wage
- $15/hr is not enough to survive anymore

What do we mean by “social inequality” and “racial inequality”?
- Disparate impact in things like health outcomes, wealth, and access to vital resources like food and water
How do we measure social inequality and racial inequality?
- By measuring that disparate impact
How do social inequality and racial inequality impact urban life?
- by causing social problems
What strategies and policies can be used to reduce social and racial inequalities?
- Living wage
- Public healthcare
- Taxing wealth, stock trades, inheritance, etc
- Mandating regional minimum wages everywhere which are higher than the cost of living and that update automatically every year based on increases in cost of living.
How do we define a “decent living standard” in cities around the world? (Energy article)
Is there a universal standard of “well being”?
What standards are required for universal well being?
What is the basic income?
- A flawed attempt to solve the same problem that the lack of living wage is already not solving; helping wages catch up with cots of living.
What do we learn from a case study of Canada’s basic income proposal?

Audio

KPFA Upfront January 25, 2021 Oakland’s Proposed “Peoples Budget”

Videos

Growing Wealth Inequality, 2019 – Why The Inequality Gap Is Growing Between Rich And Poor – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=41y4c1Oi5Uo
- This is that video we’ve all seen a million times where researchers ask people how wealth is distributed and what the ideal distribution is. The people are super wrong and they argue that things should change to be more like the ideal that clearly emerges in the consensus of the survey.
  - “The ideal is as far removed from reality as the actual distribution is from what people think reality is.”
Global Wealth Inequality, 2013 – This video is not up to date but still has great value https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uWSxzjyMNpU (4 minutes)
- global lower class is 70% of the population controlling just 3% of the wealth
- next 21% controls just 12% of the global wealth
- next 10% controls
- next 8% (global upper-middle class) controls 38% of the world’s wealth
- top 1% controls 47% of the world’s wealth
  - more annual wealth production than Japan and Germany combined
  - top 8 individuals control more wealth than the bottom 50%
The Insane Scale of Global Wealth Inequality Visualized, 2019 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=caBDPFx2et4 (9 minutes)
Joseph Stiglitz “How Inequality In Today’s Society Endangers Our Future” (1 hour)

Required Reading – For this session, students will take one reading and present it to the class

Inequality.org – https://inequality.org/facts/racial-inequality
The Ever Growing Income Gap: Without Change African American and Latino Families won’t match White Wealth for Centuries – this is outdated
https://equitablegrowth.org/the-coronavirus-recession-and-economic-inequality-a-roadmap-to-recovery-and-long-term-structural-change
https://inequality.org/facts/inequality-and-covid-19/
Free money might be the best way to end poverty, Washington Post, 2013 https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/free-money-might-be-the-best-way-to-end-poverty/2013/12/29/679c8344-5ec8-11e3-95c2-13623eb2b0e1_story.html – heather upload article to 530 Ilearn site
Report of 2020 Billionaires – https://ips-dc.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/Report-2020-Billionaires-Essential-Workers.pdf
What Money Can Buy: The Promise of a universal basic income- and its limitations (Covert, 2011)
- UBI has ancient roots. Sir Thomas More argued for it in Utopia in 1551.
- Its recent resurgence stems from concerns about automation and AI
- It now has widespread support
- Arguments for why
  - Dramatically reduce poverty
    - Examples
      - Kenya: GiveDirectly NGO
  - 41 million americans living below poverty line in 2016
    - UBI would allow them to fill their unmet needs
  - UBI could be about a real American economic justice
    - No more making the poor submit to humiliation in order to receive benefits
  - UBI could be a more fair way to distribute the nation’s wealth
  - UBI could empower workers to walk away from bad jobs.
  - Federal jobs guarantee could solve many of the same problems.
- In a recent interview, Yang said $1k is no longer enough and the UBI would need to be doubled (from a year ago), but that as the next Mayor of NYC he does not intend to launch UBI because of budget shortfalls.
  - My own opinion is that UBI tries and fails to address the fundamental problem of the decoupling of wages and the cost of living. Just like minimum wage increases, no one has proposed indexing UBI to cost of living. Therefore costs will simply adjust to consume the UBI, and then everyone will be paying $1k/more for the same things they’re paying for now, and then we will be right back where we started. All the same problems could be solved by automatically indexing regional minimum wage to consumer costs each year.
“Energy Requirements for Decent Living in India, Brazil, and South Africa” – Narasimha D. Rao, Jihoon Min & Alessio Mastrucci
The Politics of Bernie Sander’s “Medicare For All” (Cassidy, 2017)
New Deal Type Stimulus Package for Job Creation -https://archive.curbed.com/2020/4/16/21223683/coronavirus-stimulus-unemployment-jobs-wpa-green-new-deal
The Shockingly Simple, Surprisingly Cost-Effective Way to end Homelessness (Carrier, 2015)
In Liberal San Francisco, Tech Leaders Brawl Over Tax Proposal to Aid Homeless (Conger, 2018)
Eliminating Student Debt https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2020/11/why-biden-should-forgive-student-loan-debt/617171/
Reparations – https://www.nytimes.com/2019/05/23/business/economy/reparations-slavery.html
The People’s Budget: A Roadmap to Resistance (2018)

Videos:

Why we should give everyone a basic income | Rutger Bregman | 17 minutes
Basic Income: An Idea Whose Time Has Come | James Mulvale | 18 minutes

KPFA Program January 2, 20 Radio Ecoshock, Nature and Energy, Yale University study https://www.ecoshock.org/2020/01/climate-good-news-and-bad.html start at 2:13 minutes

HOMEWORK ASSIGNMENT: DUE February 24th FOR SESSION FIVE

1) Go to: https://www.footprintcalculator.org/ and calculate your ecological footprint. Be prepared to discuss what you learned about your ecological footprint in class.

Session 3

Session Three: Healthy Cities Movement Framework and Information for Assignment #1 Due March 3, 2021

This session will focus on the “healthy cities movement”, a long-term international development initiative sponsored by the World Health Organization that places health high on the agenda of decision makers and promotes comprehensive local strategies for health protection and sustainable development in cities. The basic features of the healthy cities model include: community participation and empowerment, intersectional partnerships, and participant equity. The healthy cities movement defines a “healthy city” as: A city that is continually creating and improving those physical and social environments and expanding those community resources which enable people to mutually support each other in performing all the functions of life and developing to their maximum potential. In this session we will address the following questions:

What principles and values undergird the healthy cities initiative and movement?
Can these principles and values guide us as we think about alternative urban futures?
What can we learn about the future of cities from the healthy cities movement?
What are the social determinants of health and why are they important for healthy cities?

Required Reading

The Healthy Cities Movement: Working Paper For The Lancet Commission On Healthy Cities
A Healthy City For All: Vancouver’s Healthy City Strategy 2014-2025
The Healthy Eating Plate https://cdn1.sph.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/sites/30/2012/09/HEPJan2015.jpg
CSA Community supported agriculture https://www.localharvest.org/csa/

Videos (SECRET DO NOT WATCH)

WHO: Towards Making a Healthy City – 6 minutes
Making The Connections: Our City, Our Society, Our Health – (3.48 minutes)
When Healthy Meets City | Marianne LeFever – 17 minutes
NYC coalition against hunger csa fundraiser https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U-1z4eUpCY0

Notes

Healthy cities movement was founded by public health experts, not by urban planners.
Healthy cities movement takes public health needs of individuals and applies it to the urban context.
Healthy cities model developed at a meeting in Ottowa
- - Human body needs;
    - low pollution
    - clean water
    - sufficient nutritious food
    - etc
  - Social determinants of health
    - access to adequate housing
    - access to healthcare
    - access to sufficient income
    - access to safe environment
    - etc
    - If you have these or dont have these then you will be more or less healthy vs ill
  - Peace: young black men were at greater risk of physical harm at home then at war
  - Shelter
  - Education that is free, adequate, available, and accessible to all
  - Food, enough and adequate
  - Income adequate to support a reasonable quality of life
  - clean air
  - sustainable resources
  - Social justice: people are not mistreated of discriminated against by those more powerful
  - Equity
- Comprehensive view of health
  - education
  - diversity
  - inclusion
  - food security
  - health care
  - affordable housing
  - walkability
  - access to public transportation
  - good dispersion of green space
Healthy city wheel model from last week’s reading
- Assemble a diverse and inclusive group
- Create a vision
- Assess assets, resources, and barriers
- Prioritize issues
- Develop a community-wide strategy
- Implement the plan
- Monitor and adjust your effort
- Establish new systems to maintain/build on your gains
- Celebrate benchmarks and successes
- Tackle the next issue
For the assignment
- Answer who is included in the group
  - Identify the ways they are not homogeneous
What factors drive the decisions urban decision makers consider
- money
  - personal gain
  - how to attract businesses and employment
  - manage cities in ways that attract rich people
  - increase tax base
  - how to prevent getting sued
- what ideologies are en vogue
- legacy building
- increase public safety
- lulu siting/ nimbys
- how to build a positive image of the city
what factors drive the decisions public health officials consider
- access to clean water, air, food
- income
- shelter
- environmental factors
- education
- conflict, violence, safety
- stressors
- indicators
  - vulnerability index
  - child health indicators

HOMEWORK ASSIGNMENT: DUE February 17th FOR SESSION FOUR

Watch the video below and summarize what you learned from Prof Stiglitz and be prepared to share what you learned with the class Joseph Stiglitz “How Inequality In Today’s Society Endangers Our Future” (1 hour)
Watch the video below and summarize the statistical information provided in the video and be prepared to share what you learned with the class The Insane Scale of Global Wealth Inequality Visualized, 2019 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=caBDPFx2et4 (9 minutes)
Update the statistics on billionaires by going to the website inequality.org update and be prepared to share what you learned with the class