About
Sustainability, collaboration and creativity are at the basis of the changes currently being experienced by our society. Since 2008, Defiant Imagination has been looking at how these concepts are being applied to different areas of our daily life: urbanism, food, the economy, social media, and more.
Its author, Flavie Halais, is a Vancouver-based freelance journalist.-
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Author Archives: Flavie
Wal-Mart’s eco-labels: brilliant or evil?
Wal-Mart announced today the launching of an eco-labelling program that will allow customers to see the environmental footprint of the products they wish to buy. In collaboration with a consortium of universities, the giant retailer will work on issuing an index that will reflect the life cycles of its products. The news seems to have [...]
Media literacy in the digital age
As a journalist, I often get asked whether the proliferation of news sources online (newspapers’ websites, blogs, aggregators…) is indeed harming journalism. It will certainly take a while for news organizations to figure out a new business model and for other structures to be put in place to create a balance between traditional reporting, citizen [...]
Posted in Media Leave a comment
A visit to In Good Company Workplaces
A few months ago I found out about a unique coworking space in New York City. In Good Company caters exclusively to women business owners and provides them not only with an extremely convenient and elegant working environment, but also with valuable support and collaboration opportunities. I visited the space last April during a trip [...]
Posted in Business and Economics 2 Comments
Microloans work best when business skills are taught to receivers
A recent New York Times article looking at several examples of microcredit programs around the world notes that their efficiency is increased when business skills are also taught to the receivers. Small business owners thrive when povided with basic entrepreneurship skills and networking opportunities, which allow them to discover new approaches and ideas.
Posted in Business and Economics Leave a comment
Local currencies: help businesses, connect residents
An article in Yes! magazine’s summer issue presents local currencies as a way to limit the effects of the recession by stimulating local economies. Local currencies such as the Chiemgauer in Germany or BerkShares in Massachussetts force cash to be spent in local businesses, thereby maximizing the use of profits and reconnecting citizens with their [...]
Posted in Business and Economics 1 Comment
Microcredit institution moving to the West
The Internet-based lending program Kiva will now turn to the United States to fight poverty after serving third world countries for the past four years. Its president Kemal Shah said access to credit has become more difficult for small business owners because of the economic crisis, particularly in the U.S. Kiva allows individual lenders to [...]
Posted in Business and Economics Leave a comment
Urban agriculture: an interview with Joe Nasr and June Komisar
This is an interview I did a couple of months ago with Joe Nasr, Co-coordinator at MetroAg (Alliance for Urban Agriculture) and June Komisar, Associate Professor at Ryerson University’s Department of Architectural Science. They both curated Carrot City, an exhibition that ran in Toronto last Winter and showed how design, architecture and urban planning can [...]
Posted in Food, Urban agriculture 4 Comments
The 99% Conference
I’ll be attending the 99% Conference in New York City on Thursday and Friday. The conference is organized by Behance and Coolhunting and will be about how to make ideas happen. I hope to be able to blog about it very soon!
Posted in Events Leave a comment
Gardening class: an audio piece
This is a piece I did on Greening Duluth’s gardening classes in Montreal, as part of my work on urban agriculture. Enjoy! [Audio clip: view full post to listen]
Posted in Urban agriculture 1 Comment
What is your farmers market for?