While there’s been plenty said about the greenwashing of our current media, it led me to think of just how inherent “green” ideas are to “underground restaurants.”

one of the true pioneers in “extra-restaurant” dining is jim denevan’s outstanding in the field, co-led by katie oursler. Outstanding is one of the originators of “farm-to-table” dining, and their ambition in staging amazingly creative dinnerparties has been a constant inspiration.

Outstanding organizes dining events all over the country that take place on the farm where the food was grown, literally “bringing diners to the source.” This is one of the themes that runs through the dozens of online dining projects that have emerged over the last few years.

These projects have the ability to partner with local farmers and purveyors to feature local, sustainable and organic foods. And like Outstanding, a lot of the time growers and artisans attend the dinner and speak a bit about how, where and why they are growing what they do. Also, diners can meet the chef, meet the host, meet the organizer and most importantly, meet each other.

Underground dining is not just about the food, it is about the community that makes the food possible: The grower, the chef, the server, the diner and the dishwasher. Online social dining events provide an opportunity where all of these interdependent elements come together in a tiny livingroom.

Whether it’s alternative fuels, eco-friendly manufacturing, recycling or buying local, the green movement is about involving the community in the decision-making and problem-solving process. That means pulling the curtain back on existing methods and incorporating our collective solutions.

Ultimately the underground dining movement and the green movement are about the same thing: choice. an educated and deliberate choice.

And we are facing difficult challenges. It’s seemingly cheaper to do things dumb. Or it’s downright confusing which is the least evil. In doing my dinner parties i always struggled with one fundamental element: napkins. Do I use napkins made from recycled paper, or do i wash cloth linens? which is better, which is worse, and ultimately, as a coordinator in a pinch, which is easier.

The various industries have to begin to build the best decision into the most convenient one, and they need our help to do that. How can we anticipate and optimize the benefits of our inclinations?

I doubt that the majority of online dining projects got started because they thought it was a green idea. It’s usually because they have a passion for food, a desire to work closely with the people who grow it, an inclination to meet and serve other passionate people, and an interest in providing some alternative to the status quo.

These are all green ideas, and an amazing amount of work. These are tiny hobby-operations, that barely breakeven, and yet they have international attention. When the ghetto gourmet hit NYC the first time it was like the rolling stones had come to town. thousands of people wanted one of only 100 tickets. seats were being sold at a premium on craigslist, people were begging to be volunteer servers.

I was completely overwhelmed. And that is another theme that runs through these online dining projects. Most of them are booked, solid. Whether they are in austin or atlanta, denver or minneapolis, people are looking to connect with food, ideas and each other.

By demonstrating an alternative, by connecting and educating people, online dining projects are making a far bigger influence than profit. And i think that’s ok with us. and that might be the biggest green idea of them all.

It’s an article called Better than Free by Kevin Kelly.

He talks about all the things you must do with technology to provide true service, and it echoes a lot of the ideas that come out of the social dining and underground restaurant movement. By thinking in a lot of different boxes at once, social dining projects are integrating ideas that are very common, but isolated in different spheres, to provide a new, and much needed service.

The Social Dining Movement as a true service facilitated by the Internet:

The Dinner Party: People have always had dinner parties, but generally it’s a bunch of people that know each other and one or two “outsiders”. The new social dining opportunities are unique in that it’s a majority of people that don’t know each other. everyone is a little off guard and outside of their “comfort zone”. people have a chance to be social in new and fresh ways.

The Restaurant: restaurants started out as solitary, isolated experiences where people could get “restorative broths.” and today, even though it is more common to find communal seating in some restaurants, the restaurant is a private experience. and for the most part, we like it that way. However, the social dining trend invites people to have “positive shared experiences.” Food is being prepared and served, but it is delivered in a new way that invites collective, simultaneous enjoyment.

The Theater: what attracted me most to social dining was the idea of taking things outside of their traditional context. When you present something in new way, you’re able to see new things. I had the opportunity to merge performance arts with the culinary arts, and what i found was that people really enjoy hearing a solo instrumentalist in an intimate, “private” setting. The nuances of a singular trumpet or a singer-songwriter playing a cello can resonate in a room of attentive strangers. Stand-up comics were a great success at ghetto gourmet dinner parties, and I have to thank my friend Kamau for hooking me up with some of the best comics on the circuit. stand-up comedy venues are brutal, but the art of storytelling and comfort of comical common experience could really shine in a intimate residential setting.

I’ll end with a story a woman told me after a dinner:
“I just had one of the most meaningful conversations of my life. we got here late and the only seats available were next to a big, fat woman and we almost left. seeing how we had paid in advance and driven all this way and we were hungry, we reluctantly took our seats. it makes me think of how many things i’ve kept myself from experiencing due to my personal prejudices. Thank you so much.”

True service lies in providing the opportunity for things that are beyond monetary value.

The bar is raised for everyone to cut the bullshit and serve.

Ushahidi is the most exciting from both a personal and technological point of view. The website is a really amazing resource for tracking the violence in Kenya. It turns out that land telephone lines rarely work in Africa, and cellphone use is very common. So Ushahidi allows people to submit acts of violence via the website or text message. Like Wikipedia, people can confirm or elaborate reports of violence or even particular material needs.

Check out the timeline of incidents. Citizen journalism, collective knowledge and collaboration at its best.

Now, if only we could apply these ideas in a more global and preventive way.

Here’s a list of more resources for following the happenings in Kenya:

KenyaUnlimited is an amazing blog aggregator of Kenya-based blogs. A real wealth of information.

GlobalVoices is a citizens’ media project founded at Harvard Law School’s Berkman Center for Internet and Society, focused on the Internet’s impact on society. they have a great Kenya section.

and here’s some personal blogs that I found interesting:

robrooker.com/blog

ethanzuckerman.com/blog/

whiteafrican.com

What a day…so tired I can’t go into TOO much detail
.

Started in Anchorage, three planes today. the last one seated 8. We almost got stuck in Bethel today…a place even the natives call the armpit of Alaska. We got the 1st and second planes to fly out in a few days. Lucky.

Landed in Kotlik “airport”, which is an icy strip with flood lights and a barn at the end. And three dudes waiting for us with snowmobiles with woden dog sleds attached. They said the dogs had been waiting for us this afternoon, but since our plane was so late they sent the dogs home and came back with snowmobiles.

We sledded to the school where an elementary basketball game was in progress. The kids swarmed us like we were the Beatles. “The band is here!” “What’s your name?” “That’s a GIRL hat!” “Why do you guys wear hats?” “Do you know Kobe?” “Do you need help?” “You ever eat native food? Ever eat seal meat?” It’s going to be an interesting few days.

Tomorrow the kids are doing native dances for us and the parents are bringing mukluk and seal and moose meat. Then we’ll play our show for the town, in the same gymnasium where the basketball game was held tonight. By the way the Kotlik Falcons are the best 10 year old basketball team I’ve ever seen. They ruled.

Late night, I took a walk ON the Yukon River. My facial hair disappeared and was replaced by tiny icicles. Saw the northern lights.
Yeah.

could a venture capital firm buy out an appilcant’s debt and then employ that applicant in some creative term?

VCs have money, but do they have all the talent they need? could there be an interesting way to invest their money into “saving” an indebt graduate from the big lendors at a reduced rate, and then incorporating that talent into solutions across a VC firm’s portfolio.

so, instead of having someone owe some ridiculous sum that accrues interest, they would owe their ideas and labor in an environment where their ideas and labor could rapidly appreciate.

Of course, it calls into question the whole idea of a society that fosters and facilitates debt so brazenly. Generations of young people starting their lives in debt means that people lose the ability to make real long term decisions about how they’d like to live their lives. Before we even know who we are, what’s important and what we can and would like to do, we are locked into a month-to-month, hand-to-mouth lifestyle that’s fueled largely by our ability to live outside of our means.

I was 16 when i started applying to colleges. I was to be the first member of my family to graduate from college. I was interested in the world’s cultures and religions, i was passionate about art, and interested in contributing to the large social problems we face. The smart thing for me to do would have been going to a two year community college and then transferring to a 4-year state university, never going into debt and graduating with a world of choices.
but that’s was an impossibility. i wanted to travel and see the world and take advantage of my opportunity to study abroad and out-of-state.

I borrowed $18,000 for my undergrad, and $18,000 for my graduate degree, for a total of $36,000, two degrees in english with time in russia and the north of england. When i got done with my master’s, i was tired of school and ready to push my limits further. I traveled the States as an industrial boilermaker replacing steel tubes in big air heaters, and then i took a gig working in Antarctica, driving an unsupported utility tunnel under the south pole.

After 6 years of avoiding the envelopes from sallie mae, I currently owe $82,000 because of interest and penalties.

Was there a better way to do my life? Probably. But i think of the thousands and thousands of people that end up in debt, with families, and credit cards, working everyday to break even, and i wonder how better their talents could be applied to the world we live in.

How many of us would dedicate our lives to working on the big problems if we didn’t have to get that paycheck to pay that debt?

We are on the verge of facing another gigantic humanitarian crisis in Kenya. (you can read a round-up of kenya-based blogs here.) We have nearly forgotten about what happened in Rwanda and Burma. The issues of poverty, illiteracy, corruption, communicable disease, energy and oppression need all of our resources, and instead we’re stuck in the grind, stuck in the cubicle, paying off debt that a lot of us didn’t understand when we got into it.

how many of us would sublet our apartment for a month and go to kenya to help moderate or facilitate solutions? or how many of us would take a month off and work with people in our own communities to address some of the local issues that are complicating our lives and the lives of our children.

I recently read this quote on some investors blog:
Money is a renewable resource, while time and opportunity run out.

Isn’t our effort more valuable than aid?

So my question is: Where are our leaders? Doesn’t anyone know that this is going on? Talent and energy and time is being wasted. People are getting locked into lives that aren’t serving the greater good. Isn’t there a better way?

I looked up these quick stats:
“A recent study by the National Center for Education Statistics (1) shows that about 50% of recent college graduate have student loans, with an average student loan debt of $10,000.” and “The average medical student graduates with nearly $100,000 in student loan debt.”

anyway, i’m looking forward to some blubber eating stories and j.king’s tales of making the native gals swoon on the tundra.

it was in a small, basement proscenium theater near union sq. in SF, and it was packed, all four shows have sold out, but i was lucky enough to know somebody.
it started out with a pretty great funk/rock band: conjure, led by paul hunt, who featured a terrific female vocalist, latrice, and his regular male vocalist, who’s name i don’t know, but is really amazing. i saw them last month and the singer is really impressive: sweet, soulful, and straight to the point.

they did well, sounding like they were trying some new things and really taking advantage of the intimate setting. i think it’s rare to see almost 10 musicians playing for 100 people in theater seating. it was really fun.

then, it was the main event.
my friend kamau did more than an hour of something like stand-up, something like lecture, and something like barbershop storytelling. his issue is race, and he explores news, pop-culture and most importantly, our language, and how we are constantly making choices that contribute to the world around us.
it was a night of goosebumps, hmmmmms and moments where i couldn’t laugh hard enough. I’ve seen kamau perform often over the last few years, and this new show signifies a great shift in his work. from an accomplished stand-up comedian to a social commentator with some badass comedic chops, kamau’s new show explores race not as some abstract concept, but as a series of nouns and verbs and inclinations that we create and experience as people on the street.

it’s was fucking good. and he not only got oohs and ahhs and wows throughout the show, he got a long standing ovation.

i could easily see him in a room of a few thousand people, young and old, white, black and burmese, and everyone would leave feeling like the received a personal tour through the underbelly of some of the most pressing and present ideas that we never speak up to.

i couldn’t be prouder of my friend, and i look forward to seeing the wkb curve grow.
special thanks to the folks that help make the show happen: lisa marie, bruce, melissa, danielle and the rest of the team. great work.