TEDxManhattan “Changing the Way We Eat” will highlight various aspects of the sustainable food and farming movement and the work being done to shift the U.S. food system from industrially-based agriculture to regional sustainable where healthy, nutritious food is accessible to all. (sold out event but available by live webcast @ http://www.ted.com/tedx/events/744)

For those of us trying to help some positive things happen in the world, it can get pretty depressing to confront the worst unemployment in decades, a political system that often seems non-functional, and the ever present danger of our environment imploding. We need to stay positive and keep working for the common good. So, just like my diet, I try to consume a healthy variety of media-inspiration, information, entertainment, insight, and humor. As much of it as I can get! This includes books, music, theatre and movies-of all kinds, old school and new.

Mark Monchek looks at ways to take the chaos of the Fourth Quarter and turn it into a period of self-reflection and growth.

Here is what you need to know: most of what you have heard about the economy is dead wrong, or just irrelevant. Are we still in a recession? Has the recovery begun? How do I find a good job now? Is it the right time to start a business ? What’s going to happen with health care reform? How will that affect me? These are the wrong questions to ask. The big lesson from the market crash of 2008 is that we can’t rely on government or big business for hand-outs. Each one of us needs to take full responsibility for our lives, our business, our career, our health, our family. All of it- no excuses. But, we don’t need to do it alone. Amazing opportunities arise when we reach out to the communities in our lives: our family, our friends, and the places where we live. The Internet and social media make it easier than ever to build communities and connect to them.