• City Planning
• Climate Change

Lowering the Temperature: Strategies for Cities

In an industrial area of Chicago, a new street actually eats pollution. Using titanium dioxide as an additive to ordinary cement, the road surface can actually destroy nitrous oxides at ground level. In addition, the lighter color of the cement reduces heat absorption during the day and lighting requirements at night. Chicago added rain absorbing […]

• Bicycle Advocacy
• City Planning
• Climate Change
• Economic Development

Who Killed the CRC?

CRC is dead, says Oregon Governor Kitzhaber… Who will claim the kill?
WA state Senator Don Benton (R) or Robert Liberty, ex-1000 Friends of Oregon

• Climate Change

Obama Targets Tuesday for big Climate Announcement

We’ve been waiting for this for a long time. Addressing the threat of Climate Change – YouTube.

• Active Citizenship
• City Planning
• Climate Change

Tell Metro about your ideas to reduce carbon pollution from cars

Metro, the Portland Oregon regional government, is asking about Greenhouse gas reduction strategies here Focus is on motor vehicles and transport with a bit of land use thrown in. *Note: Opt In is an innovative on-line civic forum with almost 20,000 registered participants from all around the metro region begun when I was a Metro […]

• Climate Change
• Economic Development
• energy
• Sustainable Economy
• Uncategorized

Carbon Tax: A Tool to Create Economic Growth

What would happen if we decided to tax the burning of fossil fuels–gasoline, natural gas, coal–and gave back the money to businesses and individuals as rebates on their income taxes?

• Agriculture
• Climate Change
• Energy Management

More Harsh News from China

Now, the demand for water to cool coal-fired power plants is drying up the breadbasket of China. Add this to the heavy pollution blanketing urban areas like Beijing and its a wonder the people are as quiet as they are.

• City Planning
• Climate Change
• Energy Management
• Healthy Cities

The Cost of Fossil Fuels and some light ahead

Two articles in today’s NY Times highlight the challenge and promise of changing our energy mix.

China is in the midst of its worst air pollution crisis, with images reminiscent of 1950s Pittsburgh, when the noontime sun disappeared regularly in the dark cloud of smog.

While in the US, the tax credit for alternative energy being restored in January has led to a resurgence in wind energy projects. The US still lags most of the industrial world in its percentage of energy produced with non-carbon sources but a recent report done in New York state lays out a viable path for virtually 100% renewable energy there by 2050. The study authors noted:

“We must be ambitious if we want to promote energy independence and curb global warming,” said study co-author Robert Howarth, a Cornell University professor of ecology and environmental biology. “The economics of this plan make sense,” said Anthony Ingraffea, a Cornell engineering professor and a co-author of the study. “Now it is up to the political sphere.”

• City Planning
• Climate Change
• Non-car Mobility

Build it (bike lanes, that is) and they will come!

Portland is heralded for its strong investment in bicycle facilities and is being copied around the continent (think NYC, Vancouver, BC and Chicago). Can’t even remember how many times Bicycling Magazine has called Portland the Best Cycling City in North America. In the past 20 years, Portland has built over 300 miles of bicycle facilities and much of the Portland metropolitan area is not far behind. Well, has it worked? Let’s find out…

• Bicycle Advocacy
• City Planning
• Climate Change
• Non-car Mobility

Is reducing car use low hanging fruit for cities?

With transportation making up about 20% of a city’s carbon contribution, changes in how we move are critical to address climate change but also, if done right, can make our cities safer, cleaner, quieter and more livable.

• Agriculture
• Climate Change

Can Plants Cool the Planet?

“the last time the planet was 2 degrees warmer, the oceans were four to six (perhaps eight) meters higher. We may not know how fast that will happen (although it is already occurring more rapidly than initially estimated), but the end point in sea-level rise is not in question. A major portion of humanity lives in coastal areas and small island states that will go under water. The site of the Earth Summit and Rio+20 will disappear under water fairly early on.” Thomas Lovejoy, NY Times, 1/21/13