Insight and inspiration in turbulent times.
– Transportation: The Leading Edge (ASPO-USA talk)
– E-Car Scheme to Tackle Permanent Congestion in Paris
– Going Car-Free? It’s On Us, Says Hoboken
– In Arabian Desert, a Sustainable City Rises
– Google tests cars that drive themselves
The book is a blood, sweat and tears account of life as an elected eco warrior trying to encourage local government to work with communities to make the world a greener place, packed with great case studies and tips for Transition initiatives and Councils alike.
– Riding Bikes with the Dutch – Movie Trailer
– Dude, Where’s Your Car? (Hollywood and bicycles)
– Can pop culture push sustainable mobility?
– Why Building a Bike-Safe City Is Key to a Clean Energy Future
– Krugman: Transit economics
At Mt. Hood in Oregon there is a beautiful lodge, The Timberline. It was built during the Great Depression, under the auspices of the Works Progress Administration. Not only was it publicly funded, built, and operated, but the workers were trained to perform skilled crafts that they had never done. Form and function are magnificently combined. What a model this could have been for planners and builders.
“A school has to be more than beautiful and ‘green.’ It has to respect students’ dignity, and feel like a safe and peaceful place where people care.”
Yesterday, I was talking with a potential architect and I asked about lower embodied-energy basement wall systems. She mentioned Durisol, which is basically a type of lightweight block made from cement-impregnated wood waste.
In advance of the publication next week of Chris Bird’s Transition Book “Local Sustainable Homes”, I spoke to Chris about the book, and about what he set out to achieve in writing it.
-Americans want smaller homes, not McMansions
-HafenCity: A Case Study on Future-Adaptive Urban Development
-Straw Bale Model House
Next week sees the publication of the next book in the Transition Books series, ‘Local Sustainable Homes: how to make them happen in your community’ by Chris Bird. More details to follow (including how to order your copy), but as a taster, here is my foreword to the book…
A great deal of the discussion of post-petroleum food production misses the fact that in societies before oil — and thus arguably in societies after oil — food was produced by two distinct systems. The last century saw the dismantling of one of those; the present century will have to see its reconstruction.
Host Tamara Banks takes a look at the Transition Cities movement that is working for a way of life that is environmentally friendly, supports the local economy and conserves natural resources.
Everyone knows that it takes energy to produce anything. The energy used in mining, transport, processing, manufacturing, delivery, and disposal is “embodied” in every product we consume, from food to diapers to televisions and insurance policies. Our traditional way of looking at energy, however, highlights only current consumption, traditionally disaggregated into agricultural, industrial, transportation, commercial, and residential sectors.
