Imagine KC from Arnold Imaging on Vimeo. You know you're a nerd when an animation of parking lots being replaced with sweet, well-designed density gives you goosebumps. And I, my friends, am a nerd. This video created by ArnoldImaging for Kansas City Public Television asks how, within a decade, alternative transit would change life in Kansas City, where the average resident currently spends the equivalent of six work weeks per year in a car. Although I'm not totally convinced that light rail equals solar panels and romance, I know it brings walkable transit-oriented development and sidewalk cafes. Awesome.
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This August, Mayor Newsom signed San Francisco's groundbreaking green building ordinance that imposes strict new green building requirements on newly constructed residential and commercial buildings, and renovations to existing buildings. The ordinance specifically requires newly constructed commercial buildings over 5,000 sq ft, residential buildings over 75 feet in height, and renovations on buildings over 25,000 sq ft to be subject to an unprecedented level of LEED and green building certifications, which makes San Francisco the city with the most stringent green building requirements in the nation.
"If we want to get serious about addressing the root causes of global warming, then let's draw down the empty rhetoric and start taking concrete actions," said Mayor Newsom. "A lot of people don't realize that their homes and businesses create a significant portion of our carbon footprint, so today, by signing these strict green building standards into law, we're saying enough is enough. Let's end the stale promises, emphasize conservation, and tackle climate change on all fronts."
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The campaign that we launched last year to pass a Peak Oil Resolution has succeeded. Joining forces with members of the Sustainability Action Network earlier this year, we were able to host presentations on peak oil to the City's Sustainability Advisory Board and the City Commission itself. With the helpful initiative of the Mayor, Michael Dever, the resolution was put on the agenda promptly the first Tuesday of September. All of the commissioners were in full support of the effort, and around 8:30 that night, the resolution to establish a Mayor's Task Force on Peak Oil passed unanimously, 5-0.
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Stinson Beach, Calif. - The success of the environmental movement in calling attention to the dangers of global warming has led to an ironic outcome: It's become easier for the public to adopt a passive approach as we wait on world leaders to sign emissions treaties or huge corporations to "go green." This Earth Day, stop waiting! There are new ways for you to fight climate change in your own backyard.
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I was recently interviewed for the cover story of this weeks Lawrence.com mag. A great article by Frank Tankard. You can read it online here, or in the deadwood edition found in shops and restaurants all around downtown. When you get a chance to check it out, you may find another surprise - a tasty peak-oil sandwich! ;) ...Cheers - Tim
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Over the past century, our cities have been shaped — literally — for the benefit of the automobile and oil industries. Today, with global oil reserves headed toward irreversible decline, we need to face the challenges of the imminent post-oil reality. Seizing foreign oil fields (then “spinning” the story to make a prophet of Orwell) will not solve our environmental problems. Building Green Cities for people, not cars, will.
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One of the world’s most inspiring green roofs is the ACROS Fukuoka building in Fukuoka City, Japan. It houses offices, retail space, a 2,000 seat theatre and a museum.
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So much that seems obvious from one person's perspective isn't from another’s. For example, cities, towns and villages - the "built environment" or "constructed habitat" – constitutes collectively the largest creation of our species.
Talk about obvious, I came to the San Francisco Bay Area in 1974 – that’s a long time ago. Now observe the changes: Berkeley and Oakland rise up from San Francisco Bay to a ridgeline on the east, and beyond that in those days, it was the wide open spaces interrupted by a farm town here or there until you got to the towering Sierra Nevada Mountains with their small tourist and retiree villages, with skiing, rock climbing, nature photography and other such delights.
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To walk down the streets of a major US city is to experience the impacts of decades of bad design, in streets and sidewalks, in architecture, in density and use of space. I do not use the word design as some subjective stand-in for ‘what I like’ (though aesthetics are a valid basis for criticism); I mean design for the future, design for human beings. Our cities are designed with an overwhelming bias towards the needs of automobiles, rather than people. They are designed with expectations of transportation, energy needs, and economic relationships that are badly out of date. They are often designed against known practices in what makes cities more livable, more beautiful, and more functional – cities that might survive this wildly unpredictable century.
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Here's the reality: we in the U.S., Canada, Australia and (to a lesser extent) Europe need to move very quickly to make deep cuts in our climate emissions if we hope for any chance of making big enough global cuts to avoid generating catastrophic global warming. In other words, we need radical change if we want to avoid cooking the planet.
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Bike-sharing programs that provide cheap access to inner-city bicycles are popular all over Europe, and Beijing, and even American cities are catching on.
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The film is truly inspirational. Let's make it happen here in the states. - Tim
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