Worldchanging Interview: WRI on Bus Rapid Transit v. Light Rail
Thursday, February 5th, 2009 Posted in Columns, Green News | Comments OffWhat's the smarter solution for bringing mobility to 21st century cities: bus rapid transit (BRT) or light rail? With questions this big, it's important to consider all the perspectives. A team of researchers at the World ...
Green Business: Inching Closer to Business As Usual
Wednesday, February 4th, 2009 Posted in Columns, Green News | Comments OffA Report from the State of Green Business Forum By Mary Catherine O'Connor Americans today, it seems, are alternately drunk on hope—thanks to the promise of a new Administration—and drowning in despair, thanks to just about every news ...
Graphic Series: Earthly Ideas, Concentrated Solar Power
Tuesday, February 3rd, 2009 Posted in Columns, Green News | Comments OffThis week's cartoon describes Concentrated Solar Power, a specific method of collecting energy from the sun using trough-shaped reflectors. Here at Worldchanging, we've covered the potential of parabolic solar solutions from various angles, including the recent ...
Real Sustainable Tourism In Embryo
Tuesday, February 3rd, 2009 Posted in Columns, Green News | Comments Off(Photo by Ashley Bristowe) Field Notes of an Accidental Eco-Tourist: Part 3 The fishing village of Malpais, on the southwestern tip of Costa Rica’s Nicoya Peninsula, is close enough to the concrete jungle of Jaco that you ...
Resource: Green Urbanism Down Under
Wednesday, January 28th, 2009 Posted in Columns, Green News | Comments OffAustralia and America share many cultural similarities. Among them: roots in Great Britain, a "New World" legacy of both optimism and exploitation, and a car-centric culture. But while Australia has become a trailblazer on the path ...
Report from the World Future Energy Summit, Abu Dhabi
Wednesday, January 28th, 2009 Posted in Columns, Green News | Comments OffBefore the 1950s, the desert city of Abu Dhabi was a vastly different place, characterized by grass huts, nomadic tribes, and a simpler way of life. Fast forward six decades past oil discovery, and you will ...
Graphic Series: Earthly Ideas, Greywater Systems
Wednesday, January 28th, 2009 Posted in Columns, Green News | Comments OffThis week's cartoon describes greywater systems. These resourceful plumbing setups collect lightly contaminated water – like the water from showers, sinks and clothes washers – and reuse it for non-potable tasks like flushing the toilet. If ...
Ask Obama to Restore the Home Planet
Tuesday, January 27th, 2009 Posted in Columns, Green News | Comments OffIt's time for Americans to declare some principles about the role of science in our nation, and we'd like to make a specific suggestion. American science is certainly returning from exile. Dennis Overbye puts it nicely: "All right, ...
Liberating Voices
Monday, January 26th, 2009 Posted in Columns, Green News | Comments OffInherently, persistently, we humans work together to solve our diverse problems, and as we do we zero in on patterns for solutions that just work. Architect Christopher Alexander realized that you could identify patterns for towns, ...
Artist, Nature, Nation
Friday, January 23rd, 2009 Posted in Columns, Green News | Comments OffStephen Shore. Merced River, Yosemite National Park, 1979. During the course of his speeches, U.S. President Obama often connects his audience to a version of American history that emphasizes achievement, sacrifice and a vision of greatness. He ...
From Nuisance to Asset: The Greening of Alleyways
Thursday, January 22nd, 2009 Posted in Columns, Green News | Comments OffPicture for yourself a concrete-laden alley, with rainwater pooling in its eroded depressions. Tall buildings border the alley, making it a dark and potentially dangerous place. Constructed for cars, trucks and trash, the space is covered ...
Worldchanging Interview: Dr. Lin Jiabin on Sustainability in China
Thursday, January 22nd, 2009 Posted in Columns, Green News | Comments OffWorldchanging ally Junko Edahiro, founder of the NGO Japan for Sustainability, delivered a presentation about Japanese citizen and NGO action in October at the China-Japan High Level Forum on Energy Saving and Environmental Protection Policies, hosted ...
Field Notes of an Accidental Eco-Tourist: Part Two
Wednesday, January 21st, 2009 Posted in Columns, Green News | Comments OffThe Moai Of Costa Rica’s Central Pacific (Image credit: Ashley Bristowe) Click here to read Part I of this four-part series. On the northern fringe of the Costa Rican beach town of Jaco, there stands at present a cluster ...
Graphic Series: Earthly Ideas, Life Cycle Analysis
Wednesday, January 21st, 2009 Posted in Columns, Green News | Comments OffEditor's note: This post is part of a series featuring Worldchanging ally Andy Lubershane's original graphics. While many of the issues covered in the comics have been discussed on Worldchanging in the past, we hope that ...
The Native Home of the Future
Tuesday, January 20th, 2009 Posted in Columns, Green News | Comments OffI started writing something tonight, a long, windy essay about the moment and the need for a fierce politics of optimism. We stand on the threshold of a new era, but I find myself not with ...
Clean Power From Deserts
Monday, January 19th, 2009 Posted in Columns, Green News | Comments OffThe Concentrating Solar Power (CSP) Technique by Dr. Gerry Wolff Close up view of parabolic trough and heat collector. Concentrating Solar Power (CSP) is the remarkably simple technique of arranging mirrors to concentrate sunlight and using ...
Climate Change Adaptation: From Big Taboo to Business Opportunity
Friday, January 16th, 2009 Posted in Columns, Green News | Comments OffFirst and most importantly, the room was full. Not long ago, a seminar on climate change adaptation here would have been a lower-profile event. It might have drawn a few dozen people, most of them ...
A Vital Message For Inauguration Day
Thursday, January 15th, 2009 Posted in Columns, Green News | Comments OffSign our letter to Obama today. On November 6, two days after the United States elected Barack Obama to be its next president, we launched a campaign called Inaugurate Change. We asked readers in the U.S. ...
Does Eco-Tourism Matter?
Tuesday, January 13th, 2009 Posted in Columns, Green News | Comments OffField Notes of an Accidental Eco-Tourist: Part I Costa Rica would probably not be my first choice for the first totally workfree holiday I’ve taken in three years, and the Central Pacific coast wouldn’t be my first ...
Getting the Architecture Right: The Economic Implications of Cap and Trade Policy
Monday, January 12th, 2009 Posted in Columns, Green News | Comments OffThis isn't just about carbon ... it turns out that cap and trade could be the largest economic redistribution program the US has ever seen. I attended a symposium a few weeks ago at Evergreen State College ...