Us too, please!

Having the city take this bold step would prevent individual neighbourhoods from having to engage this battle each and every time.

edmontonsun.com - Edmonton News- Drive-thru ban no idle threat

Some green-minded civic politicians want Edmonton to consider closing the window on new restaurant drive-thrus and their idling vehicles.

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So Good to Hear

This is a great example of the kind of thinking that will move us beyond our divisions so that we can work together to solve the challenges ahead of us. This message can be mapped onto any number of efforts. I choose to map it onto the effort for sustainability.

Barack Obama's victory speech in South Carolina

The choice in this election is not between regions or religions or genders. It’s not about rich versus poor; young versus old; and it is not about black versus white. It’s about the past versus the future.

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With Fingers Crossed

Let's hope the end result is as hoped for. I have faith that Adam Vaughan can make this turn out the way it should.

globeandmail.com: Big-box plan on Queen West strip raises alarm

With politicians encouraging a reduction in car use and urban sprawl, Mr. Robins said he hopes the project will end up being a model of how urban densification can work without compromising the character of the downtown.

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Stuff that make me say, "Cool!"

Information on how to find Old Pottery Road and Old Don Mills Road. (Aside: There's still lots of underused space in the city. So get out there and use it as park before it gets bought up to be something else.)

Torontoist: Old Pottery Road

Unlike most abandoned roads that exist only for short stretches of their former selves, old Pottery Road is unique: its entire original route is still open and can be hiked from beginning to end.

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If we really want to help the economy ...

We created this economy with both its "goods" and its "bads". The bads have outweighed the goods for some time now, and the realization of this is only now staring to become common knowledge.

It's time to start building the next economy. However, it's going to take a lot more than buying that new fridge, new house or new car. It's going to take some new thinking.

Community Supported Manufacturing | Post Carbon Institute

Many of the goods and services we currently rely on for our daily needs are almost totally dependent on oil. Not only do our products travel thousands of miles to get to our doors, requiring massive supplies of cheap energy in the shipping process, they also contain oil. Everything from plastics, household appliances, to processed foods is derived in some way from petroleum products.

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A Green Economy is a Better Economy

Friedman left "communities" out of his list of things that need smarter planning, but a good article nonetheless about the way forward.

The Green Road Less Traveled

A fundamental truth about green technology: you can’t make a product greener, whether it’s a car, a refrigerator or a traffic system, without making it smarter — smarter materials, smarter software or smarter design.

Density and Distance: Car Use in the City

A look by Statscan at the reasons why the people who drive in the city choose to do so. It turns out that most people want to do the right thing, but without the proper planning it just isn't possible. My goal is to support people in their goal to live a better life.

Canadian Social Trends: Dependence on cars in urban neighbourhoods

As much as they want to do something, many people probably feel helpless when confronted with [suggestions such as car-pooling, public transit, walking and bicycling]. One of the underlying reasons for these feelings may lie in the fact that the types of neighbourhoods and municipalities in which people live simply do not lend themselves to modes of travel other than the automobile.

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No food for oil!

A good article about the crazy cycle we get into if we depend too much on biofuels. Again: same old thinking leads to same old (and sometimes new) problems.

TheStar.com | comment | Biofuels could generate extensive food shortages

[T]he truth is that adopting biofuels as a large-scale alternative to fossil fuels to combat global warming could create a whole host of new problems – including widespread food shortages.

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Unclear on the Concept

Richard Branson has got to take the prize for greenwashing. He is trying to cast his quest to develop a rocket for vanity space travel as part of a solution for the end of oil. It sounds like he is suggesting "Solar Panels in Spaaaaaace!"

Don't forget that this is the guy who is offering $25 million for anyone who can develop a machine that will reverse the process of climate change. Last time I checked, it was called a tree! He should spend $25 million planting some instead.

The kind of thinking that is getting us into the problem won't get us out of the problem. And when it comes to that kind of thinking, Richard Branson is a genius!

TheStar.com | Technology | Space odyssey takes shape

"With the end of the oil era approaching, and climate change progressing faster than most models had been predicting, the utilization of space is essential," [Branson] said. "I also believe that someday we'll be able to use space as a source of energy for the planet, using the most sustainable source of energy available, our sun."

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