Prince George, Squamish and other BC towns try Smart Growth ideas.By Christine McLarenPublished: June 23, 2009 in The Tyee.On George Street, a hub of the city, it’s lunch time but the café is closed. So is the bakery. And a nearby restaurant. No wonder, given there is no one on the street to go inside. A car glides past. A woman gets out, unlocks the door to an unmarked office space, and goes inside, locking the door behind her. On her way in, she glances behind her… for what? A sign of life? Forget it. This is downtown Prince George on a Sunday afternoon. Continue reading ‘Small Cities Working to Create Vibrant Downtowns’
This article by John Lorinc of Bloomberg News appeared in the New York Times on May 26, 2009
Former President Bill Clinton’s Climate Initiative is teaming up with the U.S. Green Building Council to help support the creation of more than a dozen energy-efficient communities on six continents.
It’s one thing to put up a LEED-certified building, but quite another to develop an entire urban community with enough energy-efficient bells and whistles that its on-site emissions are actually less than zero.
That’s the ambitious objective of the new Climate Positive Development Program, a joint venture between the Clinton Climate Initiative and the U.S. Green Building Council, Continue reading ‘Building ‘Climate Positive’ Communities’
President Obama and Vice President Biden urged a group of House Democrats at a White House meeting this morning to move forward with climate-change legislation that has become a subject of controversy among some Democrats and threatened to stall health-care reform.The president asked a group of 34 House Democrats for quick action on a bill written by Energy and Commerce Chairman Henry Waxman (D-Calif.) and energy and environment subcommittee chairman Ed Markey (D-Mass.) to cap greenhouse-gas emissions by distributing carbon permits to polluting companies. Maximum emission rates would decline over time under the Waxman-Markey plan, forcing companies to adopt alternative energy sources or cut consumption.
Democratic Reps. Jay Inslee (Wash.) and Doris Matsui (Calif.), who both attended the meeting, said the president emphasized the historic nature of the climate bill.
“He told us, sometimes we do things of real impact. And none of us would want to look back in twenty to thirty years and think we had punted on something of a historic nature,” Inslee said.
(A portion of an article by Shailagh Murray and Juliet Eilperin that appeared in the Washington Post on May 5, 2009. The full article can be seen here.
On April 2 attendees at the Edmonds Mayor’s Climate Protection Committee heard a presentation on “Climate Change and the PUD” by Garth Williams, Senior Manager of Business Services at the PUD. Mr. Williams has kindly made available a copy of his PowerPoint presentation as a PDF file, which is attached here: Climate Change and the PUD
March 27, 2009 For Immediate Release. In honor of Earth Day 2009, the City of Edmonds and Sustainable Edmonds are hosting a National Conversation on Climate Action from 6 to 9 p.m. on April 22 at Edmonds City Hall. The public is encouraged to attend and be a part of the conversation.
Continue reading ‘City and Sustainable Edmonds will host climate conversation on Earth Day’
A slide show presentation by Bradley M. Marten of the Marten Law Group, a Seattle environmental law firm, dated March 6, 2009, gives a good summary of how and why recent and new Washington legislation will affect real estate development. The presentation can be downloaded from the internet.
Here are two announcements of interest, sent by Alison Pugh, who maintains the College’s sustainability website:
Sustainability Classes at Edmonds Community College for Spring 2009
Green Building DecisionsGreen Building DecisionsGreen Building Decisions
You can reach her at alison.pugh@edcc.edu
WASHINGTON (AP) — Despite years of study and analysis, the world is unprepared for climate change and needs to rethink basic assumptions that govern things as varied as choosing cars and building bridges, the National Research Council reports. Continue reading ‘Climate change means future building, land use and planning practices can’t rely on assumptions of the past’
Thomas Friedman published a fine column titled “The Inflection Is Near?” in the March 7, 2009 issue of the New York Times. You can find it here. I’ve quoted a portion of it below that I think is essential reading. I also agree with his endorsement of Joe Romm’s “Climate Progress” blog.
“Let’s today step out of the normal boundaries of analysis of our economic crisis and ask a radical question: What if the crisis of 2008 represents something much more fundamental than a deep recession?” Continue reading ‘Mother Nature doesn’t do bailouts’
Incentives encourage homeowners to embrace energy efficiency.
Energy-saving systems for the attic, basement, and in between have effectively gone on sale, courtesy of the United States Congress. But whether shoppers will take advantage – or even notice available discounts – remains an open question.Tax incentives to encourage investments in energy efficiency took effect last week when President Barack Obama signed the $787 billion economic stimulus bill. That means homeowners with drafty windows, old heating systems, or other root causes of high energy bills can be rewarded in tax season if they make improvements in 2009 or 2010. Continue reading ‘Stimulus plans brings green home improvement tax breaks’
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