Top 10 sustainability stories of 2006
Reviewing the year of 2006 from the perspective of sustainability in state and local government.
Buildings
The ripening
I sat excitedly at the speakers’ table for the press conference unveiling the Southern California Association of Governments’ (SCAG) 2006 State of the Region Report. The usual group of reporters, both print and broadcast was there. I had spent many hours formulating responses to anticipated questions regarding my remarks and the inclusion of an important new section acknowledging “peak oil.” (Debbie Cook is Mayor Pro Tem for the City of Huntington Beach)
Housing & urban design – Dec 24
Rail-Volution: Building livable communities with transit
The collective costs of suburban sprawl
“It’s a Wonderful Life” – not so wonderful
The way we will live: houses of the future
Rail – Dec 24
Rail boom hits environmental, NIMBY snags
North Coast Railroad Authority
Rail-Volution
Autos – Dec 21
The Highwaymen – privatization of the roads
U.S. Interstate: A golden opportunity missed
Detroit: Misguided assault on autos won’t solve energy crisis
Ford’s new Super Duty trucks
The auto efficiency wedge
Solutions & sustainability – Dec 21
New German community models car-free living
Software & community in the early 21st century
Permaculture for the inner landscape
A natural builder creates an ecovillage
Suburban renewal – one backyard at a time
Peak oil – Dec 21
Ten principles of post oil-peak planning
The energy detensive economy (for local governments)
Peak Oil Blues – interview
PO & GW do not fit a socially believable disaster profile
Alternative to powerdown?
New documentary: “What a Way to Go: Life at the End of Empire”
Mike Ruppert back in U.S.
The peak oil crisis: the Council of Governments
The report [for the Washington D.C. area] acknowledges and even describes in much detail that there is a debate going on about peak oil. Unfortunately when the authors start talking about production starting to peak 20 years from now the sense of urgency is somehow lost.
Let them wear hats
Environmental organizations do not ask people to change their fashion sense or consider warming up their body and not the house like the Japanese do. No one is asked to change anything. Just program the thermostat and forget about it.
Solutions & sustainability – Dec 15
MIT president: A model for tackling the energy challenge
CSIRO Sustainability Network Newsletter
Re-thinking progress: Well-being as the focus of policy
Green revolution sweeping construction industry
Climate policy – Dec 7
Bangladesh pays cruel price for the west’s excesses
Inhofe gives global warming a final cold shoulder
Exxon spends millions to cast doubt on warming
US science teachers pass on climate DVDs
Americans try to shift into ‘carbon neutral’
Climate change has a chilling effect on where Americans can build homes
Transport – Dec 5
Monbiot: In praise of coaches [buses]
Vietnam gets richer, locals trade bikes for cars
So how about public transit?