The beginning of the end for oil
One of the surprises in the oil world in 2004 was the success of an underground documentary on the perilous state of world energy. [New film coming from a maker of the End of Surburbia.]
Buildings
Jane Jacobs jars our memories
For all our technical advances, says the noted thinker, we’re forgetting a lot of crucial stuff.
On the Beach
Where do people get the idea that Las Vegas is America’s city of the future?
Urban vs. Rural Sustainability
Cities may survive peak oil better than rural areas. A personal account.
One of the last easy-motoring Christmases
Time Magazine’s Person of the Year had a famous father who famously remarked a decade ago that “the American way of life is not negotiable.” To keep the suburban expansion going indefinitely we will need to continue using one-quarter of the world’s oil every day.
Martis Valley
At at time when energy resource depletion is widely acknowledged, many housing developments continue in soon-to-be-disfunctional patterns. Ronald Cooke, author of Oil, Jihad and Destiny, writes that the development plan for Martis Valley in California is a really good example of this type of obsolete public policy.
Towards Alternative Cities, the Green-Friendly Way
Alarmed by the pace at which consumer-driven lifestyles are destroying the planet’s resources, a leading environmental body has set its sights on creating a green-friendly haven replete with houses, restaurants, shops and hotels.
Researchers: Sprawl Related to Health Woes
North Carolina researchers are heading a national study to find the best ways to redesign communities so that Americans get out of their cars and travel by foot or bicycle.
US: Snazzier houses bring energy crisis home to middle class
The old homestead – and not just the kind with seven baths – is increasingly filled with multiple refrigerators, plasma TV sets, and lap pools. The result is that this year’s energy woes, more than ever, are hitting the American middle class and upper middle class as well as the poor.
Raise the Roof: Power Source
The shingles that help to protect you from the elements could soon help to keep your lights on. Solar companies have developed light-absorbing roof tiles as a more aesthetically pleasing alternative to solar panels.
420 Million: America’s New Population Boom
Just like rising energy demand, global warming, and racial distrust, America’s population boom is escaping serious attention from both presidential candidates. This is happening —or rather, not happening — even though the United States is growing more rapidly than it ever has before.
Compromise, Hell!
Economic WMDs are being used against our people in a version of “freedom” that makes greed the dominant economic virtue.