This article from Wired Science gives me an even more personal reason to work for urban sustainability and lessening the impacts of climate change. I've suffered from this particular affliction, and all I can say about it is:
OUCH!!!
14 July 2008
13 July 2008
Farming in the City
The BBC has posted a great story on the Detroit-based non-profit Urban Farming and the work it is doing end hunger in our cities.
Their mission statement says that "Urban Farming intends to eradicate hunger while increasing diversity, motivating youth and seniors and optimizing the production of unused land for food and alternative energy". The goal of sustainable development is to integrate issues of environment, economics, and social justice in a way that current needs can be met without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs. Urban Farming is an organization that lives that definition. They work with volunteers and donors to farm unused urban land, making it productive and feeding the poor of their neighborhoods. They provide work for offenders on county jail rehabilitation programs, allowing them to develop new skills and a sense of self-worth.
If our cities are ever going to approach true sustainability, raising food locally is going to be a piece of the equation that integrates environment, economics, and social justice. A video on Urban Farming's website notes that during World War II, many Americans planted "victory gardens" to support the war effort. They ended up raising 40% of the produce grown in the US during that time. We are in a situation no less dire now. As the earth's climate warms and gas and oil and food prices rise, we are needing to re-evaluate how we feed ourselves. Raising more of our foods locally, either within the city itself, or more closely within the urban region, will become a greater necessity. Urban Farming is one organization recognizing this necessity and working to shift paradigms in the right direction.
Their mission statement says that "Urban Farming intends to eradicate hunger while increasing diversity, motivating youth and seniors and optimizing the production of unused land for food and alternative energy". The goal of sustainable development is to integrate issues of environment, economics, and social justice in a way that current needs can be met without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs. Urban Farming is an organization that lives that definition. They work with volunteers and donors to farm unused urban land, making it productive and feeding the poor of their neighborhoods. They provide work for offenders on county jail rehabilitation programs, allowing them to develop new skills and a sense of self-worth.
If our cities are ever going to approach true sustainability, raising food locally is going to be a piece of the equation that integrates environment, economics, and social justice. A video on Urban Farming's website notes that during World War II, many Americans planted "victory gardens" to support the war effort. They ended up raising 40% of the produce grown in the US during that time. We are in a situation no less dire now. As the earth's climate warms and gas and oil and food prices rise, we are needing to re-evaluate how we feed ourselves. Raising more of our foods locally, either within the city itself, or more closely within the urban region, will become a greater necessity. Urban Farming is one organization recognizing this necessity and working to shift paradigms in the right direction.
12 July 2008
Even an Oil Tycoon Gets It
I've always thought of the move to sustainability as being a major paradigm shift, a major move to a new worldview, and this week I think we're starting to see concrete evidence of that, especially in terms of energy.
First was this article from the Breakthrough Institute on the need to cut our nation's addiction to oil. Not just foreign oil, but all oil. The article does great job of explaining why we can't drill our way out of high oil and gas prices. In short, there just isn't enough domestic supply to really make a difference in how much gas costs, and it will do nothing to curb climate change. When it comes down to it, drilling is not the answer.
What really amazed me this week was who has stepped forward to offer a plan for moving forward. Oil tycoon T. Boone Pickens spoke about the need to move away from oil Tuesday on Good Morning America. Yes, you read that correctly; an oil tycoon stepping up to offer solutions for our nation to completely break our addiction to oil! I know, it blew me away too. Watch the video; he really thinks this is an emergency situation and needs to be a national priority. If we don't deal with this now, Mr. Pickens predicts $6/gallon gas and $200/barrel oil by this time next year. Combined with the ever-expanding credit crunch and housing market collapse, this is not something any of us want to see happen.
First was this article from the Breakthrough Institute on the need to cut our nation's addiction to oil. Not just foreign oil, but all oil. The article does great job of explaining why we can't drill our way out of high oil and gas prices. In short, there just isn't enough domestic supply to really make a difference in how much gas costs, and it will do nothing to curb climate change. When it comes down to it, drilling is not the answer.
What really amazed me this week was who has stepped forward to offer a plan for moving forward. Oil tycoon T. Boone Pickens spoke about the need to move away from oil Tuesday on Good Morning America. Yes, you read that correctly; an oil tycoon stepping up to offer solutions for our nation to completely break our addiction to oil! I know, it blew me away too. Watch the video; he really thinks this is an emergency situation and needs to be a national priority. If we don't deal with this now, Mr. Pickens predicts $6/gallon gas and $200/barrel oil by this time next year. Combined with the ever-expanding credit crunch and housing market collapse, this is not something any of us want to see happen.
Mr. Pickens also has a website detailing his plan (thanks to CNET and Spatial Sustain for pointing to this). Basically, the plan is to use wind to replace natural gas as a generator of electricity. The maps he has from the Department of Energy showing wind generation potential in the US are amazing. (Yes, the GIS geek speaks!) The next step in the plan would be to utilize that natural gas that's taken away from power generation for the transportation sector. This would cut our foreign oil imports by 38%, which would cut our outpouring of cash for oil by $300 billion per year.
This is a big deal. While I'm not sure about the long term use of natural gas (a fossil fuel) for transportation, it could be a great transition fuel to get us to something better. And while Mr. Pickens' priority is focused on foreign oil and the not-inconsiderable amounts of money being spent on it, this plan is still a step in the right direction. We need to start somewhere, and if just eliminating foreign oil begins to move us in the right direct, so be it. The most important thing is that the paradigm is shifting. New ways of looking at the world a being born right in front of our eyes, and in some unexpected places. Let's just hope that the private sector, Congress and the new president embrace this worldview quickly and begin helping us move down a more sustainable path.
02 July 2008
$4 a Gallon Gas: The Perks
Can there be an upside to these $4 gas prices we're seeing? Time seems to think so: 10 Things You Can Like About $4 Gas.
I knew that if gas prices ever got high enough, many of these things would happen. I do feel bad for those trapped by our atrocious, auto-centric urban planning in situations where they have to drive to jobs that can barely cover their gas because public transit is too inconvenient or just not available. But they're about the only ones I can feel bad for. When I see big SUV's rolling down the road, I have a hard time feeling bad for them. Maybe that makes me a bad person, but that's the way I feel.
When my wife and I moved recently, we purposely focused our search near the parts of town where something like 98% of our life happens. Now we live a mile from my wife's office and our church, which means she walks to work daily and we often walk to church. I'm currently working part-time from home, but I can easily catch a bus to the office, and I think I'm about to be offered some part-time research work that would be a short walk from another bus line. This just goes to show that with a bit of planning, it's not that hard to make this situation work for you.
Take a look at what you're doing and see if you can turn these $4 lemons into even richer lemonade.
I knew that if gas prices ever got high enough, many of these things would happen. I do feel bad for those trapped by our atrocious, auto-centric urban planning in situations where they have to drive to jobs that can barely cover their gas because public transit is too inconvenient or just not available. But they're about the only ones I can feel bad for. When I see big SUV's rolling down the road, I have a hard time feeling bad for them. Maybe that makes me a bad person, but that's the way I feel.
When my wife and I moved recently, we purposely focused our search near the parts of town where something like 98% of our life happens. Now we live a mile from my wife's office and our church, which means she walks to work daily and we often walk to church. I'm currently working part-time from home, but I can easily catch a bus to the office, and I think I'm about to be offered some part-time research work that would be a short walk from another bus line. This just goes to show that with a bit of planning, it's not that hard to make this situation work for you.
Take a look at what you're doing and see if you can turn these $4 lemons into even richer lemonade.
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