The Twang Factor
Here at high noon of 2006, I’ll stand pat with what I have said more than once: we have already entered the zone of The Long Emergency.
Transportation
Housing & urban design – July 10
Interview with smart-growth expert Anthony Flint / The next real estate boom /
Plants, grass on the rooftop? No longer an oddity in Chicago.
Transport – July 9
Arianna Huffington: Who killed the electric car? / Costly tar hurts paving / Blowing in the wind (sail revival)
Coal – July 5
Search for new oil sources leads to processed coal / Germany gives coal opt out under CO2 emission plan /
Does Air Force have a coal-powered plane in its future? / Old king coal to reign (“Best hope for energy security”) /
Coal’s false promise to America
Solutions & sustainability – July 4
Fuel economy tips / Presentations from New Urbanism conference (including Kunstler & Darley) /
Ranchers and farmers find a silver lining in the conservation cloud / Author finds sprawl isn’t the be-all and end-all / USDA ID-tag plan for farm animals has some small-scale farmers unhappy
Politics & economics – July 4
Attacks on Iraq’s northern pipelines cease, oil exports boom / Ford bails out on hybrid promise / Kuwait’s election is a setback to international oil companies / Rep. Bartlett opposes offshore oil drilling / Europe tries to persuade Russia on energy with trade deal / Eyeing energy supplies from opposite ends of a telescope (exporters vs consumers)
Rescuing a Planet Under Stress
The president of the Earth Policy Institute
explains his ideas on how to put the world economy back on a stable ecological footing.
Other energy – June 30
Sierra Club sues Pentagon over wind-farm delays / CERA: another decade of rising upstream costs? /
Saudis not cutting oil output further – ambassador / Republican politician: A 100-mpg car? Let’s start the race / Conference on ocean energy in Bremerhaven, Oct. 23-24 / World could face choice between food and fuel / Mexico’s oil bonanza starts to dry up
Environment – June 30
America’s air-conditioned nightmare /
50 years driving in the wrong direction: the U.S. Interstate Highway System / World weighs in on global warming / Al Gore 3.0 / U.S. emits half of car-caused greenhouse gas / Global warming may not lead to greater crop yields
Solutions & sustainability – June 30
Meg Wheatley – the power of chaos /
We must preserve the earth’s dwindling resources for my 5 children / Think you would be happier if you were richer? Think again / Bogota’s mayor’s happy ‘war on cars’ /
“Made to Break” reveals the roots of our throwaway culture / High tech trash: Elizabeth Grossman
Environment – June 28
How to Cool a Planet (Maybe) /
Environmental Chiefs Join Forces to Fight Growth in Air Travel /
Air-conditioning: Our Cross to Bear /
Daimler Hopes Americans Are Finally Ready for the Minicar
Interview with makers of “Who Killed the Electric Car?”
And to their shock, the car companies built probably the most advanced car Detroit ever built, and the most maintenance-free car. And when all the car companies were forced to do it, they realized that it threatened their business model. It also threatened the oil industry. So they wanted to dismantle it. (Wide-ranging discussion on many energy issues.)
