I recently read a headline saying that Scotland had made the “World’s First Urban Green Space Map.” Now, while that sounds pretty cool, I’m not sure if I caught what’s first about it. As you may or may not know, my master’s degree was in city planning — making urban green space maps is nothing new in the field. Even making online, interactive versions of the maps like this one is not at all unheard of. My only thought is that it might be the first national-scale map of its kind….
Bamboo Bike Project {Green NGO Highlighted}
Continuing on with my Green NGO Highlighted series, which I got away from for a short time, here’s a cool one a good Facebook friend of mine shared with me nearly two months ago. It’s the Bamboo Bike Project, based in Africa, which combines two of the greenest things on the planet.. bamboo and bikes.
Habitat for Humanity & Center for Creative Land Recycling Team Up for Huge East Oakland Project
Last week, I featured a great project by the Center for Creative Land Recycling (CCLR), the Sacramento Railyard renovation and revitalization project. CCLR is focused on reusing or recycling brownfields, lands dirtied with industrial contamination that just need a bit of effort to get in use again. This is popular, exciting work amongst city planners — it’s like turning an old, beat-up car into a beauty again.
Rebirth of Sacramento Railyard & Center for Creative Land Recycling {Green NGO Highlighted}
With my professional training in city planning, I have to admit that I get giddy over cool smart growth projects. I recently ran across one such project, a super cool one, and one of the key organizations behind it. The project is the redevelopment of Sacramento’s downtown railyard, which apparently employed 10,000 employees at the height of its use and was the largest single workforce in Central Valley for 8 decades. One of the key organizations behind it is the Center for Creative Land Recycling (CCLR).
New Bike-Sharing Program in Wrocław, Poland! {Videos & Pictures}
I’m a bicycle lover. In particular, I’m a huge proponent of bicycling for transportation purposes. Bicycles are super efficient (perhaps the most efficient transportation option out there), meaning they are very environmentally friendly and also save you and the city a ton of money. They are also a ton of fun to ride, good for your health, good for your mind, and highly accessible. But, in some cases, using your own bike for transportation purposes is impractical. For, this reason, from the first time I heard about bicycle sharing programs (like the huge one in Paris, Velib), I fell in love with them.
7 Things I Loved about Living & Bicycling in Charlottesville, Virginia
OK, wrapping up this series (until I have another city to write about,.. and I may soon), here are 7 things I loved about living and bicycling in Charlottesville, VA.
7 Things I Loved about Living & Bicycling in Sunnyvale, Palo Alto, & Redwood City, CA
Following up on my posts about what I loved about living and bicycling in Sarasota, FL and Chapel Hill-Carrboro, NC, here are 7 things I loved about living and bicycling in Northern California. In the middle of graduate school, I lived in Sunnyvale for a summer, worked in Redwood City, and did most of my grocery shopping in Palo Alto. So, despite being 3 different places, they were sort of one place to me and I’m combining them all for this.
Living & Biking in Chapel Hill-Carrboro, NC (10 Things I Loved)
Continuing on with things I loved about living and bicycling in the various cities I’ve lived and bicycled in (to wrap up National Bike Month), here are 10 things I loved about living and bicycling in Chapel Hill & Carrboro, North Carolina (which are two small towns that are pretty much merged)….
10 Things I Loved about Living & Bicycling in Sarasota, Florida
To wrap up National Bike Month, I’m doing a little series on what I loved about living and bicycling in the various places I’ve lived and bicycled. (But don’t worry, even after this month, I’ll do plenty more writing about bicycling as well.)
To start with, I’ll start with the first city I lived in, the city where I started bicycling as a main mode of transport and gave up my car. Living in Sarasota, Florida from birth until the age of 22 or so, I know that city better than any other.
Earth Day, & Why I Do What I Do
Earth Day… Earth Day, Earth Day. What to say today? I spend most of the day every day writing about environmental issues and solutions to them. So many hours every day, and every week and month and year.
Why do I do it?