mittromney.com Republican Presidential Hopefuls Seem Intent on Ignoring the Need for New InfrastructureWhat a shift in rhetoric this 2012 campaign has brought. Back in 2008, the presidential hopefuls tackled major environmental issues at every debate. Republicans and Democrats alike proposed green-job and renewable energy programs, then argued about whose was better. Now, the major candidates–especially […]
Brookings Institution’s report “Sizing the Clean Economy” found that 2.7 million Americans are now employed in the “clean economy.”
New Bedford, Massachusetts, does not seem a likely home for a new wave of environmental art. In the nineteenth century, this harbor town served as the home port for much of the nation’s whaling fleet. Those bloody hulls, combined with the brownfields and empty quays that litter New Bedford today, have left the place a […]
umich.edu Along the southeast corner of Lake Michigan, near the coastal town of Saugatuck, Michigan, lies a line of snowy, pristine freshwater sand dunes up to 240 feet in height. I have yet to see the dunes myself, but they are said to be spectacular. Of them poet Carl Sandburg wrote: “Those dunes are to […]
Green Hip Hop Promises to Give the Environmental Movement Its “Heart and Soul”Around 2008, a small group of artists left behind the familiar themes that have dominated hip-hop for decades. Instead of rapping about the usual: drug culture, the nature of fame, relationships, or loyalty versus betrayal, these artists wanted to talk about the environment. […]
Photos by David Adams Does the Toy Juggernaut Bode Well for the Future of Rail? May 7 was National Train Day, an Amtrak-sponsored holiday on which rail enthusiasts gather to geek out on signals and switches, club cars and coal tenders. My three-year old son Simon has more than a passing fondness for railroads, inspired […]
Wieden + Kennedy for Levi’s. Crumbling Cities Have Never Been So CoolYou may have seen the ad online. Grainy black and white, backed by a plucky roots-flavored rendition of the classic Snow White tune “Heigh-Ho.” The scene: Braddock, Pennsylvania. We see, in succession, people climbing into well-fitted denim work clothes, busting up a wall with […]
Charles & Hudson Workers Need Jobs and Unions Need Members, But a Disconnect RemainsIn mid-November, the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) held its annual Greenbuild Expo here in Chicago, and I went to check it out. I wanted to see who, if anyone, in the $2.6 trillion green-building industry was hiring during these continuing post-recession […]
A controversial new school of urban planning known as “smart decline” calls for converting dilapidated urban areas into green spaces…
Across the country, parents are demanding new curbs on so-called “polluted schools’ that are built on contaminated land…
