Common Dreams

Between its excellent public transit, its dignified approach to providing for the poor and its emphasis on planning for people, not cars, Curitiba Brazil is one of the world's most livable cities, writes Bill McKibben.

Sewage, toxic chemicals and decaying corpses will have an immense environmental impact not only on New Orleans, but on the Gulf of Mexico as well.

Some alternative, renewable energy sources may take decades to develop. We may not have that much time.

Rural New England is being caught up in the real estate boom, and former residents are being priced out of the market.

At a San Francisco event to mark World Environment Day, 50 international mayors set sights on international standards for green urbanism.

The Congress and the U.S. president have not risen to face the greatest challenge of our times says Gaylord Nelson.

Millions of people who depend on the Department of Housing and Urban Development would face "frightening" living conditions under proposed budget cuts.

Growing acceptance of local self-reliance, "green buildings" and alternative technologies indicates that new economic structures are more effective than protest in promoting environmental protection and social equity.

Move to eliminate federal subsidies for Amtrak will likely be opposed in Congress.

Wal-Mart, having saturated the United States with over 3,600 stores, has set its sights on China -- and, according to Ralph Nader, "using this Communist regime as its labor enforcement arm to drive down wages and benefits in the U.S."

Sprawl critic Joel Hirschhorn takes aim at "The Autonomist Manifesto" that appeared in the New York Times Magazine.

The Rocky Mountain Institute announces the release of "Winning the Oil Endgame: Innovation for Profits, Jobs, and Security", a market-based plan to eliminate oil dependence by 2050.

The U.S. state that is considered most endangered historic places in America has to be inventive to survive the impact of Wal-Mart.

Homeless activists blame the Reagan administration for rise in homelessness in the 1980s.

William Rees argues that to avoid a possibly unprecedented human crisis in coming decades, people should be urging their governments to allow the price of oil and natural gas to rise even higher than they are now.

Ralph Nader suggests that the fatal flaw in all urban policy efforts may be the reliance on the Department of Housing and Urban Development as the focal point of all the approaches to revitalizing cities and metropolitan areas.

The Kyoto Protocol is 10 years old. What has it achieved?

States step in to make up for the federal government's shortcomings on environmental regulation.

The Bush administration's failure to update penalties for illegal pollution will cost taxpayers at least $39 million.

The United Nations will study link between global warming and human conflict.