Environment

This week Lisa Jackson made public her decision to step down as administrator of the EPA. Despite many hard-fought victories, Jackson's tenure is also associated with a lack of significant action to address climate change.

December 28, 2012 - The New York Times

The Mississippi River handles $7 billion in trade as one of the world's largest navigable inland waterways. A Midwestern drought has brought the river to water levels so low that they threaten to shut down shipping, reports John Schwartz.

December 27, 2012 - The New York Times

Sarah Goodyear reports on how Britain's 'Cycle to Work' scheme has decreased carbon dioxide emissions, and transformed the lives of individuals such as Toby Field.

December 24, 2012 - Atlantic Cities

“Several new developments are slated for construction in areas damaged by the storm such as Gowanus, Red Hook, and DUMBO,” writes Nicole Anderson, raising concerns about the appropriateness of development there and proper due diligence.

December 24, 2012 - The Architects Newspaper

China is moving mountains again, but this time it isn't a legendary peasant doing the moving, but instead, Yan Jiehe, former teacher, big time developer and one of China's richest men, who is behind it all.

December 23, 2012 - The Guardian

The good news is that we've survived yet another doomsday prophecy. Bad news - there's plenty more reasons to think our world is under threat. Vanessa Quirk looks at architectural responses to the threat - real or imagined - of apocalypse.

December 21, 2012 - ArchDaily

Coal burning is rising everywhere save the U.S. If no changes are made to promote alternatives, it will overtake oil as the world's top energy source within a decade according to a new report from the Paris-based International Energy Agency (IEA).

December 21, 2012 - Bloomberg News

South Front, in Wilmington, NC, made use of an abandoned and decayed, 40s-era public housing project, salvaging and renovating every building rather than scraping the site. Scott Doyon talks about several of the reasons that's cool.

December 21, 2012 - PlaceShakers

Air travel is a notoriously wasteful mode. But one airport is taking huge leaps towards sustainability. Julie Rose reports on Charlotte Douglas International's comprehensive recycling and composting program.

December 20, 2012 - NPR

Michael Kimmelman tours Fresh Kills landfill, once the world's largest garbage dump, and now a model for landfill reclamation and, unexpectedly, climate change mitigation.

December 18, 2012 - The New York Times

After 25 years, the Tahoe Regional Plan, a land use plan for the Lake Tahoe region encompassing both Nevada and California prepared by the Tahoe Regional Planning Agency, has been updated and approved by a 12-1-1 vote, though not without controversy.

December 18, 2012 - Tahoe Daily Tribune

As recent reports show, there's little opportunity for escaping the growing din of the man-made world. The popularity of a silent retreat built in the middle of D.C. demonstrates a growing appreciation for the sounds of silence.

December 18, 2012 - The Washington Post

Already an urban leader in sustainability with one of the most stringent green building laws in the country, Washington D.C. announced last week that it will create the city’s first “living building” as part of the Sustainable D.C. Budget Challenge.

December 17, 2012 - The Washington Post

In what could be viewed as a classic environmentalist vs. business showdown, the EPA tightened by 20% the annual standard for soot over the objection of industry and some in Congress who fear it will dampen economic growth.

December 17, 2012 - The Hill's Energy & Environment Blog

Ronda Kaysen reports on the growing trend in transforming brownfield sites in disadvantaged communities into health centers, "in essence taking a potential source of health problems for a community and turning it into a place for health care."

December 13, 2012 - The New York Times

The Colorado River is struggling to provide enough water for 25 million people, which could lead to water shortages and water wars in the areas that rely on its bounty. Officials are looking to find a long-term solution, reports Felicity Barringer.

December 12, 2012 - The New York Times

Humans are a noisy lot. In addition to fouling our cities with extreme sounds and exporting our din to wilderness areas, scientists are beginning to recognize and map the substantial impact of human-generated sound on the world's waters.

December 12, 2012 - The New York Times

Annual United Nations climate change negotiations concluded in Doha over the weekend with an agreement to extend the "increasingly ineffective" Kyoto Protocol a few years, while pushing off a more ambitious replacement agreement.

December 10, 2012 - The New York Times

Planetizen is pleased to release its eleventh annual list of the ten best books in urban planning, design and development published in 2012.

December 10, 2012 - Abhijeet Chavan

Despite the extreme weather events of the past year, most Americans are still not persuaded that climate change is primarily the result of human activity. Why not?

December 9, 2012 - Michael Lewyn