Environment
Are Electric Cars Any Greener Than Conventional Ones?
As substantial state and federal subsidies for electric cars continue, and the number of vehicles on America's roads climbs, a new article is raising questions about their environmental benefits over conventional cars.
The Simple Solution to Climate Change: Tax Carbon Emissions
President Obama recently unveiled his 21-page framework for tackling climate change. But for some economists, that's twenty pages too many. A tax on carbon emissions is a simple, elegant, and relatively painless way to reduce emissions, they believe.
What Grade Would You Give Obama's Climate Action Plan?
Two very different grades are assigned, one from David Hawkins, Director of Climate Programs at NRDC; the other from a college senior working on a fossil fuel divestment campaign. Michael Brune of the Sierra Club differs with Hawkins on natural gas.
Researchers Propose an Alternative to High-Density, Carless Sustainable Development
Can we combine our love affair with cars and single-family homes with sustainable growth? Mark Delucchi and Kenneth S. Kurani think so.
Another Reason to Dislike Huge Suburban Homes: They're Warming the Planet
A new research study out of Switzerland quantifies the disproportionate contribution to greenhouse gas emissions made by large homes and relatively long commutes. In one Swiss town, twenty-one percent of households create 50 percent of the emissions.
Climate Adaptation: Is Miami Indefensible?
In advance of President Obama's long-awaited speech on climate change, NPR looked at climate adaptation - preparing for the environmental changes it will cause. Rising sea level is the topic. In the U.S., two cities stand out: New York and Miami.
Will Calgary Floods Deliver Canada's Climate Wake-Up Call?
Calgary found out the hard way that you don't have to be a coastal city to experience the waterborne ravages of a changing climate. For years, warnings from scientists and analysts have been ignored. Will the "Great Flood" achieve what they couldn't?
Can Small Steps Prevent Massive Change? Obama Unveils Long-Awaited Climate Plan
It doesn't involve cap-and-trade or a major international protocol, but the sweeping climate plan unveiled by President Obama today is 'the most far-reaching effort by an American president' to address climate change. Best of all, it skirts Congress.
Cool Happenings in Paris’s Urban Landscape
Two events held in the same week in the historic heart of Paris show just how serious the city is about its contemporary urban landscape.
By Urging Action on Climate Change, Kerry Ruffles Feathers in India
At the beginning of a two-day trip to India, the world's third largest emitter of carbon dioxide, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry made solving climate change a focus of his public remarks. The U.S.'s own failures elicited skepticism from locals.
Eat the City: The Art of Urban Farming
Architectural historian Richard Ingersoll surveys creative 'civic agriculture' projects in the United States and Europe where abandoned lots have been transformed into edible landscapes.
Can America Adapt Its Waterfronts Before They Drown?
America's voracious appetite for waterfront development continues, even as a future filled with rising seas and extreme storms becomes more evident. The most proactive coastal areas have begun planing for adaptation, but are they doing enough?
Downtown Calgary Evacuated as Flood Waters Inundate City
Record flooding along the two rivers that flow through central Calgary, the Bow and Elbow, have forced the evacuation of the city's downtown and forced at least 75,000 residents to seek higher ground.
Friday Eye Candy: A Billion-Pixel Panorama of Mars
The Mars Curiosity Rover has sent us some pretty cool stuff since landing on the red planet in August of 2012. The latest souvenir of its trip is a billion-pixel panorama of the planet's surface.
Regulating Diesel Emissions: An Environmental Twofer
This toxic emission is not only a threat to public health but also the second largest contributor to global warming, according to CARB. A new study has found that regulations to reduce diesel emissions fight both climate change and air pollution.
Is Air Pollution Contributing to the Rise in Autism?
Asthma, cancer...autism. If you need yet another reason to abhor vehicle emissions and air pollution see a new report published in Environmental Health Perspectives which links in utero exposure to air pollutants to an increased risk of autism.
Momentous Climate Plan Being Development by Obama
An historic plan to limit greenhouse gas emissions is being covertly developed by the Obama administration, reports Neela Banerjee. The plan could for the first time set limits on the country's biggest emitters: power plants.
Where’s the Heat Going? Global Warming Lull Befuddles Scientists
Despite record levels of greenhouse gas emissions, global surface temperatures have risen at a much slower rate over the past 15 years than the 20 years prior. Scientists are struggling to explain a warming plateau.
The Case for Hyperdensity
On Places, Vishaan Chakrabarti argues that the hyperdense city is more prosperous, equitable, ecological and delightful — and vital to America's strength as a nation.
Friday Eye Candy: Is That Mountain Range Staring at Me?
Google Faces is a fun, and slightly freaky, project that plays off of humans' penchant for seeing faces in everything by testing if a computer could do the same.
FREE Course: Walkable City 1: Why Walkability?
After describing his path towards focusing on walkability as the essence of good planning, Jeff Speck marches through his five principal reasons for making more walkable places.
Reinventing Malls: Planning Alchemy—Turning Gray Fields Into Gold
The course focuses on the opportunities and imperatives that shape reinvention of mall sites.
City of Rosemead
Rutgers University, Edward J. Bloustein School of Planning and Public Policy
One Hundred Miles
University of Michigan School for Environment and Sustainability (SEAS)
Hunter College, City University of New York (CUNY)
The Architects Foundation
City of Cambridge
The Pocatello Development Authority
The Urban Renewal Agency of the City of Pocatello
