Environment

The market for recyclables has taken a sharp nosedive in recent months, challenging cities' ability to provide recycling services.

March 21, 2009 - CNN

A new British documentary looks back from the year 2055 to show how humanity gradually destroyed the planet.

March 21, 2009 - AlterNet

Duke Energy hopes to tap $3.4 billion of stimulus funds to build the nation's first clean coal plant, burning the coal in a gaseous form and storing the CO2 emissions. It already has received federal funds to build the $2.35 coal power plant in IN.

March 20, 2009 - The New York Times: Energy & Environment

Nine-month study commissioned by President Nicolas Sarkozy aims to transform Paris and its surrounding suburbs into the first sustainable “post-Kyoto" city.

March 19, 2009 - The New York Times

In the next few months, the Dutch capital will make numerous changes to make its infrastructure greener. With the help of private companies like Cisco and IBM, Amsterdam is closer to becoming a "smart city" than any other in Europe.

March 19, 2009 - BusinessWeek

Colorado law prohibits the collection of rainwater, but urban farmers, environmentally-conscious homeowners, and even developers are catching on to its benefits and building momentum for the legalization of rainwater harvesting.

March 19, 2009 - Los Angeles Times

As the World Water Forum convenes in Istanbul, two new reports warn that water shortages will elevate to a global crisis within the next two decades, creating a problem even bigger than the current economic crisis.

March 18, 2009 - The Independent

Good green jobs are on the way - just not right away due to recession. Stimulus funds - not just from U.S. but many nations are investing in their economies by targeting renewable energy, smart electricity grids, energy efficiency, and more.

March 17, 2009 - Financial Times - Business & The Environment

The California Environmental Quality Act is being set aside for a handful of stimulus projects, but even when the project is to the benefit of the community many see the sidelining as silencing much-needed input.

March 17, 2009 - California Planning & Development Report

The idea of sustainability is growing up, and as concerns about the environment take hold in cities from the bottom up, some are calling for a more sophisticated approach to "green" city development, write Anthony Flint and William Shutkin.

March 16, 2009 - Citiwire

CCS (Carbon Capture and Storage) is an abbreviation that may become more common if the coal industry has its way. But The Economist argues that carbon taxes are a better way to improve the environment than investing in CCS technology.

March 14, 2009 - Minneapolis Star-Tribune

Environmental artists Christo and Jeanne-Claude, famous for the orange 'Gates' project in Central Park, are planning to run a 5.9 mile silver cloth over a whitewater river in Colorado. Environmentalists aren't happy about it.

March 13, 2009 - ASLA's The Dirt blog

Computer modeling predicts sea levels rising 55 inches by 2100, and a recent report from California's interagency Climate Action Team is calling for a radical reorganization of the state's coastal development and infrastructure to avoid disaster.

March 13, 2009 - Los Angeles Times

This piece from The Economist looks at human-caused waste, how different economies generate it differently, and how they deal with it.

March 12, 2009 - The Economist

Though challenged with facing a multi-tiered government, Nicholas Sarkozy has nonetheless devised one of the most ambitious plans ever for Paris. To reimagine this bolder, greener "Grand Paris," he has put 10 teams of architects and planners to work.

March 11, 2009 - AFP

A group of surfers has successfully blocked an environmentally-harmful beach dredging and repair project in Florida, at least temporarily. The project was meant to counteract beach erosion problems, but was protested over concerns about local reefs.

March 11, 2009 - The New York Times

The Olympic Forest Park in Beijing is standing out as one of the rare Olympics-related projects to remain in use after the 2008 event. Hu Jie, the park's designer, talks about its planning and the role of public space in Beijing.

March 10, 2009 - Bangkok Post

CA's Air Resources Board has issued a new regulation to reduce carbon from fuels - and the ethanol industry isn't happy.

March 10, 2009 - Los Angeles Times

As climate change affects the habitats and migratory patterns of protected species, many are calling for protected areas to shift along with the animals they're intended to safeguard.

March 9, 2009 - The Christian Science Monitor

The stimulus package promises to create new green jobs, but are they really the economic solution they're cracked up to be? This piece from Slate questions the common perception.

March 8, 2009 - Slate