planted city

Three paragraphs from writer Tom Vanderbilt’s first article (‘The Crisis in American Walking’) in a great four-part series for Slate magazine, ‘Walking: America’s Pedestrian Problem’. 

(Photo credit: The Washington Post via Slate)

From USA Today:

Almost three years after the official end of a recession that kept people from moving and devastated new suburban subdivisions, people continue to avoid counties on the farthest edge of metropolitan areas, according to Census estimates out today.

The financial and foreclosure crisis forced more people to rent. Soaring gas prices made long commutes less appealing. And high unemployment drew more people to big job centers. As the nation crawls out of the downturn, cities and older suburbs are leading the way.

Population growth in fringe counties nearly screeched to a halt in the year that ended July 1, 2011. By comparison, counties at the core of metro areas are growing faster than the nation as a whole.

…

During the ’70s gas shortage and the ’80s savings and loan industry crisis, some predicted the end of suburban sprawl. It didn’t happen then, but current trends could change the nation’s growth patterns permanently.

Aging Baby Boomers, who have begun to retire, and Millennials, who are mostly in their teens and 20s, are more inclined to live in urban areas, McIlwain says.

“I’m not sure we’re going to see outward sprawl even if the urge to sprawl continues,” he says. “Counties are getting to the point that they don’t have the money to maintain the roads, water, sewer. … This is a century of urbanization.”

Check out the rest of the article here.

(Map source: US Census Bureau - 2010 Census via USA Today)

Climate Change: US Carbon Emissions Down 7% in 4 Years 

From Link TV:

With US carbon emissions down 7% in four years and bigger drops coming, the United States may emerge as a global leader in cutting carbon and stabilizing climate.

Lester Brown, President of the Earth Policy Institute, tells Earth Focus that new forces including life style and demographic changes are reducing the use of both coal and oil in the United States. He expects that carbon emissions could decline by as much as 20% in the United States by 2020.

“The only plausible explanation for the rise in weather-related catastrophes is climate change.” 

“The high number of weather-related natural catastrophes and record temperatures both globally and in different regions of the world provide further indications of advancing climate change.”

 - Two quotes from global insurer Munich Re in their 2010 press release, ‘Large number of weather extremes as strong indication of climate change’. I found the quotes in Joe Romm’s new ClimateProgress post, ‘A New Record: 14 U.S. Billion-Dollar Disasters in 2011’.

(Chart credit: Munich Re via CP)

From the Independent:

Sainsbury’s and Unilever have backed a major new report published today which predicts that sustainable products and services will be mainstream by 2020. The report – produced by non-profit organisation Forum for the Future – says household brands and retailers will make green living normal by the end of the decade for the sake of their profits.

Dr Sally Uren, the deputy chief executive of Forum for the Future, said: “Smart brands and businesses will make money today by accelerating the transition to a sustainable future.” She said progress towards sustainable consumption will not be knocked off course by the weak global economy.

The organisation considered four scenarios to explore how global trends may change the world. In each, social and environmental pressures drive sustainable goods and services into the mainstream, whether or not consumers actively demand them and regardless of whether the global economy is thriving or subdued. Sainsbury’s chief executive, Justin King, said: “Sustainability will rise higher up the agenda over the coming years. Being sustainable is not about box ticking, it’s about future-proofing your business.”

Amanda Sourry, chairman of Unilever UK & Ireland, said: “The old model of ever greater consumption, with growth at any price, is broken. Companies that succeed in the future will be those that reduce their environmental impact while increasing their social and economic impacts.”

(Image credit: Forum for the Future)

From The Guardian:

In Britain, the percentage of 17- to 20-year-olds with driving licences fell from 48% in the early 1990s to 35% last year. The number of miles travelled by all forms of domestic transport, per capita per year, has flatlined for years. Meanwhile, road traffic figures for cars and taxis, having risen more or less every year since 1949, have continued to fall since 2007. Motoring groups put it down to oil prices and the economy. Others offer a more fundamental explanation: the golden age of motoring is over.

“The way we run cars is changing fast,” says Tim Pollard, associate editor at CAR magazine, “Car manufacturers are worried that younger people in particular don’t aspire to own cars like we used to in the 70s, 80s, or even the 90s. Designers commonly say that teenagers today aspire to own the latest smartphone more than a car. Even car enthusiasts realise we’ve reached a tipping point.”

As hi-tech research and development budgets source to keep pace with the iPhone generation, Pollard says carmakers are also coming to terms with less possessive buyers. “Towards the end of the 20th century, manufacturers cottoned on to the fact that we were owning things for shorter periods.”

This has led to a proliferation of different ownership and rental schemes such as Streetcar, Zipcar and Whipcar.

…

The most radical change is that “in big societies, there is a huge status shift happening, where we are losing the idea that you use a car to define your status. 

…

Underpinning all these innovations and ideas is what Liske sees as a major behavioural shift among the generation of “digital natives”. “They don’t care about owning things. Possession is a burden, and a car is a big investment for most people – not just the vehicle, but the permits, the parking space.”

…

Social trends can lead to change, but our travel habits are shaped by government policy too: by road, rail and airport building, most obviously, but also by planning regulations. Greenfield development, or the construction of housing on undeveloped land, is favoured by developers because it’s cheaper to build and easier to sell. Yet this is often low-density, suburban-style housing that is poorly suited to public transport and more or less requires homeowners to drive. Brownfield building, though less profitable and less popular, often raises population density, making public transport more viable.

Check out the rest of the article here.

(Photo credit: Guardian)

From Reuters:

More Americans than last year believe the world is warming and the change is likely influenced by the Republican presidential debates, a Reuters/Ipsos poll said on Thursday.

The percentage of Americans who believe the Earth has been warming rose to 83 percent from 75 percent last year in the poll conducted Sept 8-12.

Republican presidential candidates, aside from Jon Huntsman, have mostly blasted the idea that emissions from burning fossil fuels and other human actions are warming the planet.

The current front-runner, Texas Governor Rick Perry, has accused scientists of manipulating climate data while Michele Bachmann has said climate change is a hoax.

As Americans watch Republicans debate the issue, they are forced to mull over what they think about global warming, said Jon Krosnick, a political science professor at Stanford University.

And what they think is also influenced by reports this year that global temperatures in 2010 were tied with 2005 to be the warmest year since the 1880s.

…

This year has been a record year for the kind of costly weather disasters — including Hurricane Irene, which raked the East Coast — that scientists have warned would be more frequent with climate change.

The United States suffered 10 natural disasters in 2011 with economic losses of $1 billion or more, according to the National Weather Service.

Check out the rest of the article here.

(Image credit: NOAA)

From the Guardian:

A majority of the world’s largest firms are taking action on climate change as part of their business strategy for the first time, a survey has found.

The 10th annual Carbon Disclosure Project, which analysed responses from 396 of the 500 largest companies in the world, found more than two-thirds (68%) now say they put climate change central to their business, compared with 48% last year.

Almost half (45%) are now reporting they have cut their greenhouse gas emissions as a result of steps they have taken to tackle carbon, up from less than a fifth (19%) in 2010.

The Carbon Disclosure Project report, written by PwC, also said there was a link between higher stock market performance and action on climate change, with those that have a strong focus on the issue providing investors with approximately double the average return over the period 2005 to 2011.

Check out the rest of the article here.

(Photo credit: The Guardian)

From Reuters:

Global concern about climate change has risen only very slightly over the past two years, as consumers have focused on more immediate economic worries, according to an opinion poll published on Sunday.

Nielsen’s latest global online environment and sustainability survey showed that 69 percent of 25,000 Internet users in 51 countries were concerned about climate change in 2011, slightly up from 66 percent in a similar poll in 2009, but down from 72 percent in 2007.

“Focus on immediate worries such as job security, local school quality and economic wellbeing have all diminished media attention for climate stories in the past two years,” said Maxwell Boykoff, who was an adviser to the survey and is senior visiting research associate at the University of Oxford’s Environmental Change Institute.

Hopes for a global climate treaty have faded over the past couple of years as successive United Nations meetings have failed to clinch a binding deal to cut greenhouse gas emissions, which are widely blamed for stoking global warming.

…

In China, the world’s top greenhouse gas emitter, climate change concern has dropped to 64 percent from 77 percent in the last two years.

In the United States, the second biggest emitter and the only industrialized nation not signed up to the U.N.’s Kyoto Protocol for curbing emissions, the number of those concerned has fallen steadily to 48 percent, from 51 percent in 2009 and 62 percent in 2007.

The regions with the highest levels of concern were Latin America, the Middle East and Africa, and Asia-Pacific.

Check out the rest of the article here.

(Image credit: Neilsen Wire)

Infographic: ‘The British Cycling Economy’

“Cycling in the UK has undergone a renaissance over the past five years, with an increasing number of people taking to the streets of the UK by bike. Structural, economic, social and health factors have caused a ‘shift in the sand’ in the UK, spurring an expansion in the cycling market with indications that this will be a longer-term trend. This growth in cycling participation has had the knock-on effect of bringing economic and social benefits to the UK. In 2010 the result was a gross cycling contribution to the UK economy of £2.9bn.”

~ Dr Alexander Grous, productivity and innovation specialist at the London School of Economics and lead author of the new report, ‘The British Cycling Economy: Gross Cycling Product’.

(Source: London Cyclist)