Cincinnati MCP

2007-11-21T12:16:00.000-05:00

Though perhaps not directly related to sustainable urban environments the folks at AdBusters deserve a bit of credit for their on going examination of consumerism.

Check it out.

2007-09-13T08:59:00.001-05:00

Green Energy Cincy!

A list of projects that Cincinnati has completed and has in the works for responsible energy use and production. Kudos!

• Greater Cincinnati Water Works uses hydroelectric generators within its distribution system to recapture energy from water when it flows downhill. Renovations and upgrades to these generators during the next year will boost production by 600,000 kwh/yr.

• MSD is constructing a new biosolids thermal treatment system that uses the energy value of biosolids as the primary operating fuel source. This replaces the current system that uses more than $2 million per year of natural gas.

• The Department of Transportation and Engineering (DOTE) is in year 2 of its project to replace all Cincinnati traffic lights and walk signs with LED units, reducing the electricity used for these functions by 90%. This project is expected to save 3 million kwh/yr within 4 years, and 6 million kwh/yr when complete.

• DOTE plans to begin a streetlight modernization cycle in 2010 that will improve streetlight efficiency by at least 20%. This project is expected to save 500,000 kwh/yr within 4 years, and more than 4 million kwh/yr when complete.

• The Parks Department has installed a photovoltaic system that generates 20,000 kwh/yr of electricity from the sun at its Eden Park Headquarters, and has pledged to add additional photovoltaic capacity each year for the next 4 years.

• The Parks Department has installed a wind turbine at its Eden Park Headquarters capable of generating 10 kwh of electricity.

• The Parks Department and the Fleet Services Division have installed heating units powered by used motor oil from the City fleet.

• The Building and Inspections Department has launched a pilot project at the Permit Center to encourage voluntary employee behavior changes which conserve electricity. This pilot project is expected to produce 50,000 kwh/yr in energy savings.

• The Public Services Department constructs all new City Facilities to LEED Green Building Standards, and includes energy efficiency upgrades in its facility renovation projects.

• GCWW plans to install photovoltaic capacity each year, with anticipated production of 120,000 kwh/yr after 4 years.

2007-09-13T08:52:00.000-05:00

Cincinnati Green!

This just released from the Mayors Office is very exciting!

Mayor Mallory Sets Green Cincinnati Energy Efficiency Goals
Directs OEQ to develop city-wide Climate Protection Plan
City begins pilot energy reduction project at the Permit Center

Cincinnati – Mayor Mark Mallory and City Manager Milton Dohoney launched Green Cincinnati this morning by setting energy efficiency goals for City Government and beginning the process to create a city-wide Climate Protection Plan. The Mayor set Green Cincinnati energy efficiency goals of reducing the city government’s electricity demand by 4% in 1 year and 10% in 4 years. The Mayor also announced that he was introducing a motion to City Council that would direct the Office of Environmental Quality (OEQ) to begin a city-wide Climate Protection Planning Process.

“We have a moral responsibility to protect the Earth and the City of Cincinnati is going to be a leader in helping our region change,” Mayor Mallory said. “We start by looking at our own operations and reducing our use of electricity.” By setting the Green Cincinnati energy efficiency goals, the City of Cincinnati is moving aggressively on the global issue of Climate Protection. By achieving 4% in energy efficiency in 1 year, the city will save $286,000, and enough energy to power 239 homes, or eliminate the air pollution created by 511 cars. By reaching the 4 year goal of 10% energy efficiency, the city will save $632,000 per year, equal to 645 homes, or 1,384 cars. The goals apply to all nonutility city departments.

The goal of the city-wide climate protection planning process is to create a city-wide plan to reduce greenhouse gas emissions throughout the region. OEQ director, Larry Falkin will form a task force of stakeholders, including government officials, business groups, advocacy groups, community organizations, utilities, and other interested parties. The taskforce will look at energy efficiency, transportation, land use, and waste management, and will recommend actions for climate protection.

Mayor Mallory made the announcement at a morning press conference at the City’s Business Development and Permit Center today, where the City is kicking off a three-month pilot energy efficiency program. The employees at the Permit Center (more than 130) have volunteered to serve at the pilot site for determining how much energy can be saved through employee actions.

“We know that green development supports economic development,” said Dohoney. “It is part of what makes us an attractive, competitive city for businesses and people. As one of the larger employers in the city, we also know we must set an example for ways to be a greener city.”

City Manager Milton Dohoney has sent a directive to City Department Directors requesting that each department develop an energy management plan. The plans will focus on becoming more energy efficient by reducing utility and fuel usage, promoting conservation, and reducing energy costs. The Director of the Office of Environmental Quality, Larry Falkin, will be assisting each department in developing the plans. The plans should begin being implemented in 2008.

2007-09-08T16:33:00.000-05:00

New Harmony Update

No internet access to be had at the Opera House and Barn Abby!

I absolutely should have anticipated this and, ultimately, how appropriate!! Fortunately the thoughts and ideas presented so far this weekend have been duely noted and one may expect a full report in the next week!

Cheers from New Harmony!

2007-09-05T14:33:00.000-05:00

Golden, CO's Commitment to Sustainability

Last weekish, the city council of Golden Colorado passed what should be considered a fantastic example of a local government's commitment to the principles of sustainability. Using the Bruntland Commission's definition of sustainability and setting clear goals and objectives, they have gone where every village, town and city should go.

With Resolution 1793 (page 37) they have acknowledged the responsibility of government to provide leadership in the economic, environmental and social development within their jurisdiction. If only others would follow suit!

2007-09-05T14:10:00.001-05:00

Cincinnati MCP Goes to New Harmony

This weekend Cincinnati MCP will feature thoughts and commentary on the Third International Symposium: Cultural Landscapes : Cultural Towns held in the quirky New Harmony, Indiana. UC is sending a delegation of four students to what should be a fantastic experience. The symposium has set as its rather lofty goal the development of a set of principles for defining what it means to be a "cultural town".

As a prelude the symposium's organizers have posted on their website four key qualities to identify a community as a cultural town which are:

Cultural towns are genuine and authentic places that are deeply rooted in the arts and arts education which identify, create, and develop unique qualities of community.

Arts institutions, however organized, are 25 percent or more of the total town population.

A core group of "public entrepreneurs" are actively involved in community building as intensely as private entrepreneurs are in corporation building. These public entrepreneurs, whether lay citizen, artist, musician, restaurateur, architect, landscape architect, historian or community planner, are engaged in community building and are creating with beauty and responsibility. Community cannot be unique, genuine, and authentic without the work of these creative individuals and the individuals will not thrive without contributing responsibly to the community.

Cultural towns are located in a somewhat isolated cultural landscape which isolates the town from typical rapid suburban growth. Respecting the past, living the present, and visioning the future uniquely, cultural towns look forward and back simultaneously. As a result, they become destinations to be experienced.

With this as its starting point and an all-star line up of speakers, the weekend should prove to be as entertaining as it is educational.

2007-08-08T07:55:00.000-05:00

Behind the Greenwash

Recently, I have been feeling really good about the progress in the level of understanding and incorporation of the ideals of sustainability into the workings of American businesses. With, seemingly, every major company publishing yearly sustainability reports and committing to high profile projects claiming everything from life-cycle accounting to carbon neutrality, it would seem business is putting its money where its mouth is.

Then I read KPMG's REPORTING THE BUSINESS IMPLICATIONS OF CLIMATE CHANGE IN SUSTAINABILITY REPORTS which surveyed 50 such reports and gleaned the take home message from each in terms of perceived risks and benefits resulting from global warming. First, let me say, I guess its good that there is some acknowledgement of the issue. Global warming has been recognized in executive offices in the business community, which is more than can be said for the executive offices in the federal government. However, when the section on perceived risks opened with:

Very few of the companies surveyed reported quantitatively or qualitatively on risks arising from climate change. Of the examples that were found, by far most were related to current or future increased costs of energy (9 out of 50). A small number of companies reported on risk related to legal action and long term climatic changes. Very few other examples were found of reporting on risk related to climate change.<

Fantastic. And to top it off, the report concludes that in reporting (in the sustainability report mind you) on global warming, far more companies reported on how the company was going to capitalize on expected opportunities derived from global warming. What opportunities? Well there are carbon credits, emissions trading, carbon funds and emissions brokering, investment and asset management services and " other business opportunities related to consumer products, services or technologies arising from climate change."

Whether or not we can buy and sell our way out of a climate crisis remains to be seen, but until then I'm going to have trouble resting assured knowing that many people will try. Unfortunately, the production and consumption of more consumer goods in an effort to fight global climate change just doesn't seem like the answer to me.

So what could the answer be? From a business perspective, I believe the emphasis should be less on what new trinket or scheme can be sold en masse, and more on how can we rethink our production process in such a way that the trinket uses less inputs to make, is better for the consumer during consumption and, when exhausted becomes the inputs for another process. Close the loop.

And hey, planners can play a huge role in this restructuring. Industrial clustering, land use decisions that make sense, creation of walkable communities, these are the buzzwords of our time. Can they find traction in a climate that ignores risks because its blinded by a dangerous conception of opportunity? There is an opportunity that is ignored by companies like those surveyed in this report, and it doesn't come from the creation of stuff or the selling of schemes, it comes from the fostering of real interactions and the design of quality, safe and healthy communities.

2007-08-03T13:48:00.000-05:00

Walkability Index

Whether you're moving to a new city or just want to know how your neighborhood stacks up, the walkscore.com walkability index is a fantastic resource for those interested in improving conditions for pedestrian travel and livability of an area. Check it out!

2007-07-05T13:16:00.000-05:00

Documenting the Movement

It can be difficult to keep them all straight. The government programs and NGOs and CBOs and campus groups and issue networks. A daunting logistical task that the wiki-world is suited perfectly for. Paul Hawkin (Natural Capitalism) has harnessed the open source inspired power of wikis to provide an amazing resource for those interested in progressive social activities. With over 1000 organizations cataloged in the sub-sub category of "sustainable urban and regional planning" alone, Wiser Earth is on to something big with their website.

2007-07-05T10:04:00.000-05:00

www.makemesustainable.com

Social networking with a decidedly green spin. Now there's a place where you can cyber-chat and learn how to cut your carbon foot print... interesting.

2007-06-21T16:38:00.000-05:00

Cradle to Cradle Home Design Competition

This is definately worth checking out. The McDonough sustainability model is quickly becoming unparalleled in its reach throughout the design world. With the rise of LEED-APs and implementation of green building codes around the country, it seems the only thing slowing the momentum is perception of cost and social inertia. The tipping point is nearly here!

2007-06-19T11:24:00.000-05:00

Houston's 2035 Transportation Plan

Hmmm... A city without zoning and, seemingly, without limits to sprawl releases its transportation plan. I haven't had a chance to pick through it just yet but boy did they have their work cut out for them... Though it is tempting, I'll reserve judgement until after I read the plan. :)

2007-06-19T11:16:00.000-05:00

Vancouver's Economic Development Land Use Plan

Though it is still in the works, the background work that has been completed is phenomenal. This is surely going to be a benchmark economic development plan. Keep it on your radar screen by signing up for their email newsletter or just checking into the plan's website.

2007-06-13T15:10:00.000-05:00

Multimodal Transit Plan for Cincinnati's Uptown

Don't doddle. There are very few like it in the US!!

Taking a page from the Oakland Pedestrian Plan and the recently completed Ohio-Kentucky and Indiana Regional Council of Governments' "Uptown Study" we have put together an analysis and set of recommendations for improved circulation for low order modes in Cincinnati's uptown.

A transit plan that doesn't focus on the car you say? Thats what you get in spades with this one. Check it out.

http://daapspace4.daap.uc.edu/~trepkosk/index.html

2007-06-13T15:03:00.000-05:00

Sustainable Agriculture Article Gets Published!

For all those avid readers of the STaR Division of the American Planning Association, be sure to take a close look at the Spring Newsletter because in it you will find an article entiled "Sustainable Agriculture as a Tool for Rural Community Development" by Yours Truely!

Now for something with a bit wider of a circulation...

2007-06-13T14:58:00.001-05:00

You are not going to want to miss this! A symposium on cultural landscapes and cultural towns is set to take place in New Harmony, Indiana. New Harmony and the American Planning Association have put together a fantastic lineup of speakers and events in this historic town!

Now if only we can talk the organizers into cutting students some slack!! $350 is a hefty price to pay on a GA salary!

2007-04-20T08:34:00.000-05:00

Sustainability is all the buzz in the blogosphere

NEW YORK, NY -- (MARKET WIRE) -- 04/19/07 -- Is green the new buzz machine? According to Nielsen BuzzMetrics, the global standard in consumer-generated media measurements, references to "sustainable" or "sustainability" were up 110% in March 2007 versus one year ago. Sustainability encompasses a broad spectrum of efforts to provide better outcomes for human and natural environments.

These are among the findings from Nielsen BuzzMetrics' Sustainability Monitor(TM), a new syndicated service which takes the pulse of consumer sentiment and brand health around sustainability. The service tackles key areas like organics, recycling, renewable fuels, alternative heath care and environmental economics. The Sustainability Monitor(TM) service also includes focus reports in key categories such as automotive and consumer-packaged goods (CPG).

"While much media attention has focused on personalities like Al Gore pushing for a sustainable environment, millions of individual voices are speaking out across all corners of the Internet on this emergent issue," said Jerry Needel, senior vice president, product management, Nielsen BuzzMetrics. "The Sustainability Monitor aggregates those voices into key insights for companies and brands seeking to understand and participate in this movement."

Among key findings from the Sustainability Monitor(TM) April 2007 wave:

-- Sustainability discussion is tipping into mainstream; discussion
sources go beyond environment/activist-focused topics. Key sustainability
blogs rank among top 50 blogs overall and mainstream consumers are looking
for ways to get involved.
-- The topics driving sustainability discussion over the past year
include: environmental issues (23%); corporate initiatives (18%);
government involvement (15%); economic activities (14%); and land
development (13%).
-- There is a fine line between being viewed as authentic in the support
for sustainable practices and perceived as taking advantage of the
"trendiness" of going green. Consumers are actively calling out 'green-
washing' of corporations perceived to be entering this space with the wrong
intentions.

Mapping 'Eco-friendly' Discussion In The Blogosphere

To better understand sentiment and mental associations around 'eco-friendly,' Nielsen BuzzMetrics filtered blog buzz through its Brand Association Map (BAM). By applying advanced text-mining algorithms to all blog discussion with keyword eco-friendly, between January 1 and March 15, 2007, Nielsen BuzzMetrics plotted the most important attributes, issues and themes, with the most closely associated terms to eco-friendly nearest the center. (See accompanying image.)

Nielsen BuzzMetrics "Get Smart" Webinar Series

Nielsen BuzzMetrics hosts an ongoing educational Webinar series to explore the world of consumer-generated media (CGM) touching on important topics like sustainability. If you would like to join an upcoming Webinar, please register on our website at http://nielsenbuzzmetrics.com/webinars.asp.

About Nielsen BuzzMetrics

The Nielsen BuzzMetrics service, marketed by BuzzMetrics, Inc., is the global standard in measuring consumer-generated media and word of mouth. Nielsen BuzzMetrics helps more than 100 leading global companies interpret and leverage the buzz surrounding them -- clients like Canon, Comcast, Ford, General Motors, HBO, Kraft, Microsoft, Nokia, P&G, Sony, Target and Toyota, as well as the top 15 pharmaceutical concerns. Partners include the world's largest marketing-services firms, and innovative new-marketing agencies. The company has also collaborated with distinguished research organizations such as the Pew Internet and American Life Project. BuzzMetrics, Inc. is a subsidiary of The Nielsen Company, owner of such renowned research names as ACNielsen and Nielsen Media Research. For more information, visit www.nielsenbuzzmetrics.com.

2007-04-11T09:17:00.000-05:00

"The only way to break a writer’s block is to apply the seat of the pants to the seat of the chair."
-Sue Ruddick

2007-04-10T14:43:00.000-05:00

Sustainable Agriculture as a Tool for Rural Community Development
By Geoffrey G. Milz

This article is the synthesis of a broad review of the academic literature that attempts to understand, describe and support the use of sustainable agriculture as a tool for rural community development

With the coming of the industrial age in the United States came massive changes to all sectors of the economy. Over time, the production of goods from automobiles to zippers became faster, cheaper to consume, more capital intensive, mechanized, energy dependent, chemical dependent, and homogenous. The movement towards the industrialization of agriculture was similar. However, nearly 90 years since the first John Deere tractor turned its first furrow, a movement is growing in the fields and farms which calls into question the wisdom of this trend towards the industrialization of our food production processes.

The literature that attempts to explain and support this alternative agricultural movement is seated in the sociological, ecological economics and agricultural fields. The industrialization of agriculture in its quest for cheaper food costs for the consumer through efficiency by technology has led to bigger farms, increased mechanization, increased dependence on export markets, and specialization. Alternatively, as the academic Paul Lasley puts it, “Sustainable agriculture is a general concept that reflects an emerging set of cultural practices and also an underlying set of values and beliefs. Alternative agriculture, organic agriculture, regenerative agriculture, eco-agriculture, permaculture, agroecology, low-input farming among others are common labels for alternative models that seek to redefine agriculture.”

The trend in America towards a decrease in the number of farms, while the average farm size increases, is can easily be seen in recent census reports. This phenomenon is either noted or implied in all of the literature on rural development through alternative agriculture. Indeed, packed within this trend is the basis for the Goldschmidt Hypothesis. The Goldschmidt hypothesis explains that as the size of farms increase around a town, the quality of life decreases. It was based on a comparative study conducted in the 1940’s in central California by Walter Goldschmidt. His study was a landmark in linking farm size and structure to rural community development and has been tested with various methodologies in subsequent studies more than 17 times. In many, but not all, cases, the relationship between the health of small, sustainable farms and rural community development has been strengthened.

This leads to an interesting discussion on the role of sustainability and sustainable agricultural systems in modern rural community development. It is clear that there is no common understanding of sustainability as a concept, not even among the academics who write about it. In classes where it is taught, students seem to leave each with his or her own understanding of sustainability. The thinking on sustainable development lacks any sort of density. In the center one may find a few viscerally understood premises. Radiating and revolving around this core at various distances are bits of thought in the literature, like many electrons floating around a tiny distant nucleus. Such are the individual contributions. Some contributions focus on infrastructure, others on philosophy, some on policy others on practice. But despite this ambiguity, individuals, academics, students, organizations and governments still, after many years, gravitate towards it. Sustainability is still seen as a path which, if you can find it, will lead to the Promised Land where the problems of poverty, affluence, social intolerance and environmental degradation are alleviated.

What is truly amazing about this amorphous, electron-cloud of literature on sustainability is the relative gravity it is able to produce. In the natural world we are able to observe that the more densely packed the matter of an object is, the greater the gravity of that the object and the greater influence it is able to have on its surroundings. Sustainable development literature defies this natural order. Somehow, despite its {spread out ness} it has been able to pull supporters in from wholly different and unexpected backgrounds. I would argue that this phenomenon is not simple happenstance. It is not some weird and unexplainable phenomenon. The concept of sustainability is able to court brilliant minds, powerful governments and well-endowed organizations because of the gravity of situation it seeks to remedy. The study of sustainable development is the study of conflict. It is innate within it. It is inextricable. It is the depth and breadth of conflict which prevents the premature and naïve reconciliation of ideas seemingly opposed within the literature of sustainable development.

The literature presented in this review is no different. Sustainable agriculture bucks a trend that has been building since the industrial revolution. It is currently at odds with federal agricultural policy, federal trade policy, a macro-level understanding of neoclassical economics, multi-national and multi-million dollar agro-business and the mainstream consumer in America. But all this is changing.

This review looked at those academics who have studied how sustainable agriculture could be used in rural community development. It found that the literature produced in this field has sought to agitate for movement towards sustainable agriculture in one of three ways, through policy change, programmatic change or systemic change. These categories are not unique to sustainable agriculture. In fact, nearly all facets of sustainable development could include these categories. What makes sustainable agriculture of particular interest to me in the field of planning is two fold. First, sustainability is an anthropocentric construction that seeks to maintain the natural systems that sustain human life on earth. The natural system that every individual is perhaps most intimately and daily aware of is the food system. There is a direct physical connection between the grower of food, the food and the earth. It is easy to see. Everyone can immediately understand it. Secondly, the sustainable agriculture movement is about more than just food. It addresses the most important conflict in sustainability, the growth versus sustainability issue.

As this paper is penned, in late Autumn, the airwaves are jammed with messages of more. Christmas, to many, is a time of dissatisfaction. We are told that we do not have everything we want, we are not satisfied, we are not content, and that the gatekeeper to this world of satiation is the local affiliate of some global retailer. Sustainable agriculture seeks sustainability by seeking real satiation. Sustainable agriculture is the recognition and reaction to glutton. More is now less. We have more things that carry less meaning. We have more food that carries less nutrients. We have more “communities” but we have fewer interactions.

Sustainable agriculture seeks sustainability by seeking community. It is premised upon the idea that food brings people together on a familial level, as in Thanksgiving dinner, but also on a community level. Now, as the pace of the rural diaspora quickens, small family farmers are leaving behind shells of the once lively Main Street, USA. As the average size of farms increase the hinterland is less able to support a small local commercial center, civic organizations, schools, professionals like doctors or lawyers, and those people, places and organizations that allow for vibrancy and life of a small town.

Sustainable agriculture is able to help as a tool to be used by independent family farmers to get into a marketplace that has shut them out in the past. There is a growing number of consumers that are willing to pay more for some sense of fulfillment. During a trip to the market perhaps a relationship is developed between the consumer and the producer of her food. Perhaps consumers are willing to pay 10 – 15% more if they understand that they are helping out Mr. Turner and know about his farm just outside of town, if they know that buying from Mr. Turner means that herbicides and pesticides have been kept in their drums and not released into the regional environment, if they feel like they are doing the right thing.

Hope of moving towards a more sustainable food system, and towards the sustainability of our species in general, relies upon an optimistic understanding of the human spirit. In general, people do not want to do wrong. People want to feel good about the way they are living and the market place has shown that increasingly, those who are able to make the choice, choose sustainable agriculture. Organics are the new buzzword at the supermarket. Agribusiness has responded by trying to dilute the meaning and intention of the sustainable agriculture movement, but has met resistance from an educated or “enlightened” consumer class.

Hopeful, educated, aware. Those who fit these criteria will be the change agents in the sustainability movement whether in bountiful fields producing our food or bustling city centers tending our business. Wherever they are found they will have taken a lesson from Isaiah, Iccarus and Sisyphus, from Berry, Goldschmidt and Kirschenmann, and recognize that taking too much, flying too high or pushing too hard leads to a society that few will want to be a part of.

As we look out into the hinterlands of our country, once specked with porch lights from family farm houses, we see a changing landscape. Sustainable agriculture offers a tool for planners, policy makers, grassroots organizers and farmers to slow, halt or perhaps even reverse the social, environmental and economic impacts of industrialized agriculture on rural communities. Now as we take our first steps down the path to a more sustainable food system, we may look to those whose writings have been reviewed in this and subsequent papers as way finders. There are many questions and few answers. Ultimately we will need to make decisions informed by our awareness, hope and educated understanding of how to live in a more perfect world.

2007-04-10T14:38:00.000-05:00

Good news about job prospects for planners from GRIST Magazine and Environmental Careers Organization-

Remake a Living: Growing the green economy
"April is the cruelest month," T. S. Eliot wrote. Ha! What did he know? For environmental-job seekers in a host of fields, this April could almost be certified "cruelty free." In no particular order, here's a quick overview of green career areas experiencing growth right now:

Wind Power and Solar Energy

A 2007 report from Clean Edge predicts that wind power revenues are expected to rise from $17.9 billion in 2006 to $60.8 billion in 2016. Solar photovoltaic companies anticipate a similar steep increase from $15.6 billion last year to $69.3 billion nine years from now. Estimates from other analysts and associations suggest even bigger pots of money flowing into wind and solar.

It will come as no surprise that solar and wind power employers primarily need technical and business people. Requests for engineers, installation and maintenance technicians, "grid operation managers," sales and marketing people, and manufacturing professionals (plant managers, quality assurance staff) dominate the wish list. An intriguing job title in the wind power industry is "wind resource assessor," which involves determining whether proposed wind farm sites are good bets to keep those turbines spinning.

Of course, photovoltaics are only one sector within the solar industry, and wind and solar together are only a portion of the exploding alternative energy industry. It also includes biofuels, hydrogen/fuel cells, efforts to reduce the impact of fossil fuels, and more.

Water Utilities/Wastewater Treatment Works

The indispensable Environmental Business Journal has reported that 286,200 people were employed by over 87,000 public and private water utilities and wastewater treatment works in 2005 -- primarily at local governments. This small army of water workers was supported by $70.7 billion in revenues from rate and tax payers. Roughly 100,000 of these essential professionals are "certified plant/system operators." Demand is expected to remain strong for many years to come. As water-quality management morphs into watershed management, there is also a rising demand for hydrologists.

Solid Waste Management/Resource Recovery/Municipal Recycling

In 1974, there was exactly one citywide curbside recycling program in the United States. In 2007, there are more than 10,000. Curbside recycling is just one part of a solid waste/resource recovery industry that supported some 411,000 people in 2005 at more than 15,000 entities that earned a whopping $47.8 billion, according to EBJ. With recycling rates stalled (or declining) in many parts of the country, the industry needs a new generation of creative recycling managers and coordinators. Without them, the growth will occur among the people who run landfills and incinerators. No one wants that.

Green Building

Want to join a green industry that's growing just about as fast as it can? Take a look at these numbers from the U.S. Green Building Council.

Green Building Stats
Indicator 2001 2007
Accredited professionals 527 36,000+
Member companies/organizations 1,137 8,033+
Local chapters 15 75+
Size of market n/a $12 billion and rising

For architects, construction managers, landscape architects, and related professionals, green building is where it's at. Since buildings are a big part of the climate change problem, the need for green building professionals is only to going to grow as building codes change to require greener houses, offices, and factories.

Land Trusts

In the most recent "census" (2005), the Land Trust Alliance reports that the number of land trusts in the United States grew to 1,667 -- a 32 percent increase in just five years. The census also shows that the total acres conserved by land trusts doubled between 2000 and 2005, and the role of local and state land trusts relative to national ones accelerated rapidly. Good news! More importantly for job seekers, the professionalism of land trusts is increasing, requiring more executive directors, preserve managers, real-estate and tax experts, education managers, and fundraisers. There has never been a better time to launch a land-trust career.

Urban and Regional Planning

In 2007, the demand for planners is strong and steady, especially in areas of the country experiencing rapid population growth. Working from U.S. Department of Labor statistics, ECO estimates that there are roughly 34,000 planners out there, 70 percent of whom work in local government. While many planners have a specialty like transportation, housing, community development, or environmental protection, most work at the cross section among social justice, ecological health, and economic security issues, putting them at the leading edge of on-the-ground sustainability action in many communities.

Brownfield Redevelopment

Political spinners love to claim that every crisis is really an opportunity, but in the case of our "brownfield" problem, it could be true. The U.S. EPA estimates that are at least 450,000 properties whose actual or perceived environmental contamination adversely impacts their redevelopment potential, sometimes leaving them abandoned for years. The National Brownfield Association claims that the number might be as high as 1 million. Nobody knows for sure. Successfully turning a brownfield into a park, shopping mall, parking lot, school, housing development, golf course, factory, or office building requires the talents of environmental remediation technicians, real-estate professionals, financial investors, and community relations staff. No one knows how many people make a living from brownfield redevelopment (estimates run between 5,000 and 10,000), but everyone agrees that it's growing quickly and will continue to grow.

Environmental Consulting and Engineering

The nation's environmental consulting firms are literally fighting each other for talent -- especially engineers of all stripes, earth scientists, project managers, and information-technology types. There is genuine worry about where these professionals will come from to fill available jobs. After several years of lackluster performance and lots of mergers, environmental consulting and engineering is back on a growth path. The (still) indispensable EBJ estimates that some 220,800 people pulled down a paycheck at 3,650 firms on revenues of $22.4 billion in 2005. And they project the environmental consulting sector to have average annual growth of 5.5 percent through 2010.

Government Retirements

ECO estimates that local, state, and federal government "environmental" agencies will employ an estimated 3 million people in 2007, some of whom are included in a few of the categories above. The average state government employee is over 44 years old, so huge numbers of these professionals are eligible to retire, or soon will be. I'm talking about tens of thousands of people retiring within a few years of each other. Large numbers of park rangers, foresters, fish and wildlife biologists, permit writers, food safety regulators, lab technicians, contract managers, environmental lawyers, and agricultural extension agents will be heading off to the golf course. Who will replace them? Why, you, of course.

Other

There are plenty of other environmental careers experience growth right now. Here are just a few: organic food, carbon management and control technologies, energy conservation and efficiency, education, health, community organizing, and ecotourism.

Throughout the rest of 2007, I'll explore some of these career areas, with details about specific job titles, employment trends, median salaries, qualifications needed, and profiles of people in the field. I'll also share ideas about how to land the job that you really want. Most importantly, I'll answer your questions, so log on and share your story.

Happy Earth Day!

2007-02-23T13:52:00.000-05:00

The Urban Environment Report is out and you'll never guess who's last.

If you need another reason not to live in Detroit here ya go (http://www.earthday.org/UER/report/):

Unfortunatly the nasti 'nati wasn't included...

Overall Rank
(1 is best, 72 is worst) City, State Overall Score
(1 is best, 10 is worst)
1 Fargo*, ND 2.73
2 Burlington*, VT 2.79
3 Portland, OR 2.81
3 Colorado Springs, CO 2.81
5 Sioux Falls*, SD 2.83
6 Boise*, ID 2.85
7 Seattle, WA 2.86
8 Portland*, ME 2.87
9 Minneapolis, MN 2.98
10 Anchorage, AK 3.03
11 Honolulu, HI 3.09
12 Cheyenne*, WY 3.17
13 Denver, CO 3.19
14 Billings*, MT 3.21
15 Des Moines*, IA 3.22
16 Mesa, AZ 3.24
17 Manchester*, NH 3.28
18 Albuquerque, NM 3.29
18 Lexington, KY 3.29
20 Virginia Beach, VA 3.31
21 Tucson, AZ 3.35
22 Omaha, NE 3.37
23 Columbia*, SC 3.42
23 Boston, MA 3.42
25 Charlotte, NC 3.46
26 Las Vegas, NV 3.49
27 Kansas City, MO 3.51
28 San Francisco, CA 3.54
28 Jacksonville, FL 3.54
30 Phoenix, AZ 3.56
31 San Diego, CA 3.57
32 Milwaukee, WI 3.65
33 Salt Lake City*, UT 3.66
34 San Jose, CA 3.67
35 Oklahoma City, OK 3.74
36 Sacramento, CA 3.76
37 Wilmington*, DE 3.77
37 Little Rock*, AR 3.77
39 Austin, TX 3.80
40 Arlington, TX 3.81
41 Tulsa, OK 3.83
42 Wichita, KS 3.84
43 Nashville-Davidson, TN 3.85
43 Charleston*, WV 3.85
45 Oakland, CA 3.98
45 Washington, DC 3.98
47 Long Beach, CA 4.03
48 Columbus, OH 4.04
49 Providence*, RI 4.11
50 Memphis, TN 4.16
51 Fort Worth, TX 4.20
52 Philadelphia, PA 4.21
53 Indianapolis, IN 4.22
54 New York City, NY 4.23
54 Fresno, CA 4.23
54 Bridgeport*, CT 4.23
57 Baltimore City, MD 4.29
58 Louisville-Jefferson County*, KY 4.30
59 Chicago, IL 4.31
60 San Antonio, TX 4.33
61 Birmingham*, AL 4.47
62 Los Angeles, CA 4.58
63 Dallas, TX 4.62
64 Atlanta, GA 4.67
65 Jackson*, MS 4.73
66 Newark, NJ 4.76
67 New Orleans, LA 4.95
68 Houston, TX 5.06
69 El Paso, TX 5.13
70 Cleveland, OH 5.20
71 Miami, FL 5.29
72 Detroit, MI 5.49

2007-02-20T20:44:00.000-05:00

Matching Sustainability with Profits

OnStar's navigation system and P&G's Swiffer are high-profile, profitable products in which green concerns were addressed via design

by Gianfranco Zaccai

We live in a society of consumption. Our voracious and seemingly endless appetite for more, better, bigger, and easier is leaving our planet overrun and creating an environment that may not be able to sustain human life.

As designers, are we partially responsible? Are we helping or hurting?

The common and understandable perception is that designers just make more stuff the world doesn't need, but this is unfair. Good designers—conscientious designers—work with sustainability in mind. They know they need to create products, services, and environments that make sense for clients, and work for and with our earth. In other words: Profitable sustainability.

How is it to be done?

A simple—but not sufficient—answer might be to design more environmentally friendly products and processes. This might be called the "diet chocolate cake" approach: Keep doing what we are good at and giving people what they want, but somehow do it less harmfully. At the other end of the spectrum is the abstinence approach: Plead guilty to the charge that designers spend a lot of time designing "elegant landfill" and stop doing it. The great designer Dieter Rams, for example, called for a less wasteful approach in his monograph, "Less But Better."

A Better Kind of Better
I think we need better—but not necessarily less—design. Indeed, designers need to strive for a better kind of better. The days of prevailing in the marketplace by producing a better thing or a better service—more desirable, easier to use, easier to manufacture or deliver—are passing. The winners now will be those who provide customers with the best total experience. People want great experiences and will pay for them. OnStar's innovative way of offering GPS directions to drivers is a good example.

Using a GPS (global positioning system) system to find your way to the airport is definitely better than getting lost and missing your plane. But dealing with the GPS display can be complex and stressful. Often, stopping at a gas station and getting directions from a friendly local is easier. OnStar realized that instead of providing the best (most sophisticated and expensive) technology, it could provide the best (least stressful) experience. So with OnStar, there is no display or complex keyboard to deal with. When you push the single OnStar button, you talk to a real human being who—unlike expensive and confusing LCD displays and keyboards—naturally understands your wishes.

The operator then handles the sophisticated technology at the core of the OnStar system (they know how so you don't have to) in order to provide the directions you need, and can as well make hotel reservations and send flowers for you. Here the experience is paramount: The business model, the interaction design, and the technology are all informed by the vision of delivering a better experience. And the profits for OnStar are actually higher because the systems installed in each car are both less expensive and less wasteful (there are no displays and keyboards to discard), while generating an ongoing revenue stream.

Profitable Sustainability
Have I forgotten about global warming and sustainability? Not at all. If a great customer experience also happens to reduce waste and consumption, so much the better.

A few years ago, Continuum helped Procter & Gamble (PG) develop the Swiffer cleaning system. The Swiffer is a truly great success from a business standpoint, both as a customer-delighting experience and as an example of profitable sustainability. Cleaning the floor with an old-fashioned mop and detergent is a messy and unpleasant job that uses many gallons of hot water and great amounts of detergent every week in millions of homes around the world. The water, the energy needed to heat that water, and the environmental impact of dumping the detergent into the waste stream are terribly costly, and all for a job no one likes doing anyway. Cleaning a floor with a Swiffer uses almost no water at all and the only disposable waste is a sheet of paper and a few squirts of cleaning agent.

However, you know and I know that the Swiffer would not be selling so well (and sparing us so much environmental impact) if people didn't like swiffing better than mopping. Our "commission" from P&G was to design a better floor-cleaning product. But the mission we gave ourselves was to design a better floor-cleaning experience. Because we succeeded in that—swiffing is much easier than mopping and gets the floor much cleaner—we were able to boost P&G's profitability, increase its customers' satisfaction, and make a small contribution to the sustainability of our planet.

The Swiffer is a good example of "profitable sustainability." Designing a superior experience makes it possible to increase profit and decrease mindless waste simultaneously. To put it bluntly, making customer experience a pillar of sustainable profitability is a better alternative than sustainability by enforced abstinence.

The Cost Hurdle
Designing a superior customer experience is also the way to overcome what appears to be a serious flaw in many sustainable technologies; namely, that they still cost more than the toxic alternatives. But does this objection really make any sense? The entire modern world economy is based on the obvious fact that people want—and will gladly pay for—much more than they actually need. I don't know what the cheapest car in the world is, but it isn't the market leader. More typically, a product category is led by the coolest thing around; witness the iPod in all of its ever-smaller and cooler incarnations.

Can designers applying their ability to create cool things help to make emerging-but-not-yet-cost-effective renewable energy systems the thing to have? Take solar energy. It isn't really the cost that keeps some people from going solar; they simply don't want their homes disfigured by ugly roof panels. Other would-be adopters may be uncomfortable about appearing holier-than-thou to their neighbors.

But there already exists a photovoltaic material that can be embedded in roofing materials and is practically invisible. If this were fully developed and marketed, there would be quite a few customers willing to pay extra for a "green" power source that didn't make them look weird. Bringing such an innovation successfully to market is less a matter of bringing down the price than of designing a compelling customer experience, all the way from selection to installation to finished look and feel. Of course, this would require designers to research the various motivations of pride, concern, and embarrassment.

Conversely, it may come about that those ugly solar panels become a status symbol themselves. (I'm sure they are in some neighborhoods.) After all, the Prius is not a particularly cool-looking or beautifully designed car. But over time it has become a kind of status symbol, identifying its owner as a conscientious citizen of the world. Here again, a well-designed customer experience (self-respect and the respect of others) is the foundation for both profitability (Toyota (TM) can't keep up with the demand) and sustainability.

Bigger Playing Field
There's a literary trend these days of rewriting the classics from different points of view; telling the story of the Trojan War in Helen's voice, for instance. It's a wide-open field and there's no danger of being sued by Homer or Shakespeare. Designers might do very well to take this approach to the panoply of inventions and innovations that have already been developed—the car, the computer, the credit card, the answering machine, the washing machine, the drive-in, the airport, the air conditioner, and on and on—but this time taking into account the psychological, emotional, social, and ecological factors that weren't on the minds of—or given priority by—engineers, designers, or customers at the time these innovations were first conceived.

Designers now have an ethical responsibility to avert the destruction of the planet on which their children and grandchildren must live—this is the same responsibility any of us has. Designers also have a professional responsibility to help their clients' profitability in the short and medium terms by designing products that cost less to produce and are more desirable. Finally, designers have a long-term fiduciary responsibility to their clients; the degradation or destruction of the environment is in nobody's long-term interest.

We can fulfill all these responsibilities by adopting a 21st century definition of "better" and then going about our business of designing better products and services, applying a new kind of "cool" to a rapidly overheating world.

Gianfranco Zaccai is president and CEO of Continuum, the award-winning design consultancy behind P&G's Swiffer. Zaccai is chairman of the board of directors of the Design Management Institute and a faculty member at SDA Bocconi School of Management in Milan. Continuum has offices in Boston, Milan, and Seoul.
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This is the main stream manefestation of "sustainability". The "diet chocolate cake" will probably be the model most readily adapted to most planning applications and as such this article could be a interesting prognosis of the environmental planning field of the not-so-distant future.

2007-02-19T12:59:00.000-05:00

Sustainability: What's in a name?

Chamber may begin certification program

By Mark Schultz, Staff Writer

CHAPEL HILL -- Is "sustainable" the new "organic"?
The Chapel Hill-Carrboro Chamber of Commerce has been preaching sustainability.

It's spun off a Foundation for a Sustainable Community. It's sponsored annual awards for sustainable businesses.

But like the debate that swirled around the word organic a few years ago, it hasn't come up with a simple definition of the term.

That could soon change.

At Friday's meeting of the Community Leadership Council, chamber president Aaron Nelson discussed plans to create a program that would certify local businesses as sustainable.

If it takes off, Nelson said, a Chapel Hill-based Institute for Sustainable Enterprise -- or something like it -- might even train chambers from across the country to offer certification in their own areas.

"I think you're on to something," Top of the Hill owner Scott Maitland said. "What's the brand of Chapel Hill and Carrboro? Man, this fits into that."

Right now the chamber defines a sustainable business as one that improves the quality of the environment, invests in a diverse community and has a positive impact on the local economy.

But the words mean different things to different people Even the application form for the annual awards program is pretty daunting.

Still, businesses are changing their practices. Top of the Hill stopped using Styrofoam cup four months ago. The Chapel Hill restaurant, which owns Spanky's, 411 West and Squids in Chapel Hill, recently took out ads touting not just its food but its sustainable business philosophy, Maitland said.

Nelson said it makes sense for the business community to take the lead. "Ultimately we want to change the world," he said.

Lots of ideas start off in the workplace, he added. For example, it's common for people to turn off the lights when they leave a room, a practice that Nelson said started with businesses.

Jon Wilner, director of The ArtsCenter, praised the idea of certifying businesses that try to reduce their waste stream and take other positive steps.

"When I walk into a restaurant, I look for a number," he said of the sanitation grading system. "It challenges all of us to come up to a standard."

Nelson said he plans to form an advisory board and possibly partner with another organization such as the Sierra Club or Audubon Society to continue working on the idea.

In other business

The Community Leadership Council continued debating its name and membership, ultimately deciding to put off decisions on both for now.

Some members want to change the name to Community Leadership Collaboration. Others think the word "leader" continues to taint the group as elitist.

The approximately 30-member group includes the three local mayors, UNC's chancellor and other officials, as well as representatives from the local business and nonprofit communities.

Carrboro Mayor Mark Chilton said he wants the UNC student body president to join the group in recognition of the students in town.

"The student body is an enormous part of our population," he said. "They bring a zillion dollars into our downtown. They support our rental housing industry. Frankly, they cause some problems too."

"The UNC student government is one of our local governments in Orange County, and they ought to have a seat here."

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How fantastic would it be for the Environmental planning specialization to put together a "How to be Sustainable" guide for the Cincinnati Chamber of Commerce?

2007-02-02T10:57:00.000-05:00

Walmart's Lofty Sustainability Goals

An effort that should be lauded! Lets see how these get implemented.

Wal-Mart CEO Lee Scott Unveils 'Sustainability 360'
- Announces 'Global Innovation Project' to Help Remove Non-Renewable Energy From Products -

LONDON, Feb. 1 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- As the keynote lecturer at the Prince of Wales's Business and the Environment Programme, Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. (NYSE: WMT) President and CEO Lee Scott today unveiled "Sustainability 360" -- a company-wide emphasis on taking sustainability beyond reducing the company's direct environmental footprint to engaging Wal-Mart's associates, suppliers, communities and customers.

"Sustainability 360 takes in our entire company -- our customer base, our supplier base, our associates, the products on our shelves, the communities we serve," said Scott. "And we believe every business can look at sustainability in this way. In fact, in light of current environmental trends, we believe they will and soon."

As an example of this way of working, Scott also announced the company's intention to introduce "Global Innovation Projects" -- one of which is a challenge for Wal-Mart associates and suppliers to start thinking about how to remove non-renewable energy from the products the company sells.

"Perhaps the most far-reaching opportunity we have with our suppliers is a simple idea with potentially profound consequences," said Scott. "Just think about this: What if we worked with our suppliers to take non-renewable energy off our shelves and out of the lives of our customers? We could create metrics and share best practices so our suppliers could make products that rely less and less on carbon-based energy."

Recognizing ASDA's longtime leadership in sustainability, Scott highlighted how initiatives taking place at Wal-Mart's operations in the United Kingdom fit this idea, including reducing packaging on food products by 25 percent and selling more energy efficient light bulbs than standard bulbs by 2008.

Addressing the different planks of "Sustainability 360," Scott highlighted Wal-Mart's initiative to work with suppliers to reduce packaging by five percent by 2013 -- an effort that will be equal to removing 213,000 trucks from the road, and saving approximately 324,000 tons of coal and 67 million gallons of diesel fuel per year. He also talked about the company's goal to develop partnerships that help suppliers run more sustainable businesses and factories.
Focusing on Wal-Mart's work to reach out to communities around the globe, Scott discussed efforts to promote sustainable practices when entering new markets. The company's effort to make environmentally friendly products more affordable and available to customers aligns with Wal-Mart's purpose to save people money so they can live better lives.

Emphasizing that sustainability is consistent with the company's culture, Scott also discussed the integral role that associates play in helping Wal- Mart reach its objectives.
Scott acknowledged that the journey to a sustainable corporation is long, but stressed all businesses have a role to play. "We all have an opportunity to be more sustainable. But even more, we have a responsibility. We need to be sustainable companies and countries made up of people who live sustainable lives. If we do that, if we do it throughout the coming decades, I believe we will make sustainability ... sustainable. And this generation will leave a healthier humanity and a healthier planet to future generations."

The Business and Environment Programme was hosted by the Prince of Wales and attended by government representatives, officials from non-governmental organizations and business executives. The biennial lecture is the largest and longest-running executive learning program in the world on sustainable business.

For a full text of the lecture, please visit http://sev.prnewswire.com/retail/20070201/DATH03601022007-1.html# . About Wal-Mart Stores, Inc.

Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. operates Wal-Mart discount stores, Supercenters, Neighborhood Markets and Sam's Club locations in the United States. The Company operates in Argentina, Brazil, Canada, China, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Japan, Mexico, Nicaragua, Puerto Rico and the United Kingdom. The Company's securities are listed on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol WMT.

More information about Wal-Mart can be found by visiting http://sev.prnewswire.com/retail/20070201/DATH03601022007-1.html# . Online merchandise sales are available at http://www.walmart.com/ .

2007-01-30T16:03:00.000-05:00

University of Cincinnati earns a "C-" in Sustainable Endowments Institute Report Card

Tisk.

More information at http://www.endowmentinstitute.org/index.html

2007-01-29T09:44:00.000-05:00

Sustainability is the future
McWhinney wants bottom line to include profit, people and planet
By CHRISTINE McMANUS
ChristineMcManus@coloradoan.com

McWhinney Enterprises executives have been out of the office a lot the past several months.

Leaders at one of Northern Colorado's largest land development companies have been gallivanting across the U.S. to study the work of 30 other developers.

They're looking at "sustainable" developments. And their search for a "triple bottom line," one which considers profits, people and the planet, started last year.

Findings from those field trips are expected to affect everyone from executive-level employees to engineers, land planners, administrators and eventually businesses and residents at the 3,300-acre Centerra development.

The Loveland development company is creating its own definition of sustainability by redefining how it does business. Ideas range from wastewater-recycling irrigation and primary job creation to a community designed to help prevent childhood obesity.

Webster's defines sustainability as "a practice that sustains a given condition, economic growth or a human population, without destroying or depleting natural resources, polluting the environment, etc."

But the task is much larger than creating a pithy mission statement for the development of 3,300 acres in Loveland, said brothers Chad and Troy McWhinney, COO Doug Hill and Centerra president Rocky Scott. They introduced the new mission, which is in its embryonic stage, at a Jan. 17 press conference.

"There's still a lot of fleshing out to be done," said Scott. "We've already started doing things we think are important, but we're ready to take it to the next level."

Throughout Centerra, McWhinney already has done things such as plant drought-tolerant grasses and install drip-irrigation for common area landscaping.

McWhinney worked together with McStain home builders to build more energy-efficient homes at High Plains Village. Plans are being drafted for 1,000 similar houses on the west side of Houts Reservoir and Equalizer Lake.

Construction scheduled to begin next month on the Rangeview III building is expected to meet silver standards in LEED ratings - the Leadership and Energy in Environmental Design standards of the U.S. Green Building Council. Recycling a majority of construction waste is a big part of the rating.

McWhinney plans to continue growing as a company for the next 20 to 30 years. According to the Urban Land Institute, developers of future communities ought to consider building projects that incorporate housing, shopping and workplaces instead of building separate housing developments.

At the institute's recent conference in Denver, McWhinney execs picked up that how a community is built affects how people live, Scott said. For example, healthy families need places to exercise, both indoors and outdoors. Shopping centers that cater only to cars keep people in their cars.

Centerra is 20-25 percent built out, Scott said. Most of that work has been done the past several years, surrounding The Promenade Shops at Centerra and Medical Center of the Rockies.

Sixty-two employees work for McWhinney. That number is expected to increase by 20 percent in the near future.

"As a growing company, we have time to put more resources into executing the kind of environment we want for our kids and our grandkids," Scott said.

Time will tell if the thousands of dollars spent on consultants and field trips across the United States prove to be more than a marketing scheme.

Success will be defined by the percentage of market share, Scott said.

"We want to get a high market share, over 50 percent," Scott said. "If we provide the products that people want, the business side and selling side will take care of themselves."

2006-09-27T07:57:00.000-05:00

Penn State environmental sustainability effort receives $400,000 NSF grant
Tuesday, September 26, 2006
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

University Park, Pa. -- The National Science Foundation (NSF) has awarded Penn State a three-year, $400,000 grant for integrating sustainability in the curriculum.

The grant will fund "Teaching Sustainability in Engineering Through Public Scholarship." The principal investigators on the grant are David Riley, associate professor of architectural engineering and director of the Center for Sustainability, and Carol Colbeck, director of the Center for the Study of Higher Education.

Riley stated that the grant will help foster project-based learning and service to the environment and communities.

"Many universities are looking at how to integrate sustainability in the curriculum." Riley said. "This project will explore how projects in green design and sustainability can make a difference to both students and communities."

The project will focus on existing project-based courses and ways to help faculty introduce environmental context, foster the notion of service and develop action skills.

Riley added that the grant would be used to develop a tool to help faculty integrate and demonstrate sustainability to their courses. The basis for the project was formed through the American Indian Housing Initiative, a research program and popular course series in which Penn State students help to design and build green buildings on the Northern Cheyenne Indian Reservation.

Story found here.

2006-09-22T09:37:00.000-05:00

Some times you get a hankering for some wild and crazy, fringey type readings. Here's the place to scratch that itch.

Radical Urban Theory is run by Mike Davis:

He is a co-editor of The Year Left: An American Socialist Yearbook and author of Prisoners of the American Dream (Verso 1986) and the brilliant City of Quartz: Excavating the Future in Los Angeles (Verso 1990), in which he recounts the story of Los Angeles with passion, wit and an acute eye for the absurd, the unjust and the dangerous. Davis' City of Quartz points to a future in which the sublime and the dreadfull are inextricable; a future which does not belong to Southern California alone, but terrifyingly seems to belong to all of us

2006-09-21T15:35:00.000-05:00

A great lecture in Sharonville on the Tuesday Oct, 19th.

Green Community Design Workshop

2006-09-13T14:14:00.000-05:00

Hometown giant P&G takes a lot a crap from the uber-progressive (a.k.a. slightly crazy) camp especially the animal rights folks but they've been getting international noteriety for thier commitment to sustainability. As noted here they've been at the top of their industry in the Dow Jones Sustainability index for the last 7 years. Pretty impressive.

Can anyone imagine Cincinnati's downtown with out these guys? If they ever leave I think I'll have to leave with them... and go to Detroit, because at that point Detroit will be better off than the Queen City.

2006-09-13T14:00:00.000-05:00

For those who missed it... The 59th Annual UN NGO Conference held at UC.

2006-09-13T13:48:00.000-05:00

The 10th International Architecture Exhibition is on in Vienna. Taking up such topics as trying to design cities in developing countries which are buckling under the pressure of incredible an influx of people while other cities are trying to deal with a scarcity of resources as population is lost to the slurbs. The session is called Cities, Architecture and Society and seems to have its work cut out for it.

One set of rad ideas comes from curator Armand Gruntuch:

The show's 36 projects reflect his priorities, exploring living concepts customized to meet contemporary needs in what can be called a "non-invasive" fashion.

The 'Badeschiff': A welcome addition to the city
One of them is Berlin's landmark "Badeschiff," or swimming ship. The pool anchored in the River Spree was originally conceived as an art project about urban regeneration, but fast become a fashionable haunt for aspiring beach bums in the land-locked capital. It's proven so popular that in winter it will be given a plastic roof to ensure uninterrupted bathing for the Berlin public.

Another entry is called "Rooftop Football," a red carpet on the roof of the historic building in which the pavilion is housed. It's equally illustrative of the curators' principles, combining the modern idea of the garden on the roof with the concept of conversion and new uses for old structures.

"Instead of tearing down buildings we don't like or don't need anymore, conversion provides a way out of the throwaway mentality," said Almut

What a great idea! Anyone game for putting a soccer field on a roof in OTR? How 'bout at the Shoe?