Economy

New Republican House Rules a Disgrace to Democracy

January 11, 2011

This week, the new Republican majority in the House of Representatives adopted a new set of rules for the way the House runs – rules which threaten to undermine funding for our nation’s critical infrastructure needs. Under these rules, the new Republican majority will enact a draconian budget without a single hearing, without any input from the Budget Committee, without any outreach to Congressional Democrats, and without a direct vote by the House of Representatives. Merely by entering a…

EcoLocalizer Link Drop

January 7, 2011

New Transit Projects for 2011 A comprehensive list of transit projects scheduled to start construction or open in 2011. “Streetcar lines dominate the nation’s new transit construction landscape, but this year only light and commuter rail lines will open for service.” NYC Tries ‘Rapid’ Buses in Bid to Cut Transit Costs The city’s much-maligned bus system is getting a face-lift. The Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) surprised commuters on Manhattan’s East Side last fall by launching shiny stretch coaches…

How Much is Bicycling Worth to the Economy? $1.5 Billion/Year in Wisconsin

January 3, 2011

We’re bicycling fans here on Ecolocalizer. Have you noticed? Why? Because it’s good for everything: our health, the livability of cities, the efficiency of our cities, equitable access to key needs, and the economy. Here’s more on that last part, the economy, from the Bicycle Federation of Wisconsin: Investment in a more bicycle friendly Wisconsin pays off. A 2010 study conducted at the Nelson Institute for Environmental Studies at the University of Wisconsin-Madison found that bicycling contributes $1.5 billion to Wisconsin’s…

The First Day of Kwanzaa: Umoja and Time Banks

December 26, 2010

Today is the first day of Kwanzaa, when we celebrate Umoja, a Kiswahili term meaning unity and togetherness. This includes the unity we share as members of an extended family and community, as well as our collective connections that we have with all life on the planet.

Physicist “Solves” the City, Turns It Into an Equation

December 22, 2010

I went through a ton of urban theories as a Master’s student in city planning, but something I didn’t have access to at that time was physicist Geoffrey West’s urban equations. Because he had not created them yet. The 70-year-old physicist decided to direct his attention to this matter late in his career. While he spent most of his life trying to identify the laws that govern the physical universe, a few years ago he decided to study the urban…

24 Green Cities for India

December 16, 2010

Japan is looking to help India get 24 green cities off the ground with a combination of loans and technological help, Mridul Chadha of our sister site Cleantechnica recently reported. This is all part of a proposed $90 billion Delhi-Mumbai Industrial Corridor mega-infrastructure project aimed at boosting green economic growth in relatively undeveloped towns along a long transportation corridor that connects India’s largest cities, New Delhi and Mumbai. Developing these smaller cities is expected to help reduce migration to those megacities…

North Should Help South More

November 22, 2010

A recent study has concluded what many have been saying for years: countries in the “North” (i.e. the U.S., European countries, Canada, etc.) have had a much stronger effect on global climate change than countries in the “South” (i.e. South American countries, Asian countries, and African countries). “We found that the industrialised ‘North’ of the globe has so far been mostly responsible for the rise in carbon emissions. Since carbon dioxide stays in the atmosphere for around 100 years, it…

Joel Francis vs. Charles Koch: An Update on the Prop 23 Debate Challenge

October 27, 2010

So the scenario I imagined yesterday did not come to pass. No debate. Certainly no muffins. Who would have thought that Charles Koch, CEO of Koch Industries, would ignore Joel Francis’ challenge to debate him on Prop 23 or skip the opportunity to explain why his company is meddling in California’s clean energy future? Joel Francis, California State University, Los Angeles senior, former Marine and debate team veteran, traveled from California to the Koch offices in Wichita, KS yesterday to…

Bioneers 2010: Dispatch from an Earth Community Movement

October 19, 2010

Once again, the 3-day Bioneers mother-ship has landed and departed, and a thousand pods of social and environmental change have dispersed across the globe, refreshed and re-energized. Or to use the less technological metaphor by Janine Benyus, founder of the Biomimicry Institute, “This is kind of a seasonal migration ceremony, Bioneers. If we were migrating birds, this would be our staging ground, where we come and talk about what we have hatched this year and what breeding was like.” The…

Greece to Revive Its Economy with Green Energy on Old Prison Island?

October 18, 2010

The Aegean island Ai Stratis (about 8 hours by sea from Athens), once a place for Greece to send prisoners, will be the center of an economic revival pilot project via clean, green energy according to Greek prime minister George Papandreou. Transport will get its power from hydrogen and electricity, heating and refrigeration will be from geothermal energy, and about half of the island’s electricity will be from solar and wind energy. The island will also have organic farming. Papandreou’s…

Crush Dirty Energy Prop 23: A Video Round Up

October 14, 2010

With just over two weeks left until election day, more and more Californians are pledging to vote no on Prop 23, the deceptive dirty energy prop funded by out-of-state Texas oil companies and the billionaire tea-party funding Koch brothers. Several awesome videos have come out recently–some serious, some funny–but all getting the message out about the importance of defeating Prop 23 if we want to move towards a clean energy future. The song “Valero Oil of Texas” was first performed…

Green Business Blog Carnival #18

October 8, 2010

The Green Business Blog Carnival comes to EcoLocalizer! Following up on Green Business Blog Carnival post #17 on Cleantechnica (which featured a couple posts from EcoLocalizer), here’s the next edition of the Carnival for your reading pleasure. The first ride.. er, post of the day comes from Jeff McIntire-Strasburg, writing over on the SUNflitered blog. It was a post on a new clean transportation partnership between NuRide, a company that rewards people for making greener transportation choices, and the University of Virginia. Interesting…

Van Jones Makes Calls with Citizens Urging Voters to Crush Prop 23

October 4, 2010

On Sunday evening Van Jones joined hundreds of San Francisco Bay Area residents to call voters to urge them to vote no on Proposition 23. “We’re getting the moment back for this movement,” Jones said.

West Coast Green Arrives: “We need a new design assignment as a species”

October 1, 2010

“We need a new design assignment as a species.” So says innovative architect and sustainable design leader William McDonough, one of the keynote speakers on the first day of West Coast Green 2010 in San Francisco. McDonough set the tone for a conference that has earned a reputation for being the largest conference on innovative sustainable solutions for the built environment. West Coast Green is a people-buzzing, info-bursting, idea-busting experience, with more workshops, green products, demonstrations, art, books, and break-out…