Urban Living

A New Day, and a New Direction for EcoLocalizer

September 4, 2014

Since 2008, “think globally, act locally” has been EcoLocalizer’s tagline, and we’ve tried to cover a number of important topics – from human rights to income inequality – that make a difference in all our lives. What we discovered, sadly, was that we simply didn’t have the manpower to cover everything we felt passionately about. In addition, a number of our articles prompted readers to ask “How is that Eco? How is that local?” More often than not, they had…

Australian Building Codes Mandate Rainwater Harvesting

September 7, 2013

Access to clean water is becoming increasingly scarce, but in an arid nation like Australia, water is most especially precious. Now many homes across the vast country are beginning to learn just how simple and important it can be to collect their own rainwater. Several areas in the country have even begun requiring rainwater catchment systems for all newly constructed buildings.

Growing Our Local Food Infrastructure: Urban Farm School Opens in Asheville NC

February 11, 2013

Though it sometimes seems like our evil frankenfood corporate overlords, such as Monsanto and Dow, have completely hi-jacked our food system, many people around the nation are actually creating more sustainable and viable alternatives. A few good folks in Asheville, NC are bringing agriculture back to the people, empowering urbanites to gain more food independence, while learning to grow healthier fresh local food for their own communities.

Asheville City Council Tackles Food Insecurity and Approves Food Action Plan

January 27, 2013

North Carolina’s city of Asheville is the most recent town in our nation to create a Food Action Plan. These sensible strategies address difficult issues, such as food deserts, community health, food insecurity, nutrition knowledge deficits, barriers to local food production and distribution, as well as food sovereignty. The plan was approved 6-0 on January 21, 2013 by the city council; this legislation will play an active role in improving healthy food access, and will also help to build a more sustainable local food infrastructure.

Mexico City’s Green Revolution

November 30, 2012

At Ecolocalizer we are always looking for the ways that the spirit of humanity is continually find its way back to nature. I ran across this article today, and was very inspired to read about how the people in Mexico City are bringing green back to a city that has been notoriously dangerous and polluted for decades.

How to Turn an Illegal Garbage Dump into a Local Fresh Food Hub

July 17, 2012

A polluted 28 acre site in New York was once a massive illegal dump, but has now been cleaned up and transformed into a local food hub distribution center.

Promoting a Culture of Sharing: Free Mini Public Libraries

July 10, 2012

There are few things more beautiful than a public library — a shared community space that encourages study, reading books and borrowing information — such fountains of free knowledge greatly improve our society and our world. Recently many small libraries have been springing up in somewhat unexpected places, from local public parks and urban sidewalks to city phone booths.

Bicycling Increases 71% in San Francisco

June 12, 2012

Part of what makes San Francisco such an attractive (and unfortunately very expensive) place to reside is that it is a beautiful livable city — biking and pedestrian infrastructure improvements over the last decades have helped to positively transform our town into a much more pleasant urban environment. The SF Bicycle Coalition announced recently that, according to the official citywide bicycle count, over the last five years bike ridership has increased a whopping 71%.

Sunday Streets Shines in San Francisco’s Mission District

June 4, 2012

Yesterday the sunny streets of San Francisco were swarming with thousands of happy residents during another regular Sunday Streets event. Rivers of happy families filled the car-free avenues, listening to live music, biking, dancing, playing football, skateboarding, walking dogs, socializing with their neighbors, and just soaking up the beautiful spring day.

Ithaca Mayor Transforms His Official Parking Space into a Public Park

May 31, 2012

During his first week as mayor of Ithaca, New York, Svante Myrick gave up his car so that he could walk to his job every day at City Hall. The newly elected 24-year-old official joined 15% of local residents in the city who already walk to work. And even though he does not need it, the mayor is still provided with a central downtown parking spot reserved for his official use. The progressive leader has decided to transform the private parking space into a tiny shared public park.

Asheville North Carolina Promotes Multi-Modal Transit

May 23, 2012

Asheville North Carolina is rolling out the next stages of its Multi-Modal transportation initiative at this year’s Strive Not To Drive program. This week-long event will illuminate how the city is planning improvements with pedestrian, cycling, vehicle and public transportation infrastructure. It is also call to the citizens of Asheville to evaluate their transportation choices, and to explore other sustainable mobility options that are becoming available.

Eco-gram from Charming Chandigarh, The City Beautiful

May 11, 2012

Chandigarh, a city in northern India is called The City Beautiful, but I could as well call it The City Green. The tree cover and the forested area carpet more than 35% of Chandigarh’s land area. No wonder it was awarded India’s last Indira Priyadarshini Vriksha Mitra Award, a friend of the tree prize.

Asheville North Carolina Installs New Public Bike Repair Racks

February 27, 2012

While walking around the arts district in Asheville, North Carolina last week, I encountered a most ingenius piece of sustainable transportation infrastructure: a free public bicycle repair rack. In the past I have seen public bike air pumps before in other cities, but never one that was also integrated into a rack for hanging your bicycle, along with several accessible commonly used bike maintenance tools.

Seattle to Create Nation’s First Public Food Forest

February 25, 2012

In the heart of Seattle, a public park is planned like no other — an urban food forest that is free for the plucking. With its mild temperatures and moist climate, Seattle is taking advantage of its vegetation-friendly environment. A seven acre plot of public land, a community of local planners and advocates are moving forward with plans to build the first, completely free, public food forest in a U.S. city.