Growing energy demand could threaten 20 percent of the world's remaining natural land by 2030. But one TNC scientist has a vision for getting the energy we need without sacrificing nature.
Summertime brings picnics, baseball games, family vacations, and, increasingly, record-busting temperatures. Each of the 10 hottest years on record has happened since 1998, including the hottest of all, 2014. As a preservation community, we are starting to grapple with the effects of this changing climate in very concrete ways.
So, the Bundys are at it again. Two years ago Cliven Bundy and his gang took up arms against the Bureau of Land Management in Nevada claiming the feds had no right to charge a private citizen grazing fees on public lands. “Public” apparently means “help yourself” in their dictionary. I don’t know if Cliven considers that stand-off a success, but he got a ton of publicity, and my understanding is that his cattle are still grazing – or trespassing, depending on your point of view – on federal land. The conflict lives on in court, where it has been for a couple of decades.
Whew!
I just read the article on the controversy over proposed bike lanes east of downtown Washington, D.C. It was kind of heavy going as I tried to sort out the different proposals illustrated in the many graphics. I really studied them, thinking that there must be some that would be acceptable, or could be modified to meet all needs.
In an ongoing series, Urbanism Without Effort author Chuck Wolfe argues the importance of the overlaps, overlays and convergence points that define city life, and emphasizes the importance of reading and interpreting their everyday expression.
Back in November of 2013, President Obama issued an executive order on climate preparedness. Because executive orders circumvent Congress within certain limits, they allow the president to implement action to address climate change and other issues. A few weeks ago I asked some of our authors to create their own executive orders to improve our handling of the environment. In this installment, we turn to the built environment.
In celebration of Planetizen's top ten books published in 2013, this week we'll take a look at Jan Gehl and Birgitte Svarre's new book: How to Study Public Life.
From Planetizen: