CO2 in the Air Reached its Highest Level in Human History
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) announced today that for the first time in human history, atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2) level reached 400 parts per million, meaning concentration of carbon dioxide gas in the Earth’s atmosphere is the highest ever. Climate Central, an independent climate research organization, explains that a rise in CO2 emissions would bring greater atmospheric warming and exacerbate the effects of climate change. Research also shows the effects would be irreversible as CO2 molecules can remain in the atmosphere for hundreds of years. According to Climate Central researcher and writer Andrew Freedman, the last time CO2…
Are the Suburbs Undergoing a Metamorphosis?
The Global Economic Crash of 2008 was a watershed which is continuing to have effects in all aspects of the economy, politics and society. However, it was merely an exclamation mark within the developing trends in the U.S. that are pertinent to suburbanization in the country, such as: -The national economy will not bounce back to pre-2008 in the foreseeable future with continued slow growth -Demographics have changed (Baby Boomers retiring, smaller family sizes, more single adults, more ethnic diversity etc.) -The smaller labor force in manufacturing requiring unskilled labor -A decline in the middle class’s purchasing power due to…
The Real “Weapon of Mass Destruction”: Unregulated Capitalism
Last week’s news was dominated by the story of the bombings at the Boston marathon, followed by the manhunt for the brothers who are suspected to have perpetrated those horrific acts. The attacks killed 3 and injured over 160. The manhunt caused the shutdown of the entire city of Boston for one day. It seemed as if the entire nation was shaken and captivated by this story. Unfortunately, the carnage and destruction of the Boston attacks was not the worst thing to happen in America last week. By sheer numbers and destruction, the Boston attacks pale in comparison to the…
A ‘Smart City’ or the ‘Matrix’?
Cities are rapidly becoming engulfed in the technological revolution which is advancing at “warp speed”, rocketing the entire globe out of the post-industrial age into the emerging Information/Hyper-Global Age. The ability for the complex networked structures of a city (government, services, institutions, residents etc.) to effectively utilize its human capital, connect with the global economy, collaborate and use its infrastructure is becoming essential for its future welfare. This is being facilitated by the burst of technological devices and the Internet. In the Information Age, the most connected cities are becoming the most dominate, resting on their financial capability, their human…
Downtown Green: The “Islands of Sustainability”
Sustainability is an overwhelming amorphous goal on a global, national, or regional scale. However, when it is broken-down to small areas and focused projects, it becomes real and tangible. Instead of grand plans, little ones can be made which may have a fractal or ripple effect on the region in which the project is located. This above statement is the essence of an “island of sustainability” (Walner et al.). Specifically, the term refers to the redevelopment, usually through a public/private partnership, of a designated derelict area into one that enhances the physical environment. It could be the redesign of an…
“Road Diet”: Losing Width by Retrofitting
For most of the last century and continuing into this century, transportation planning in the United States has been mainly concerned with accommodating vehicular transportation. This automobile-oriented bias was embedded in travel demand forecasting models, transportation funding, zoning/subdivision regulations, street design ordinances, the general public and the general mindset of policy makers. The result in most cities has been a continual process of widening, and building new roads to alleviate traffic congestion due to increasing automobile ownership. What was not accounted in this automobile bias oriented transportation system was the detrimental impact that it would have on neighborhoods; making them…
A Quiet Green Revolution: Urban Agriculture
The mainstream media concentrates on the sensational and current news – obsessed with celebrity scandals, the daily fluctuations of the stock market, the deficit, and international conflicts – but under the radar is an alternative to industrial agriculture: the urban agricultural movement. The individuals and groups opposing industrial agriculture are not picketing, organizing rallies, destroying property, suing corporations; they are putting their hands in the dirt, straining their backs, enjoying quality organic food, and creating social capital by organizing diverse informal groups or non-profit organizations to forge a new future. In modern developed countries, we have left the growing of…
I Don’t Have a Car and Don’t Want One: Emergence of Car-sharing Organizations
Many in urban areas are finding that their automobiles are a burden, but can’t really do without one. Owning a personal vehicle is expensive: car payments, gas, insurance, maintenance, parking fees, etc. An automobile is ultimately a depreciating investment where you often pay more than the vehicle was worth on the showroom floor. Due to the stagnant wages of the middle class and subsequent decrease in discretionary income, automobile loans have become more long term; a five year or longer loan is not uncommon anymore. In the U.S and many other countries the automotive industry is very vulnerable to economic…
Sequester: Disaster for the National Park Service and the Local Economies
In less than a week, mandatory federal spending cuts known as “sequestering” will take place. On February 25, the Interior Secretary Ken Salazar said that these cuts could have serious impacts on operations in many national parks and wildlife refuges around the United States. These parks, according to a peer-reviewed report by the National Park Service, generated $30 billion in economic activity and maintained 252,000 jobs in 2011. But, hiring of seasonal workers such as search-and-rescue teams, law enforcement officers, and maintenance staff has already been delayed in anticipation of the upcoming sequester, which would reduce the annual budget of the…
World’s Most Valuable Resource: Water
Thomas Friedman touts the ‘wonders’ of globalization in his highly popular book The World is Flat, however, globalization is not producing an economically ‘flat’ world, but one that is giving prosperity to a few and misery for billions of people in terms of their physical environment and quality of life. I lived in Istanbul, Turkey for five years. It is a city whose very existence is related to its crucial location on one of the major sea lanes in the world. When I went over the Bosporus (the strait connecting the Black Sea and the Sea of Marmara) on a…
Dirty Oil Meets its Nemesis: American People (Video)
Today, over 30,000 people (video) rallied in Washington DC, calling on President Obama to take action on climate change and reject Keystone XL pipeline. Named ‘Forward on Climate‘, the rally was planned and sponsored by Sierra Club, one of the largest, and most influential grassroots environmental organizations in the United States. Many other grassroots organizations such as Hip-Hop Caucus, 350.org, Occupy Movement and Us Uncut supported the initiative through social media and their own networks. So, what the heck is this pipeline and why are all environmental organizations and many people are up in arms about it? Keystone XL pipeline…
It’s the Infrastructure…Stupid!
Presently, all talk in Washington is focused on the latest twined crisis: the debt ceiling and sequestration. In the background of this collective hand wringing and fear mongering over this new self-imposed crisis in Congress, something bigger is looming; our crumbling infrastructure and its insufficient Federal funding. Well-maintained infrastructure is essential for the economic health of the United States. Its bridges, roads, dams, transit systems, airports, sea/river ports, water/sewer systems, and electrical grids are in grave need of repair and expansion. The problem with our highways and bridges has been known for a significant amount of time, perhaps more than…
Rally Alert: Forward on Climate
Did you know that this Sunday, February 17, 2013 in Washington, D.C., there will be held the largest climate rally in our nation’s history? Here are the particulars of the Sierra Club-sponsored Forward On Climate event, direct from the organization’s page: On Sunday, February 17, thousands of Americans will head to Washington, D.C. to make Forward on Climate the largest climate rally in history. Join this historic event to make your voice heard and help the President start his second term with strong climate action. What: The largest climate rally in U.S. history. When: February 17, 2013, Noon – 4:00 p.m….
Nigerian Farmers vs. Royal Dutch Shell
“The scale of the pollution is enormous: twice as much oil has been spilled in Nigeria than was in the Gulf of Mexico. Only there (Nigeria) it’s never been cleaned up.” – Friends of the Earth Netherlands spokesman, Geert Ritsema The headlines on January 30 were somewhat ominous: Dutch court rejects claims made by Nigerian farmers. Court sides with Royal Dutch Shell. Nigerian farmers lose bid to hold Shell accountable. But why? In a world where headlines sell, isn’t the sexier story “Nigerian farmer scores victory against oil giant in landmark environmental suit”? Because that’s what happened. In 2008, four…
Africa is Not Poor, It is Being Robbed (Video)
What is Zambia’s (a poverty-stricken Southern African country) connection to a small village in Switzerland, the Iran hostage crisis, apartheid, President Clinton, and the biggest tax fraud in US history? Zambia has the 3rd largest copper reserves in the world, yet 64% of the Zambians live below the poverty line, 80% of people living on less than $2 a day. When Zambia’s economy was crashing under debt from the previous World Bank loans that were given to the country to build roads and power grids for the mining companies’ business operation needs; The International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the same…
Moving the Land under Our Feet: Belo Monte Dam vs. Amazonians
Indigenous people of Xingu River are fighting a losing battle against a monster called Belo Monte. Construction of the world’s third largest dam is moving ahead despite the rejection and outcry of the people who have been living by the Xingu River for thousands of years. And despite the legal challenges the Brazilian Federal Public Prosecutors Office, human rights and environmentalist NGOs presented to the Brazilian Government. The project, originally dates back to Brazil’s military dictatorship, is being promoted as a solution to Brazil’s electricity shortages and as a ‘clean’ alternative to global change. However, the National Amazon Research Institute’s…
Mommy, Where Do Smartphones Come From?
The most byooootiful place in the world, sweetie. A place called Bangka. In the country of In-do-ne-s-ia. Bangka Island, Indonesia, a predominately Muslim population of 960,000, located due east of Sumatra. An amalgam of what used to be swamps, palm trees, magnificent beaches, mangroves, white pepper fields, plains and hills. It is today best described as “a barren wasteland“, borne of one of the world’s greatest resources for the tin ore ultimately used in the composition of the Smartphone you are probably using to read this. Tin mining. Mining this island’s soil, which has left it bereft and cratered. Mining…
America’s Bargained Democracy
Alison Stanger wrote “knock on the door of the Federal Government in 2009, chances are that you will find nobody at home” in her recently published book One Nation Under Contract. The staggering scope of privatization of our government’s services and duties started by Eisenhower and accelerated with George W. Bush, has created a shadow government that in size has neverbefore been seen in the history of industrialized world. Federal contracting of every imaginable government service, from prisons to census to tallying up our taxes-and many more-engorged the outsourcing-industrial complex in a way that now Americans have virtually next to no…
The United Nations To Investigate The US Government’s Treatment Of Native Americans (Interview)
-This interview was conducted on May 20th, 2012- This year, for the first time in the history of the United Nations, the UN has decided to open an investigation on the US Government’s former and current treatment of Native Americans. The country’s estimated 2.7 million Native Americans live in federally established tribal areas called Reservations which are plagued with unemployment, alcoholism, high suicide rates and other social problems. Aside from social issues, US Native Americans are involved in continuous disputes over sovereignty and land rights with the US and State governments due to enduring violations to their territories and rights….
How the gas prices are manupilated by Koch Brothers and other Wall Street players
Why are gas prices surging to levels unseen since the 2008 oil spike again while the oil companies report record profits? Much of the problem is actually created by Wall Street traders here in the USA who gamble on oil prices, and powerful multinational companies that manipulate the supply and demand by stockpiling oil when the price is low and expected to rise in near future. And yes, so far this practice is perfectly legal. Chilton, a commissioner at the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), the federal agency that regulates commodity futures and option trading in the United States, says…
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