Rhonda Winter in In the U.S. 1 day ago

We were just in beautiful Portland, Oregon this week to meet up with Zachary Shahan, another editor in the Important Media network. After walking around sunny downtown, admiring the city’s progressive urban planning, and pouring over books at Powell’s, we visited a local bakery, Voodoo Doughnut. Becky Striepe, the editor over at eatdrinkbetter.com, had suggested the place, effusing that the vegan donuts totally blew her mind.

Dave Dempsey in About Climate 3 days ago

Chuck Dayton’s recent kayak trip in the waters off Greenland’s coast confirmed many reports that its ice is melting at an shocking and catastrophic rate. The Minnesota conservation advocate is a 40-year veteran of the environmental movement; Dayton recently completed a kayaking expedition in the waters off Greenland. He returned with first-hand observations of alarming changes in glacial ice:

“Global warming is real in Greenland; you can hear it. You can see the shrinking glaciers, and the melt-water atop the massive ice cap, and you know that as it melts, the seas will rise with disastrous consequences.”

Ryan Van Lenning in About Energy 4 days ago

It will not be business-as-usual at the offices of BP, Chevron, and the Environmental Protection Agency Monday morning in San Francisco’s financial district. A rally, march, and acts of non-violent direct actions are planned by a coalition of a local organizations.

I’m participating, and one of many willing to be arrested.

Rhonda Winter in About Society 5 days ago

Years earlier Cedar had lived in Sanctuary City, back when the region was an oasis of bicycles, free universal health care, community gardens, composting, barter and shared resources. Tom Ammiano and Harvey Milk were co-mayors of the town, and they governed very wisely. The public enthusiastically participated in an open transparent political process; important decisions were made with much collective input, respectful intelligent debate and thoughtful consideration. Clean renewable energy came from the sun and tides, beautifully painted murals adorned neighborhood alleys, and all immigrants were welcome.

Dave Dempsey in Localization 8 days ago

Despite harsh winters, Minnesota’s Twin Cities are known for year-round bicycle commuters. A new bike-sharing program launched in the midst of summer has proved a success.

A new federally-supported bicycle sharing program in Minneapolis is doing well since its June 8 launch, adding to the Twin Cities’ reputation as a bicycle-friendly region. Nice Ride Minnesota is touting its success and encouraging additional ridership.

Rhonda Winter in About Society 9 days ago

My friend Keith Knight just drew this poignant comic about his beloved uncle Owen and the birthday that they share today; it’ is really touching. My mother also died last year; I always carry some of her ashes around with me on my adventures as well.

Zachary Shahan in About Society 10 days ago

The first Bicycle City is finally getting built! More on that and how Bicycle City got started via co-founder Joe Mellet below. I have seen advertisements for Bicycle City for years now. I remember when it first got started — it looked like a great initiative but was rather mysterious. “Where was “bicycle city” or… Read More…

Zachary Shahan in About Transportation 11 days ago

I just wrote a piece on a cool visualization project of the new London cycle scheme, or bike sharing program. Now, on the other side of the Atlantic, we have some very exciting news about a bicycle sharing program in New York. I have been pretty critical of U.S. bicycle sharing programs in the past,… Read More…

Zachary Shahan in About Transportation 11 days ago

London is one of the latest big cities to implement a modern bike sharing program. The “cycle scheme” (as they call it in England) is popularly called “Boris Bikes” now, named after London Mayor Boris Johnson. To help show the effect of this program, Oliver O’Brien of the Centre for Advanced Spatial Analysis at University… Read More…