Bustan Builds a Model of Desert Sustainability

Sun, 13 Sep 2009 14:10:00 GMT

The Bedouin village of Qasr Al-Sir: on the verge of momentous change (photo by Daniel Cherrin). After a volunteer accidentally burned down its office, Bustan, an environmental justice organization based in Israel's Negev desert, decided it was time to make some changes. "That was the straw that broke the camel's back," says Bustan Director Ra'ed Al-Mickawi. With the help of a strategic planning consultant, the organization embarked upon an intensive soul-searching process. "We had to figure out what our role was in the community," says Al-Mickawi. The process led Bustan to the Bedouin village of Qasr Al-Sir, an informal settlement in the process of being formally recognized by the state. Together, Bustan and Qasr Al-Sir are planning to create a new model for Bedouin settlement in Israel, one that sets a new standard for sustainability while empowering the community to shape its own future.... Read the full story on TreeHugger

Against the Odds, Eco-Cities Moving Forward

Sun, 06 Sep 2009 19:29:00 GMT

Songdo IBD in Incheon, South Korea (image via Inhabitat). It doesn't take a world financial crisis to sink grand plans for sustainable cities. Even before Lehman Brothers went bankrupt, some very ambitious eco-city projects were unceremoniously buried, while others simply fizzled out. However, crisis or no crisis, the number of eco-city initiatives popping up lately around the world continues to grow. ... Read the full story on TreeHugger

UK Considering London to Glasgow High-Speed Rail Link

Sun, 30 Aug 2009 08:44:00 GMT

A map of the route, known as High-Speed 2, by The Transport Politic. Restless Londoners already have the option of catching a high-speed train to Paris in just over two hours. New plans to build an intercity high-speed rail line between London and Scotland could make the trip up north just as accessible. ... Read the full story on TreeHugger

Why the World Should Pay Ecuador to Keep its Oil in the Ground

Sun, 09 Aug 2009 09:30:00 GMT

A bridge in the Ecuadorian jungle. (photo by Jesse Fox) A couple of years ago, the government of Ecuador made the world an offer. We will leave some of our oil in the ground, President Rafael Correa announced, if you make it worth our while. His proposal: instead of us extracting the oil (which, by the way, happens to sit under a fantastically biodiverse rainforest) and selling it to you, we'll leave it untouched - and sell you the right to emit the carbon dioxide that we save. While the idea has generated significant interest, many have questioned its feasibility. This week, however, in a piece published in the Guardian, Kevin Gallagher of the Global Development and Environment Institute explained why Correa's proposal makes perfect economic sense. ... Read the full story on TreeHugger

Bill Calls for Transportation Revolution, Obama Prefers to Wait

Sun, 02 Aug 2009 11:45:00 GMT

An outline of the bill, hand-scribbled by Rep. Oberstar. (image via Blueprint America) America's "happy motoring" days are over; now is the time for a "transformational" transportation policy. On this point, the Obama Administration and Representative Jim Oberstar agree. However, while the Administration seems content to put the transportation revolution on hold for now, Oberstar, who chairs the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, has other plans. He is promoting a revolutionary 6-year, $450 billion transportation bill that would give America's transportation infrastructure its most dramatic makeover since the creation of the Interstate Highway System. ... Read the full story on TreeHugger

Proposed Land Reform in Israel Ires Environmentalists

Sun, 26 Jul 2009 12:30:00 GMT

Photo by Jesse Fox. Should land be held as a public asset, or traded as a private commodity? In Israel, where 93% of the country's land is publicly owned, state ownership of land is anchored in legislation, and even in the Bible. However, a new plan to transfer a massive amount of state land to private ownership is afloat, provoking plenty of opposition among environmentalists. ... Read the full story on TreeHugger

Permaculture in Palestine: Bustan Qaraaqa Greens the Hills Outside Bethlehem

Sun, 19 Jul 2009 13:40:00 GMT

For a group of British ecologists working in development organizations in the West Bank, researching the sorry state of the Palestinian environment became, at some point, rather unsatisfying. "We wanted to move from writing reports on environmental destruction and stagnating development to actually doing something about it," says Alice Gray. Over two years later, the group, along with a handful of volunteers, is creating an ecological oasis in almost impossible conditions. Bustan Qaraaqa (literally "Tortoise Garden") is a Permaculture paradise in the making.... Read the full story on TreeHugger

New Group to Advocate for High-Speed Rail

Sun, 12 Jul 2009 12:20:00 GMT

A national high-speed rail network up and running by 2030. Yes we can? (image courtesy of USHSR) President Obama strongly supports high-speed rail, environmentalists are behind it (well, at least some of them) and the Federal Railroad Administration is already reaching out to other countries that have had success with it. High-speed rail looks like it's going to happen. The question now is what kind of system will be built - how extensive, how fast and how integrated? Last week, a new organization was founded which aims to help answer those questions. The US High Speed Rail Association, based in Washington DC, plans to lobby for a state of the art rail system that covers the entire country and provides service on par with the most advanced systems in the world. It has already unveiled its vision for high-speed rail in America - a significantly more ambitious vision than what has been floated by the Administration in Washington thus far.... Read the full story on TreeHugger

Want to Live a Long, Happy, Sustainable Life? Consider Central America

Sun, 05 Jul 2009 13:10:00 GMT

Happy, healthy & sustainable: Green countries scored the highest, yellow and orange in between, red the worst. Image via happyplanetindex.org. What if, instead of comparing different countries on the basis of things like GDP, we measured the health, happiness and ecological footprint of people living in those countries? Would the map look different - or does economic well-being encompass everything else? The Happy Planet Index, an alternative development index just released by the New Economics Foundation, is an attempt to do just that, and the results are fairly unexpected. ... Read the full story on TreeHugger

Obama's Transportation Secretary: America is One Big Pothole

Sun, 21 Jun 2009 06:45:00 GMT

Image via The New York Times. "I think we're doing great things right now," says Ray LaHood, the Obama Administration's Secretary of Transportation. A former Republican Congressman from Illinois, many advocates of sustainable transport were initially unsure what to make of his appointment. Several months later, LaHood is shaping up to become one of the administration's more activist figures.... Read the full story on TreeHugger

The Joys of the Two-Wheeled Commute

Sun, 14 Jun 2009 16:44:00 GMT

Tel Aviv's beachfront promenade (photo courtesy of Daniel Cherrin). I used to hate commuting. For two years, I studied in another city. Twice a week, I would hop on a bus, transfer to a train, and then catch another bus. The entire trip took two hours, and the round trip consumed a four hour(!) chunk of my day. I wish I could say I took advantage of the time in transit to do something productive, but the truth is that I was too worn out from a long day of studying to do anything useful on those trips. It never occurred to me then that another kind of commute existed, one that was actually enjoyable. ... Read the full story on TreeHugger

Ultra-Green Block Coming to Central Dallas

Sun, 07 Jun 2009 10:00:00 GMT

"Forwarding Dallas" - one of the winning designs. The folks at San Francisco-based Urban Re:Vision weren't kidding when they announced their intention to build America's first fully sustainable inner city block in Dallas, Texas. After receiving 176 proposals from 26 countries, three winning designs have been chosen. One of them will be selected for implementation later this year, and groundbreaking is scheduled for fall 2010. Featuring affordable housing, extensive food and energy production and a host of other ultra-green features, the project will be built in place of a parking lot across from City Hall. Here are the winning proposals... ... Read the full story on TreeHugger

Clinton Foundation & USGBC Unveil "Climate Positive" Cities Initiative

Sun, 31 May 2009 15:52:00 GMT

The Clinton Climate Initiative, which works with 40 of the world's biggest cities to reduce greenhouse emissions, is expanding. The Initiative announced last month that it would support some 16 large-scale, carbon-neutral urban developments, scattered across six continents. Working in partnership with the US Green Building Council, local governments and property developers, when built these developments will house approximately one million people in "Climate Positive" communities. ... Read the full story on TreeHugger

"A Convenient Truth" Chronicles Curitiba's Urban Innovations

Sun, 24 May 2009 13:55:00 GMT

A street in Curitiba, Brazil (photo by Jesse Fox). When over 90% of a city's residents are happy with their city, somebody must be doing something right. In Curitiba, a quaint, mid-sized town in southern Brazil, some forty years of sensitive urban design interventions have created a city that is pleasant and sustainable, and one that has managed to avoid many of the ills that have plagued Brazilian cities. Countless innovations can be traced back to Curitiba, and over the years the place has become something of a Mecca for architects and urban planners from all over the world. But for those who can't afford the trip to Brazil in these tough economic times, a documentary film called A Convenient Truth is the next best thing. ... Read the full story on TreeHugger

A Radical Proposal: Restore Atrophied US Rail System to 1920's Levels

Sun, 17 May 2009 10:50:00 GMT

Image via Slate. Who said North America's trains are slow? Take the Montreal Limited: Departing from New York's Grand Central Station in the late evening, it arrives in Montreal's Windsor Station early in the morning. With plenty of time to get a good night's sleep, the 9-hour trip is made pleasurable by "modern air-conditioning [which] scientifically controls temperature, humidity and purity of air at all seasons." Or, at least, that's how it was back in the 1940's. Today, points out Tom Vanderbilt in a recent article in Slate, the same trip would take 12 hours. ... Read the full story on TreeHugger

Bay Area Towns Reconsider Support for High-Speed Rail

Sun, 10 May 2009 11:50:00 GMT

Rendering via The State Worker. Six months ago, most of the San Francisco Peninsula voted in favor of California's high-speed rail plan. Lately, however, many have begun having second thoughts. "The more we've gotten into it, the more we think the procedures determining the route were flawed," Palo Alto City Council member Larry Klein told the San Francisco Examiner recently. "We think high-speed rail is a great idea, if done properly." What happened? Residents say they are concerned about the effects the high-speed trains will have on their communities... ... Read the full story on TreeHugger

Mayor, Meet the Greens: An Environmental Rapprochement in Tel Aviv

Sat, 09 May 2009 12:15:00 GMT

Tel Aviv Mayor Ron Huldai, at right in blue shirt, talking to local environmentalists last week (photo by Daniel Cherrin). In Tel Aviv, the dialog between the city establishment and local green groups has not always been constructive. In fact, huge gaps exist between City Hall and the greens on everything from road-building and bike lanes to how to prune the city's trees. Last week, however, a first step was taken on the road to a more productive dialog when Mayor Ron Huldai and several prominent environmental organizations and residents' groups held an introductory meeting. Though agreeing to disagree on many issues, the encounter proved enlightening for both sides, and revealed some areas of common concern. ... Read the full story on TreeHugger

After 12 Year Campaign, Tel Aviv Gets a New Park

Sun, 26 Apr 2009 15:15:00 GMT

Sometimes getting things done takes longer than one would expect. In the case of an abandoned plot of land in the center of Tel Aviv called "Kiryat Sefer," it took much longer than expected. After a stubborn lobbying campaign that lasted over a decade, and with the help of a few local celebrities and hundreds of neighborhood activists, the last empty piece of publicly-owned land in central Tel Aviv is finally set to become a public park.... Read the full story on TreeHugger

Rough Road Ahead? A Review of Chris Luebkeman's "Drivers of Change"

Sun, 19 Apr 2009 05:35:00 GMT

Consider this: 95% of the urban growth over the next 20 years will be in the less-developed world, where migrants from rural areas are already busy building precarious homes in "informal" slum settlements, often without any legal rights to the land they occupy. Today, a full third of the world's population lives in places defined by the UN as slums; in Africa the figure is 70%. This is the (somewhat grim) forecast that emerges from just two of the almost two hundred cards contained in Drivers of Change. Arranged like a set of flashcards, and neatly packaged in a case made from recycled contact lens packaging, Drivers of Change is nothing less than an attempt to systematically classify the factors, large and small, that are expected to change the way we live over the next several decades. ... Read the full story on TreeHugger

This Grass Aint Greener: The Uncertain Fate of the Middle Eastern Lawn

Sun, 12 Apr 2009 13:30:00 GMT

Photo source: Wikipedia. In England, where the manicured lawn came into fashion in the 17th century, natural rainfall is generally enough to keep the grass growing all year long. In contemporary America, where lawns cover an area roughly the size of New York State, lawns are hardly ecological: unproductive monocultures, lawns account for more than half of domestic water consumption and require polluting fertilizers, pesticides and lawnmowers. In recent years, lawns have become fashionable in other parts of the world as well, including the Middle East. However, in this parched region, where water is perennially in short supply, lawns may now be on their way out of style.... Read the full story on TreeHugger

Tel Aviv Celebrates Centennial with Conference on Sustainable Urbanism

Sun, 05 Apr 2009 08:52:09 GMT

In the early 1900's, a new city was founded in the sand dunes north of the ancient port city of Jaffa. Seeking more aesthetic and hygienic surroundings, the city's founders bought up several parcels of land and built a leafy garden suburb. Times have changed, and today that same city is the center of a metropolis which is home to almost half of the country's population. With its rapid growth and development, Tel Aviv's transformation has at times been a bumpy road. The city's planners have not always been wise enough to preserve the things that make the city great, and some serious planning mistakes have been made over the years. This week, with an eye toward the city's development over the next 100 years, the city sponsored a conference that brought together some prominent voices in the debate over sustainable cities. ... Read the full story on TreeHugger

Inside Abu Dhabi's Carbon Capture & Storage Project (An Interview)

Sun, 29 Mar 2009 14:11:00 GMT

Image via The Economist. True, carbon capture and storage (CSS) technology is perceived by many environmentalists as a chimera - at best, too expensive to be widely utilized and at worst, an empty PR tool for "clean coal." However, in some countries the governments are taking CCS very seriously. One state that is already experimenting with carbon capture is Abu Dhabi, a top carbon emitter which aims to capture and store a full third of its emissions by 2020. And with their own oil reserves (like coal deposits in the US) not projected to run out any time soon, Abu Dhabi is hoping to make the most of its oil wealth, while avoiding the consequences of being one of the world's more serious polluters. Below: an interview Bader Al Lamki, the man charged with making Abu Dhabi's CCS project a reality. ... Read the full story on TreeHugger

Leaky Sewage Pipe Shuts Down Tel Aviv's Beaches for a Month

Sun, 22 Mar 2009 16:00:02 GMT

"To the untrained eye, it looks like water." This being World Water Day, the issue of water management and conservation (always a big one in this part of the world) got a bit of extra press in Israel today. On the positive side, the morning papers reported that Israel was being praised at the World Water Forum in Istanbul for its exceptional rates of recycled wastewater and desalination. On the not so positive side, a group of environmentally-concerned lawmakers organized a visit to the Ayalon River, where they tried to figure out why sewage has been polluting Tel Aviv's beaches for over a month now. The answers they got were less than satisfying. ... Read the full story on TreeHugger

Re:Vision Dallas Seeks Input from Design Visionaries

Sat, 14 Mar 2009 12:42:00 GMT

Image courtesy of Urban Re:Vision. We at TreeHugger have been following Urban Re:Vision's innovative design competitions for a while now. First, they set out to rethink the basics: energy, community, transport. Now they're out to put the ideas they've collected into action. Re:Vision Dallas, their latest competition, which challenges visionaries to design a radically sustainable city block, is open for entries. The site is a drab parking lot in Dallas, Texas, just a few steps from City Hall. The reward: $25,000 for the top three entries. But hurry up, the competition closes May 8.... Read the full story on TreeHugger

Will Stimulus be Enough to Bring High-Speed Rail to America?

Sat, 28 Feb 2009 11:00:00 GMT

Rail station in Shanghai, China (photo via thetransportpolitic.com) About a year ago, TreeHugger interviewed Andy Kunz, an urban designer, New Urbanist and rail advocate. Kunz laid out a pretty convincing case for high speed rail as the solution for a number of problems facing American transportation, including outdated infrastructure, peak oil (or "energy independence," depending how you look at it), out of control carbon emissions, and more. In fact, Kunz said, we were at a fork in the road, and building a new national high-speed rail network was the "single most important action we can do to get us off the oil and change the direction of the nation for the better." TreeHugger decided to catch up with Andy Kunz for another conversation about rail and high-speed rail in America, now that it seems the idea is finally catching on. ... Read the full story on TreeHugger

PBS Examines Stimulus Package's Impact on Local Transit

Sat, 21 Feb 2009 09:00:00 GMT

Public transportation may finally be back in style in America: ridership is way up, and Obama's recently-passed stimulus package includes massive funds for mass transit and rail. Despite this, cash-strapped cities and states and are cutting back on the public transport services they provide. A new PBS series called "Blueprint America" poses the question: How will the billions provided for mass transit in the stimulus package be spent? Will serious projects be funded, or will the states funnel the cash into pet projects and pork?... Read the full story on TreeHugger

Abu Dhabi to Debut Personal Rapid Transit "Podcars" Later This Year

Sun, 01 Feb 2009 13:17:00 GMT

PRT car designed by Zagato, unveiled recently at the World Future Energy Summit. The designers of Masdar City, Abu Dhabi's new post-petroleum city, are not bound by the usual set of rules and constraints. Money is not really an issue, and the political leadership is always willing to try out innovative ideas that the rest of the world regards as unproven, unorthodox or just plain fantasy. One of them is PRT, personal rapid transit, a system of transportation featuring compact, driver-less "podcars." In Masdar, where the streets will be entirely free of automobiles, a network of these compact electric taxis will provide clean and quiet transportation to the city's residents, as well as commuters. The first PRT cars are set to begin running later this year. Admittedly intrigued, TreeHugger sat down with one of the system's designers recently at the World Future Energy Summit in Abu Dhabi to hear more about the project. ... Read the full story on TreeHugger

"Masdar is the Catalyst": An Interview with Jay Witherspoon, Masdar City Technology Director

Mon, 26 Jan 2009 15:36:00 GMT

Technology in the service of sustainable living: A rendering of life in Masdar City (courtesy of CH2M Hill). Jay Witherspoon works for CH2M Hill, a global project management, consulting and engineering firm that was chosen to manage the development of Masdar City. The project, they hope, will serve as an incubator for the next generation of sustainable technology breakthroughs, transform the supply chain and change the way we look at cities on a global level. A chemical engineer by trade, Witherspoon's work focuses on sustainable practices and technologies. We caught up with him at a panel on integrating sustainable technologies in cities at the World Future Energy Summit in Abu Dhabi and asked him a few questions about the futuristic post-petroleum city, now under construction in the emirate. ... Read the full story on TreeHugger

Masdar City Announces First Corporate Tenant: GE Ecomagination

Sun, 25 Jan 2009 09:12:00 GMT

The Masdar stand last week at the World Future Energy Summit in Abu Dhabi. GE will be the first corporate tenant to set up shop in Masdar City, Abu Dhabi's nascent eco-city. The Masdar Initiative, which is managing the new city's construction, made the announcement at last week's World Future Energy Summit. According to Masdar, GE will become an "anchor partner" in the city, setting up an Ecomagination Centre and forming a broader relationship with Masdar based on research and development of energy-efficient products and technologies. ... Read the full story on TreeHugger

World's First Post-Petroleum City Rising in Abu Dhabi

Wed, 21 Jan 2009 14:05:00 GMT

Workers from the Indian subcontinent building a field of photovoltaic solar panels in Masdar City. While some of the plans for new ecological cities elsewhere in the world have faltered of late, work on Abu Dhabi's Masdar City is already well underway and appears to be plowing full speed ahead. A small army of workers and heavy equipment currently inhabit the 6.5 square kilometer site of the future eco-city. A flock of journalists set out from downtown Abu Dhabi this Sunday to get a sneak peek at what will eventually be the world's first modern ecological city. The tour, part of this week's World Future Energy Summit, was organized by Abu Dhabi Future Energy Company's Masdar Initiative, the corporate entity that is building the project, with the goal of giving the world an early look at its flagship project.... Read the full story on TreeHugger

Recent Posts by TreeHugger's Jesse Fox, Tel Aviv, Israel