Crow Wing County landfill is in Brainerd, Minnesota, about two hours north of Minneapolis. Despite its small size, the landfill is an innovator that has achieved extraordinarily high recycling rates. One of their most recent initiatives is a landfill gas collection and flaring operation, which TerraPass has the pleasure of presenting to you now. You know the drill. Check out the project and please send any questions or comments to projects@terrapass.com by Dec. 4. ... Continue reading »
The review of Green Metropolis kicked off a discussion that illustrates some of the confusion that crops up in discussions of density. Hoisting a representative snippet up from comments: I think people can be extremely green in either rural or urban settings, it’s a matter of intent. Hard to measure the difference in impact - an urban setting allows for a much more communal way of using and reusing resources, but on the other hand,... Continue reading »
Let’s talk parking. Recently I suggested that building new parking garages isn’t an environmentally friendly thing to do, even if such garages are nicely landscaped and have energy-efficient lighting systems. The environmental impact of the structures themselves is minuscule in comparison to the impact of the transportation system they are part of, and the green flourishes do nothing to change this basic equation. For making this fairly bland observation, I was accused of, variously: being... Continue reading »
This isn’t exactly a new trend — I remember writing about it several years ago — but it seems to be picking up some steam: More than 13,000 hunters and anglers from across the country joined a “virtual town hall” teleconference on Tuesday to hear a discussion of the impact of climate change on fish and wildlife populations, and to voice their support for federal action to limit carbon emissions. Recently I whined about how... Continue reading »
I generally don’t indulge in blog rants, mostly because I’m just not very good at them. David Roberts, on the other hand, is good at them, and he puts to words some of the deep disgust I’ve been feeling over the foofaraw kicked up by the new book Superfreakonomics, the sequel to the fairly awful and inexplicably bestselling Freakonomics. I’m not going to rehash the Superfreakonomics episode in detail. For the gory details, go here... Continue reading »
David Owen’s book Green Metropolis, an expansion of his 2004 New Yorker article on the environmental benefits of cities, puts forth two propositions: first, that urban living is inherently more resource-efficient and therefore greener than suburban or rural living; and second, that environmentalism has historically been tainted with an anti-urban bias that prevents greens from fully embracing some of the best strategies for protecting the planet. The first proposition is, or should be, fairly uncontroversial.... Continue reading »
I remember being amazed when Mapquest came out in, what, 1997? How could it possibly know where my house was? How was it able to instantly come up with a route between Anchorage and Miami? The data seemed too vast and too messy to yield to computation, sort of like the internet itself. Since then Google has redefined web-based maps, and the company continues to innovate. If you don’t live in a town with public... Continue reading »
Last week I wrote about how writing a letter is this easiest and most important thing you can do to protect the environment. This week, I have a follow-up suggestion: actually write the letter. Some handful of you did so last week. Good job! But the majority of you managed not to get around to it. The printer is out of toner. You’re can’t find any envelopes. The mailbox is five blocks away. Who even... Continue reading »
Over the past month or so I’ve been rethinking how I get to work. My routine has been shifting as my son sleeps in a bit later at times (thank goodness), and as his activities and naps tend to take place in the early evening more often. My comfortable routine of getting dropped off and picked up at the local BART train station is no more. This is probably for the best, as I have... Continue reading »
Optimism is growing in Washington that the U.S. Senate could pass comprehensive climate and energy legislation by early next year. A series of developments, including a recent New York Times op-ed by Sen. John Kerry (D-MA) and Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC), show a path to the 60 votes needed in the Senate to overcome a likely filibuster. In a piece titled “Yes We Can (Pass Climate Change Legislation)” Sens. Kerry and Graham wrote that even... Continue reading »
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