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Invasion of the Body Polluters

Karen Hundt, Chattanooga urban planner, answers questions

Karen Hundt. What work do you do? I am the director of the Planning & Design Studio in Chattanooga, Tenn. We are a division of the Chattanooga-Hamilton County Regional Planning Agency, but the design studio focuses on downtown and riverfront redevelopment. How does it relate to the environment? The biggest environmental issue facing this country […]

Revisiting Red Hill Valley

And you haven't even had time to read the post on this from Friday. But several alert readers in Canada have, and they sent along a few updates. Supporters have filed a multi-part petition (number 82), now languishing at the federal level, that addresses damage the highway project will cause, including to the federally endangered spiny softshell turtle. To raise awareness of the issues, the more artistically inclined have released a CD called "Keepers of the Sacred Fire," which features 15 local artists, and a documentary too. And late last week, eight members of Hamilton Friends of Canada traveled to Toronto to apologize to the federal government for that whole "our city is suing the country" thing.

The bulldozers may be hard at work, but this battle isn't over.

Even more Verdopolis

The very bestest Verdopolis coverage in the whole galaxy is, of course, ours. However, should you want to sample what else the web has to offer, there's more over on Treehugger, covering a speech (delivered via DVD!?) by the justly legendary Bill McDonough.

Cloudy Day, Sweeping the Doom Away

Artificially enhanced clouds may ease global warming, scientists say With gloomy scientific report after gloomy scientific report warning about our globally warmed future, finally one group of scientists is offering a ray of sunshine — in the unlikely form of clouds. Low-altitude, lumpy gray clouds, called stratocumulus, have the desirable quality of being especially reflective […]

Dropping the Hybrids Off at the Pool

Hybrid incentive bills introduced in Congress Fuel-efficient hybrids, the cars of choice for greens of means, are a hot topic in Congress, with two bills introduced this month that could further fuel their popularity. One bill, unveiled in the House last Tuesday by California Reps. Darrell Issa (R) and Brad Sherman (D), would let states […]

Complicating, Circulating, New Life, New Life

GOP congressfolk announce plan to revamp Endangered Species Act House Resources Committee Chair Richard Pombo (R-Calif.) has expressed open hostility toward the Endangered Species Act numerous times, so some conservationists are questioning the sincerity of his recently announced effort to “breathe new life” into the law. Along with Rep. Greg Walden (R-Ore.) and Sen. Mike […]

Death commentary

Mark Schmitt, a brainy progressive policy analyst whose Decembrist blog is one of the best on the web, has a pair of posts up on the Death Stuff. The first is a fairly extensive analysis that ends by enthusiastically agreeing with the central point.

That's where I find the best argument for blowing up the whole "movement," along with the others. We can't possibly find ways to move society forward as long as everything is put neatly into boxes labeled "environment," "health care," "campaign finance reform," "low-income programs," "pro-choice," etc., and the coalitions that exist are made up of representatives from those movements. Trying to force environmentalists to think about health care doesn't solve the problem either. We need a whole new structure, built around a convincing narrative about society and the economy, and a new way to fit these pieces together.

Matt Yglesias chimes in, coming at the same conclusion from a different starting point (national security):

As Mark says, what's needed here is something beyond "meetings or traditional coalitions around particular shared interests," which we do already have. What's needed, in short, is a real ideology that, as such, has adherents. The adherents would, of course, specialize to some extent as people always do. But what we have right now is really a coalition of lots of micro-ideologies and micro-interests that happen to collaborate with one another from time to time on this or that.

I agree. What's needed is more than procedural coalitions, more than other mechanisms to interact and collaborate. What's needed is is a uniting vision of the kind of country and world we want.

Schmitt's second post is also interesting.

How green is their Red Hill Valley?

Canada -- that blissful, forward-looking, do-gooding land to the north -- has some problems of its own. In Hamilton, Ontario, a battle is raging over the construction of a multi-lane expressway through Red Hill Valley. The 1,600-acre urban park, which accounts for a third of the city's green space, extends from the Niagara Escarpment (a U.N. Biosphere Reserve) to the shores of Lake Ontario. A native burial site, it was protected in 1929, and is now home to the city's last remaining creek -- and critters including the rare southern flying squirrel.

So hey, why not build a road through it? Uproot 44,000 trees and reroute Red Hill Creek? The massive project, first proposed in the 1950s, is finally underway. But defenders of the valley are not going down without a fight. They are occupying the land, organizing petitions, and funding studies. Meanwhile, the city isn't pulling any punches; in December, it sued several federal environmental officials, accusing them of standing in the way.

But even with all the nastiness, it's still Canada, eh:

The Red Hill Valley Treesit ended on September 11, 2004 when the remaining treesitter, Clarence, decided it was time to come down ... The day was Clarence's 19th birthday and 105th day in a tree. Clarence descended to the cheer of supporters who had gathered to celebrate his birthday. He was then arrested by Hamilton Police and taken to the East Hamilton station. Over a dozen supporters overtook the station's waiting room while Clarence sat in a holding cell waiting for the police to complete his trespassing papers. About an hour after arrival, he was released. Most of the group then proceeded to take Clarence out for his first "legal" beer.

Emily Gertz sends dispatches from Verdopolis, a confab on future green cities

Emily Gertz is a regular contributor to WorldChanging.com, and an internet content and strategy consultant for nonprofits. She has written on environmental policy for BushGreenwatch, and on the intersections of environment, culture, art, and activism for The Bear Deluxe and other independent alternative publications. Wednesday, 9 Feb 2005 NEW YORK CITY, N.Y. This morning, taking […]